1. Preparing for SAT or ACT
Title slide

2. Who are we?
Option 1

3. AGENDA SAT, ACT OR BOTH? PRESENTED BY: Jenny Peacock
Truths and Misconceptions
AGENDA
What is a Good Score?
Improving Your Chances of Getting In
Next Steps
PRESENTED BY:
Jenny Peacock

4. TRUTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS
First off, let’s dive into the truths & misconceptions about standardized testing. The big thing to remember here is that while your test scores matter– they don’t define you. They do, however, let admissions offices compare students from across the country.
Simply put, the SAT / ACT are necessary evils in the eyes of most admissions counselors. Whether a student attended high school in Seattle, Washington D.C, New Orleans, Houston. It doesn’t matter. Even though those high schools, cities, regions and states might be dramatically different from one another, under the umbrella of the SAT / ACT it makes no difference. All students from those places are placed on a national scale using the SAT / ACT. Test scores are an extremely important part of admissions.

5. WHAT DO THESE TESTS MEASURE?
Admission tests..
True
False
… measure intelligence?
… can be used to award aid?
… reflect your GPA in high school?
… predict your college GPA?
… can be prepared for?
… should be prepared for?
… test what you’ve learned in HS? 
What do all these tests measure exactly? Run through each line and finish with expressing the point that standardized admissions tests, like the SAT and ACT, only measure how well you do on the SAT or ACT.
Scores DO NOT measure your intelligence so don’t take your scores personally. How well you do has nothing to do with how smart you are, how creative you are. So...does anyone know what they really test? How well you take the SAT or ACT. If you’ve got a score and it’s not what you expected/ or not what you’re happy with…It doesn’t mean you’re not going to college, it probably means you need to learn how to take the exam you are preparing for.
If you get a 1500 on the SAT or 34 on the ACT – woooo hooo! You are an EXCELLENT test taker. You may also be extremely smart, but the one thing we know for sure from the 1500 is that you take this test well. If you scored a 800 it doesn’t mean you are not worthy of college. It means you aren’t so good at taking these tests.
Great scores can be used as merit awards
GPA is much more important for admissions counselors. HS Transcripts - reveal all the academic work that you’ve completed from freshman year to senior year; answers the question, “Have you consistently challenged yourself academically?” Have you taken regular courses? Honors classes? APs? This test does not reflect that. It’s the number one thing we hear from our students and parents. “I don’t understand, I’m a 4.0 honors student, but a horrible SAT or ACT test-taker. How is this even possible?” Unfortunately, this student was born with the “I am not so good at these tests” gene. Academic/school exams are much different than these exams and we will discuss more later. The reality is that very few people get super high scores. Thus while you may be exceptionally capable, the odds are against your achieving a 99% or perfect score
It does not show you how well you’ll do in college. Your GPA is the best predictor.
It is coachable. Proper coaching can increase your scores dramatically provided you do the work. It’s hard to coach increasing intelligence. That’s not something that is easily increased in 6-12 weeks. SAT or ACT scores are.
Test scores are still heavily relied on so you should do some type of preparation but base it on your goals.
Some of the content for sure but as we will point out, that remains to be seen.

6. Aligned with schoolwork
Which of the following is twice the product of 633 and 12?
(A) (B) 1,266 (C) 2,532 (D) 15,192
633 × 24 =
633
× 24
Another (more formal) way to look at how admission tests and school tests are different. Take multiplication: we learn it horizontal like example 1, we might be tested or do homework vertically and be tested in school in a word problem like, but admissions tests tend to give us questions as they are on the next slide.

7. Aligned with schoolwork
Carin and Zeva are calculating the cost of their daughter’s college meal plan at NPEA University. There are 12 weeks of school per semester at Review University and a school year consists of 2 semesters of school. If the meal plan is $633 per semester, how much will the plan cost for the school year?
(A) $647 (B) $1,266 (C) $2,532 (D) $7,596 (E) $15,192
Unlike the previous questions this requires a fair bit of reading and thinking and figuring out what math needs to be done. If student aren’t used us to doing math like this (under timed pressure) that makes testing more difficult.

