Standardized testing musings (and tips :P)

Alrighty. So I will take some time (or maybe a lot of time, idk, I always write too much) to ramble on about standardized testing. If you don't know what standardized testing is, then:

Um, where have you been your whole academic life?

You know what it is. Long hours of sitting there and doing nothing but filling in bubbles for things you should have already learned in normal classes. I.e. taking a test you've been studying for but didn't know you were studying for. Writing in your full name, first in little squares (one box per letter!) and then filling in the correct bubbles underneath, along with birthday, grade, ethnicity, gender, and all sorts of other official stuff.

Ring a bell?

If not, this entry may or may not be of help to you, depending on whether you plan to take the tests or not. Either way. :V I'm gonna write about them. What a boring life I live. Writing blog entries on tests, ha. (Well, it was either this or chem homework. It's too early for me to think about balancing chemical equations, so here I am.)

Most of you I guess are probablyyyy high school juniors or sophomores. So you should already know what I'm talking about when I mention the ACT, SAT, or SAT II tests. Mmhmm, fun. I'm a senior myself, so I'm pretty much done with the testing process. While it is against SAT/ACT rules to talk about the test itself to anybody (even other takers of the same test), I will muse a bit on my experiences taking them and maybe you can learn from those yourself! c:

Warning, this is going to be long, I can already tell. OTL
Nobody has to read any of this, but if you do, you can skip sections to what you're interested in. The PSAT, the ACT, the SAT. Or just the tips at the end.


The PSAT.
[Intro] My first experience with any sort of high school standardized testing was yes, the PSAT, which most of you should have already taken or will be taking next year. I took it in my junior year, though I recommend you actually take it in both your sophomore year and junior year. Sophomore to get a feel for it so you don't come in asking 'what is this' (read down for explanation of that), and then junior year for scholarship opportunities (unless you don't care about those, then do whatever, lol).

For those who don't know what it is, it's basically the junior SAT. PSAT stands for Pre-SAT. So. It tests all the same things and basically will show you what your strengths and weaknesses are. The test is only given once a year in October. Since you all are home schooled, you need to have a parent (or if you're responsible enough, yourself) sign up at the nearest high school that will administer it. The test is always given on a Friday morning, so brace yourself for public high schoolers walking around. You receive your scores around December.

[Prep] My own experience was.. well, I mentioned it a couple entries ago. I started studying in the summer with one prep book. Most of it was stuff you should have already learned in high school, but my mom said PSAT scores were something colleges also looked at, so I panicked a bit. The week before the PSAT, I was cramming vocab words and online exercises. I woke up early, had breakfast, and went to the school feeling great--until I saw all the kids, then I carefully walked behind my mom and kept my head down and asked her not to leave until I actually went and sat down. Mature, right?

[The Test] As for taking the test itself, I calmed down a lot after I heard some people ask their peers, "what's this for? are we graded on this?" I sort of... like. Are you serious? I spent four months studying for a test you know nothing about? Alrighty then! So I sort of felt better knowing I came better prepared than most of them.

[Result] Come December, I find I did better than 83% of Juniors who took the PSAT. Good enough. But not great (in my opinion. Please note that academically, my standards are high). My best score was being better at Writing than 92% of juniors, my worst score being average at math (I think I was at 50%ish orz and I call myself Asian.)

Also, the SAT/ACT/SAT IIs are all given on either Saturday (most common) or Sunday, so for those you don't have to worry about the random kids walking around. Anyone you see on the days you take the SAT/ACT is most likely there for testing too.

The SAT: Take 1

[Intro] The SAT is basically the universal college entrance exam. The better you do, the more colleges or universities you will have sending you a fat envelope of acceptance. This is given several times a year (I think like 5 or 6?), and you don't have to wait two months for your scores! Yeah. You get your scores within the month. 600 is the lowest possible score, and 2400 is the highest. You can also retake it as many times as you can afford (taking the test costs $50, man.)

