your highs and your lows

Test Preparation
1

<p>so as high schoolers, many of us have had experiences with the SAT I/SAT II/ACT/AP. i thought it’d be kinda fun to talk about the “highs” and “lows” you’ve had on your standardized testing journey. not strictly in terms of numbers, but also in experiences tooooo. i’ll go first:</p>

<p>highs:

  1. screaming at the top of my lungs after staying up til 1 a.m. to see my september ACT score-34 composite!
  2. getting 36 in english (up from 30 in april) and 35 in math (up from 26 in april)
  3. scoring 790 in u.s. history and 770 in spanish (up from 670 in june)
  4. deciding last night on a total whim to take the SAT today (i’ve never taken it before). if i do well, great, if not…then i don’t have to send it. i put this as a “high” because it showed my determination to do anything and everything that could POSSIBLY increase my chances at colleges
  5. 5s on u.s. history and world history aps
  6. miraculously scoring a 33 on the science section of the ACT in september despite getting practice test scores in the 20s for science</p>

<p>lows:

  1. arguing for hours on CC about ACT reading questions which i think i ended up losing on…because i got a 33 as opposed to my 35 in april
  2. getting a 690 on sat biology and a 3 on the ap
  3. scoring a 30 composite on my first ACT (april) because it is an uncompetitive score for the schools i’m looking at
  4. scoring a 670 when i first took the sat spanish in june
  5. scoring a 4 on the spanish ap…this isn’t a “low” persay but i REALLY wanted that 5
  6. the frustration i felt the week before the september ACT…i was doing awful on the science sections of the practice tests</p>
2

<p>SAT:
High 1. Finding out my first SAT in sophomore year was a 2300.
Low 1. Finding out my cousin in Massachusetts got a 2400.
Low 2. Getting a 2200 on my next SAT (after thinking I’d do better)
High 2. Checking my Oct 9 SAT scores, and seeing I got a 2340 w/ a super of 2350.
Low 3. Finding out I was 3 questions from a 2400.
High 3. Deciding it doesn’t matter anymore. :)</p>

<p>ACT:
High 1. Getting a 35.
Low 1. Finding out that 1 more point in math would’ve netted me a 36.</p>

<p>AP:
High 1. Getting a 5 on my first exam (Human Geo)
High 2. Getting a 5 on my second exam (gov&pol)
High 3. Beating the crap out of stats so badly I had time to write a sonnet about about standard distribution, then cross it out so it wouldn’t be graded.
Low 1. Realizing I read one of the calc bc free response questions wrong…
Low 2. Getting a 4 on Calc <– I’m Asian
Low 3. Getting a 4 on English III (after all the work in that ridiculous class and getting 5’s on like a dozen practice exams. maybe i shouldnt have been so sexist in second or third essay)
High 4. AP scholar with distinction. what what.</p>

3

<p>ACT:
High 1: Getting a 30 composite 1st time taking the test w/o studying, though I expected more like a 31-32 (soph)
Low 1: Only a 33 on English when I got a 35 on my practice test :frowning:
Low 2: Only a 30 on the Math when I was getting consistent 32’s and 33’s
High 2: 30 Reading and 28 Science. They must improve for sure, but I was glad they weren’t in the low 20’s like I dreaded</p>

<p>SAT:
High: 790 on USH SAT II
Low: I’m pretty sure I only got like a 200 on the PSAT. The SAT is not for me.</p>

<p>AP:
High: Only sophomore in my APUSH class, and the only one to score a 5 on the exam
High: 5’s on Environmental Science and Human Geo- soph self studies
Low: The extreme amounts of stress I experienced previous to the AP exams and in waiting for my scores.</p>