How To Get Into Stanford With Your SAT And SAT II
The SAT test is well-known to all high school students. You’ll need to get a good score if you want to attend Harvard.
In this article I will share two effective strategies for getting the best score possible on the SAT.
First of all, you may be wondering exactly what score you need to get into a school like Stanford.
Another thing you are sure to be concerned about is how you can get ready to take the SAT. Of course, you don’t want to waste a lot of time and money on methods that may not work.
1. Clearly, you want to get a high score on your SAT, but how high should you shoot for?
I always recommend an SAT score of 2100. Try to get 700 on each section in order to be considered acceptable to an Ivy League school. If you get less than 700 on anything, it will bring your application into question.
In my experience as an admissions officer, I can tell you that applicants with a score of 2100+ on the SAT are seldom rejected. This would only happen if there were some very negative academic aspects to the application – like very weak transcripts.
2. Keep track of your improvement. If you score badly the first time you take the test, take it again. Keep a record of your scores, and be sure to strive for improvement each time you retake the test.
Discover more SAT and SAT II secrets here!
3. Remember that the SAT is preferred over the ACT.
There are a lot of qualities about the ACT that make it a superior test to the SAT. It is surely very challenging. However, if the admissions office is having a hard time deciding between two candidates who are very similar, the one with a high SAT score will win out over the one with a high ACT score.
As you prepare, you should keep your focus on two priorities: Early start and sample tests.
1. Start early. Before you take the NMSQT, take the PSAT at least once. In this way, you can get practice without taking a risk. Take the SAT for the Duke TIP while you are still in 7th grade.
2. There are a lot of prep courses available. Choose carefully. Take the time to sit in on some sample classes before committing to any. I took the Kaplan courses when I was preparing for the SAT. They had some good flash cards that helped me with my vocabulary a little bit. It was hardly worth the thousand dollars my parents paid for it, though!
3. Take a lot of sample tests. This will make more difference than anything else you can do. The more you practice answering the problems, the more comfortable you will get. Spend a lot of time at your local bookstore to get copies of all the sample tests from Barron’s to Princeton Review.
Click here to learn how high school extracurricular activities are graded in admissions!
