The tendency over the summer is to enrol in intensive on-campus pre-university programs to effectively pad university applications. While there is no firm data on whether these activities actually do help with applications, they certainly do help universities monetize their lovely campuses and graduate students earn some nice money over the break teaching wealthy high school students. There is also a more recent trend of kids writing "academic papers" in partnership with "mentors" which are then "published" in "academic journals". This grift is revealed in this recent article.
So, what should a rising junior or senior do with their summer break? Here are some ideas:
- Tour Schools
Go on university tours. Even you aren't interested in a school, go on the tour if your travel brings you near the campus. Top tip: after a tour finishes, sit down and write notes about the campus you just viewed to refer to later. Otherwise the campuses tend to merge together in your memory a bit like temples in Thailand.
- Get A Job!
If you are legally allowed, get a paid job. Lifeguarding, baby-siting, F & B, landscaping, retail, whatever you can find. You will learn more about what you want to do with your life and how to interact with other people in a summer working at McDonalds than in Economics 101.
- Intern
We recommend students leverage their parents' professional networks (LinkedIn) and see if anyone might need a gofer/peon for a few weeks. The job should entail making copies, mindless data entry, pointless market research, and fetching tea/coffee/muffins for people. This experience should hopefully be both enriching and humbling for students as they learn a bit more about how the real world actually operates. You don't need a work visa for an unpaid internship.
- MOOC MOOC MOOC!!!
Massive Online Open Courses are a great way for a young student to dip a toe into real collegiate-level academic content. A good directory is here.
- Khan!!!! (Sal, not Noonien Singh)
You should be able to get your hands on the syllabi of some of the courses you are taking next school year. Why not steal a march and use Khan Academy to knock out the first few modules of math/econ/history so you can get off to a great start on the school year?
- Read More
We are a bit of a broken record on this. Here is a great list of 20 "must read" books for high school students. Beyond that reading magazines and anything without too many pictures will serve you well.
- Relax
School is stressful. Covid was stressful. Life is stressful. Be sure to take the time to do things that you find help you to relax. Run. Walk. Bake. Cook. Meditate. Binge watch. Zone out. Have a great holiday!
Recent Trends in Admissions and Testing - August 2022
We will need another hour-long webinar to even come close to covering all the developments in the world of testing and admissions. The impact of the Covid pandemic is ongoing and indeed will be echoing around the halls of learning for years to come. American Universities stopped requiring tests students couldn't take, and there was an ensuing flight to perceived quality among applicants. The direct result was a well-reported and alarming reduction in the acceptance rate of the most competitive schools as students no longer saw a (relatively) middling test score as a barrier to entry.
The universities opened their application doors up widely and have been enjoying an unprecedented surge in interest, applications, and application fees. What they haven't done is expanded any of the entering class size to any real degree with giants such the University of California system actually reducing the seats available to out-of-state applicants. The net result at UC is that only 2,442 international students were accepted for 2023, down 12.2% from last year. (What isn't reported is how many of these international admits were olympic or professional-caliber athletes...)
The net result is that universities that used to be very completive, are now absurdly competitive, and those that used to be a bit competitive, are now very competitive. Past historical data from your high school on admissions into universities X, Y, and Z are now no longer nearly as indicative as it used to be and students will need to look at the last couple admissions cycles instead. In many cases, a school that would have been a bit of a "reach" for a student in 2018 is now out of reach - even if GPA/IB results are outstanding and SAT scores are tip-top. For those of graduating in 2023, the key is to adjust your expectations and take to mind that the most competitive schools often aren't the best choice for your future.
Nearly all American schools are now some form of "Test Optional", and this will continue to be the new normal. Students will need to consider how their results on the SAT/ACT compare to the most recent data from the university on accepted students - check the Common Data Set rather than the university - just google "Common Data Set XXX" to get data on XXX University. Please also note that the last couple years of data will have inflated test scores from accepted students as only the students who scored high will submit their scores. Though data is still spotty, students who submit scores generally have a better chance of acceptance - though these same students are those that tend to be stronger academically, something the tests profess to measure.
Oh, we almost forgot to remind readers that the SAT is changing format in 2023 to a new digital format. That will present an entirely new array of variables and challenges to an already-Byzantine process. We'll circle back on this in subsequent editions of this newsletter...
When to test? (for the class of 2024)
Several months ago the College Board announced changes coming to the SAT. We'll get much more into the weeds later on the specifics when more information is revealed. Our friends at Compass do a decent summary of the "known knowns" here.
The big question is always when to test and this has gotten more complicated with the new digital test being rolled out from March 2023 in international markets. College Board is using international markets as a beta test a new "product' with the digital version not coming out in the States till 2024. College Board did not cover itself with glory with the at-home APs the last few cycles and indeed, it was largely an unreported fiasco. We really can't see it being bug-free by next March. It is just way too compressed a time line for something that hasn't really be done before on anywhere near the same scale. Using a kids' own device is much more challenging technically than taking a TOEFL/ACT/GRE/GMAT at a test center with a bank of dedicated PCs. How many test centers could handle 1500 students accessing the WiFi at the same time?
Hence, we anticipate the March 2023 test to be a bit of a mess with the scoring really "iffy". If it was rolled out in the States at the same time, CB would have many more results to effectively smooth out the scoring to effectively match past versions. As it is, it will just be international so exact scoring will be best guess. In the past the first iterations of new versions of the SAT have skewed hard or easy until CB had enough data to lock things in with equivalency/concordance tables and the like. Smart universities know this and the March 2023 results will likely have a bit of a virtual asterisk next to them as a result.
