SAT and ACT Testing days 2011/2012

All high school students need to take either the SAT or the ACT sometime during their student careers. To make it easy for you, we compiled a list of all the SAT and ACT test days in one place.

SAT test days

October 1, 2011                       Register by September 9th  (21st and pay a late fee)

November 5, 2011                     Register by October 7th  (21st and pay a late fee)

December 3, 2011                   Register by November 8th  (20th and pay a late fee)

January 28, 2012                       Register by December 30th  (Jan 13th and pay a late fee)

March 10, 2012                       Register by February 10th  (24st and pay a late fee)  No subject tests in Mar

May 5, 2012                                 Register by April 6th  (20th and pay a late fee)

June 2, 2012                                Register by May 8th  (22nd and pay a late fee)

http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/sat-reasoning/register/test-dates 



ACT test days

September 10, 2011                 Register by August 12th  (26th and pay a late fee)

October 22, 2011                     Register by September 16th  (30th and pay a late fee)

December 10, 2011                 Register by November 4th  (18th and pay a late fee)

February 11, 2012                    Register by January 13th  (20th and pay a late fee)

April 14, 2012                              Register by March 9th  (23rd and pay a late fee)

June 9, 2012                                Register by May 4th  (18th and pay a late fee)

http://www.actstudent.org/regist/dates.html

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Getting Ready For Senior Year

The Unigo Expert Network is a group of top education experts from across the US answering questions submitted by students and parents about college admissions and succeeding after high school.

See answers from the Dean of Admissions from University of Pennsylvania, Wesleyan, and have your questions answered at www.unigo.com/expertnetwork  
“As a junior looking to stay on top of my college admissions timeline, what are the most important things for me to be doing before senior year starts?” – Andrew S., Renton, WA

A: You have to know what you want to go for it!

It’s easy to get excited about summer break and zone out during the last weeks of school, but these are the days that count! So wake up and start planning! Your first step is to research colleges and programs that fit your needs and interests. That’s where a counselor comes into play. Set up a meeting with one and get some guidance picking colleges and majors that seem interesting to you. Once you’ve narrowed down your options you can start applying. Sure the application process can get overwhelming, but if you’ve picked some top schools and majors you’ve already tackled some of the hardest work!
Enid Arbelo – Editor in Chief, NextStepU
   
A: Getting ready for your college search, think "marathon," not "sprint"

By planning ahead, you can be ready to hit the ground running in senior year.  Do what you can this year, beginning with SAT and ACT testing.  Try to take each twice in second semester.  Learn about the options: large v small; urban v. rural or suburban; liberal arts college v. university.  Don't "think" you know the differences--take time to see samples of each.  Do this at schools near you--you'll learn how to "do" a college visit and be ready for serious campus visits in the summer and fall.
Susan Sykes – President, SS Advisor

A: Follow a clear game plan and meet your objectives efficiently

Paradoxically, much depends on junior year accomplishments, yet application time seems remote in 11th Grade. Sharpen focus by targeting your college goals early; then design and carry out an efficient game plan. Top students aim for highest grades in challenging classes, ace standardized tests through solid preparation and establish strong relationships with teachers/coaches. They invest personal time in meaningful extracurricular activities, assuming leadership roles when offered. Consider how you can excel in unique ways to differentiate yourself from other good students - through competitions, independent study, talents, community service. Above all, maintain your zeal for knowledge and joy in learning.
Gail Lewis – Educational Consultant, College Goals

A: Sign up to take challenging courses in your senior year

Contrary to popular belief, senior year is definitely not the time to slack off and take it easy. That is because colleges tend to look for and choose students who they believe are likely to be academically successful at their school. The best things you can do to show them that are to maintain strong grades and sign up to take challenging courses next year. By choosing to take more rigorous classes, and succeeding in them, you demonstrate to colleges that you have both the motivation to take on new challenges and the preparation needed to do college level work.
Julie Manhan – Founder, College Navigation

A: Juniors should commit to working hard in their academics

As the junior year progresses and the college admissions process begins, it is important to remember that a student’s first commitment should continue to be working hard in all their courses.  Throughout the college admissions process the student’s academic performance is the most important element in being successful.  Also, talk with your guidance counselor, develop a testing schedule and discuss what things you (the student ) have done in and outside of school since starting grade 9.  Remember, the guidance counselor is going to be writing your recommendation and knowing you well is the key to being able to highlight your accomplishments.
Elinor Adler – Founder, Elinor Adler College Counseling
   
