Score At The Top Blog

Many college-bound Florida students and their families take advantage of the state’s generous Bright Futures Scholarship program, which awards students a certain percentage of their tuition as determined by test scores, volunteer hours, high school curriculum and GPA. Currently, students scoring 1290 on the SAT or 29 on the ACT are eligible to receive 100% tuition and fees to attend one of Florida’s public institutions (UF, FSU, and the like) under the program’s Florida Academic Scholarship, assuming they meet the academic and volunteer requirements. The Florida Medallion Scholarship, a partial award consisting of 75% tuition and fees, is given to students who score 1170 on the SAT or 26 on the ACT and meet the academic and volunteer requirements. While the awards are sufficient to cover all or most of tuition and fees at a public university in Florida, they may also be applied to the tuition at private universities in Florida (University of Miami, for instance). High-achieving students are recognized for their hard work and can enjoy the benefits of a more affordable college education. However, a significant change to the program will adversely affect some students from the class of 2021 onward.

Topics: ACT/SAT, Investment, Bright Futures

What: A recommendation discloses things about student character beyond a student’s academic performance. It is not a recitation of information contained elsewhere in the application or school transcript.

Topics: College Admission, Letter of Recommendation

In the world of college admission testing, we’re moving steadily towards a future in which testing takes on a very different look. In Part 1 of this blog, we discussed the existing ACT and SAT. Our goal was to help students and their parents make informed decisions when it comes to selecting and preparing for an upcoming exam. Today, part 2, we’ll examine some current trends in testing and consider how they may shape the future. But, first, we’ll take a look at another test that is occasionally used in the admission’s process.

Topics: College Admission, Test-Prep, Subject Test

GPA of 4.5? 1500 on the SAT? Those tell college admissions officers that you’re reasonably bright, perform well in scholastic matters, and can compete for admission with other students who have comparable stats. But that’s all they say about the applicant – they’re data points, devoid, you might say, of personality. In virtually all competitive college admissions situations, those data are simply not enough.

Topics: College Admission, Extracurricular Activities

It’s back…. The SAT, that is. For the first time in seven years, more students are taking the SAT than the ACT, a surge in popularity attributed to the SAT’s alignment with the Common Core and its last makeover to appear more like the ACT. Indeed, both tests share about 80% of content spanning the four major areas tested (math, science, reading, and writing). However, some key differences remain – as do questions about the importance and relevancy of college admission testing.

Topics: ACT, SAT Test, College Admission, ACT/SAT

Here’s one major point that AP exams and SAT Subject Tests share in common: both are products of the College Board (CB), which writes and administers them. There are other similarities, too. Both of them test specific subject knowledge acquired in high school courses – see below for a very important proviso – and performance on each of the tests can affect a student’s planning for college.

Topics: AP Exams, College Admission, Subject Test

Two years ago, Dr. David Alfonso, principal at Palm Beach Lakes High School, approached Jason Robinovitz, one of the family owners of Score At The Top Learning Center in nearby Palm Beach Gardens. Dr Alfonso was looking for an experienced company that could create and lead a workshop for his students with the goal of improving their SAT Reading/Writing scores. A Title 1 school, Palm Beach Lakes High School has many students enrolled in intensive reading – students who find it a major challenge to pass the tests that not only allow them a ticket out of intensive reading class, but also pave the way for them to receive a high school diploma. 

Topics: ACT/SAT, Success Stories

Many students enter college with the mental and emotional stability of a spinning gyroscope – at least in the short-term. They’re able to maintain good balance even when nudged pretty sharply. Others arrive on campus with the tenuous stability of an egg balanced on end, ready to fall over with potentially messy consequences. Regardless, all undergraduates – all of them – are subject to enormous academic and other pressures that can disrupt equilibrium and exacerbate any latent instabilities. Few are fully prepared to cope with those pressures.

Topics: College Admission, College Choice, Mental Health

ACT:

You have the right to permanently remove a test score from your ACT record. From the ACT’s perspective, students own their scores, and may send the scores or delete them as they please (as long as those tests were not used to document participation in State and District Testing). Weeks or months or years after receiving an ACT score that falls below your expectations, you have the right to delete that testing record from your portfolio of ACT tests. 

Topics: ACT/SAT, Score Cancellation

On March 6^th, the Florida Senate Committee on Education unanimously approved a Senate bill (SB 190) which changes Bright Futures Scholarship (BFS) awards. There are still legislative hurdles to overcome before it could be presented to the governor for his signature, but its unanimous, bipartisan passage in committee strongly suggests that it – or something closely comparable – will eventually become law.

Topics: ACT, SAT Test, ACT/SAT, Bright Futures, Scholarship