Score At The Top Blog

With the College Board’s new summer SAT test date (August 26^th) comes an intriguing gambit for high school students who plan to apply to more competitive colleges (and even to those that may not be considered so competitive): taking up to three of the College Board’s 1-hour Subject Tests offered on that date.

Topics: Essays, College Admission, College Planning, Educational-Consulting, Subject Test

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The Common Application recently announced changes to its application, which is now accepted by about 700 colleges and universities.

Topics: Essays, Common Application, College Application

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In September this year, ACT will introduce its new essay format. Six months later, in March of 2016, the College Board will replace its current written essay with a new, optional essay.

Each testing company is migrating toward analysis and away from any possible free-form, even impressionistic renderings by students in their writing ― the College Board more so that ACT. Let’s look briefly at what we know right now.

Topics: Essays, ACT, SAT Test, ACT/SAT, Test-Prep

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In what is probably a reaction to all the hoopla surrounding the College Board's 2016 SAT redesign, ACT revealed plans for 2015 test changes: a revised essay prompt that requires a different tack compared to the current essay, and several small changes to the Reading and Mathematics tests. Those changes will not be as radical a departure for the ACT as the new SAT is from the old. Namely:

Topics: Essays, ACT, Test-Prep

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Yes, the Common Application essays are a big thing. Think about it for a second: you’re applying to a particular school in just the same way that another ten, twenty, or thirty thousand other students are applying. Your dossier comprises statistics or all sorts, lists of activities, maybe awards. And the GPA. How can admissions wade its way through all the stats while getting no inkling of exactly what sort of person you are—beyond classes and test scores and volunteer hours? One answer is ––––– trumpets, please: the personal essay.

Topics: Essays, Common Application

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One of the greatest nightmares in a young student’s life is writing an essay that some adult is going to read with a critical eye. No matter how much pumping up a teacher or tutor may do, the high schooler fidgets and stares, eyes glazed over at the thought of committing ideas to paper. It’s as though, upon the student’s completion of the writing task, the hand of Adult-dom will descend from above, index finger menacingly pointing to the poor writer, and from deep inside the cloud of knowledge will come the booming “You FOOL! That’s so immature!”

Topics: Essays, Tutoring, Educational-Consulting

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