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Improving Sentences Questions

These questions test your ability to choose the best variation on a given sentence. In deciding which choice is "best," you should first consider grammar. If an option is ungrammatical, it will never be the correct answer. When you are going through the choices initially, you are on the hunt for any mistakes; this usually narrows your choices significantly and can occasionally lead you to a single correct answer.

If choices remain after filtering out the ungrammatical ones, you must next consider the clarity of the sentence. Are all of the pronouns as unambiguous as they can be? Does the sentence flow logically? Are the conjunctions consistent with the intended meaning of the choice? These questions should be running through your mind.

If more than one choice remains after applying these techniques, go with the more concise choice. Once ungrammatical choices are eliminated, the correct choice will be the shortest one the vast majority of the time. Keep in mind, however, that the College Board would not consider a choice better simply because it was shorter than another; there is typically an unnecessarily wordy, awkward spot that contributes to the length.


Identifying Errors Questions

These questions test your ability to recognize usage errors and incorrect grammar. A sentence with four underlined words or phrases will be presented. If one of these four underlined portions contains an error, select it as the answer. If you think that there is more than one error, you have made a mistake. If there is no error, select (E) as the answer.

These questions are relatively straightforward and do not require a deep strategy; if you know your grammar (as I hope you do if you have gone through the previous posts), you will do very well. The only strategic thing I do is to mark each question that I think has no error. When I have finished, I return to the marked questions to ensure that there is truly no error. While there is no predetermined number of questions that will have no error, it is good to keep in mind that approximately 20% of the questions will have no error on any given test. But don't let this fact cause you to second-guess answers that you had been confident about.


Improving Paragraphs Questions

Compared to the rest of the Writing section, these questions have less to do with grammar and more to do with well-organized writing. Diction and clarity also come up.

Among other things, you'll be asked to provide better alternatives for sentences and phrases, to fix the syntax of a sentence, and to rearrange sentences within the paragraphs. For the most part, the questions are not as objective or straightforward as the rest of the Writing section, so your best preparation will be to work through the Improving Paragraphs questions from The Blue Book. Once you get a hang of these, however, they can become quite easy.


PRACTICE #5

Try these questions. The first eleven are Improving Sentences questions, the next eighteen are Identifying Errors questions, and the final six are Improving Paragraphs questions. (Answers and explanations appear below.)

1. By the beginning of 1755, events are reaching a stage that made war between Britain and France all but inevitable.

(A) No change
(B) will reach
(C) could reach
(D) having reached
(E) had reached


2. The chair of the school board announced a plan to build two new elementary schools during an interview with a local news reporter.

(A) No change
(B) The chair of the school board announced that two new elementary schools were planned to be built during an interview with a local news reporter.
(C) The chair of the school board, during an interview with a local news reporter, announced a plan building two new elementary schools.
(D) During an interview with a local news reporter, the chair of the school board announcing a plan to build two new elementary schools.
(E) During an interview with a local news reporter, the chair of the school board announced a plan to build two new elementary schools.


3. The new political science curriculum at some high schools in India, encouraging teachers to use cartoon and newspaper clipping to provoke classroom debate on contemporary issues.

(A) No change
(B) India, which encourages teachers to use cartoons and newspaper clippings, and provokes
(C) India is encouraging teachers to use cartoons and newspaper clipping and then provoking
(D) India encourages teachers to use cartoons and newspaper clippings to provoke
(E) India so encourages teachers to use cartoons and newspaper clippings as provoking


4. The museum experienced a greatly increased number of visitors in one year, and analysts cited the museum's expansion, free admission, and new family-oriented education center to be reasons for their appeal.

(A) No change
(B) to be a reason for their
(C) as being reasons for their
(D) as reasons for its
(E) as a reason for its


5. Critics often equate the popular appeal of a work of art with inferiority, forgetting that Shakespeare wrote his extraordinary plays primarily to please his audience.

(A) No change
(B) Critics often equate the popular appeal of a work of art with inferiority, they forget
(C) Critics, who often equate the popular appeal of a work of art with inferiority, forgetting
(D) Often equating the popular appeal of a work of art with inferiority are critics, they forget
(E) The popular appeal of a work of art often equated by critics as being the same as inferiority, they forget


6. The beaver is the largest rodent in North America, it has a large, flat, nearly hairless tail; webbed hind feet; and short front legs with hairy claws.

(A) No change
(B) The beaver being the largest rodent in North America, it
(C) The beaver, the largest rodent in North America, which
(D) The largest rodent in North America, the beaver
(E) The largest rodents in North America, the beaver


7. To persuade his parents to let him study abroad, Kenneth described other students' positive experiences, explains how foreign study would benefit his future career, and assured them that he could get financial aid.

(A) No change
(B) explained how foreign study would benefit his future career, and assured
(C) explaining how foreign study is beneficial to his future career, and assures
(D) he explained how foreign study would benefit his future career, and assuring
(E) in explaining how foreign study would benefit his future career, and he assures


8. The art classes at the village museum are more important for their social value than for their educational contributions.

(A) No change
(B) than in the contributions they make educationally
(C) rather than for the contributions they make educationally
(D) instead of for their educational contributions
(E) not the educational contributions they make


9. The vice president of the United States is also the president of the Senate, the vice president is not a senator and does not vote on Senate matters except to break a tie.

(A) No change
(B) the vice president, who is not
(C) however, the vice president, not being
(D) although the vice president is not
(E) and the vice president, who is not


10. Although numbered among the most technically demanding pieces ever created for piano, Frederic Chopin wrote compositions that emphasize nuance and expressive depth over mere technical display.

(A) No change
(B) Frederic Chopin wrote compositions emphasizing
(C) when Frederic Chopin wrote compositions, they emphasized
(D) Frederic Chopin's compositions that emphasized
(E) Frederic Chopin's compositions emphasize


11. By painting them this afternoon, the walls would be completely dry by tomorrow evening.

(A) No change
(B) If they would have been painted
(C) Were they to be painted
(D) After painting them
(E) They would have been painted


12. Learning a foreign language is difficult not only because most languages contain an enormous number of words and because people need to use a language often to become comfortable with it. No error


13. Nellie Lutcher did not achieve success quickly: she had been giving live performances for over a decade before she will record her first hit song. No error


14. Ken Alice N'doye, who earned a reputation as a caterer and then opened her own bakery, but first learned to cook by preparing food for her own family. No error


15. The introduction of paraffin wax in 1830 enabled candle makers to produce candles that burned more clean than those made with tallow or beeswax. No error


16. The sculptures of Michael Kapetan function as sundials, kept time by casting shadows that show the path of the Sun. No error


17. It is now generally agreed that the rings of the planet Saturn are composed of several billion small ice particles. No error


18. Cuban music was so popular in the Colombian city of Cali thus becoming the basis for the dance scene that predominated there during the 1940s. No error


19. The X chromosome was named "X" because researchers were baffled by its behavior, not because of its resemblance to the letter X. No error


20. A big vegetable salad is generally more nutritious than a low-fat pasta dish, but either meal would be good choices for the health-conscious eater. No error


21. Seventy-five percent of the apples sold in New York City come from the West Coast or overseas, even though New York State produces more than enough apples to meet the city's needs. No error


22. Despite the heavy rain, the television reporter, accompanied by her loyal film crew, were willing to wait outside the hotel until the delegates finished their meeting. No error


23. The number of travelers which reached the Americas, by accident or design, well before Columbus is enormous, if we are to believe every claim. No error


24. The people sitting behind me in the movie theater were talking throughout the film and would not keep their voice down even after being asked to do so. No error


25. Of the more than 50 entries in the high school science fair, Sarah's project was declared more innovative by the panel of six judges. No error


26. Perhaps the most extraordinary feature of the African elephant is their amazingly versatile trunk. No error


27. Langston Hughes may be best known for his poetry, but included among his many published works are a sizable a collection of short stories. No error


28. In 1988 a Soviet icebreaking ship helped free three gray whales that had become trapped in the Arctic ice after they had swam into the coastal waters of Alaska to feed. No error


29. The Bactrian camel is well adapted to the extreme climate of its native Mongolia, having thick fur and underwool that keeps it warm in winter and also insulate against summer heat. No error


Questions 30-35 refer to the following passage.

(1) Over 5,000 years ago, the early Egyptians used the wind to power their sailing ships. (2) Windmills were invented in Persia in the ninth century, where their first use was to grind grains. (3) Windmills were later used to pump water and run sawmills. (4) Today, windmills, or wind turbines, are used primarily to generate electricity, especially in Europe. (5) Another renewable energy source with many useful applications is solar power.

(6) In recent years, wind power has demonstrated many advantages over conventional power source. (7) Because wind power is a renewable resource, it does not deplete Earth's natural resources.

(8) Wind power may seem to offer a perfect solution to the world's increasing need for safe, clean energy sources. (9) Many people worry that birds, particularly birds of prey, may be harmed by wind turbines. (10) Some people are also concerned that large wind farms may interrupt birds' migratory patterns, although they counter that conventional electrical power lines pose much more of a threat to birds. (11) Also, you have the fields of large wind turbines that are typically placed on ridgelines in hilly or mountainous regions, where many people feel that they spoil the beauty of the natural landscape. (12) Finally, because wind is variable even in the windiest locations, maintaining a steady supply of wind-generated electricity poses a significant challenge.


