A recommended schedule for taking the SAT, ACT, and AP tests

The Princeton Review published a High School Testing Timeline, with recommendations for when to take what tests.  Keep in mind that PR is in the business of selling test prep.

Here are key parts of the Princeton Review Timeline, with brief explanations of our local high school’s approach* to testing posted in blue text:

THE FRESHMAN YEAR

The Princeton Review philosophy is to not take tests during the first year in high school. We don’t even think it’s a good idea to take a PSAT as a 9th grader, because the scores seem to create more, not less, stress for the freshmen and their families. The one consistent exception to this is if a freshman is doing very well in her (or his) 9^th grade Biology class, and is planning to take AP Biology before the end of the Junior year. If these two factors are in place, then we think it is a good idea for that student to take the Biology Subject Test (formerly known as the SAT II) in Ecology.

Our Local School —
Similar to above, except that many accelerated science students take AP Environmental Science in eighth or ninth grade as an alternative to biology.

THE SOPHOMORE YEAR

October: Take the PSAT or the PLAN
These tests during the sophomore year are opportunities for risk free practice that should not be missed. We do not recommend intensive preparation …

May: If you are in an AP class, then you will have the chance to take the AP in May. Some students take an AP class, but then do not take the AP exam. You do not want to be one of these students. College admissions people tend to frown upon students from AP classes who duck out on taking the AP exam.

June: Take any appropriate Subject Test
Traditionally, if a Sophomore is going to take a Subject Test in the 10th grade, it will be in either World History or Chemistry….

Our Local School —
Similar to above, with the opportunity to take the PLAN only recently becoming an option.  I’m glad they now offer the PLAN because it sets the stage for taking the ACT, which is a better choice than the SAT for some students.  Students taking AP classes are required to take the AP exam.

SUMMER BETWEEN THE 10TH AND 11TH GRADE YEAR

If you have the time, the inclination and the resources, this is the time frame best suited for test preparation. The students have learned the vast majority of the material that will appear on the SAT (and if they’ve completed Algebra II, they’ve learned all of it), and it’s a considerably less stressful time to be doing this work….

Our Local School —
Most students are advised to defer any test prep until after they’ve taken the SAT in their junior year.  According to guidance counselors, at that point a student will be in a better position to decide if he wants or needs tutoring.

JUNIOR YEAR

While many different scheduling strategies can satisfy individual student’s needs, the majority of students fall into two distinct categories: “Aggressive” and “Regulars”.

AGGRESSIVE
(Includes high academic achievers, kids with proactive parents, students who had a lot of time to prepare during the previous summer but who anticipate being extremely busy in the spring, students who want to try to achieve some flavor of National Merit status, very weak testers who may need extended preparation to achieve acceptable scores, and students who will apply as Early Decision candidates).
October – SAT followed by PSAT (may not be appropriate for weaker testers)
November – Language listening subject tests for native speakers
Winter – Refresher preparation
Mar – The second crack at the SAT, if necessary
April – Try the ACT
May – AP’s/Subject Tests
June – Subject Tests

REGULARS
Sep/Oct – Light prep (PSAT Clinic)
October – PSAT
Fall/Winter – Intensive prep (can do extended prep starting in November or begin in January, both in preparation for the March/April test in either the SAT or the ACT)
May/June – Subject Tests (if needed) or a second attempt at the SAT

Our Local School —
Similar to above recommendations on Subject and AP tests, but less aggressive on other testing matters.  Our high school generally recommends waiting until the spring of junior year to first take the SAT, followed by the ACT if the SAT score was lower than desired.  On the subject of test prep, our school appears slightly schizophrenic in their outlook.  Guidance counselors do not recommend extensive test prep for the vast majority of students, but the school administration sends the message that the highest test scores are the result of test tutoring.  My guesstimate is that at least half the students pay for some type of test prep.

SENIOR YEAR

The Senior year can become complicated because it is so late in the cycle, and the permutations are very dependent upon the individual student. From the broadest perspective, if you’re “Aggressive”, then October should be your last ACT/SAT/Subject Test attempt. The “Regular” students may take these exams up to, and including, December of their senior year and still make it in time for most colleges’ admission deadlines (including the UC schools).