8. SAT Math

9. STUDENTS OFTEN STRUGGLE WITH ACT/SAT
STANDARDIZED TESTS
HIGH SCHOOL EXAMS
TIMING/NUMBER OF QUESTIONS
Race against the clock
Done in plenty of time!
CONTENT
Covers years
Covers chapters
TESTS
Stress test alert!
What have you learned recently
ESSAY
Limited time
Hours & Weeks
READING
OMG! 1 minute left already!
Take your time
WRITING/ENGLISH
Grammar rules
Grammar has much less emphasis
MATH
Tricky and comprised of 4+ years; all or nothing
Straight forward and generally focused on 1 year; do your best
GRADING
Machine
Human
So why do students struggle?
Go through a couple of these to land the point – these tests can be a struggle for students because they are not consistent with how students learn and experience topics/content in high school. Ask the audience: when was the last time students took a 4-hour test?
The point is that students can be coached to take the SAT and the ACT and once they understand the strategy of taking one– it only makes sense to take the other as well.

10. TOP FACTORS FOR FIRST TIME COLLEGE FRESHMEN
1. Grades
2. High School Curriculum
3. Test Scores
Every couple of years, NACAC (National Association of College Admissions Counseling) releases a survey of information from colleges and universities that gives an overview of college admission.
In the 2017 Survey, they asked schools to rank the top factors for selecting 1st time freshmen. Any guesses on what these big 3 might be? -- Grades, High School Curriculum, and Test Scores. -- Essays are also noted but NOT in the big 3.
Your transcript / GPA are the weightiest of docs because it’s a complete record of your academic achievements in four years of HS. Most importantly, it answers this question, “Have you consistently challenged yourself academically?” Have you challenged yourself with regular courses? Honors classes? APs? IB’s? Never underestimate the importance of your high school transcript / GPA to the college admissions process.
What’s the second most important piece of info that students will submit and this does waiver from school to school, but it’s still the second most important piece of info?
YES! Test scores.
The big take away here: it takes 4 hours to make a test score and it takes 4 years to make a GPA.

11. ADMISSION FACTORS Considerably important: GPA Test scores
Moderately important:
Essay/writing samples
Teacher & counselor recommendations
Class rank
Smaller institutions are more likely to rank subject tests, portfolios, interviews, and work experience as considerably or moderately important.
One part of the NACAC Survey asks institutions to rank their Factors of Admissions by importance.
77% of colleges ranked grades (GPA) as “considerably important”
More than half of colleges (54%) rank Test Scores as “considerably important”
Ranked as moderately important were essays and writing samples, recommendations, and class rank
Smaller institutions are likely to rank Subject Test, Portfolios, SAT II scores, Interviews, and Work Experience as considerably or moderately important.
While the college admissions process can be stressful, these big factors for admission are all coachable! No matter where you are on your college journey, we can help you take these factors to the next step.
The BIGGEST factor is always grades over test scores but they’re both important.
[QUESTION]
How long do you have to create a GPA?
[ANSWER]
4 Years.
How long do you have to create an SAT or ACT score?
4 Hours.
A lot can happen in 4 hours, good and bad, to change your chances for your top choice school. Prepping for the SAT or ACT takes most of our students 4-8 weeks to see significant (potentially life-changing) improvement.

12. DID YOU KNOW:
Colleges have no preference whether you take the ACT or SAT, but tests are used to grant scholarships - almost 200 merit scholarships are tied to ACT and SAT scores!
Tell your own story about what parents, students, and counselors are saying about the SAT and ACT and any myths and misperceptions of these tests. Many students and parents don’t know that they can take BOTH, or EITHER test and college admissions folks have NO PREFERENCE.
ALL four-year universities accept either the SAT or the ACT for admissions. Yes – ALL SCHOOLS!
The tests are used both for the admissions process and to grant scholarships and merit aid.

