Who Cares About My SAT® or ACT® Score? Fist of Five: Ask students “On a scale from 0 (a fist) to 5, how important do you think that your SAT or ACT score is for your future?”

GPA SAT/ACT SCORE Class Time vs. SAT/ACT Prep Time CLASS SAT/ACT 6 classes per day About 180 days per year 4 years in high school 6 x 180 x 4 4,320 hours About 3 hours to take the PSAT/Pre-ACT About 3 hours to retake the PSAT/Pre-ACT About 4 hours hours to take the test About 4 hours hours to retake the test 14 hours Explain to students that they will spend over 4000 hours, not even counting time outside of school, in determining their GPA. And many students spend as little as 14 hours in determining their SAT/ACT score.

Harvard Acceptance Rate This slide shows that in order to get accepted to Harvard, the likelihood of being accepted (green and blue dots) gets significantly higher (notice the density of the dots) as both GPA AND SAT/ACT scores increase. While SAT/ACT score is not the ONLY determining factor in acceptance, it is a major factor. From: http://collegeapps.about.com/od/GPA-SAT-ACT-Graphs/ss/harvard-admission-gpa-sat-act.htm

University of Southern California (USC) Acceptance Rate The trend from the Harvard data is consistent with USC.

Ohio State University Acceptance Rate The trend from the Harvard data is consistent with Ohio State, and is consistent for

Why Study for SAT/ACT? The higher your SAT/ACT score, the more likely that: When you open your college response letters, you will be accepted rather than denied You will receive merit-based financial aid Because of a higher likelihood of acceptance and financial aid, you will have more options of where to go to college

Set aside a minimum of one or two hours a week for test preparation. How Should I Study? Set aside a minimum of one or two hours a week for test preparation. Take practice tests. Learn to work under timed settings. Practice test-taking strategies. Talk through each of the bullet points, and how AVID and your school will support students in accomplishing each item.

My Action/Study Plan • How much will you study? • When will you study? • What resources will you use to study? • What is your goal for your SAT/ACT score? Have students individually begin creating an “Action/Study Plan” by utilizing the questions on the slide.