Our Local School —
Similar to above, with a general recommendation to complete testing sooner rather than later.

* This is based on my experience and observations, so I make no claim that this is a comprehensive representation of their official policy.

Related:  College application timeline

Higher selectivity brings ‘ethnic shift’ in college population

At CUNY, Stricter Admissions Bring Ethnic Shift

More than a decade after the City University of New York ended open admissions to its four-year colleges, a marked shift has occurred at its top institutions as freshman classes now enter with far better academic credentials and also a different demographic mix.

By “ethnic shift”, they mean more Asians and fewer Blacks and Hispanics

At the same time, black representation among first-time freshmen at those colleges dropped, to 10 percent last fall from 17 percent in 2001. Over the same period, the Hispanic share rose slightly for several years, then fell once the recession began, to 18 percent, while the white portion fell slightly, to 35 percent.

Asians are now entering the top colleges in the greatest numbers, composing 37 percent of those classes, up from 25 percent a decade earlier.

CLICK TO SEE THE GRAPHS IN BETTER DETAIL

As expected, the CUNY colleges have risen in status but lost black and Hispanic students.  I’d like to know if any change in gender distribution has also occurred.

Public universities in other states have also become more selective, but any resultant “ethnic shift” is unclear.

Across the country, the most selective public colleges have been growing more so for decades, with many of them seeing a notable shift in the past few years. The share of entering freshmen who were in the top 10 percent of their high school classes rose to 73 percent last fall from 69 percent in 2007 at the University of Texas at Austin, to 57 percent from 49 percent at Binghamton University and to 80 percent from 76 percent at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to name a few.

“There is plenty of evidence that our flagship public universities have been growing more selective for 30 years, with a decided uptick in this recession,” said Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

Whether there has been a resulting demographic change is unclear, because most colleges have changed the way they record racial data, and in some states, new laws banning affirmative action have influenced enrollment.

______________________

For almost 30 years, beginning in 1970, CUNY admitted any high school graduate to at least one of its colleges, though that meant admitting many who needed remedial courses. Enrollment surged, graduation rates dropped, and more high-achieving students went elsewhere.

Pressed by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, CUNY’s senior colleges stopped accepting students who needed remedial work, and generally required applicants to meet minimum standards for SAT scores and other measures.

I first learned of CUNY’s poor reputation when I was working in the oil field back in the late 1980s and a newly hired geologist who had received his degrees from CUNY felt compelled to explain he graduated before the negative effects of the open enrollment policy took hold.  Without that explanation, his fellow New Yorkers working in the Texas oil business (and there were many) would have been inclined to look down their noses at his scientific expertise.  It’s sad to think that a school’s good reputation was harmed by this action, causing it to lose strong applicants who felt their education would suffer if they enrolled in their local public university.

Boys report that discussing problems feels weird and is a waste of time

Boys reported that discussing problems feels weird and is a waste of time according to recent studies involving nearly 2,000 children and adolescents.

… The researchers found that girls had positive expectations for how talking about problems would make them feel, such as expecting to feel cared for, understood and less alone. On the other hand, boys did not endorse some negative expectations more than girls, such as expecting to feel embarrassed, worried about being teased, or bad about not taking care of the problems themselves. Instead, boys reported that talking about problems would make them feel “weird” and like they were “wasting time.”

Shocking, I know.

… parents also should realize that they may be ‘barking up the wrong tree’ if they think that making boys feel safer will make them confide. Instead, helping boys see some utility in talking about problems may be more effective,” Rose said. “On the other hand, many girls are at risk for excessive problem talk, which is linked with depression and anxiety, so girls should know that talking about problems isn’t the only way to cope.”

A middle ground for all of us might be best.

The takeaway for parents: Encourage boys to realize that sometimes talking is helpful and remind girls not to dwell obsessively over their problems.

What about college application essays?
Students writing their college application essays are often encouraged to write with great feeling about a problem that they overcame.  Boys might tend to have more difficulty with this topic.  Dr. Helen wrote about this in her post titled Does the College Essay Suck the Life Out of Boys?

