End-of-November reality check for Class of ‘10
Juniors: you’ve all heard that this is the hardest year of high school. You’re most likely taking your most challenging load of courses, maybe even some of your first AP classes. You know your most recent grades matter most to colleges and hopefully you’ve been working hard to keep those GPAs up.
However, if you haven’t already, it’s a good idea to start thinking about standardized testing. While many juniors choose to wait until April or May to sit for their first SAT or ACT, it is likely in your best interest to get ahead of the game and plan to take the test in March (or earlier, depending on how prepared you are).
You’ll also want to start mulling over your college choices and take stock of the testing requirements they have: do they accept the SAT or ACT? How many SAT Subject tests do they require? Does ACT stand in place of Subject Tests? You may find that you’ll want to use the May or June test dates to take SAT Subject tests that are closely related to the AP/IB courses in which you’re enrolled. Since you can’t take a Subject Test and the regular SAT on the same day, it’s a good idea to plan ahead.
While you don’t yet need to be in a panic, next Thanksgiving you may be thanking yourself for having planned ahead as you work on developing applications—they can be overwhelming enough without the frenzy of a last-ditch-effort SAT or ACT.
You can find test calendars at www.collegeboard.com and www.ACT.org. Keep up the good work!
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