30. Which of the following sentences would be best to place at the beginning of the passage—before sentence 1?

(A) People stopped building windmills when steam power replaced wind power as an economical way of generating energy.
(B) Since ancient times, people have produced flour by using stones to grind grain.
(C) Even in works of fiction, such as Don Quixote de la Mancha, windmills appear.
(D) Sailing ships operate on many of the same principles as windmills.
(E) The harnessing of the wind to generate power for human activity has ancient origins.


31. In context, which of the following is the best way to deal with sentence 5?

(A) Change "Another" to "An equally."
(B) Change "with" to "that is known to have."
(C) Change "many useful" to "widespread practical."
(D) Move it to the beginning of the next paragraph.
(E) Delete it from the passage.


32. In context, the second paragraph would be most improved by including

(A) a brief list of reasons that some people prefer conventional power sources to wind power
(B) information on how ancient windmills differed from modern ones
(C) additional examples of advantages that wind power has over conventional power
(D) a list of countries that depend on windmills to produce energy
(E) an account of how windmills are constructed


33. In context, which of the following is the best version of the underlined portion of sentence 10?

Some people are also concerned that large wind farms may interrupt birds' migratory patterns, although they counter that conventional electrical power lines pose much more of a threat to birds.

(A) they would like to argue
(B) their argument for wind power is
(C) the people who were for wind power argued
(D) people in favor of wind power argue
(E) to argue in favor of wind power means


34. In context, which of the following is the best version of the underlined portion of sentence 11?

Also, you have the fields of large wind turbines that are typically placed on ridgelines in hilly or mountainous regions, where many people feel that they spoil the beauty of the natural landscape.

(A) Fortunately, there are
(B) Granted, there are also
(C) In addition, not everyone welcomes
(D) In this case, the exception is
(E) Alternatively, this points to


35. In context, where should the following sentence be placed?

It presents problems of its own, however.

(A) Before sentence 2
(B) Before sentence 4
(C) Before sentence 8
(D) Before sentence 9
(E) Before sentence 12


PRACTICE #5 ANSWERS

1. E

Topic: Verb Tense
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

We see by, which is a trigger that lets us know that one of the perfect tenses should be used. Choice (E) is, then, the only possible answer. Additionally, the other choices' tenses are incorrect (we are speaking about 1755, which is in the past).


2. E

Topic: Ambiguous modification
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

Choices (A) and (B) are incorrect because during an interview with a local news reporter could be indicating when the announcement was made or when the schools will be built. Choice (C) is incorrect because the plan itself is not building schools. Choice (D) is incorrect because there is no conjugated verb. Choice (E) is correct because the modification is unambiguous; we know that the announcement was made during the interview.


3. D

Topic: Verbs
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

Choice (A) is incorrect because there is no conjugated verb. Choice (B) is incorrect because, if we disregard the independent clause, the sentence ungrammatically reads, "India...and provokes." Likewise, choice (C) reads, "India is encouraging...and then provoking." Choice (D) is correct. Choice (E) is incorrect because it does not follow the correct form of so...as.


4. D

Topic: Number Agreement, Correct Prepositions
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

The correct form is cited as. This leaves choices (D) and (E), only one of which is appropriately plural.


5. A

Topic: Comma Splices
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

Choice (B) connects two independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction; an ungrammatical comma splice results. Choice (C) has no independent clause. Choice (D) also has a comma splice, as does choice (E).


6. D

Topic: Comma Splices, Number Agreement, Participial Phrases
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

Choice (A) has a comma splice. Choice (B) does not use the participial phrase correctly; it could have been written as Being the largest rodent in North America, the beaver, however. Choice (C), when we omit the dependent clause, reads, "The beaver...which." Choice (E) does not employ proper agreement: rodents is plural, but beaver is singular.


7. B

Topic: Parallelism, Verb Tense
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

The verbs in a list such as this must be parallel in form and consistent in tense. Only choice (B) satisfies this requirement.


8. A

Topic: Parallel Comparisons
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

What follows than must be parallel with for their social value.


9. D

Topic: Comma Splices, Subordination
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

Choice (A) creates a comma splice. Choices (B), (C), and (D) are nonsensical syntactically. Choice (D) correctly subordinates the dependent clause. (This sentence was probably directed toward Sarah Palin.)


10. E

Topic: Participial Phrases
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

Recall that the subject of the clause that a participial phrase is adjacent to must be what that phrase is adjectively modifying. Choices (A) and (B) illogically indicate that Chopin is a musical work. Choice (D) has no independent clause.


11. C

Topic: Participial Phrases, Verb Tenses
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

Choices (A) and (D) create mis-modifying participial phrases: the walls did not paint themselves. Choice (B) has the incorrect tense (the sentence would have had to be reworded as If they would have been painted this afternoon, the walls would have been completely dry by tomorrow evening). Choice (E) creates a comma splice.


12. C

Topic: Correlative Conjunctions
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

Choice (C) is ungrammatical because the correct form is not only...but also.


13. D

Topic: Verb Tense
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

In context, it is illogical to use the future tense.


14. C

Topic: Coordination
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

When we omit the dependent clause, the sentence reads, "Ken Alice N'doye...but first learned."


15. C

Topic: Adverb-Adjective Confusion
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

more clean is modifying burned, a verb. Thus, the adjective clean should be the adverb cleanly.


16. B

Topic: Syntax
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Common sense suffices.

The sentence makes no sense with the verb in its current location.


17. E

Topic: Dummy Pronouns
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

There is no error. Don't forget that some pronouns are not trying to refer to anything (informally called "dummy pronouns"); in this case, it is one of those pronouns.


18. B

Topic: Correlative Conjunctions
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

The correct form is so...that.


19. E

Topic: The Absence of a Topic
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

There is no error.


20. D

Topic: Number Agreement
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

either meal is singular, but good choices is plural. (D) is a good choice.


21. E

Topic: The Absence of a Topic
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

There is no error.


22. B

Topic: Subject-Verb Agreement
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

Recall that intervening phrases do not affect agreement, so the sentence incorrectly reads, "the television reporter...were willing."


23. A

Topic: Relative Pronouns
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

Recall that the relative pronoun which should not be used with people.


24. C

Topic: Number Agreement
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

More than one person will have one more than one voice.


25. D

Topic: Comparative-Superlative Errors
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

When we are comparing from among three or more entities, the superlative, not the comparative, form must be used. The superlative form of innovative is most innovative.


26. C

Topic: Number Agreement
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

their is plural (in the College Board's eyes, that is); elephant is singular.


27. D

Topic: Subject-Verb Agreement
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

Don't be fooled by the inverted construction; even though the subject comes after the verb, they must still agree. collection is singular; are is plural.


28. C

Topic: Past Participles
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

Recall that the past participle of swim is swum.


29. C

Topic: Subject-Verb Agreement
Could the answer be determined by using the grammar guide? Yes.

At first glance, the dependent clause (i.e., that keeps it...) could be modifying either fur and underwool or underwool. If that were the case, keeps would be correct as either singular or plural. However, insulate is plural, so we know that the compound subject is being modified.


30. E

The first paragraph is talking about windmills and begins with a historical perspective.


31. E

None of the rest of the passage refers to solar power; to bring it up is going off topic*.

(* Did you notice the lack of parallelism? We can't mix gerunds and infinitives.)


32. C

A single example does not support the scope of the first sentence's claim.


33. D

Only choice (D) is unambiguous and in the correct tense.


34. C

The author is providing an additional objection.


35. D

The sentence most clearly contrasts with sentence 8, which is consistent with the semantic implication of the conjunctive adverb however.



The Essay

The SAT essay tests your ability to write in a superficially good way. That's right: the thoughtfulness and clarity of conception that ordinarily characterize effective writing apply much less on the SAT. The graders will spend about two minutes (at most) on each essay, and the result is a rather shallow and formulaic analysis of your writing. They do, after all, have to get through hundreds of thousands of essays within a couple weeks.

You will be presented with a prompt—one that has two justifiable sides. Your job is to select a side and support it with examples. Do not veer off topic (you will receive a score of 0) or attempt to find a middle ground; pick a side and stick with it. Pick whichever side you can more easily and cogently support.

There is no prescribed format for the essay. You don't need five paragraphs, your thesis need not be at the end of your first paragraph (though this is generally a good idea), and you don't need an elaborate introduction and conclusion. Try to shoot for around a three-sentence introduction and a two-to-three-sentence conclusion. It is commonly cited that three examples are necessary for a great score; this is false. A single, well-supported example is always preferable to three, scarcely-supported examples. Most people find that going with two examples works best for them.

Because of the time constraints, the essay graders will begin to notice correlations and use them to more efficiently assess the essays. One of these is length: longer essays, on average, tend to be better. As a result, graders will automatically associate length with quality. Again, there is no required length, but I highly recommend that you aim to fill up both pages.

Practicing the typical good writing habits is important. Vary your sentence types, employ descriptive and appropriate vocabulary when you feel comfortable doing so, and try to establish good fluidity (by smartly using conjunctive adverbs, for example). Avoiding salient grammatical errors is important, but the technical and rigorous approach to grammar that characterized my coverage of the rest of the Writing section is not relevant to the essay; minor mistakes will not affect your score and may even go unnoticed.