One thing that caught my eye was how hard and depressing it was for the son to try and write the college essay. Many of the colleges ask for an essay about the student’s “inner life”–usually a buzz word for some kind of sappy self-absorbed nonsense where the student “took a risk” of some kind and went on to become a better person or some variation of that theme.

I can relate to this story and perhaps other parents of sons can also.  Not to worry, this is where essay tutors who charge $2,500 for 5 one-hour sessions can help you out.

Postponing remarriage to get more college financial aid

There are a many “tricks” that will increase your odds of getting college financial aid, including postponing remarriage so that household income looks low.

I Do! (In a Few Years)
The Fafsa asks a seemingly absurd question: “Who is considered a parent?” Yet frequently families react with frustration when I explain how the government defines parents for financial aid purposes. If both parents are alive and married to each other, they check off the “married” box and include their information on the Fafsa.

If there has been a divorce or legal separation, you need to determine who the student lived with more than 50 percent of the time the previous year. That’s the custodial parent. Only the custodial parent’s income and assets appear on the Fafsa; the noncustodial parent’s income and asset information don’t (though a child support question and another untaxed income question can reflect household support).

This is true even if the divorce arrangement says the noncustodial parent has to pay for the whole expense, or things are split evenly.

Here’s the surprise for some stepparents: Let’s say mom, the custodial parent, marries stepdad. Both mom and stepdad’s income and assets appear on the form. Maybe when they married they had a deal: he would pay for his children, she would pay for hers. Not happening. Of course, I don’t recommend holding off on saying, “I do!” (again) until after all the children have their degrees, but be aware of the rules.

Related articles

• Boost your chances for college financial aid with these FAFSA tips (costofcollege.wordpress.com)

Is it wrong to be your kid’s administrative assistant?

Many parents believe there are valid reasons for acting as your kid’s administrative assistant in the college application process.  Here is how one mother expressed it in a CollegeConfidential thread:

I feel a like a helicopter mom… but my kid is so busy with 4 AP classes, tons of EC’s, and writing application essays like crazy. I’d rather she focus on getting A’s and writing good essays; I’ll happily do the labels and envelopes and online ordering.

College admissions is a high-stakes game, so I agree with this.

I am a helicopter mom when it comes to the college admissions because of one simple reason – it costs alot of money. I’m not just going to let my child go with it….

Kids tend to take the world as they find it, so unless the parent seeks out and presents opportunities, the kid is likely to miss some good ones. That’s been my primary role in the college search: suggesting colleges, arranging trip logistics, researching FA information and filling out EFC calculators.

In some cases, kids going it alone have needed therapy!

… Our D handled the entire college application process all by herself without asking or accepting any help from me or my husband. I’d like to point out that she was accepted to every single college she applied to. She applied for scholarships by herself and was awarded a full academic scholarship at the college she is currently attending.

The entire process was EXTREMELY STRESSFUL for her and she began to suffer from anxiety and depression for the first time in her life. We ended up getting her counseling. She is doing much, much better now….

D was very adamant about handling the entire admissions process without any assistance. I offered to help out on numerous occasions, but she firmly declined my offers. Even though it was extremely stressful, I believe that she gained a great deal of self-confidence. Believe me, I hated to see her suffer from anxiety. Her therapist agrees that she is a much stronger person now that she realizes that she is capable of handling life’s challenges on her own….

What’s the deal?  Can’t the average kid handle the college application process on his own without ending up on the therapist’s couch?  Why are parents so involved?

• It’s very expensive.  Parents who want to be sure they’re getting the best deal feel they need to step in because their child is not savvy enough to handle that aspect of the college search.
• It’s very competitive.  Applications often need to be packaged in a way that will make them stand out in the increasingly sophisticated enrollment management  process.
• It makes a difference.  Adding or removing a college from the list, not missing an important deadline, and suggesting essay topics can be key in opening up opportunities that otherwise would have been missed if a parent had let their kid go it alone.

Our local school guidance counselor did a terrific job in overseeing the college application process a few years ago, but from what I’ve read this is very unusual.  Many high schools are understaffed or poorly informed, leaving students to fumble through the college choices, applications, recommendation letters and financial aid information on their own.  Lucky is the kid whose parent will step in to help.

