[Emy]

Ahhh, those two acronyms are seriously HAUNTING me!!!

Any suggestions for preparing for the ideal college??? What boosted YOUR GPA or SAT scores?

Say...what lowered them?

[EDIT]
Ahhh...I'm taking the SAT's for the first time on Jan 27!!!
Please recommend me the best way to study!

I also have a question about college:
If you are doing early application (which I'm gonna do) do the grades basically cut off end of Junior year?
Like I pretty much have one more semester to bring my GPA to the max?
[/EDIT]

[kiki]

wrong section?

Take SAT early so that you can boost it up later if you need to. If you're a senior sign up for college during the spring so that in fall you don't have to worry, you'll know ahead of time if you're accepted and you probably won't have to worry about writing essays. Many seniors procrastinate and sign up for college in the fall. Do it early so that you won't be in the same crowd all trying to get in, all fighting to get in.


GPA- take a lot of easy electives it'll help boost up your grades...

[jess89]

^easy electives wont boost your weighted gpa. it'll probably hurt it since you wont have the honors/ap point boost. i guess if you talk about unweighted gpa, its ok. but colleges look at the rigor of your courses as well.

[astar]

What lowered my SAT/ACT score?
I was extremely sick when I took them the third time. My score dropped back down to what it was the first time for both.
Pay really good attention to the reading section, I'm actually a pretty good reader, but the last time I took it I couldn't concentrate, I had a temp of 103 and I fell asleep.

I prepared for college by taking the hardest possible course load...don't know if that'll help me or hurt me, though.

My GPA was totally boosted by taking all the possible AP classes (I only had 5 available for me to take).

[T1NA89]

taking college courses at the local community college helped my gpa alot
take classes that you can transfer to the college you want so u can get college credit+high school credit

[Emy]

wrong section?

Take SAT early so that you can boost it up later if you need to. If you're a senior sign up for college during the spring so that in fall you don't have to worry, you'll know ahead of time if you're accepted and you probably won't have to worry about writing essays. Many seniors procrastinate and sign up for college in the fall. Do it early so that you won't be in the same crowd all trying to get in, all fighting to get in.
GPA- take a lot of easy electives it'll help boost up your grades...

I have a huge problem with taking extra classes b/c I am struggling to fit everything in already.. ><

^easy electives wont boost your weighted gpa. it'll probably hurt it since you wont have the honors/ap point boost. i guess if you talk about unweighted gpa, its ok. but colleges look at the rigor of your courses as well.

That's truee....

What lowered my SAT/ACT score?
I was extremely sick when I took them the third time. My score dropped back down to what it was the first time for both.
Pay really good attention to the reading section, I'm actually a pretty good reader, but the last time I took it I couldn't concentrate, I had a temp of 103 and I fell asleep.

I prepared for college by taking the hardest possible course load...don't know if that'll help me or hurt me, though.

My GPA was totally boosted by taking all the possible AP classes (I only had 5 available for me to take).

Wow, taking those AP classes actually lowered my GPA.
I kind of regret taking AP when I could have taken honors for the same 5.0 credit.

taking college courses at the local community college helped my gpa alot
take classes that you can transfer to the college you want so u can get college credit+high school credit

I don't think I can do that..O.o


Omg...I am supposed to be resting this winter break, but instead, I'm stressing like crazy over SAT...and...dreading over my dropping GPA....

[flyaway]

easy AP's
try to take all honors/AP's instead of regular classes...regular classes actually technically lower your GPA because they can't be weighted
Sat...just practice

[l0ki]

I highly suggest taking the ACT at least once. Everybody I know always has a different opinion about the ACT. Some say its easier some say its harder. As for me, I scored a 2000 on SAT and a 34 on ACT (Took practice test only once for ACT). Doesn't hurt to try, its only one saturday.

Everybodys saying to load up on APs and Honors, but that isn't always true. There are some schools whose AP classes are equivalent to other school's college prep classes. You never EVER want to take in more than you can chew. (I speak from experience)

If you plan to go to UCs, taking 20 APs/Honors and getting straight As will have the same GPA as taking 6(?) APs/Honors and getting straight As. Yadadamean? (I can elaborate more if you want, i'm half asleep when writing this)




Oh, and Kaplan/Princeton Review books SUCK. Barons and collegeboard books give you the most realistic scores for practice tests. (Barons is a bit harder, but that only helps you)

[chimneytoplove]

my gpa is like 2.1 but i still got a realli high SAT score, like 1780.

just relax, focus

CONCENTRATE

like, during the test, tell urself I CAN DO THIS, I CAN DO THSI

[Emy]

easy AP's
try to take all honors/AP's instead of regular classes...regular classes actually technically lower your GPA because they can't be weighted
Sat...just practice

Ohh, I only have one 4.0 class which is Tennis. ><
I am not taking easy AP classes right now tho, APUSH and AP English...they are kind of challenging gradewise actually --"
Do u know what AP classes are easy?