As for what examples are acceptable, just about anything will fly. However, historical and literary examples, as opposed to personal examples, tend to result in higher scores more often; but, again, any type of example can be successful if done well. And the point of the essay is to assess your writing skills, not your knowledge of literature or history, so carefully and plausibly fabricating some historical details or books is not a bad idea. (Stay away from citing very specific statistics, though; they are almost never believable.)

It is impossible to ensure that you will receive a 12 on the essay (each grader's score between 0-6 is summed). Indeed, because of the great inherent subjectivity and graders' hesitancy to hand out 6's, 12's are quite rare (each grader would have to give a 6). Indicative of the randomness of the grading are the facts that 11's are about three times as common as 12's (meaning that the graders gave different scores) and that about 4% of essays are sent to a third, supervisory grader (meaning that the graders' scores varied by two or more on a six-point scale). Moreover, 9's are nearly twice as common as 10's. These statistics do not reflect favorably on the College Board. However, it is possible to consistently score 10 or higher; a great essay will almost always receive at least 5 from each grader.

Luckily, you won't need a 12 to score well on the Writing section of the SAT. In fact, on every administration (so far, at least) you can receive 800 with a 10 as long as you do not miss any multiple choice questions. If you do manage to get 12 on the essay, you can usually miss up to two questions on the multiple choice and still pull off a "perfect" score overall.

silverturtle

Scoring

To calculate your raw score on one of the three sections, assign one point to correct answers and deduct a quarter of a point for each incorrect answer to a multiple choice question (that is, this deduction does not apply to free-response Math questions). Omitted questions do not directly affect your raw score, though the opportunity cost is still one point. The deduction for incorrect, as opposed to omitted, questions is designed to compensate for random guessing.

Once you have completed that tallying, round your score to the nearest integer value; .5 rounds up (which is in your favor). So incorrectly answering two questions is essentially the same as omitting two questions, but a third missed question can cause a significant drop. I explained some of the implications of this in my earlier discussion of when deciding whether to guess or omit.

The raw score can then be converted to the scaled score (out of 800). It is in this conversion that the curve of the test comes into play. This curve is not, as some people believe, an artificial adjustment of the average that is applied occasionally if students' performance on the test was below average. Instead, the curve is inherent in the conversion; there is no predetermined, "normal" scaled score to which a given raw score converts. The College Board employs a multifaceted approach to determining the appropriate curve, including consideration of a sample group's performance on the test prior to the regular administration and the test-taking group's performance on the unscored, experimental sections. Rest assured: variations in difficulty among the tests are compensated for. This means that it does not really matter which month you take the test as long as you are well-prepared.

See here for selected historical curves. Note, though, that the curves as of late have in general been slightly less forgiving than they used to be, most notably on the Math section. The reason for this is not clear.



The PSAT

The Preliminary SAT (PSAT) is offered each October. The test is most commonly taken by juniors, but some high schools encourage sophomores and freshmen to take it as well. Unlike the SAT, which is scored out of 2400, the PSAT is scored out of 240; each section is still worth one-third of the total composite score, however. Beyond the PSAT's being shorter (just over two hours) and its not having an essay component, the test is very similar to the SAT in content and style of questioning.

Some people have reported that they found the PSAT to be easier. However, I did not find this to be case. Also, the PSAT Math section supposedly covers even more basic concepts than the SAT Math section does, but again I noticed no difference. In any case the tests are very similar. For this reason preparing for either test will benefit you on the other. So preparing for the PSAT as you would the SAT (a process that I explained earlier) is probably your best bet. Just make sure to try at least one PSAT practice test so that you are familiar with the format.

The determination of raw scores and scaled scores works on the PSAT as it does on the SAT. The only difference is that the PSAT, as a result of its having fewer questions, tends to have even less-forgiving curves.

Luckily, however, having an ultra-high PSAT score is not important. The primary reason that students take the PSAT (aside from being occasionally forced to by their schools) is to qualify for some sort of honor from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. Only students' junior-year scores can qualify them for these honors, which I explain below:

• Around April of a student's junior year, he or she may be notified of having a PSAT score that puts him or her among the top 50,000 high-school juniors who took the PSAT. This is approximately the 96.5th percentile.
• In early senior year, those 50,000 students are notified about whether they are Semifinalists (the top 16,000) or Commended (the next 34,000). Students' scores determine which they qualify for, and neither Semifinalist nor Commended status confers a monetary value in itself. (Some schools do, however, give scholarships that are dependent on these honors.)
• Semifinalists are asked to produce additional application materials, such as an SAT score, a high-school transcript, and an essay. The SAT score must be high enough to affirm, in the eyes of National Merit, a student's PSAT score. The minimum acceptable SAT score is rumored to be around 1900-2000. As long as a student sends in these materials and meets the SAT-score threshold, he or she will be become a Finalist. About 15,000 students become Finalists.
  
• Based on an assessment of the additional materials sent in (the PSAT score is now irrelevant), 8,000 National Merit Scholars are chosen. These students each receive $2,500 (significantly more if the colleges that they attend give scholarships for this honor).

The Commended score cutoff is a national threshold; it applies similarly to all students. It typically hovers between 201 and 205. The Semifinalist score cutoffs, on the other hand, vary from state to state. Here are the most recent cutoffs:

Alabama 208
Alaska 211
Arizona 210
Arkansas 203
California 218
Colorado 215
Connecticut 218
Delaware 219
District of Columbia 221
Florida 211
Georgia 214
Hawaii 214
Idaho 209
Illinois 214
Indiana 211
Iowa 209
Kansas 211
Kentucky 209
Louisiana 207
Maine 213
Maryland 221
Massachusetts 221
Michigan 209
Minnesota 215
Mississippi 203
Missouri 211
Montana 204
Nebraska 207
Nevada 202
New Hampshire 213
New Jersey 221
New Mexico 208
New York 218
North Carolina 214
North Dakota 202
Ohio 211
Oklahoma 207
Oregon 213
Pennsylvania 214
Rhode Island 217
South Carolina 211
South Dakota 205
Tennessee 213
Texas 216
Utah 206
Vermont 213
Virginia 218
Washington 217
West Virginia 203
Wisconsin 207
Wyoming 201
New England/Mid Atlantic Boarding Schools 221

If your parents work for a participating company, you could receive significant scholarship money at lower thresholds. Additionally, there are other distinction programs that National Merit runs. National Hispanic Recognition Program recognizes 5,000 Hispanic students year. Specifically (from here):

Here are the most recent qualifying scores:

Region 1 - New England - 184
Region 2 - Mid Atlantic - 184
Region 3 - South - 193
Region 4 - Southwest - 182
Region 5 - Midwest - 193
Region 6 - West - 184

A 3.5 GPA (on a 4-point scale) is also required; this can be weighted or unweighted. There is no directly associated monetary award, but, again, some colleges will award scholarships to qualifiers.

National Merit offers a program for African-American students as well, called the National Achievement Scholarship Program. Approximately 700 students are chosen to receive $2,500 scholarships.

When National Merit Semifinalists are chosen, they are given an opportunity to select two "first-choice" schools, which will be notified of this selection. In doing so, it is best to pick schools that award scholarships based on the honor or that consider demonstrated interest in making admissions decisions (the latter fact can be found by searching a school's Common Data Set). Don't just select a top school because you think that it will make you stand out; a significant number of top schools' applicants are Semifinalists.



SAT Subject Tests

SAT Subject Tests (formerly called the SAT II) test your knowledge and skills in specific subjects. There are twenty different Subject Tests that are offered. Here is some commentary about each of them.


Literature: Poses interpretation questions based on passages and poetry from various eras. In some ways, it is a more difficult version of the Critical Reading section of the SAT. Some basic knowledge of literature terms is required. Getting a score of 800 is very difficult. Because of the number of practice tests that it contains, this book is a good preparatory resource. (800 is the 99th percentile; 790 is the 99th percentile. Around 59/61 (raw score) is required for 800.)


United States History: Supposed to be slightly more detail-oriented than the AP US History exam. The curve is rather generous, however. Though designed for the AP test, this book is an excellent resource for the Subject Test and has sufficient but well-presented detail. (800 is the 98th percentile; 790 is the 97th percentile. Around 79/90 (raw score) is required for 800.)


World History: The test's difficulty is largely mitigated by its very generous curve. (800 is the 97th percentile; 790 is the 96th percentile. Around 78/95 (raw score) is required for 800.)


Math Level 1: Although this test does not go in-depth as Math Level 2 does, the questions require slightly more problem-solving skills. Moreover, the curve is very unforgiving. I recommend against taking this test unless you have not taken pre-calculus yet. Note as well that some schools do not accept this test (such as the University of California system). (800 is the 99th percentile; 790 is the 99th percentile. Around 49/50 (raw score) is required for 800.)


Math Level 2: The test covers some pre-calculus topics, but the questions are fairly straightforward. If you are looking for very rigorous practice tests, check out Barron's. For more realistic and efficient preparation, Princeton Review has accurate tests. Sparknotes also has some decent practice tests; plus, they're free (they have some for a few other subjects as well). (800 is the 89th percentile; 790 is the 86th percentile. Around 43-44/50 (raw score) is required for 800.)