Your chances for merit aid are better at less selective schools

Less selective schools offer more merit money but less need-based money.  But if you qualify for need-based aid, your chances are generally better at the more selective schools.  [UPDATE: Tables revised to show corrected admission rates]

If you do not qualify for need-based aid, your chances for merit aid are generally better at less selective schools.  In the first chart above, moving down one step from the most selective private colleges more than doubles the average merit aid amount.  The standard advice is to apply to colleges where your test scores and grades would put you well within the top 25% of the student body to improve your odds for receiving aid.  Your statistics are viewed as a way to boost the school’s prestige.

“Schools compete with each other to attract talented students… “If you want to recruit some of those kids, one way to do it is through merit aid.”

… “Universities compete based on prestige, so if they want to increase their rankings in U.S. News & World Report, an easy way to do that is to bribe high-scoring students to come to your university with non-need-based aid,”…

In addition to boosting prestige, colleges know that relatively small tuition discounts that attract higher-income talented students often yield them more net revenue than the more generous scholarships they offer to lower-income students.

“That’s a fairly significant percentage of what’s happening, especially for universities and colleges that operate on a tight margin and where tuition revenue is an important part of keeping the lights on,” said Jonathan Burdick, dean of financial aid and admissions at the University of Rochester. “In those circumstances, giving $5,000 against a $25,000 tuition charge is just like the discounting you’d see in a retail operation to bring traffic to the door.”

The Harvard Effect is a factor, causing some colleges to feel compelled to follow Harvard and Yale’s lead in price-discounting to affluent families.

Universities say they also have been forced to pay out more aid to people who don’t need it thanks to widely publicized changes in financial-aid policies introduced in recent years by highly selective universities including Harvard, Yale and Stanford, which raced one another to give grants to families with income as high as $200,000.

* Merit aid is defined as grants “awarded to students without financial need or awarded in excess of need”.

Source data is from College Board Trends in Student Aid 2011:

Want a free copy of the PWN the SAT Math Guide?

I’m reposting this from PWN the SAT because this SAT guide comes highly recommended and because I want a chance for a free copy!  You should post or link it, too.
…

The whole reason I started PWN the SAT is that I think good, solid test prep advice should be available to everyone, not just people who have access to top-notch tutors or prep courses. That’s why the content on my sites will always be free, and although I am selling a book now (I need to pay my rent, you know) I want to give you a chance to get your hands on it for free, too.

Here’s the deal:

1. You reblog this post. (Or copy/paste THE WHOLE POST onto your non-Tumblr blog, or put a link to this contest on your favorite social network.)
2. You fill out this form.
3. For every 10 books that sell, I choose 1 random person from the list, email them to make sure they still want a book and confirm their shipping address, and send them a free copy.

What?

If you have no idea what the PWN the SAT Math Guide is or why you’d want it, the book’s Amazon page allows you to browse through and see what it’s about.

Why?

Well, it’d be nice to get the word out, but I don’t exactly have a marketing budget. This is a promotion that pays for itself, so I know I’ll always be able to afford to ship out the prizes.

And I’ve heard from a bunch of people that they want my book but can’t afford it.

I feel like this one stone, if it catches on, can kill both birds. You help me get the word out, and I give you free stuff.

Restrictions:

• This is only available to USA residents, because I don’t really know how to ship internationally. Sorry.
• Only one entry per person.
• I’ll check to make sure your post is still up before I contact you to tell you you’ve won, so you can’t just make a post and then delete it.
• This is important: PLEASE don’t spam. That means don’t put this where you don’t have permission to put it. Don’t put it on message boards that forbid advertising. Don’t put it ANYWHERE it won’t be welcome. If you have any doubt about whether you should be posting this, don’t.
• This promotion will run through the entire month of February, but I might extend it further if it seems to be working well.

http://qa.pwnthesat.com/post/16873853535/want-a-free-copy-of-the-pwn-the-sat-math-guide

College Goal Sunday helps students obtain financial aid

College Goal Sunday is a program dedicated to assisting students and families in accessing financial aid for college.  Events are held nationwide where students can go to:

• Get free on-site professional assistance filling out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) form.
• Talk to financial aid professionals about financial aid resources and how to apply.
• Get information regarding state-wide student services, admission requirements, and more!