Don’t miss answers by the Dean of Admissions from University of Pennsylvania, Wesleyan, and more – at www.unigo.com/expertnetwork.  To send your question to our experts, visit www.unigo.com/expertquestions

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October, the Hardest Month for Seniors

Right now seniors across the country are feeling the stress of college full force. It is a force to be reckoned with, and it's bad. The SAT is on Saturday the 1th, most schools have their homecoming games and dances in a few weeks, early decision college applications are due in 3 weeks, and a lot more! Oh and now that school has been in session for a full month, teachers are starting to pack on the work because the course intros are over. October is the worst month for seniors.

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college applications, common app, high school, High school life, SAT, Tips and Secrets

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Starting School Right

For many high school and college students, classes either started today, Monday the 29th, or they start soon. (Some unfortunate students started already, so be glad you had additional vacation). Everyone is nervous about their first few days and wants to make a great impression on the teachers and students that they haven't seen since the previous year. I mean really, who wants to start off on the wrong foot?

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getting an A, having fun in school, high school, High school life, study tips, Tips and Secrets

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Procrastinating in High School

 Is Procrastination Killing You??

I have been putting off writing another article for a good two weeks just because I am lazy and on vacation right now. The truth is that I have had numerous opportunities to write when I have been doing nothing but playing video games, but procrastination got the best of me. The worst part is that it happens more often than not, but especially in the high school environment. Procrastination has been known to ruin the careers of many high schoolers.

High School Students always feel like they have one more day to do everything that needs to be done. A teacher assigns an essay at the beginning of the month and says that it is due on the 30th, a time so distant that teens often forget about it. About a week before the deadline of a huge project or essay, students remember and actually start to work on said project. The key phrase is start to work on it. High School students rarely finish their projects until the night before or morning of the due date. Some have legitimate excuses, but most other teens procrastinate.


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Cell Phones, Gum, and High School

 It is like these two things give teachers a heart attack.

Almost every teacher today hates two things in the classroom: cell phones and gum. They do everything in their power to make sure that there two things do not appear in class, as if they are the plague. Many teachers go out of their ways and waste class time checking for cell phones and gum; it is ridiculous. Some students are disruptive with these two things, but the fact is that the majority of students are not. Good students are courteous and want to learn, so they do not let their phone or gum distract them or others. Teachers make a bigger deal out of them than most students. Gum chewing is not much of an issue, but the chances are that if a good student needs to use his or her cell phone then either: a) it is important or b) the lecture is extremely boring and the teacher needs to re-adjust to gain interest. Good students will pay attention so that they can do well on tests; they are responsible and want to learn. If anything, the choice of using or not using a phone helps teens build discipline and restraint for the future.

        


In this day and age, technology is a part of our daily lives. Smart Boards are starting to appear in more and more classrooms. About 90% of the rooms in my high school have smart boards and all of the equipment that goes with them. The Smart Board is one of the greatest inventions and it makes learning soooo much easier. Technology is sprouting up in other places all around campuses. Cell phones are one of the better devices for students. Do you know what the newest cell phones can do? The smart phones of today are basically hand held computers that can surf the internet, pay bills, check traffic, measure distance, find research, and much much more. Many are better and more useful than the desktop computers that high school campuses use. And what is the typical high school response? - Ban cell phones.

        

        

Cell phones can improve the learning environment. There have been countless times when, during class, a student or the teacher was trying to remember an important yet minuscule fact without success. The computer was already full of other lecture related windows, so opening another one would have caused chaos on the Smart Board. We sat there for a few minutes trying to remember, wasting class time in the process. Had a student been able to take out a smart phone and quickly check the internet, the fact would have been found, and the lecture could have continued. But being caught with a phone is a certain detention. Hand held internet can have amazing results on high school education, but teachers and districts resist. Why? - because they fear that it will get out of control. With good students, this will not happen. Respectful students would step out of the classroom during a lesson if they needed to talk with someone, knowing that they were missing valuable class time. Self Discipline is the key. Cell phones would allow students to develop this skill, something that simple books and teachers cannot foster.