Biology: There are two versions of this test: Ecological and Molecular. All Biology test-takers will take the same first sixty questions, but the next twenty will focus on one of those two areas. The test is known to be somewhat difficult and has a relatively unforgiving curve. Princeton Review is generally considered to be a solid book for this test. (800 is around 98th percentile; 790 is around 96th percentile. Around 77/80 (raw score) is required for 800.)


Chemistry: This test goes beyond the material of the typical introductory chemistry class but does not get as in-depth as AP Chemistry does. Princeton Review and Barron's have pretty good review sections, although Barron's may cover more than you need for the test. (800 is the 93rd percentile; 790 is the 91st percentile. Around 82/85 (raw score) is required for 800.)


Physics: Like the Chemistry test, the Physics Subject Test is not as in-depth as its AP counterpart (i.e., AP Physics B). There are a few topics that appear on the Subject Test, however, that are not in the Physics B or C curricula. Therefore, students enrolled in either of those classes should consider flipping through a review book to familiarize themselves with those topics, especially if they are in Physics C without having taken B. Princeton Review is often cited as the best preparatory book. No calculus appears on the exam, and the curve is generous. (800 is around 90th percentile; 790 is around 88th percentile. Around 59/75 (raw score) is required for 800.)


The remaining Subject Tests are language exams. They tend to have harsh curves, and the percentiles are less meaningful because of the significant self-selection that characterizes their test-taking populations. The offered languages are:

Chinese (Listening)
French (Listening or Reading)
German (Listening or Reading)
Japanese (Listening)
Korean (Listening)
Spanish (Listening or Reading)
Modern Hebrew (Reading)
Latin (Reading)
Italian (Reading)


The College Board publishes its own book for all the Subject Tests; there is one practice test for each. The College Board also offers a book for their math Subject Tests. That book says that there are four tests—two for each level—but only two of these are different from the test in their general guide. The story is the same for their guide for the history Subject Tests.

Although it is worth it to pick up any relevant official materials for the practice tests, you will likely have to turn to other preparatory sources (such as those that I mentioned above) for more practice, as well as review of the material. Luckily, though, using official practice tests is not as important with the Subject Tests as it is with the SAT Reasoning Test.

In order to supplement my rather superficial coverage of the Subject Tests thus far, I have asked CCer christiansoldier to offer his thoughts on the tests. Here is the product of his gracious agreement:


AP Tests

By doing well on AP tests, students may be eligible for credit in the corresponding introductory classes at the college level. For his thoughts on preparatory materials and on many of the tests themselves, I again defer to christiansoldier:

See here for discussion of which books are best.


An Alternative: The ACT

Everyone should try both the SAT and ACT—whether you're from Indiana or New Jersey. Well, almost everyone: if you are completely satisfied with your performance on one of these metrics, there is usually no point in taking the other test. (In my situation, for example, I have 36 and 2400 only because taking the ACT was state-mandated.)

Some people (perhaps most) believe that the ACT is easier than the SAT. They, additionally, consider the ACT to be a better, more straightforward measure of the kinds of skills that are needed in college; in essence, they hold that the SAT seems to be trying to trick them (I find this claim unfounded, however), whereas the ACT is more like the tests that they see in school. This perception is attributable to the natures of the exams: the SAT is foremost an aptitude test, whereas the ACT is primarily an achievement test. What this means in theory is that the SAT tries to test your potential to learn and that the ACT tries to test what you have learned. Understandably, however, these things are significantly positively intercorrelated.

In any case, despite the fact that SAT scores and ACT scores tend to correlate strongly with each other, some people do better on one test than the other. This is why trying both is a very good idea. Do a couple practice tests with each and see where you are; then focus on the test on which you feel that you have the greatest potential.

Here are the SAT-ACT score conversions, as estimated by the makers of the ACT:

36 - 2390
35 - 2330
34 - 2250
33 - 2180
32 - 2120
31 - 2060
30 - 2000
29 - 1940
28 - 1880
27 - 1820
26 - 1770
25 - 1710
24 - 1650
23 - 1590
22 - 1530
21 - 1470
20 - 1410
19 - 1350
18 - 1290
17 - 1230
16 - 1170
15 - 1100
14 - 1020
13 - 950
12 - 870
11 - 780

As you likely inferred from the fact that 36 does not quite correspond to 2400, 36's are more common than 2400's (by a bit more than a factor of two). This is most likely a product of the way in which the scores are calculated: the ACT determines the composite score by averaging the four sections' scores, whereas the SAT additively arrives at 2400, thereby reducing the margin for error.

Here are the four sections of the ACT and some brief thoughts that I had right after I took the ACT (I add a couple clarifying notes now in brackets):

I suppose that I am still undecided about the Science section. It does tend to polarize people quite a bit; try it out and see how you do on it.

Because I did not prepare for the ACT, I cannot comment specifically about any preparatory methods or resources. However, I have heard very positive things about Princeton Review for the ACT (supposedly, official resources are less important for the ACT). You'll want probably the official book, though. I imagine that many of the tips that I offered earlier in this guide (especially the content in the grammar guide) would prove helpful on the ACT as well.

silverturtle

College Admissions


At some public universities, there are formulas that prospective applicants can, by inputting their GPAs and test scores, use to calculate whether they will be admitted. The transparency and objectivity of such systems lead to a straightforward route to acceptance at those colleges: if I earn good grades and do decently on that annoying standardized test, I will get in. This is not the case at many colleges, however—especially at the most selective private colleges, on whose admissions practices I will focus.

Many people believe that intelligent students just end up at top schools, that the best math student in a given high school will inevitably be accepted to MIT, for example. This is false. Also common is the idea that students who score very well on standardized tests are ensured acceptance at top schools. I mean, what top college would deny someone who has a perfect SAT score? The answer: any of them. Some people (including many on College Confidential) support this reality by claiming that there are just too many people who are perfect on paper these days (“If Harvard wanted only people with perfect numbers, they could still fill their class several times over”). This, too, is false; Harvard could accept all the perfect scorers and have plenty of spots left over. Less than .01 percent of those in each graduating high-school class have perfect scores on the SAT, and even fewer have perfect GPAs and Subject Tests as well. Nonetheless, the implication of those posters’ claim is valid: great scores (even perfect scores) do not ensure acceptance to any top college.

I could go through each of the other factors that are involved in admissions and delineate how none of them alone or collectively will ensure admission, and that would be true. But the most effective way of tersely summarizing the basic nature of competitive college admissions is to explain what colleges mean when they label their admissions with the true but clichéd term holistic: every aspect of the application is considered and weighed subjectively to arrive at a decision about whether the applicant should be admitted. That is, aside from not fulfilling the application requirements, no single thing will definitely result in someone's being rejected, nor will any factor alone result in certain acceptance. That's right: there is no minimum GPA or test score that you need; every applicant will be considered.

This reality comforts some and frustrates others. The former group likes the idea that applicants are more than just numbers to the admissions officers, whereas the latter group is unnerved by the unpredictability inherent in this method. Indeed, because the factors that affect admissions officers' decisions are not uniformly quantifiable or even objective, some decisions make little sense at our end. If you are doggedly set on attending a top school (the Ivy-League-or-bust mentality), you may be having the fear that you could do everything "right" and still be rejected from all of your top choices. And, I concede, that is always a possibility.

Yet there is an understandable order to admissions. Decisions are not completely predictable, but they are not random. Applicants can exploit this non-randomness. Now, I use exploit in the most benign of ways here; improving your chances to such an extent that being rejected from all of the highly selective schools to which you apply is a near-impossibility is very naturally achievable. You need not resort to painful, artificial ways of impressing colleges (by, for example, joining every club, even those in which you have only feigned interest). In fact, while that may be an effective means to an end for some applicants, in most cases colleges will recognize these ploys as such.

Let's examine each factor that affects admissions decisions.


Test Scores

There are three main types of tests that may affect an admissions decision (in order of decreasing importance): the SAT Reasoning Test or ACT, SAT Subject Tests, and AP tests.


- Do top colleges favor the SAT over the ACT?

Some top colleges used to require or strongly prefer the SAT over the ACT. For this reason many people still think that top colleges (especially the Ivy League schools) still hold the SAT as the superior measure of ability. This, however, is not the official position of any top colleges: they uniformly claim that the SAT and ACT are considered equally (see the earlier ACT section of this guide for the conversion chart). The data that do suggest that the SAT is preferred are not sufficient for me to confidently consider those claims to be false. And no one denies the reality that many students are accepted to top schools even if they send only ACT scores.

For this reason, as I indicated earlier I recommend that all students try both practicing with both tests to see which they do better on. Some people find one of them to be easier for them.


- I have taken both the SAT and the ACT and am not sure which to send.

Using the conversion chart that I provided earlier, see which score is better. If one score is significantly better, send just that score. If the scores are similar, though, you should send both; colleges will apply their own conversions and consider the scores from the test that you did better on in their eyes.


- If I have taken the SAT or ACT more than once, do I have to send all of my scores?

It depends on which school you are applying to. Some schools want applicants to send all scores (that includes all Subject Test scores). See here for a list of various colleges' preferences with respect to the SAT. I, nonetheless, advice that you contact the schools to confirm (and to see whether this applies similarly to the ACT).