I first took the SAT at the end of my junior year, on June 4th. Unlike the PSAT, I registered & picked the test center myself, all my mom did is pay for it. Actually, every test I took that wasn't the PSAT, I registered for myself. This is a smart thing to do if you're the type of person who cares where you take your test. I took it back in Rolla because that was were I was most comfortable.

[Prep] I have... several SAT prep books, I think 3? Then I used the College Board's official online course ($60, aiyah), and other various practice tests. To be honest though, I feel like I didn't prep enough the week before. I was mainly procrastinating and stuff.

[The Test] I was... uncomfortable during the test. It was the same room I had taken the PSAT in, and less people, but for that amount of time in that hard plastic chair and that tiny desk was an ouchie. I was really getting lazy towards the end of the test it because I was tired.

[Result] Come June 23rd, I find I did well, but not as well as I'd liked. My score was 1610. My family said that was good and stuff, but I was not happy with it at all, so I scheduled a retake and decided I would get better. My highest score was on writing (like the PSAT predicted) but my lowest was, surprisingly, not math, but reading. :P Those passages are EVIL. Evil and boring and filled with information you don't care about (unless by a miracle you find a passage with info you do like).

The ACT
[Intro] The ACT is the other pretty-much college entrance exam, though not as well known as the SAT, seems to be more popular than the SAT in the Midwest (that's us, guys!). Dr. Farley always mentions it in math class when he's teaching a concept that will be on the ACT. The scoring method is quite odd, with the lowest score being 1 and the highest being 36. The national average is 20/21. The ACT is $50 if you take the writing portion (i.e. the essay), and like $20/$30 without it.

I took the ACT in late October, at University of Missouri - St. Louis. The university in University City, I think. However, because I didn't want there to be a lot of students at the same time as me (I was trying to prevent anxiety issues, okay?), I registered for Sunday testing. If you register for Sunday testing from the start, you do not have to bring a letter from your cleric stating why you can't do Saturday testing (since actually the real reason Sunday testing is offered is because some students have religions that prohibit testing on Saturday. Actually I'm one of those students since I'm SDA, but... registering for Sunday testing for the ACT is significantly easier than doing it for the SAT, so I just opt for Saturday SAT tests...


[Prep] I had one prep book that I used. It was decently large, some of you may have seen it. I did not read it all. I mostly skimmed it for tips on taking the test since while I was doing the practice quizzes in it, I thought they were too easy.

[The Test] The test wasn't that bad. I feel I did great on the English portion of it. The reading portion, eh. Boring passages as usual. Math wasn't that bad but I took too long to do them so I guessed a lot. Science wouldn't have been so bad if I was given more time to read them. The essay was a breeze, but then again, writing is obviously my strong point. (OBVIOUSLY. I mean, look at how long this stupid entry is already.)

As for the center, it was decent. The chair was comfortable but the desk was TINY. I had to have my answer sheet or my book on my lap along with my calculator and just alwj;wae there was no room for proper working.

[Result] My result isn't here yet, so I don't know. I feel I did alright though. Especially on English. Those sentence correction problems were so easy... like, the wrong answers, they just. Were such bad English that my brain hurt from seeing them. XD

The SAT: Take 2

[Intro] I put a bit more thought into where I was going to take the test this time. I looked through reviews of all the high schools that were administering the test and chose the one with the best reviews. I was not disappointed on test day. I took the SAT last Saturday (Nov. 5th) at Webster Groves High School. My goodness that school is awesome.

[Prep] I prepped more than I did previously, doing more quizzes and practice tests, especially the day before the test. I put off all my schoolwork and either studied or relaxed my brain. While it's good to study, it's also best not to strain yourself.

[The Test] Ahh, test day. Taking it that day was one of the most memorable days for me. The school was in a rich neighborhood, HUGE (looked like an academy), had good parking and etc. It took a while for some students to find the room since the school was so big (^^; that's why some people were late), but the testing room was a dream. The chair was padded, it was big enough for us not to be sitting by anyone at all, and the desk had more than enough space to work! It was great. I can definitely say that the atmosphere and nice-ness of the test center/room helped me to not feel nervous.