I highly suggest taking the ACT at least once. Everybody I know always has a different opinion about the ACT. Some say its easier some say its harder. As for me, I scored a 2000 on SAT and a 34 on ACT (Took practice test only once for ACT). Doesn't hurt to try, its only one saturday.

Everybodys saying to load up on APs and Honors, but that isn't always true. There are some schools whose AP classes are equivalent to other school's college prep classes. You never EVER want to take in more than you can chew. (I speak from experience)

If you plan to go to UCs, taking 20 APs/Honors and getting straight As will have the same GPA as taking 6(?) APs/Honors and getting straight As. Yadadamean? (I can elaborate more if you want, i'm half asleep when writing this)
Oh, and Kaplan/Princeton Review books SUCK. Barons and collegeboard books give you the most realistic scores for practice tests. (Barons is a bit harder, but that only helps you)

What's the difference between ACT and SAT? (I mean, what they cover?)
I'm glad I have like 6 review books. haha, they include some Kaplan and Princeton, and one collegeboard.(yay) I'll hit that one hard

my gpa is like 2.1 but i still got a realli high SAT score, like 1780.

just relax, focus

CONCENTRATE

like, during the test, tell urself I CAN DO THIS, I CAN DO THSI

Thanks for the advice

[flyaway]

Ohh, I only have one 4.0 class which is Tennis. ><
I am not taking easy AP classes right now tho, APUSH and AP English...they are kind of challenging gradewise actually --"
Do u know what AP classes are easy?

bio is pretty easy or for me it was
music theory definitely but i've had 8 years of theory
psych is easy but tedious
econ is fairly easy
i think ap english is kinda easy =x or here it is
yep

[ddonq]

basically, to boost your sat/act scores is for you to practice a lot on different practice books.

[Emy]

bio is pretty easy or for me it was
music theory definitely but i've had 8 years of theory
psych is easy but tedious
econ is fairly easy
i think ap english is kinda easy =x or here it is
yep

Cool! We have all of those classes here except music theory
I am definitely planning on taking AP psychology and AP economics...
hopefully those classes will help XD
I'm taking them next year tho, so it won't count for early application to college.
Or will it..?

basically, to boost your sat/act scores is for you to practice a lot on different practice books.

It's pretty much what I'm doing right now...
Each practice SAT test is soo tedious tho O__O
Especially doing several in a week
my brain not only gets fried
it's ends up scorched

[flyaway]

Cool! We have all of those classes here except music theory
I am definitely planning on taking AP psychology and AP economics...
hopefully those classes will help XD
I'm taking them next year tho, so it won't count for early application to college.
Or will it..?

probably not, unless you get deferred. but for regular they will count into your gpa
music theory was THE easiest ap i've taken so far. haha but the actual ap test is crazy hard, oh well idk how i got a 5 (huge curve??)

anyway, beware econ can get confusing with bad teacher (my teacher is really good so im lucky). psych is basically memorizing

[Emy]

probably not, unless you get deferred. but for regular they will count into your gpa
music theory was THE easiest ap i've taken so far. haha but the actual ap test is crazy hard, oh well idk how i got a 5 (huge curve??)

anyway, beware econ can get confusing with bad teacher (my teacher is really good so im lucky). psych is basically memorizing

That means I only have one semester to bring my grades up for college app..
Totally not what I expected cause I thought first semester of senior year will be counted too ><
Omg..I heard eco is really hard. Though, I had the teacher as a sub before and he is really funny
So maybe that's a plus? He teaches pretty well too (Even the class that he was a sub for, which was history..)
Ohhh...I am thinking about switching to psych this semester!! I hope the classes aren't full
Thanks sooo much for ur advices!! I really appreciate! You are awesome

[Avex]

SATs... really do concentrate on the passages and do what u can to understand the passages.
math section, you can improve the most out of if you are good in math.

[Emy]

SATs... really do concentrate on the passages and do what u can to understand the passages.
math section, you can improve the most out of if you are good in math.

Yeah...that's true.
I have trouble w/critical reading

[Emy]

For those of you that took Psychology AP...
Did u get quizzes every week? (MC kind)
I don't like them AT ALL so far...
they are so unpredictable!!!
Best way to study for them?
Some ?s were kinda hard O_O

[Chillie]

^ Psych can be really tedius. I suggest you buy AP Psych books. They usually give a better overview for tests.

[Emy]

^ Psych can be really tedius. I suggest you buy AP Psych books. They usually give a better overview for tests.

We are actually using Myers 6th edition book and workbook.
Are there any online sites that provide help for this class?
Like, u know how there's AP notes for APUSH? lol
The only site I found was the book's original web

Thank you for the suggestion!!!
Keep them coming please