Check out their website to find a location near you.  Act quickly because you must pre-register and some sites are very popular.  I will be at the New Rochelle College Goal Sunday on February 12, but it has filled up and is no longer accepting registrations.  Yonkers is nearby and still has open slots.

(Cross-posted at Kitchen Table Math)

A new college consumer report card or just another mandate?

Part of me finds this proposed college consumer report card very appealing and part finds it to be just another government mandate that will end up providing minimal value at high cost.

Should each college be required to post–one-click from its homepage–externally audited consumer information for prospective students? The data might include: the percentage of freshmen that graduate in four years, the progress they make in reading and critical thinking, the employment rate and earnings for recent graduates by degree, and (as the Occupiers would approve) the actual four-year cost of school, including cash and loan financial aid, broken down by family income and assets.

On the other hand, prospective students and families are already buried in information about colleges. They have independently written college guides, and more statistics, facts, and opinions are a mere Google-search away. Is mandating a college report card just one more governmental intrusion that will, like privacy disclosure laws, create a mountain of paper and bureaucrats scrambling to fulfill the requirement while improving few students’ lives?

Ultimately, I vote no to another mandate like this.  All this information is available, although sometimes difficult to find.  I see an opportunity for an enterprising company to organize this type of information in a way that’s easier for families to use.

Do Colleges Need a Consumer’s Report Card? – The Atlantic, 1/9/12

Related articles

• Net Price Calculator for all colleges mandated by October 29 (costofcollege.wordpress.com)

A wholesome Facebook profile especially important for scholarship students

An untarnished ‘digital personality’ may be especially important for scholarship or honors college students.

A recent survey revealed that colleges are snooping online to check applicants

Nearly a quarter (24%) of admissions officials at 359 selective colleges say they used Facebook, up from 6% the previous year, and 20% used Google to help evaluate an applicant, says the survey, conducted byKaplan Test Prep….

Of survey takers who went online, 12% say what they found “negatively impacted” the applicant’s chances of admission. That’s down from 38% in 2008, when 10% said they consulted social networking sites while evaluating students. Among offenses cited: essay plagiarism, vulgarities in blogs and photos showing underage drinking.

Of course, not every applicant is checked.

Marthers and others say such checks are not routine — it’s too time-consuming, for one thing. But “if ever a post is brought to our attention, you can be certain we’ll check it out,” says Ray Brown, admission dean at Texas Christian University. He says he rejected one applicant who, he discovered through an anonymous tip, had posted pornographic images of herself online.

It appears you are more likely to be checked if you’re being considered for a scholarship or for a spot in a school’s honors program.  Here’s one anecdote.

After I went to a scholarship weekend at my state’s flagship school, I learned that they searched those students on facebook. They only searched the top 100 students out of the 20,000+ who applied, but if you are in elite (top 1%) of applicants at a school, you should be wary that you will probably be searched, whether on Google or Facebook or Twitter or any other site. I know one student who was up for a big scholarship at an LAC, and when she showed up for an interview they asked her about articles and studies she had posted on a website. Granted, these were all great pieces of research and intelligent discussions that she had posted, things that helped her in the admissions process, but she had not included all of it in her application and these things had been found by the ADCOM.

Shawn Abbott, an admissions officer formerly at Stanford and now at NYU confirms digital snooping.

“Though we certainly have better uses of our time than trolling Facebook for evidence of deviant behavior, if we’re prompted to look at a website posting and what we find is in conflict with our standards for admission, of course we may be influenced by that information in making admission decisions or revoking decisions already made,” he said.

Abbott cited situations in which “evidence of illegal activity, academic integrity violations and racist commentary” would prompt a revoked admissions offer. According to the Kaplan survey, 38 percent of admissions officers surveyed said applicants’ social networking sites had a negative impact on their admissions evaluation.

This makes sense to me.  If nothing else, colleges would not want to deal with the bad publicity from any case where one of their star students turned out to be a fraud and/or of poor moral character.

Some students try to evade detection.  One trend I’ve observed and read about is high school students using pseudonyms on their Facebook pages, partly to give the slip to snoopers.  For example, ‘Sarah Ann Springer’ might change her name to something like ‘Sarah Sass’.