DECC

USA

To apply to an American university, there is at least one exam you must take. Most requirements can be bended, but this one is nearly absolute – you must sit for the SAT Reasoning Test. (SAT used to stand for Scholastic Aptitude Test, but now does not stand for anything.)

The Reasoning Test is divided into three sections – critical reading, mathematics, and writing. Each section is graded on a scale from 200 to 800; the average score is supposed to be around 500, but in reality is a few dozen points higher. The highest total score you can obtain is 2400. A score of 600 or above for each section is good; a score of 700 or above is sufficiently excellent that you shouldn’t be worrying about whether you ought to retake the exam in hopes of a perfect 800.

The critical reading part used to be known as the verbal section. It has always been one of the most challenging aspects of the test – before the exam format was changed a few years ago, it was literally mandatory that you memorise lists of words in order to obtain a decent verbal score.

Fortunately this is no longer the case, but even then, scoring well is extremely difficult. This portion of the SAT examines your ability to read a passage of text and obtain information from it, as well as analyse its implications.

The mathematics section should be quite easy; much of it is literally form three mathematics. Doing well should not be too difficult for Malaysian students, although the way the exam is graded may heavily penalise those liable to making careless mistakes.

The writing section is new, having been added just in 2005. It tests your ability to write an essay defending an opinion on a particular issue, and also looks at how well you know your grammar. Be warned that this part of the exam can be frustrating at times; there are subtle differences between Commonwealth English (which Malaysians are taught) and American English.

Time is of the essence on the SAT; each section is split into subsections which must be completed within a certain amount of time. You cannot skip ahead if you finish one subsection early, nor can you return to a subsection whose time has run out.

The key to a good score on the SAT Reasoning Test can be summed up in three words: practice, practice, practice. Although private tuition for the exam is available in the US, it is all but impossible to find here. Fortunately, you shouldn’t need tuition to cope with the SAT. All you need is the discipline to practice for the test – time yourself and familiarise yourself with the style of the questions. There are a plethora of prep books out there for the SAT, both in local bookstores and on the internet – not to mention free practice tests you can take online.

To sit for the exam, you must register either online at www.collegeboard.com or with the Malaysian-American Commission on Educational Exchange (MACEE). There are sittings in January, May, June, October, November and December of each year.

When we said that you must sit for the SAT, that was not totally correct – there is an alternative exam accepted by many (but not all!) universities in lieu of the SAT, called the American College Test (ACT). The ACT is divided into English, Mathematics, Reading, Science, and an optional Writing component.

One good thing about the ACT is that if your university requires a different kind of SAT besides the reasoning test – the SAT Subject Tests – it may be allowed to satisfy the requirement for a subject test. Since the ACT focuses more on grammar, and has a science component, Malaysians may find it easier than the SAT Reasoning Test.

Each component of the ACT is graded on a scale from 0 to 36; the average of the scores is taken for your overall score. It is only possible to obtain a perfect score if you make no mistakes; a perfect 800 on the SAT, however, can be attained without correctly answering every question.

There is another test some universities require for international students, the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The test is very easy, but very expensive. Some universities allow the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) offered by some Malaysian colleges to be used instead of the TOEFL. If you obtain a low score for your reading in the SAT Reasoning Test or the ACT, you may be able to offset it by doing well in the TOEFL.

Different universities have different testing requirements, so you should always double check on your university’s website and email them to make sure you have it right. Many will waive the TOEFL requirement if you just tell them you got a good score for reading on the SAT/ACT; some automatically waive it if you have been studying in an English-medium school for the past two years. Some universities may also have a preference for the SAT Reasoning Test over the ACT, or vice-versa; it is always a good idea to check with them.

If your initial score for any of these tests is not too good, you can retake the exam again. However, be warned that for the SAT your earlier scores will still show up when your scores are submitted to the universities you apply to. Although they will not discriminate on the basis of a bad earlier score, it will probably reflect badly on you if you sit for the test more than three times – it will make the admissions committee wonder if you have nothing better to do with your time than sit for exams.

Whatever your score actually is, don’t let it get you down (or puff you up). Academic studies have failed to find a conclusive and significant link between test scores and your performance in university (to say nothing of the rest of your life). What’s important is the education you get, and not the score you get on a test. All the best with your SAT/ACT/TOEFL prep!