Score At The Top Blog

Amid the sea of challenges that rocked the world of college admissions this past year, College Board is riding the wave of changing times. The organization announced on Tuesday, January 19, that it will no longer administer SAT Subject Tests and will drop the optional essay portion of the SAT.

Topics: College Admission, Subject Test, SAT Essay

As the months slip by during which virtually everyone has been affected and shaped by the pandemic, it’s wise to cast a critical eye on the college admissions scene. Our focus in this post is the entrance testing. Some testing information has remained the same during this fraught period, while some aspects of these two tests have changed. Let’s take a look.

We’ve gotten several questions from students confused about test-optional and whether or not to submit scores to schools with November deadlines. Keep reading to hear what we propose.

Topics: ACT, SAT, Test Optional, COVID-19

At this year’s virtual SUS Admissions Tour, admissions directors from Florida’s 12 public universities weighed in on testing, shared updates to applications, and offered tips for this year’s application cycle. In this article we've share some of their more interesting take-aways.

Topics: UF, FSU, UCF, SUS

In August of last year, our blog titled “When your GPA doesn't equal your GPA” discussed the varying ways in which colleges look at students’ grades – and the strength of the schedules that produced those grades – in making admissions decisions. In that blog, we noted that “When it comes to your GPA, the one that’s on your transcript is not necessarily the one that colleges will use!” That’s every bit as true now as it was then, and it’s also true, in spades, for the Florida State University System (SUS) schools that will be the focus of this blog.

Topics: College Admission, Application Essays, Person Statement

In light of all the recent ACT testing center cancellations, we wanted to reach out to you to make sure that your registration was up-to-date for the September ACT Exams. Below is a list of schools that are currently hosting the ACT exam for September 12th, 13th, 19th, and/or 20th. 

Topics: ACT, Test Optional, COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has been tough on everyone! In addition to the fear of infection, we are also facing a mental health crisis that has affected both parents and their children. With the new school year rapidly approaching, we've teamed up with Therapeutic Oasis to address a different mental health topic every week so that everyone will be better prepared for the inevitability of a return to virtual schooling. In this series, we will focus on: 

Topics: Mental Health, Virtual, VirtualSchool

First, some definitions: Virtual tutoring differs from in-person tutoring because the tutor and student(s) will be communicating via the internet via Skype, Zoom, or some other, similar program; Synchronous means that the tutoring/teaching is happening in real time as opposed to, for example, the tutor responding to a student’s work at some later time with a grade and/or comments.

Topics: Test-Prep, Tutoring, Virtual

Topics: AP Exams, APUSH

2020 Changes to AP English Literature and Composition

The test this year will be 15 minutes shorter than it was in previous years, but the only substantive change is in the scoring of the free-response questions. The content of the free-response section remains unchanged from previous years, but the way that it’s scored will change.

Topics: AP Exams