If a school does not care whether you send all scores, you can, for the SAT, use Score Choice. With respect to the SAT Reasoning Test, this option allows you to send only test scores from certain test dates of your choosing. You cannot, however, select specific sections to send. For example, if you scored 1500 on one administration and 1840 on another, you can send just the 1840 if you wish, but you cannot send just one or two sections from a test date. But for SAT Subject Tests you can. If, for example, you took Math Level 2 and Chemistry, you can choose to hide one of these scores, even if they were taken on the same test date.

Because of the flexibility that Score Choice affords, it is generally a bad idea to take advantage of the option to freely send your scores to colleges before finding out your scores. You can't take back scores that have already been sent.


- When a school says that it wants all scores to be sent, is that merely a preference, or is it a requirement? Basically, do I really have to send all scores in such cases?

In most cases when a school asks that all scores be sent, they are communicating a requirement. They cannot enforce this request, however: colleges do not know whether Score Choice has been used. (Except in situations in which they find out through other means, such as when some high schools indicate test scores on their students' transcripts. You can have these removed if you wish, though.)


- Is there ever a point in sending more than my highest score?

Yes, there is. Many schools superscore the SAT. A few schools also score the ACT, but not as many. Colleges that superscore consider only the highest score from each section, even if these scores must come from different test dates. For example, if a student scores 730 on Critical Reading, 800 on Math, and 800 on Writing on one test day and then scores 800 on Critical Reading, 500 on Math, and 620 on Writing, he or she would have a superscored 2400. The link that I gave earlier also indicates whether a school superscores.


- What score do I need to get into a top college?

As I indicated earlier, no top school requires a specific score, meaning that there is no score that would automatically result in rejection. However, this should not be interpreted as an indication that test scores are unimportant, or that low scores will not hurt you. If, for example, all I know about an applicant is that his or her SAT score is 1500 out of 2400, I would say that the applicant's chance of admittance at the most selective schools (i.e., Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT) is very close to 0%. Even if you have good grades to accompany that test score, your ability to handle the work (as well as the meaning of your grades) is called into question. Top colleges will not accept students who they believe are not academically qualified.


- Is it true that there isn't much of a difference once I reach a certain score?

There are two schools of thought on this issue. There are some who hold that there is a threshold score (2100 and 2250 are often thrown around as that number) beyond which score increases do not affect admissions decisions. The other school (to which I belong) believes that higher scores causally correlate with higher chances across the entire score range. Yet consider this College Confidential post from MIT admissions officer Chris Peterson:

Is this true, though? I don't think so, at least with respect to every top college except MIT. Why? Two reasons: one, because, logically, SAT scores positively correlate with ability across the entire score range; and two, because all the data support the idea that scores causally correlate with admissions chances across the entire score range. Here is a sampling of some of that data (all of these can be found the schools' Web sites:

• At Stanford, applicants with 800 on the Critical Reading section of the SAT are 64% more likely to be admitted than applicants with 700-790.
• At Stanford, applicants with 800 on the Writing section are 58% more likely to be admitted than those with 700-790.
• At Princeton, applicants with 2300-2400 on the SAT are 130% more likely to be admitted than applicants with 2100-2290.
• At Dartmouth, applicants with 800 on the Critical Reading section of the SAT are 122% more likely to be admitted than applicants with 700-790.
• At Dartmouth, applicants with 800 on the Math section of the SAT are 68% more likely to be admitted than applicants with 700-790.
• At Dartmouth, applicants with 800 on the Writing section of the SAT are 118% more likely to be admitted than applicants with 700-790.
• At Brown, applicants with 800 on the Critical Reading section of the SAT are 39% more likely to be admitted than applicants with 750-790.
• At Brown, applicants with 800 on the Math section of the SAT are 28% more likely to be admitted than applicants with 750-790.
• At Brown, applicants with 800 on the Writing section of the SAT are 46% more likely to be admitted than applicants with 750-790.
• At Brown, applicants with 36 on the ACT are 119% more likely to be admitted than applicants with 33-35 and 273% more likely to be admitted than applicants with 29-32.

There is no merely correlational explanation for these data; it is illogical that higher scorers’ applications tend to be so much stronger otherwise that the correlation is fully explained away by these confounding variables. Consider, moreover, the results of an analysis that I conducted just over a year ago of the Yale SCEA 2013 results thread on CC:

Total sample size: 148

Asian sample size: 58
Average SAT score for an Asian acceptee (17 were accepted): 2347

White sample size: 52
Average SAT score for a White acceptee (16 were accepted): 2353


The acceptance rate over various ranges for Whites and Asians:

2310-2400: 47% (29/62)
2210-2300: 10% (3/30)
600-2200: 0% (0/16)

It is, however, important to note that I have no way of confirming the claims of those in the original results thread, nor should we immediately dismiss the issues of self-selection among the posters and the less-than-ideal sample size. Nonetheless, the results are compelling; there is no reason to believe that low-scoring acceptees would be more reluctant to post than low-scoring rejectees.

In totality, these data strongly suggest that the difference threshold facilitated by the metric (i.e., 10 points) dictates the difference threshold for discrimination among scores at the admissions end. At the very least, if there is a threshold for consideration, it is very high.


- So are higher scores always better than lower scores? I mean, 2400 can't be viewed as much better than, say, 2380, can it?

The difference with respect to admissions between 2400 and 2380 is so small that I can confidently call it negligible. What that means is that if you have 2380 on the SAT and get rejected, it was almost certainly not because you didn't score higher. There are other situations in which having a lower score would have little or no effect. For example, whether an applicant who performs well at the International Mathematical Olympiad scores 750 or 800 on the Math section of the SAT is of no consequence. That is, if there are other objective measures that demonstrate your skill in a subject, the SAT becomes less important.

For most applicants, however, standardized tests offer the only objective indication of students' aptitudes.


- I get that there is no minimum score requirement. But what's a good score?

It's difficult to answer this quantitatively. But I would say that unhooked (I will elaborate on this term later) applicants with under 2100 or so on the SAT have an extremely low chance of being accepted unless the rest of their applications are very strong (outstandingly so). As your score falls much below that number, your chance very quickly, though asymptotically, approaches zero. Most unhooked acceptees' scores are probably around 2300 or higher. For SAT Subject tests, 750 or higher is a good score (with perhaps the exception of Math Level 2); this varies a bit from test to test, though (see here for percentiles). Below 700 is subpar for top schools.

(For less competitive schools, looking at the schools' SAT ranges for accepted students can be a good indication of how your scores stack up. For top schools, these ranges should be ignored.)


- Is it true that the Writing section of the SAT doesn't really matter?

In general, no. There are some schools, however, that do not consider the Writing section at the moment (e.g., MIT and Cornell, I believe); you'll want to confirm this with each school, if you are interested, that is. For other schools, there is no reason to believe that the Writing section is given less weight.


- Should I retake?

This question is, likewise, difficult to answer; many factors come into play. Sure, higher scores are (almost always) better, but does that mean that we should take the SAT as much as we can until we reach colleges' deadline for scores? Usually not. Some considerations must be made:

How do my official scores compare to my scores on practice tests? If you are consistently scoring higher on practice tests than you did on the official administration, you should strongly consider retaking.

Do many of my top choices not want their applicants to use Score Choice If so, you should take into consideration the negative impact that repeatedly retaking the SAT and or Subject Tests may have. Three is often cited as the point beyond which admissions officers may begin to wonder whether you are score-obsessed.

By how much do I feel that I can improve? Even if you have, for example, taken the SAT three times, you should definitely retake if you think that you stand a good shot (based on practice tests) of increasing by 150-200+ points.

Am I willing to prepare? Some people are just so tired of standardized testing that they no longer have the determination to prepare or try on the actual test. This is not a winning mentality, so it probably isn't worth it to try again.

What is the opportunity cost of my preparation? If you could be doing something more meaningful (whether respect to admissions or not) instead of preparing for the SAT, you should do so.


- How many Subject Tests should I take?

Most top schools require two Subject Tests. A few of what I would consider highly selective schools do not require Subject Tests, but they recommend taking them (e.g., Stanford). Georgetown is the only school that requires three Subject Tests (Harvard recently lowered its requirement).

For most schools, if you send additional Subject Test scores, they can be beneficial, as long as the additional scores are good. For example, MIT says that additional scores will be considered but will not be weighed as heavily as the required two. Harvard encourages students to send additional scores.


- Does it matter which Subject Tests I take?

In general, you should take the Subject Tests on which you will do best.

However, some schools and programs require that certain tests be taken. Caltech, for example, requires that applicants submit a Math Level 2 score as well as a science score. MIT requires a score from Math Level 1 or Level 2 and a science score. Likewise, some schools' engineering programs require Math Level 2 and science scores.

Many schools have indicated that sending scores from Math Level 1 and Math Level 2 will not satisfy the two-test requirement. They have also discouraged students from using the Subject Test that is in their non-English native language to fulfill the requirement.


- How does my PSAT score affect admissions?

The score itself does not directly affect admissions. Colleges will not even find out your score. If you score well (see the numbers from the earlier PSAT section), however, you can become a National Merit Semifinalist by the time that applications are due. This has but a minor effect on admissions, though: a very large number of the top schools' applicants achieve this, and it is based solely on test scores, which they will already be considering in the application process.


- How do AP test scores affect admissions?

