If Your Life Is Not A Bowl of Cherries

So you want to go to college, but there has been a significant problem during your high school years.  Perhaps you have been suspended, been arrested, have abused drugs or alcohol, or have suffered from a mental illness.

You might wonder what your options are, so first ask yourself these three questions:

1. Have I healed from the problem? 
2. Do I want to go to college?
3.  Am I ready to start college with the rest of my high school graduating class?

If you answered no to one or more of these questions, you may need professional help to recover from the problem and/or you may want to work or take a gap year (or more) before pursuing further education.

  

If you answered yes to all three of these questions, I recommend that you write an extra essay, a special circumstances essay, as part of your college application.  This essay should be focused on your recovery, not your problem, and should describe how the problem led to who you are today.  In this essay, you will let the college know what the reason for your suspension, arrest, drop in grades, and/or missed semester was.  You will need to take full responsibility for what happened, explain how you have changed, and what you have learned from your decisions.  

The Changing SAT and ACT Landscape

Here are the highlights of a recent HECA webinar on testing by Jed Applerouth, founder of Applerouth Tutoring Services

SAT changes: The SAT is morphing into an ACT.  It has been changing from an aptitude test to an achievement test.  In 2016, it will undergo a major shift.  It will:

• Drop sentence completion
• Add more difficult math
• Eliminate calculator use for one math section
• Include grammar questions in the context of paragraphs
• Add science tables, charts and graphs to verbal and math sections
• Include evidence-based essays
• Eliminate questions that are not aligned with the Common Core standards
• Allow more time per question.

The math will include new topics including trigonometry, radians, equations of a circle, and congruence theorems.  There will be less geometry and there will be more algebra, requiring a deeper understanding of equations. 

Students will have twice as much time for the new essay.  “[The] essay should not explain whether you agree with [the author’s] claims, but rather explain how [the author] builds an argument to persuade his audience.”

The current SAT allows more time per question than the ACT.  The new SAT will allow even more time, which will be a plus for students with slower processing speeds.

ACT changes:  The ACT changes are subtler and include:

• Essay changes - Students will be asked to analyze a complex issue, after being provided several perspectives.

• Extra scores/reporting – There will be four new college readiness indicators: a STEM score of math and science; an English Language Arts score of English, Reading and Writing; a Progress Towards Career Readiness score; and a Text Complexity Progress indicator.
• Digital assessments – Computer-based tests will be introduced in some districts and states in 2015 and will be introduced more widely in 2016.
• Reading changes – Students will be asked to compare and contrast two reading passages (as has been done in the SAT).
• Optional constructed response subject test. – Optional 30-minute subject tests in reading, math and science, that assess whether students can justify, explain and use evidence to support claims, will be added.

Timeline: The timeline of SAT and ACT changes are as follows:

• December 2014 – Practice PSAT released
• March 2015 – Practice SATs released with College Board book to follow
• Spring/Fall 2015 – Digital ACT and ACT changes
• October 2015 – New PSAT for Class of 2017 and 2018
• January 2016 – Final old SAT
• March 2016 – New SAT released and first digital SAT.

The Class of 2017 (rising Sophomores) will be able to take either the old SAT or the new SAT or both.

Are you looking forward to these changes?