So, our general advice for current 10th graders (Class of 2024) is to do absolutely nothing SAT-related this academic year. Then, if kids are looking to test - December 3rd. 2022 for most students, and the October 1st, 2022 for the kids in math club who also read Jane Austin for fun. You can use some of the summer for prep and we have summer programs that pause, then resume in the weeks leading to the Oct/Dec test dates.
Better the devil you know.
Then, students can wait until the dust clears with the new test format and test again in August 2023, or even October 2023 (or even December 2023 in most cases) if necessary. But always best to get a good mark the first time around and be done with it. Important that the changes (such that we know now) are more in format/delivery rather than content, so test skills for the old test will translate largely to the new one.
News came out the night before our most recent Webinar and the first 10 minutes or so of the video is our initial "hot take/rant" on things. Those in this silly world have expected this move for some time and we at Testtakers will be ready for the new test when it comes.
Test Optional?
Due to the Covid crisis, the SAT and ACT were not available for many students in America over the last 18 months. Universities can't require a test that students can't take, so nearly all over them switched to a "test optional" policy to get bums in seats. University of California dropped the requirement entirely and joins a small number of schools in being "test blind" in that they don't even see scores. More on that politically-motivated folly can be found here. Test blind works fine if your are small, rich, liberal arts college like Bowdoin. It is an entirely different proposition for a school with over 100,000 applications per year. We'll leave this debate aside, for now...
Changes happen slowly in this world and most schools have opted to continue this policy into the next admissions cycle (high school class of 2023). People love to vilify the SAT/ACT but the sad truth is that grade inflation has become so rife that universities honestly like having another impartial metric to look at. In 2019, nearly 31% of American high schoolgraduates had an A or A+ average. Many A level and IB scores around the world were based on predicted grades rather than exams and that resulted in some inflated grades as well. The SAT provides a standard yardstick of academic potential.
Not requiring test scores has resulted in a surge in applications to more competitive universities as thousands of students think the A+ average they have will help them get in, even if their SAT scores aren't in the right range. Universities seldom tell students not to apply, more applicants means higher rankings and at $90USD or so per applicant, thousands more applications leads to real money. This said, we don't want to get pulled into broader debate on the "fairness" of the system. (It isn't fair, sorry).
The consensus that has emerged is that if a school is test optional then students should look at the school's pre-Covid average SAT 25th to 75th percentile band for admitted students. If your score is towards the high end or above this level then submit, if not, don't. So, if a school's band is 1200 to 1300 and you score a 1280 then submit, but don't if you score 1230 or so or below. Every situation is a bit different and more than ever the decision is more of an art than a science - talk to your university advisor at your school.
Numbers have been trickling out and the empirical truth is that students submitting scores are having better results. Of course, there are major selection bias issues to consider as stronger students will score better on the tests, and also of course will have a better chance of gaining acceptance. If a kid is brilliant and has any chance of getting into MIT, then the SAT won't present much of a challenge. Here are some numbers:
School - Admit rate without submitting scores / Admit rate submitting scores
Boston College - 15% / 23 %
Chapman - 45% / 74 %
Colgate - 5% / 11 %
Emory - 8% / 18%
Georgia Tech - 10% / 22%
Penn ED - 9% / 18%
Tufts - 9% / 13%
U. Virginia - 13% / 26%
Wellesley - 13% / 20%
Universities are reticent in sharing such data but is it slowly trickling out. The key trend is that if you score well on the SAT/ACT and submit your scores, then it is to your advantage.
August 2021 Update on Testing in Singapore
Test availability in Singapore is still a major issue for many students. If you go to a school that is a "closed" SAT test center, then lucky you. These schools administer the test only to present or past students. If you don't go to these schools then seats are absurdly limited and at present the earliest reliably available date is March 12, 2022. Large local Singaporean system schools used to take up the lion's share of the demand for the SAT, but these schools are currently not acting as test centers due to Covid-related restrictions. Until these schools open up again, this situation will not improve. If you are stuck not being able to take the test, don't despair! Universities can't require that you take a test that you can't access and nearly every one of them is formally test optional for those applying to start in August 2022. Take a few deep breaths and talk with your university counseling team at your school or contact us if your school doesn't have one.
In the past, there was an option available for letting "College Board find you a place" for the SAT. This allowed College Board to vet testers and prioritize those that are bone fide Singapore residents for places. Otherwise all the spots were historically taken by students from China who are unable to take the test there. The registration platform has been "upgraded" in the last 4 months and this option seems to be no longer available. College Board as an organization is focused on the domestic American market (where the real money is) and phone calls to the customer service lines or pleading emails will sadly probably be a waste of time. So, get your spot for March or May 2022 now! If you are applying this year to start in 2022, not having a test score shouldn't hurt you, so concentrate on other areas of your application.
What about the ACT? The test is listed as available on the registration website with a number of options through Spring of 2022. This test is now taken exclusively on a computer in an authorised test center but we have profound concerns that what is listed on the website doesn't match up with reality. There are some test centers in the region listed on the website as available that we know aren't going to be open for months to come. So, have a try if you feel lucky but don't worry or stress if the test doesn't actually happen. We are operating in a world of modest hopes and low expectations. Your grades in school have always been the most important part of your application and is where you should be focused.
