PREPARING FOR COLLEGE: TESTING
Testing your endurance
College entrance tests key to a higher education
ACT or SAT? Both of the well known standardized tests are accepted at Mississippi’s colleges and universities but it’s the ACT scores that are more widely requested by admissions offices. So what’s the difference between the two? Here’s a comparison: ACT, the organization, started out in 1959 as American College Testing in Iowa City, Iowa. In 1996 the name was shortened to ACT in a nod to all of the other workforce development programs and services the private, not-for-profit organization offers in addition to college entrance testing. More than 1.6 million high school graduates take the ACT test
How to prepare? Both the ACT and SAT organizations have some simple advice for students: take classes that challenge your brain, then study hard and keep learning outside the classroom.
every year. The SAT dates back to 1900 when some universities formed the College Entrance Examination Board to help identify deserving students through common entrance exams called “College Boards.” The boards were replaced by the SAT in 1926. Since then millions of students have taken the test at 7,000 testing centers around the world.
s Test date ACT and June 14. b. 8, April 12 e F 4, 1 c. De , 6 Oct. 2 SAT arch 8, May 7, Jan. 25, M . ec D , 2 . ov N 5, Oct. . 3 and June 7 .org and nt de tstu Get info at ac rd.org/home. sat.collegeboa
What do the tests measure? The ACT covers four subjects: English, math, reading and science. The test consists of 215 multiple-choice questions and takes about 3 hours to complete. If you take the ACT Plus Writing test, the written part takes an additional 30 minutes. The SAT tests your reading, writing and math knowledge and skills. The critical reading section includes reading passages 8 NEXT! 2013
and sentence completions. The writing portion has a short essay and multiplechoice questions on picking out errors and improving grammar and usage. The math test questions include arithmetic operations, algebra, geometry, statistics and probability. Total test time is 3 hours and 45 minutes. — compiled by Lisa Monti
www.msnext.com
Sample questions » Here’s a sample math question from the ACT test: A DVD player with a list price of $100 is marked down 30%. If John gets an employee discount of 20% off the sale price, how much does John pay for the DVD player? A. $86.00 B. $77.60 C. $56.00 D. $50.00 E. $44.00 » Here’s an SAT reading practice question to test sentence completion skills: Because King Philip's desire to make Spain the dominant power in sixteenth-century Europe ran counter to Queen Elizabeth's insistence on autonomy for England, ------ was -------. (A) reconciliation . . assured (B) warfare . . avoidable (C) ruination . . impossible (D) conflict . . inevitable (E) diplomacy . . simple
Mississippi Business Journal