I was wondering wether anyone here has taken SAT's recently? Im looking to go to University in the US, studying Engeering or structural design, currently have 2x A*'s in the 2 GCSE's I've taken etc, but I don't really know how hard the SAT's are.. I'm off to the US over Christmas to look at Uni's, but the SAT's are the only thing I really know nothing about.
Do US universities not have an equivalency rating for GCSEs/A levels? i.e. grade A is worth so many SAT points etc?
any reason why ham-erica specifically? unles you're applying to M.I.T/caltech/Ivy leauge or having it paid for, i'd go to uni here and spend the spare 30k on something worthwhile
I have it paid for, but I won't go into that. I used to live in America, want to go to Uni there, and want to Live there.
The SATs are massive multiple choice tests, takes all day to finish. The questions vary from stupidly easy to mensa level, the idea is that most people will be able to get most of it right, and it'll still be able to detect the utterly brilliant and the utterly stupid. If you have the equivalent of an American high school education, you'll be fine. Have a basic grasp of physics, chemistry, biology, and math to a pre-calculus level, know the difference between its and it's, know how to read and summarize information. They also test on spelling, I think, so it might not hurt to review some of the differences between Brit and American spelling. What's tricky is the format of the test. It's made up of six to a dozen sections testing different areas of knowledge, which are each rigidly timed, you usually have half an hour to two hours to complete each section. The teacher gives very precise instructions. You read out of a test booklet with the questions and pick multiple choice answers by filling in circles in pencil on your test sheet. Most American kids have taken tests in this kind of format several times through their schooling, so they're all pretty familiar with it. If you're not, it could throw you for a loop. There are lots of study books/software/sample test packages available, I'd highly recommend getting one or more and working through them so you aren't caught by surprise. If you do badly the first time, you can usually retake the test later. They're very picky about supervising the tests, though, so it might be hard to arrange - I have no idea what's set up for overseas students. Talk to people at the colleges you visit, especially once you pick a college they should be very helpful with getting you through testing. It's kind of a dumb hoop to have to jump through, and everyone knows it. Also, when you walk in to take the test, pick your seat with care. A friend of mine scored badly on his first try because he was distracted - by the red thong on the girl sitting in front of him. *headdesk*
Basically my experience of the SATs was what emjay said. A high school education is all you will need, they're hard to study for just review some basic algebra formulas not sure which ones exactly. Color and colour would be good things to "fix" so to speak (I spell it colour, but then again, I'm Canadian by birth) Good nights sleep and such helps too.
Not really, most unis require that you have the SATs. My sister needed to take them before she could apply to uni in the states.
Fair enough. slightly off topic but have you seen the prices for higher education in america? it's a joke.
Yeah, I live in Colorado and got a 4% raise this year( worked my butt off) and they raised the university rates for my high school sophomore's choice 7.5%. Where does that get fun? John
They expect you to make up the difference with scholarships. And then they give the scholarships to any minority group they can find, because forget aptitude and motivation, what's really important is that the college be an exact cross-section of society. I <3 reverse discrimination.