Heck, I wasn't nervous at all. I laughed during some of the problems because they were so ridiculously easy. For the critical reading problems, I imagined someone else reading them to me in front of me. Mainly a guy with a British accent, aw yeah. That does help. The math I just focused and did my best on (I also laughed when I found the answer to a problem), and the essay I hope I did alright on. Though, there was one critical reading passage I started crying while reading, but I doubt any of you guys are as sensitive as me, so you don't have to worry about that.

I walked out of the test center feeling great, which is how you should feel too if you studied enough.

[Result] My results won't be here for a while, but I feel like I did better. :D


My advice?

1. STUDY. Everyone studies differently, but still, study. I wish I had studied more vocabulary words. Some of those vocab words are really... abnormal. Study as many as you can. The more you know, the better, because even if you don't know if one is right, you can know which are wrong if the definitions don't add up. The SAT doesn't test on definition exactly, but rather context.

For math, do practice problems. For writing, write a lot. Try to write a lot, and write well. The vocabulary thing helps here too, the essay scorers love it when you use varied vocabulary. Get used to reading long, boring passages, or try to find them interesting. Make them interesting. I imagined a British guy reading them in front of me, and it made it less tedious to read. Imagine Scooby-Doo reading them for you if that's what helps. Do what works for you :D

If you walk into and out of the test on test day feeling good about yourself, then you have most likely studied enough (or you are just cocky).

If you'd like to borrow study books from me (as I have no use for them anymore), hey, feel free to ask.

2. Do a lot of practice tests. Timed ones. Online or on paper, get used to doing them. I do recommend the official SAT online course (even though it's like $60 aghhh), as it has like 7 practice tests and 30-ish quizzes, plus lessons. It's about as complete as you can get. But don't get it if you're not gonna use it, then it's just a waste of money. It expires after like 9 months, so you can use it again if you take the test multiple times in close enough time intervals.

3. Pick your test center wisely. I would not go back to the university again. I could not handle that tiny desk again. (Though, to be fair, while the ACT site says the test center will not have extra calculators if yours dies, the University of Missouri St Louis did, and said so.) I really recommend Webster Groves High School, I loved it there for the day I was there (I am going back there to take SAT IIs though). Pick a place you will be comfortable with, a place you can get to on time (Webster Groves is like 25mins from my house). Know the place in advance if you can, read reviews like I did. :U I was rewarded because I read reviews and picked a rich kids' school LOL. Comfy chairs make a difference after five hours, you know.

4. Leave. Early. You may be hindered by traffic or weather or you may get lost (either in the streets or in the school). It's best to get there too early than to arrive late and not be admitted to the test. All your hard work studying would be down the drain.

5. Keep in mind who is driving you on test day. Mapquest may say 35mins to destination, but mapquest doesn't know your mom commonly drives at 50mph on the highway and your dad commonly does 80.

6. Prepare the night before. Seriously. It's not hard to get your admission ticket, ID, pencils, calculator, and snacks all in one bag the night before. Lay your clothes out if you aren't the type of person who will throw on anything. Heck, on ACT day, I put on my clothes the night before just so I didn't have to change in the morning. :D

7. Sleep well the night before & eat a good breakfast. If you don't, your brain is gonna be tired and your stomach hungry and believe me THEY WILL COMPLAIN TO YOU ABOUT IT DURING THE TEST. D:

8. Do your best. c: Focus as often as you can. If you find yourself spacing out, take a deep breath, hold it, then let it out as you let all your tension and tiredness out, then continue.

9. Make sure you know how to use your calculator. Don't buy a new one right before the test then end up losing time because you don't know how to use it. (Admittedly though, I didn't learn the graphing function on my calculator until the day before the SAT test, but hey AT LEAST I LEARNED IT.)

10. Pray. God will help you remember even the most complicated of equations in the more dire situations. c:

I probably have more in my head somewhere, but this entry is long enough already.

I hope it helps somebody in some way at least. XP

If you have any questions, go ahead and poke me at school or here or whatever.