Partly because AP tests are not designed to be admissions tools, they are not as influential as SAT and Subject Test scores in admissions. AP scores are so correlated with the strength of one's high school (to a much greater extent than are SAT scores) that giving great weight to them would disproportionately disadvantage students from weaker high schools. Moreover, the scale is not nearly as fine as it is with the other tests: students receive only a score from 1-5.

But they are helpful in providing context to students' grades. For example, if a student has all A's in AP classes but a mix of 3's and 4's on the corresponding AP tests, the meaning of those A's will be called into question. Similarly, not taking the AP tests for your AP classes will likely force admissions officers to speculate in ways that are not in your favor.

Self-studying for AP tests whose corresponding classes you are not enrolled in is a good way to demonstrate the ability to independently grasp material and the drive to do so. This may have less weight, though, if you independently study for tests that are known to be relatively easy (e.g., Psychology, Human Geography, Environmental Science), as it may appear to be a move done not for the interest in the content but for boosting your admissions chances. See here for additional discussion on self-studying.

A final factor that may limit the value of AP scores is that they are self-reported; colleges do not request official score reports as they do for Subject Tests and the SAT/ACT.



The Transcript

- Compared to the rest of the application, how important is my high-school transcript (i.e., courses and grades)?

The transcript is the most important part of the application.


- Are there advantages in taking a rigorous courseload?

You need to take a demanding, but reasonable, courseload. If your school offers AP and honors classes, take them. Not doing so is one of the surest ways to essentially kill your viability for top schools. You cannot demonstrate that you are academically qualified for a top school if you do not succeed in difficult classes. If you do not demonstrate your academic qualification, you will not be accepted.


- Which is more important, my unweighted GPA or my weighted GPA?

If we assume that you are taking a rigorous courseload, unweighted GPA is more telling. Weighting systems vary significantly from school to school. Keep in mind, though, that admissions officers will be more interested in your specific grades and in what courses than your grade point average.


- What grades do I need for top schools?

As with test scores, no specific GPA is required. However, most unhooked acceptees at top schools will have all A's with perhaps a couple B's.


- Are my grades considered in the context of my school?

Absolutely. At some high schools, 5 to 10% of the class has a 4.0 unweighted GPA, whereas at other schools no one in the class achieves that. Colleges will use your class rank, your school's average test scores, your test scores, your grades, and the grades of other applicants from your school to better understand what your grades mean in the context of your school.

So if you attend a rigorous preparatory high school where, even among a talented group of students, no one gets all A's, rest assured: if you manage to stay at the top of your class (i.e., top 1-2%), having several B's will be a non-issue.


- My school doesn't rank. Does this mean that colleges won't understand how well I have done compared to my peers?

Although class rank is helpful (especially when the national context of your school is known), admissions officers will do their best to understand your grades in the absence of that information.


- My school bases rank on unweighted GPA. Will I be disadvantaged if I take difficult classes?

Your guidance counselor will indicate how the class rank is calculated. Colleges are aware that some ranks are determined in this way and will, therefore, pay less attention to your rank.


- Is it true that having an upward trend in your GPA is helpful?

Yes. In fact, the best—and perhaps only—way to save a relatively weak GPA (you can't save a very weak GPA) is to have an upward trend. The closer a semester is to the time of applying, the more important that semester's grades are.

For example, if you have three B's freshman year and recover with all A's for the rest of your high school years, those B's will matter very little. (Some schools (e.g., Princeton) do not even explicitly consider freshman grades, but those grades will still affect your rank.) But if you have all A's for your freshman and sophomore years and then get several B's during junior year, you have thereby hurt your chances significantly.


- You haven't even mentioned grades below B. If I get a C, are my chances basically gone?

Every year, there are people who get into top schools who have one or more C's, but there aren't very many who do so. If your C was in junior year, your chance will be especially impacted.


- All this talk of scoring 2300+ and needing basically all A's is scaring me. I don't feel like I stack up to all these applicants with amazing numbers. Is it even worth it to apply?

In most cases, yes. I am attempting to strike the appropriate balance between conveying that everyone has a chance if he or she applies and communicating the reality of the difficulty that applicants to top schools face. So if you are at least somewhat competitive numbers-wise for top schools, it is worth applying if you want to attend. But if you have an SAT score that is around, say, 1900, you're around only the top 20-25% of your class or worse, and your application is not otherwise outstandingly compelling, your application money and essay-writing time might be better spent on more realistic options.


- I got an A- in middle school. Am I relegated to community college?

No. Middle school grades do not affect your chances (unless, for some odd reason, your school considers middle school grades in determining class rank).

silverturtle

Subjective Factors and Other Issues

Upon hearing that numbers don't guarantee anything, you might expect that there are some important subjective elements at play—you would be right.


- Do I need extracurricular activities to get into a top college?

Essentially, yes.


- How many do I need?

There is no specific number; quality is decidedly more important than quantity.


- What counts as an extracurricular activity?

Anything you do that is not part of your curriculum. Truly, though: ECs need not be clubs or anything of that sort. Indeed, anything you spend time on outside of your classes (besides homework) is an EC. Colleges want students who are involved in things; this indicates the capacity to contribute to their campuses in a not-necessarily-academic way. What those things are is not especially important.


- Does it matter how long I've done an activity or how much time I spend on it?

Yes. Demonstrating dedication to a few select activities is enormously preferable to having a long list of things in which you dabbled. Also, joining a bunch of activities during your junior year is not a good indication that you are truly interested in those things; it, instead, comes across as a ploy to get into college. Admissions officers don't like that.


- Do I need leadership positions?

They aren't necessary, but they serve two helpful functions: demonstrating, of course, your ability to lead (or at least, they seem to; many schools' club leadership positions these days are little more than a title), and indicating your greater involvement in that EC.


- Is it true that I have to be passionate about something? What if I just am not at this point?

passion is one of those words that gets thrown around a lot on CC. In part, admissions officers are to blame; they repeatedly say that they love applicants who are passionate about something. But, in reality, there aren't many high-school students who are genuinely passionate about something, nor can I imagine that admissions officers are very accurate in their ability to gauge passion. Somewhat diverging from his peers at other top schools, a Stanford admissions officer expressed a similar sentiment.

So I guess that I would sum up the extracurricular side to things by saying that you should have a few activities in which you are interested and have invested great time as well as couple leadership positions. Are your ECs especially interesting and unique? Even better. Do your ECs demonstrate a clear focus while still indicating the breadth of your interests? Even better.


- I assume that volunteering is good to do as well, right?

Correct.


- What should I do during the summer?

Anything that shows that your summer was meaningful. There are many ways of doing this (e.g., volunteering, other ECs, summer classes, summer camps).


- What about work experience: is it helpful?

Yeah, though it's certainly not necessary.


- I have a regular family commitment that precludes my being able to actively participate in extracurricular activities or volunteering. Does this ruin my chances?

Part of the holistically reviewing mentality of top schools is their empathetic consideration of applicants' circumstances. That is, the commitment would compensate to some extent for your relatively weak ECs. However, it is does not appear that colleges fully compensate—they can't merely assume that everyone with extenuating circumstances would have outstanding ECs if given the opportunity. But don't forget: even that family commitment could count as an EC.


- I don't have any awards. Does that hurt my chance?

I'm going to pull "an admissions officer" and say no but that having awards will help. Lacking awards is not a glaring absence or detriment to your application. Nonetheless, succeeding in well-known competitions can be highly beneficial. Here are some of the most prominent ones (for some reason they tend to be math- and science-related):

- International Mathematical Olympiad: All interested students may take the open AMC (American Mathematics Competitions) test. There are a few versions of it: AMC 8, AMC 10, and AMC 12 (these numbers are intended to correspond to a student's grade, but you can take a higher test if you wish). High-scorers on AMC 10 and AMC 12 can take the AIME (American Invitational Mathematics Examination). 500 of these people will be invited to participate in either USAMO (USA Mathematical Olympiad) or the USAJMO (USA Junior Mathematical Olympiad); see here for details on selection and on what the tests are like (i.e., difficult). High-scorers on USAMO will be invited to attend a summer study camp. The six students who best succeed there will be invited to participate in IMO (International Mathematical Olympiad).

Qualifying for USAMO is a great achievement, and admissions officers recognize this. As such, doing so will provide a sizable boost to your chances, especially at a science- and math-minded school like Caltech. Qualifying for the summer study camp affords an even greater boost; historically, an extremely high percentage of these students end up attending top schools. If you make it to IMO and score well, you come about as close as you can to having ensured acceptances at top schools, as long as the rest of your application is somewhat strong.

The Art of Problem Solving series is widely considered a good resource for these competitions.


- International Biology Olympiad: All students may take the open USABO (USA Biology Olympiad) exam. Those who well (top ten percent) on that exam become Semifinalists and may take a second exam. The twenty highest-scorers on the Semifinalist exam are deemed USABO Finalists and are invited to a summer study camp. The most successful students from there participate in IBO (International Biology Olympiad).

Qualifying as a Semifinalist is a good accomplishment, though it is not as influential in admissions as qualifying for USAMO. Finalists, however, enjoy a great boost in their chances. As is the case with IMO, those receiving medals at IBO generally have their pick among the top colleges. (It is worth noting, though, that students who do well in these difficult competitions do so not out of wanting to improve their applications, but by leveraging their natural talent via determination.)