13. TESTS AT-A GLANCE BOTH THE ACT AND SAT HAVE:
Over 3 hours of testing time
Limited time per question
4 Answer choices
Math, Reading, and Grammar questions
TESTS 
AT-A GLANCE
Sure– the times, question numbers, and content titles are a little different. The takeaway here is that the tests are more similar than they are different.
But do you think they’re different enough to mean you can’t succeed at both? (wait for a pause from the group)
No. You can 100% take both– and we think you should!
ACT is a registered trademark of ACT, Inc., which is not affiliated with The Princeton Review..

14. SAT SECTION-BY-SECTION
Reading
65 minutes
52 questions
W&L
35 minutes
44 questions
Math
(No calculator)
25 minutes
20 questions
(calculator)
55 minutes
38 questions
Essay
(optional)
50 minutes
1 essay
Total with Essay
3:50
154 questions
(Go through section-by-section. Be sure to address that the total time does not include breaks.
Talk here about how long the test is, and how most students have NEVER taken a test this long before. Stamina, strategy and skill are important.)
You can see that the 2 tests have different content titles and timelines– but they’re not really that different in terms of content. Both tests, though, require unique strategies and a little coaching so that they are conquerable!

15. ACT SECTION-BY-SECTION
English
45 minutes
75 questions
Math
60 minutes
60 questions
Reading
35 minutes
40 questions
Science
Writing
(optional essay)
40 minutes
1 essay
Total with Writing
3:35
215 questions
(Go through section-by-section. Be sure to address that the total time does not include breaks.
Talk here about how long the test is, and how most students have NEVER taken a test this long before. Stamina, strategy and skill are important.)
The ACT has 4 reading passages. You can also use a calculator on the math section.

16. WHAT ABOUT THE ESSAY? Fewer than 30 schools require the essay
Harvard will no longer require the ACT or SAT essay for students, starting with the class of (entering in 2019)
We recommend you take the essay, but don’t sweat it!
While students should always check with the experts at each school they are applying to, you can be comfortable telling them not to worry to much about the essay.

17. SAT SCORING ACT SCORING MATH 200 – 800 READING AND WRITING 200 – 800
TOTAL – 1600
ACT SCORING
ENGLISH
MATH
READING
SCIENCE
COMPOSITE
The SAT has two sections – Math and Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (EBRW. You can earn a scaled score of between 200 and 800 points on each section, for a total of 1600 possible points on the SAT.
FYI:
How the SAT Essay Is Scored
Responses to the optional SAT Essay are scored using a carefully designed process.
Two different people will read and score your essay.
Each scorer awards 1–4 points for each dimension: reading, analysis, and writing.
The two scores for each dimension are added.
You’ll receive three scores for the SAT Essay—one for each dimension—ranging from 2–8 points.
There is no composite SAT Essay score (the three scores are not added together) and there are no percentiles.
What about all the other scores? Cross-Test Scores and Subscores?
This data is intended to help high schools assess college readiness and course advisement, but you should focus on your Total and Section scores.
How is the ACT scored?
You'll earn one ACT score (1 to 36) on each test (English, Math, Reading and Science) and a composite ACT score, which is an average of these four tests. Usually, when people ask about your score, they're referring to your composite ACT score. The composite score falls between 1 and 36. The national average is about 21. If, for example, you scored 31 on the English, 30 on the Math, 29 on the Reading and 30 on the Science, your composite ACT score would be 30.
Writing Test Scores (taken directly from ACT.org)
Taking the ACT with writing will provide you and the schools to which you have ACT report scores with additional scores. You will receive a total of five scores for this test: a single subject-level writing score reported on a range of 2-12, and four domain scores, also 2-12, that are based on an analytic scoring rubric. The subject-level score will be the rounded average of the four domain scores. The four domain scores are: Ideas and Analysis, Development and Support, Organization, and Language Use and Conventions. An image of your essay will be available to your high school and the colleges to which you have ACT report your scores from that test date.
Taking the writing test does not affect your subject area scores or your Composite score. However, without a writing test score, no English Language Arts (ELA) score will be reported.
Your essay will be evaluated based on the evidence that it provides of your ability to:
clearly state your own perspective on the issue and analyze the relationship between your perspective and at least one other perspective
develop and support your ideas with reasoning and examples
organize your ideas clearly and logically
communicate your ideas effectively in standard written English
Two trained readers will score your essay on a scale of 1-6 in each of the four writing domains. Each domain score represents the sum of the two readers' scores. If the readers' ratings disagree by more than one point, a third reader will evaluate the essay and resolve the discrepancy.
Sub scores are reported but not used in admissions process. Colleges care about composite score.