        

Then comes gum. The only complaint I ever hear about gum is that there are some students who leave it under their desks or on the floor so that others can step on it. Teachers and schools just don't like gum for some reason. Enter research from the last decade that says gum chewing improves student performance, but schools still do not care. One study from the Bayor College of Medicine divided students into two groups; one that chewed gum and the other that did not. After 14 weeks, the study observed that the students who chewed gum during class and homework situations had significantly higher test scores and grades than those who did not chew. Coincidence? I think not. There have been other studies from other reputable universities that prove this same thing. Gum chewing actually helps students perform better. Some other advantages are that gum chewing occupies the mouth, provides some degree of exercise, and is known to relieve stress. There really is no reason why schools are so strict about gum.

        

Cell phones and gum are unavoidable. They are a part of the culture that we live in today and they actually have the potential to make learning easier and swifter. Schools need to allow students to use cell phones so that they can learn self discipline. One day a student will not pay attention to a review, fail a test, and learn the lesson that he should have paid attention. It will happen to everyone and they will learn not to use their phones unless absolutely necessary. Gum is a different story. It improves student performance, so schools should allow it just so that the students can perform as well as possible. The issue is getting teens to throw the gum out, which self discipline will also resolve. In short, schools need to be less strict about cell phones and gum, because these two things allow high school to provide a more rounded education. Who would have thought?

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boring lectures, gum and learning, high school, High school life, high school nuisances

1

Fun Summer Reading for Teens

 When was the last time that you read a book for the fun of it?

So it has been summer vacation for a few weeks already and chances are that we have all had our time to relax and settle down from the difficult year at school. If you are still in school, then that sucks for you  hahah =P  So besides homework, video games, sleeping, traveling, and hanging out with friends, one of the things that some teens like to do over summer is read. There is barely enough
time during the year to read any books other than
those assigned for school. It is sad but true.
School keeps students so busy that sleep takes
priority over almost every other activity. But
summer is here now with about three months of
vacation, more than enough time to pick up a few 
books and plunge yourself into a new world of
adventure and excitement. Here is a list of
books that I recommend and that are great for
summer reading.

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The Summer Before Senior Year

 Vacation is Upon Us!!

WOW. CONGRATULATIONS!!! You made it to summer. (For anyone who is still in school I apologize, but please come back to read this once your classes end). First thing's first, catch up on some sleep. We all need it, especially after a tough school year. Take your first few days to relax and recuperate. Unfortunately, school will start all over again in the fall, but that is a long time away. There are endless possibilities over the summer!

OK, so you took a few days to sleep and do nothing and then the boredom starts to set in. Students are so used to a set schedule that all of this free time throws them off. And then there is the thought of college applications looming off in the distance. A distance that comes nearer every day. There are plenty of other things to do over summer, but since this is a web site focused on college and school, I will obviously talk about how to tackle school related problems and worries. Here are some things that you can do this summer to help you out in the fall, with your college applications, and with your overall life experience:

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Math vs. Fine Arts
































     Which do you think is more important?


Especially today with budget cuts across the country, one of the first things to go in public schools is the fine arts department. People think that math and science classes are more practical in the long run because they can be applied to the job markets of the future. For this reason, Math and Science classes are rarely, if ever cut from the public high school curriculum when there are budget shortfalls. The problem is that Fine Arts are just as, if not more important in creating well rounded and educated Americans. School boards overlook the long range effects of cutting arts classes and focus just on the immediate budget. It is Fine Arts however that sets students apart, because everyone can count and fill a test tube. Fine Arts make a student unique.

           

Math and Science are very important, don't get me wrong. These two subjects help to propel our country forward with new inventions and theories. Where would we be today without the internet or the iPhone? People with degrees in Math and Science created these 2 pivotal inventions; we will always need scientists and mathematicians. These are safe careers because there will always be a need for number crunchers and inventors, but the problem is that there are so many of them. They are just cogs on a wheel; they can be replaced when necessary because there are others who can do the same thing. They are also just a part of something larger, as opposed to the something larger itself.

Regardless, mathematicians and scientists are necessary, and the more of them we have, the better.  Simply due to sheer numbers, the probability of new ideas is immense. These ideas help to keep America ahead of the other countries in the world, because lets face it, we are all in a competition.

           



Math and science are also universal subjects. A math problem is the same in English as it is in Mandarin or Russian. The concepts are exactly the same, only the words are different. The same is true of science. Mixing two chemicals will always yield the same result, just different languages have different names for the reaction. This makes math and science very versatile in the world.