Understanding everything in this textbook is your best preparation method. But once you see the book, you'll realize that this is no easy task.


- International Chemistry Olympiad: All students may participate in their local sections' open exams. The 900 highest-scorers on that exam (usually top 9-10%) are invited to take the National Exam and are deemed USNCO (US National Chemistry Olympiad) Finalists. The twenty highest-scorers on the National Exam are invited to the summer study camp. Students may then progress to IChO (International Chemistry Olympiad).

National Finalists are afforded a small boost in admissions. For those who earn Honors (top 150) or High Honors (top 50) on the National Exam, the boost is more significant.

Doing well on your local exam is usually manageable if you have a solid understanding of the AP Chemistry material. The National Exam, however, is substantially more difficult. This textbook is often recommended for doing well on that exam. Those who succeed at the study camp and, eventually, IChO have generally completed organic chemistry and physical chemistry at local universities.

- What do you mean when you say "unhooked"?

Whereas some people use the term to refer to the strongest, most compelling part of an application, hook, to me, refers to something inherent about an applicant or his or her status. Here are the common hooks, as I conceptualize the term:

- First-generation applicant: This refers to students whose parents did not attend college. The admissions boost that results is modest at best.

- Legacy applicant: This refers to students whose parent or parents attended, as undergraduates, the school that you are applying to. Some colleges give a greater boost to legacy applicants than do others, but in general the boost is likewise modest, unless the parents are big donors. Some non-parental relationships with alumni, such as having a sibling attend, may result in a hook-like boost at some schools.

- Developmental applicants: This refers to students whose parents are very rich and have donated large amounts of money (usually in the millions) to the college that they are applying to. In such cases, the admissions boost is enormous; colleges need money.

- Recruited athletes: Being a good athlete is a solid EC to have, but being officially recruited by a college for sports is especially helpful. If the coach makes a strong pitch for you to the admissions officers and you are academically qualified in their minds, it's tough for them to say no (especially if the school is sports-oriented).

- Being famous: Self-explanatory.

- Being an under-represented minority: As it applies to college admissions, Affirmative Action aims to diversify college campuses (with respect to race and ethnicity). This practice is decidedly controversial, but I won't get into the issue here. See this thread for what turned into a heated and interesting debate about the merits and drawbacks of Affirmative Action. (But don't bump it please!)

The commonly referenced under-represented minority (URM) groups are Hispanic (with the usual exception of Spain), African American, and Native American, though the last group is actually significantly over-represented for the most part (I don't think colleges realize this, for whatever reason). African Americans are generally regarded as receiving a slightly larger boost via Affirmative Action than Hispanics. Despite Affirmative Action, URMs need to be strong applicants; like all other applicants, they must demonstrate convincingly that they are academically qualified for the school. More than ever, colleges are faced with far too many qualified URM applicants to be forced to compromise for the sake of diversity. Nonetheless, Affirmative Action remains a strong force in admissions today.

- I'm Asian. Do I stand a chance?

Yes. Asians may face a road that is slightly more difficult than that for Whites (though I don't see significant evidence of this), but plenty still manage to get accepted (and in disproportionately high numbers). Consider these data. At Harvard, Asian applicants are over-represented by about 300%; White applicants have about 60% of what their proportional representation would be. At MIT, Asian applicants are over-represented by about 550%; White applicants have about 48% of what their proportional representation would be. Clearly, it is quite possible to get accepted, no matter your race.


- Is a certain gender at an advantage in admissions?

In general, no. Girls tend to have higher GPAs; guys tend to have higher test scores. It balances out for the most part. At engineering- and science-oriented schools like MIT, though, female applicants may be at a small advantage: female applicants there have historically had a chance that is 160% greater than that for male applicants. MIT claims that this is merely the result of greater self-selection among the female applicants. However, I question whether that can fully compensate for the significant gap. At liberal arts colleges, males may be at a slight advantage.


- Will selecting a less-common major help my chances?

For top schools, your choice of major is largely irrelevant. The sole exception to this may occur for applicants who select an uncommon major and have shown great interest in that field throughout high school (e.g., a prospective classics major who has regularly done well in Latin competitions).


- I got caught for cheating at school and was disciplined. Will this hurt my chances?

Yes. Top schools receive too many great applicants to accept those about which they have integrity concerns.


- I am an international applicant. How does this affect my chances?

Negatively, for the most part. International applicants hailing from well-represented countries (e.g., China, India, and England) face especially difficult paths. Many such applicants who are admitted have international recognitions.


- Does where I live in the United States make a difference if I am a US citizen?

It can. Students from over-represented states (e.g., New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut) may have a harder time, whereas students from under-represented states (e.g., many southern states and those with very small populations) will be given an extra look by admissions officers. It won't make a huge difference, though.


- Is it true that a college won't accept more than one student from a single high school?

Some top high schools send dozens of students to top colleges each year; most high schools send none. Colleges have no quotas, but the best indication of how many a college will accept from your high school is historical data. That is, if a top college hasn't accepted a student from your high school in ten years, you and your three friends don't stand a great chance at all being accepted.


- I got a brochure from a top college. Does that mean that I would probably be accepted I apply?

No. Marketing materials from colleges mean, most likely, that the college got your name from a College Board list based on PSAT scores. It is not an indication of your chance.


- I got a "likely letter" from a school that I applied to. Does that mean that I will be accepted when decisions come out?

Likely letters are usually given to recruited athletes a couple months before official decisions come out. Some colleges also give them out to students for academic reasons in rare cases. If you receive a likely letter, you will be accepted unless you mess up big before decisions are released.


- I used to have all straight A's until I got two B's my second semester of senior year. Will I be rescinded?

No. Very few applicants get rescinded. It's going to take some D's and F's to get rescinded, and even then you might be able to explain your way out of it. Nonetheless, don't take the risk; try to not let your grades fall too much at the end of senior year. (The University of California system is an exception in that its requirements for keeping one’s acceptance are relatively unforgiving.)


- I think I bombed my AP tests. Will I get rescinded?

No.


- How much will a bad essay hurt me?

Significantly. Admissions officers care a lot about students' essays, and they tend to feel very confident about their ability to accurately assess applicants' personalities based on those essays.


- How much do typos in the essay hurt me?

It depends on the nature of the error. A small typographical mistake may go unnoticed and will likely be unimportant if it is isolated. But if you accidentally write the wrong school's name, it just shows carelessness. Similarly, a mistake-littered essay will reflect very poorly on you. It is worthwhile to proofread your essays (and your entire application) several times.


- What should I write about in my essay?

Your goal should be to write a compelling and interesting essay that reveals something about you that would make a school want you as a student. Also, admissions officers have read a lot of essays; avoiding clichés is important. Nonetheless, any topic can work as long as it is done well.


- How important are recommendations?

They can be very important, but they usually aren't. What I mean is that the vast majority of applicants' recommendations are good, but not great. Now, if your recommendations are bad—in that the teachers don't have an overall positive view of you—your chances fall without a reasonable chance of recovery. If your recommendations truly stand out as being overwhelmingly positive (i.e., a veteran teacher claiming plausibly that you are the best student that he or she has ever had), you can be helped a lot.


- How important are interviews?

The story is similar for interviews. For the most part they are not very important, as most interviewers will give modestly positive evaluations. If the interviewer speaks very strongly on your behalf, you will receive a substantial boost; but, again, this is quite rare. If the interview goes very badly, your chances will take a substantial hit. Likewise, voluntarily not agreeing to an interview will hurt you.


- Is there an advantage in applying early?

There are three types of early application programs (all of which usually require that applications be in by around November 1; notification is typically by December 15):

- Early Action: Applicants may apply to as many early action (EA) schools as they wish, as long as they only apply to EA schools. There is usually no advantage in applying EA. In fact, it is usually more difficult to get accepted early; colleges will accept only the slam-dunk applicants and defer most others. The relatively high acceptance rates for EA are largely the result of self-selection among early applicants.

- Single-Choice Early Action: Single-Choice Early Action (SCEA) is sometimes referred to as Restrictive Early Action (REA). With a few exceptions, applicants who apply SCEA may not apply early to any other schools. However, students may apply early to in-state public universities and can apply to rolling decisions schools (consult each school's Web sites for details on exceptions). At the moment, Stanford and Yale are the only schools that currently offer SCEA. There likewise seems to be no admissions boost in applying SCEA.

- Early Decision: Early Decision (ED) requires that students attend the college if they are accepted (if you are deferred, the binding agreement is waived). The only way that you can be relieved from this is if the college accepts a petition that your financial aid is not sufficient to allow your attendance. Nonetheless, you should not apply ED to a school if you need financial aid, nor should you apply ED if the school is not your first choice. ED does generally afford an admissions advantage, though.

See here for a list of schools with early and rolling programs.


- What are my chances if I am waitlisted to a college?

Not very good. Schools usually take a very small percentage of their waitlistees. Occasionally, they will take no one off the waitlist. But if you want to increase your chance, indicate your continued interest and send an update or two if you have any extracurricular developments.


- What is Tufts Syndrome?