18. WHAT IS A GOOD SCORE?
Now that we’ve talked about the breakdown of the tests and why you should take both, lets get into what the scores mean and how to succeed.
One of the questions I get most frequently is “what’s a good score?” Does anyone here know? (People will start calling out numbers). A good score is a score that is going to help you get into your top-choice school.
For some students, that’s a For others, it’s a Or a 25 on the ACT vs. a 31 for others.
Many schools offer scholarships based on test scores.

19. WHERE YOUR SCORES CAN TAKE YOU
SCHOOL
SAT*
ACT*
UNC - Chapel Hill
1350 30
North Carolina State University
1330 29
East Carolina University
1110 22
Appalachian State University
1230 25
UNC - Wilmington
1240
UNC - Charlotte
1180 24
While the these tests are just one piece of the admissions puzzle, they have bigger implications. This chart goes through some schools commonly applied to and gives a sampling of where your scores can take you in addition to a strong application.
You can learn more about where your scores can take you by visiting our website or specifically going to princetonreview.com/journey
(The scores represent the 50% percentile of enrolled students. These numbers are provided by the schools)
Note to Presenter: Edit last 2 schools on this slide to a top schools in your area.
* SAT scores are reflective of the Critical reading and Math scores. The data is self-reported from the schools and represents data during the school year. * ACT scores are self-reported from the schools and represent data during the school year.
** Average merit award for qualifying individuals provided by schools.

20. THESE TESTS REQUIRE TESTING SAVVY
You need to be savvy in order to succeed on these tests. . Becoming test “savvy” requires knowing what is being asked, knowing the content, and developing an understanding of the tests.
(let the audience read these examples on their own – give them time to read and absorb the answers)
Well-written admission tests don’t allow this type of ambiguity of questions. But since most students have had questions like this since pre-k, taking standardized tests like the SAT and ACT require students to unlearn the habits of interpreting what a teacher actually meant by “find x”. Students have been conditioned over years of schooling and some of the habits you’ve learned are not easy to unlearn.
In these two examples given, the students answered the question and one could argue that the student is right. The SAT test writers would never use these types of questions because the questions are flawed and socialized, but we are used to these types of questions. When you see SAT questions, you may not understand why they look so complicated and weird. It’s important to understand that the SAT and ACT Test writers purposely write test questions so that there can only be one correct answer.

21. COWS PRODUCE MILK COWS DRINK WATER
I’m going to throw 2 questions out at you. The first one you answer in your head. I’ll give you the question and you think of an answer in your head. Ready? Don’t shout it out. Everyone, pick a number. (Wait a few seconds). Got a number? Perfect. Whose number is over 5000? Over 1000? 100 to 500? Who chose a fraction, or a decimal? Whose number is between 1 and 10? (almost all hands should go up). Exactly. I gave you a broad question, but I know that I can funnel your answer down to a small scale. The people who make the PSAT, SAT and ACT know that also. So, that was an easy one, in your head.
Now I’m going to ask you two questions out loud and you need to shout out your answer.
First, what color is this board (if it’s a white board or hold up a white piece of paper and ask what color is this paper)? Okay. What do cows drink? (almost everyone will say milk) Milk, huh? No, cows don’t drink milk, unless maybe they’re baby cows. Cows drink water. But because I prepared you for my question, I was able to get you to answer what I wanted. This is something the writers of the PSAT, SAT and ACT do quite a bit. If you struggle with these tests, it doesn’t mean you’re not a good test taker and it doesn’t reflect on your abilities academically. All it means is that people are designing a test and it’s working the way it’s supposed to. But, because they’re using strategies to trick you, it’s what makes strategies to unlock the test so powerful. The Princeton Review believes that you can crack these exams. It takes skill, and we can help you build that skill. There’s a language to these tests and once you learn it, you can excel more than you thought possible.
We pride ourselves on being the answer to all life’s tests. Whether it’s SAT, ACT or down the road you’re trying to get into medical school. We can help you prepare for all of these exams.
COWS PRODUCE MILK
COWS DRINK WATER