           

However, what people seem to overlook is that Fine Arts truly define a person. They teach a student how to be creative, which is something that math and science cannot do. Mathematicians might be creative people, but creativity does not come just from studying numbers. Whereas there will always be more scientists, creative and original thinkers are more difficult to come by. A truly original idea can have just as much of an impact on the world as an invention. Imagine Adam Smith, Voltaire, FDR, Ralph Waldo Emerson, etc… We elect a president not because he knows how to crunch numbers, but because he has original ideas and can lead. Fine arts reinforce these qualities.

           

Fine arts also instill confidence in students, especially the performing arts. Singing and dancing in front of an audience is one of the most difficult things for a self-conscience teen to do in high school. Performing boosts self-esteem exponentially, making students more comfortable with themselves and their surroundings. Confidence is not something that a math class can teach, it is like a muscle that must be exercised in order to grow stronger. Fine arts allow for this exercise.

           

Although math and science are safe bets and universally applicable, fine arts are more important in creating unique individuals. Schools that cut fine arts classes only harm their students in the long run. There will always be a need for more creative thinkers, the kind that fine arts develop; not to mention that creative people are just more fun as well. After taking years of acting in school, I can say that I am much more comfortable with myself and not afraid to "perform" in any way in public. I do not think that I can say the same thing of the math geniuses in my grade.

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budget cuts and schools, Fine Arts, high school, High school life, Math and Science classes, school budgets

2

The Secret to Get Work Done in School

 Do you want to get all of your school work done and still have time to RELAX?

It is impossibly hard to get all of the work done that students get in high school. There is always some sort of project, essay, reading, studying, bookwork, or other homework that needs to be done and there is not enough time to do all of it. It would be great if the day was longer just so that teens could sleep more, but unfortunately, that is not a possibility. So I present the next best thing; the ability to get work done quickly and efficiently.

First I will start with the same stuff that everyone always says. "Teens need to manage their time better" is usually what others say when teens complain. I hear this all the time from teachers, counselors, parents, etc, but this advice is useless. First of all, these older people do not understand what it means to be a teen in this day and age. They think that life is just as simple as it was 20 or 30 years ago when they were teens, but that is simply not the case. For one, there is much more work in high school today than in the past. American students are just so competitive that more work is inevitable. Added to this are all of the other things that teens need or want to do in order to get into college. Teens manage their time as well as they can, which "everyone" does not understand. So now I will get to my advice to get work done.

1. Stay off Facebook until work is done. I do it, my friends do it, adults do it, almost everyone uses Facebook, usually wasting about an hour every day online. Facebook looks so innocent in the grand scheme of time wasters, but in reality, it is the worst. A few minutes can easily turn into a few hours on Facebook, so if students have work to do, Facebook is not a good way to take a break. I advise to stay away from Facebook, especially if students need just another hour to get everything done. Save the socializing for truly free time.

Image by Clker-free-vector-images

2. Prioritize!! This is what I will spend most of my time explaining because it is rather unorthodox and controversial, but absolutely necessary. My advice is to do only the bare minimum of work. Do the minimum but get all of it done. Lets face it, most teachers do not read every single homework assignment word for work before giving you points; these teachers have soooo much other work to grade. Take advantage of this. In my freshman year, I used to put all of my effort into homework, about an hour and a half per assignment and I usually got around 5 points for each one. For freshman year this was fine because nothing was too hard, but sophomore year was completely different; I had AP classes which changed everything. My old system of spending so much time on my homework would not work any more because I did not have the time. I realized that AP teachers could care less about homework. The tests are the most important part of AP classes; homework is just a few extra points.

Now comes the unorthodox part; students can half ass this homework because they will get the points either way! Although it helps to do the work so that students can preform better on tests, it is not necessary, and with all of the other work, it is not possible. Most AP classes are taught lecture style, so students will learn everything from the homework in class. Do the work just for the points, then pay attention in class. It will make life much easier. Tests reign supreme in AP classes, so they always take priority. ALWAYS!! A student is better off losing 3-5 points on homework than performing poorly on a test. On days with multiple tests, my homework usually waits until lunch. I must warn though that this method is not for everyone, so students should try it out before committing fully. This takes much patience, practice, and maturity. Learning this skill in high school will be beneficial in all aspects of life late on.

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Advanced Placement, high school, High school life, Tips and Secrets

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