Tufts Syndrome is the practice of waitlisting extremely qualified applicants in order to protect yield because those applicants are likely to attend a different school. There is no conclusive evidence for Tufts Syndrome, but there is significant anecdotal evidence for it. Some say that Tufts Syndrome is merely an attempt to turn down people who the colleges think are not good fits, but this doesn’t sound very plausible to me. In order to avoid being a victim of Tufts Syndrome, show great interest in the school (e.g., by visiting or applying ED if possible). Tufts and WashU are two schools considered to occasionally employ Tufts Syndrome.


- Should I send an arts supplement?

If you have unusually significant talent, yes. For musicians, it is generally recommended that only students with conservative-like skill send in supplements; you don't want to waste colleges' music departments' time.



College Confidential as a Resource

CC can be intimidating. Some posters confidently disseminate incorrect or skewed information. Other posters take every opportunity to belittle URM acceptees by accusing them of being mere products of Affirmative Action. And yes, those threads with people asking whether they should, for example, retake 2360 can be frustrating.

But it can also be a great resource and a helpful community of people who are going through the same process as you are and have similar goals. I hope that this guide has helped to dissuade some of that initial intimidation. Also, keep in mind that CC reflects a relatively small slice of the population.

One of CC's most helpful aspects with respect to admissions is the decisions threads. You can find these stickied on many schools' forums.



What Are My Chances?

Hopefully, this guide has helped in giving a rough idea of your chance. But a more accurate chancing is probably not very important; it shouldn't change whether you apply.

CC chance threads tend not to be particularly helpful. Most posters who respond to the threads are not well-informed and are merely seeking chance-backs. They also tend to give unhelpful responses (e.g., "The Ivies are reaches for everyone").

Just under a year ago I made a self-chancing Excel tool that was designed to take into account various objective and subjective data to calculate a rough percentage chance for a given top school. It's certainly far from perfect, but most of the feedback that I have received has been positive. For most people, I suspect that what it produces will be within 10-15 percentage points of the reality. Of course, however, the tool cannot account for your essays or recommendations. If you want to give it a try, PM me a request along with your email address.



The Common Application

The Common Application is widely used by holistically-reviewing schools. See here for a list of participating colleges.

You write one main Common Application essay (on a topic of your choice) and send this to every school to which you apply via the Common Application. Colleges also have a supplemental part, in which they will ask some additional information and sometimes request a school-specific essay or two. See here for a preview of next year's Common Application. You can sign up and begin filling out the application on August 1st.

Note, however, that very few schools require that you use the Common Application; most will have their own applications to fill out if you want to.



Graduate and Professional School Admissions, Briefly

- Graduate School Admissions: Because I am not especially knowledgeable about this (and certainly don't have any first-hand experience), I defer (full thread available here):


- Business School Admissions: The business school admissions exam is the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT). High scores on that test and a very high college GPA are necessary for getting into a top MBA program. At least a couple years of work experience is generally considered to effectively be a requirement as well.

In general, you'll want to attend the highest-ranked business school that you can attend. See here for U.S. News and World Report's rankings.


- Medical School Admissions: The medical school admissions exam is the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT). A very high GPA (probably at least 3.7, preferably higher) and a high MCAT score (around 33-35 or higher out of 45 is competitive) are needed for the most competitive medical schools. In fact, good numbers are needed to get into almost any medical school. Interviews and relevant extracurriculars are also important.


- Law School Admissions: Quantifiable factors drive law school admissions, though Yale Law School is often cited as a minor exception to this (they are more holistic). A high LSAT score and a high GPA are both a must for top law schools. If unhooked, applicants with 175+ on the LSAT and a 3.8+ GPA will have a great chance at top schools; being below 170 and/or 3.7 will make admissions to one of the top law schools (Harvard, Yale, Stanford) very unlikely unless you have a hook, and even then you aren't in great shape.

As with business schools, attending a top-ranked law school is significantly preferable.



College Selection

- Apply to a lot of schools. Some people, upon gaining perspective on the difficulty and unpredictability of top-college admissions, adopt the mentality that it's not worth it to apply to more than one "reach" school. In some rare cases, this is an acceptable approach. But if you are aiming for top schools in general (though not indiscriminately), the unpredictability of admissions should drive you to set a wide net. Every year there are many applicants to get accepted to only one of the top schools that they apply to. Indeed, there are few applicants who get accepted to a great number of top schools. You don't have to go overboard and hit every school on the US News and World Report top-twenty list, though. The general rule of applying to no more than three reach schools, however, is misguided.

Oh, and make sure you have at least two true safety schools (i.e., schools to which you are essentially sure that you will be accepted), unless you can get in one early via a rolling admissions program.


- Consider specific departmental strengths. Although this is most applicable to graduate school selection, it can come into play at the undergraduate level. If you are deeply interested in a specific field that is not very common, seeing where schools' departments stack up is very appropriate. But the common subjects will have strong departments at most major universities. Your interests, moreover, are always subject to change; undecided applicants especially should consider schools that are well-rounded. An applicant who is, for example, merely leaning toward math or science should not choose a narrowly focused school like Caltech.


- Rankings and prestige matter. Sometimes, that is. For many careers, students hailing from well-regarded schools will often receive a more significant consideration. Top-ranked schools also generally afford an advantage in graduate school admissions in that applicants tend to have more opportunities for meaningful research and can receive recommendations from prominent scholars. At law schools as well, students from top colleges are enormously disproportionately over-represented. Some of that is likely merely correlational (i.e., better students, on average, attend top colleges); some of it, however, is likely causal, given the extent of the over-representation.


- Personal fit and quality of life matter more. Visit the school; talk to current and past students—do whatever works for you to get a sense of the overall feel of a college and how well you will fit into that environment. If, for example, one of your choices is ranked #3 and another is #6, making the decision based on those subjective feelings of fit is infinitely wiser than putting a meaningful weight on that difference in ranking. You can be successful coming from any college.


- Make financial considerations. Don't attend a top college over a well-regarded but lower-ranked public university if the financial burden is substantial. However, for most students a top college will be cheaper than their local state university, despite those intimidating sticker prices. Consider, for example, Harvard's exciting financial aid program (Yale's, Stanford's, and Princeton's programs are comparable): families with annual incomes under $60,000 are not expected to contribute to the cost of education, and even families who make up to $180,000 a year (or higher if you have another student attending college or another extenuating circumstance) are asked to contribute 10% or less of their income. Moreover, Harvard and some of its peers (such as MIT, Princeton, and Yale) are fully need-blind for both international and domestic applicants; that is, the ability to pay does not affect admissions.



Acknowledgements

A significant number of people gave me their feedback on early drafts of this guide, so I can, unfortunately, offer complimentary blurbs on but a couple of them. I am especially grateful for these reviewers' thoughts, whose comments were indispensable and whom I sought out because I already had great respect for them (for purposes of respecting anonymity, I will refer to them by using their CC usernames):

Christiansoldier: Many thanks to christiansoldier for his helpful comments on my guide. His thoughts on the SAT Subject Tests and AP tests were likewise quite informative. He is certainly qualified to offer them. His standardized testing record is amazing—even within the context of top-college admissions: twenty 5’s on his AP tests, seven 800’s on SAT Subject Tests, and 2400 on the SAT. In the fall, he will be a freshman at Princeton, where he intends to major in public policy.

Mifune: I called this a blurb, so I’ll be terse: mifune is one of the most insightful and promising people whom I have ever met (though I use met in the most electronic sense). Having recently graduated high school in three years, he will soon be attending Harvard with the hopes of eventually becoming a medical scientist.

I also thank CCers TurquoiseHexagon (who, by the way, has scored 2400 on the SAT three times), Jersey13, and crazybandit for reviewing the guide.


About the Author, Briefly

At the time of writing this, I am a rising high-school senior. You can PM me for any (almost any, that is) reason if you wish to. I will do my best to respond, though my inbox has a tendency to fill up rather often.


Good Luck!

I suppose that my final, general pieces of advice would be to remain ever-thoughtful and to keep everything in perspective (this includes grades, test scores, college admissions, and a lot of things that I have yet to encounter). Anyhow, thanks for reading and good luck.

markalex1

Oh. My. That was kind of amazing.

Seriously, publish this. It would make a KILLER EC .

How long have you spent making this?

silverturtle

You're a fast reader!

Oh, not too long.

markalex1

Oh haha, I didn't read the whole thing, only the first couple posts. I'm not gonna need it for a while, I'm a rising 8th grader .

But I bookmarked this thread, and I have a feeling it will make me very very happy once I am a rising junior.

markalex1

Haha nice, this ultrasupermegabeastamazing guide is now a featured discussion .

everary

This pretty much summed up what I've learned in my 3-4 months of exploring CC and more. Thanks. (And what markalex said; seriously consider expanding and publishing this.)

Rtgrove123

alritey...well I gotta say this guide is more informative, to the point, and logical than any other college admissions/test prep book I have read (and I have read alot of them). As always, your work is stunning (in a good way =D), silverturtle.

Good luck on your applications (I'd be completely shocked if u didn't get into all of HYPS),

Robbie

Harambee

Great post. It was very helpful, concise, and informative. Thank you for posting and sharing.

Best of luck in your future endeavors, silverturtle.

onimpulse

Thank you so much for this!

Rayquaza

Wow thanks !!!!

Vince011

Very helpful, good work.

Zosilo

thanks silverturtle for your amazing guide.

hey guys! anybody have a complete PDF version of this guide?