22. TEST WRITERS EXPECT YOU TO RESPOND IN A PREDICTABLE WAY
If a store raises the price of an item by 20%, then decreases the new price by 15%, what was the percent change in the price of the item?
The trap answer is a 5 percent change! The real answer is 2%
(go through the math….item is $100 and it’s raised 20% which is $20. New price = $120. Then $120 is decreased 15% which is $18. $120-$18 = $102. Which is 2% increase)

23. WHAT ARE SOME COMMON MISTAKES?
Answering questions too quickly 
Careless answers 
Doing work in your head 
Misreading the problem 
Don’t understand what to do 
Let’s talk about some common mistakes students can make while taking SAT and ACT tests! Do any one have any ideas on what some common mistakes are? [get some answers from the crowd– there aren’t wrong answers!– but there are some we see a lot!]
Common mistakes:
Answering questions too quickly
Careless errors
Doing work in your head
Misreading the problem
Don’t understand what to do

24. STRATEGY: SAT PACING 540 26 correct 58 attempted 32 incorrect 26 6105 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 58 26
610
580
Understanding and conveying pacing strategies helps foster stronger test takers. It’s one of the things we teach at The Princeton Review. Notice on the SAT, 58Q (total Math questions), The bunny (fast) attempts every question and is very inaccurate – 26 correct, 32 incorrect.
The turtle (slow and steady wins the race) takes his time, aims for accuracy and does not even attempt all questions. The turtle guesses a random Letter of the Day on the last 20 questions. You should never leave an answer blank on the SAT. With more time per questions, Turtle does not make careless errors because he has much more time per questions. Turtle gets 30 correct - plus on the 20 guess, he gets another 4 correct (34 total correct).
Comparing scores, Bunny gets a 540 and Turtle gets a 610. That’s a big difference. You can get more points by answering fewer questions! The key here is that you need to get those questions CORRECT.
38 attempted: 30 correct +4
20 guesses 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 58 30 34

25. ACT PACING 20 30 correct 60 attempted 30 incorrect 30 24 225 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 30 24
ACT PACING 22
45 attempted: 35 correct +3 10
incorrect
15 guesses
Understanding and conveying pacing strategies helps foster stronger test takers. It’s one of the things we teach at The Princeton Review. Notice on the ACT, 60 questions, The bunny (fast) attempts every question and is very inaccurate – 30 correct, 30 incorrect.
The turtle (slow and steady wins the race) takes his time, aims for accuracy and does not even attempt all questions. The turtle guesses a consistent Letter of the Day on the last 15 questions. With more time per question, Turtle does not make as many careless errors because he has much more time per question. Turtle attempts 45 questions and gets 35 correct, plus on the 15 guess, he gets another 3 correct (38 total correct).
Comparing scores, Bunny gets a 20 and Turtle gets a 24. That’s a big difference. You can get more points by answering fewer questions! The key here is that you need to get those questions CORRECT. 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 35 38

26. PLUGGING IN BASIC APPROACH FOR PLUGGING IN 1. Identify the variable
2. Plug in a number for the variable.
3. Work the steps of the problem.
4. Calculate the Target Value.
5. POE until one answer choice is left.
The Plugging In strategy allows you to try some real numbers to find an answer. It’s also a great way to use the POE (process of elimination) strategy.

27. How can Collegewise help?
1. Complete the survey at the end of this webinar.
2. Select "yes" to schedule time to speak with an admissions expert.
3. One of our experts will contact you.
Nikayla transitions from here

28. Jenny Peacock : jennyp@collegewise.com
Blog: wiselikeus.com
YouTube: YouTube.com/collegewise