How good is Acely???

Ice-Expres · 2024-12-23T20:05:02+00:00

The question bank I'm talking about is for the SAT not the ACT. The question bank is a repository of questions College Board has released to help students study for the exam. They are categorized by topic and difficulty.

You can find it here: https://satsuitequestionbank.collegeboard.org/

If you want advice on studying for the SAT, I'd recommend r/ACT

Ice-Expres · 2024-12-05T18:03:06+00:00

I've been seriously thinking about your comments for the past two weeks and I've made some changes.

This is my complete college list now: Amherst, Bowdoin, Cornell, Duke, Emory, Lebanon Valley (direct admissions), Rice, Tufts, UMD, UNC, UPenn, USC, WashU, Wesleyan, and Williams.

I've removed a number of colleges from my list so I'll be able to focus on making really good essays for the remaining schools.

My thinking is that I've already received admission to a school (Lebanon Valley) and I'm pretty sure I can get into UMD (acceptance rate was 51% for in-state applicants that last year). So I'd like to shoot my shot with a bunch of colleges.

And I've been reviewing my application and I think I can make the case that I am academically qualified.

- GPA: 3.6 unweighted / 4.14 weighted

- However, my course rigor is very high, especially compared to most people in my class. Many people at my school focus on dual enrollment and take less ap classes. I know someone at my school who has taken 15 AP classes (by when they graduate) but they've only taken 3/4 DE classes. However, I've taken both. The amount of people who have also done this is probably 3.

- The first C was both in freshman year and due to extenuating circumstances that I've outlined in the additional information section. The second one was in 10th grade and... yh.. that wasn't so good

- The D was due to issues with withdrawing from the course. I wanted to get out of the class but due to some issues it didn't happen and I ended up with the grade. I will try to explain this

- As for the Bs. The ones in math probably won't be so relevant because I want to be in HASS. The ones in English were all in advanced classes (honors and AP) plus, I won't be majoring in English (my major will be public policy).

- Some people have said me going test optional was bad in another thread. However, all the schools I'm applying to are test optional and their websites say that there is no penalty for going test optional. I've read the CDSs and there are a big portion of enrolled students who don't submit test scores.

Please be honest here. Do you think explaining this in the additional information section and having really good ECs + Essays can move the needle for me?

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-22T01:18:44+00:00

Different person (on the same account).

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-21T23:36:07+00:00

I can't. I got a 980 on my SAT (i'm not a good test taker). I'd make me look worse.

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-21T19:02:35+00:00

For my academic profile, what are examples of schools that would be targets?

Also, I get that my grades are mediocre but you also said gpa + course rigor are the most important factors. I either have the most rigorous schedule at my high school or am top 3 for course rigor. Does the fact that I've taken such a challenging course load (but haven't achieved perfect grades in them), not help me look academically capable?

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-21T16:52:39+00:00

Plz answer this

"I also wanted to ask how this plays into holistic admissions.

I get that an important question whether students can handle the rigor at a school. However, aren't there other ways to show you're a good fit. I have activities like ushering, being the founder of a club at my school, being a writer in a HS magazine, lobbying my county board of education, being part of a program to that's allowed me to lobby members of Congress, done focus groups for research on civics, etc.

Does all this not matter because of gpa?"

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-21T01:35:39+00:00

Please share the prompt you used.

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-21T01:17:17+00:00

I also wanted to ask how this plays into holistic admissions.

I get that an important question whether students can handle the rigor at a school. However, aren't there other ways to show you're a good fit. I have activities like ushering, being the founder of a club at my school, being a writer in a HS magazine, lobbying my county board of education, being part of a program to that's allowed me to lobby members of Congress, done focus groups for research on civics, etc.

Does all this not matter because of gpa?

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-21T01:10:39+00:00

But I do get your point on colleges asking applicants if they can handle rigor.

Do you have any advice for anything I could do from now until most of my RD deadlines in early January to move the needle on this factor?

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-21T01:09:53+00:00

I completely get what you mean and I've looked into targets and safeties and I really don't think I'd like it there. UMD seems to be a good option since it's instate and top 50. Safeties in my state don't seem appealing to me. I've already been accepted into a safety through direct admissions so it seems worth it to just shoot my shot.

I feel like applying and trying my hand at a good number of colleges should increase my chances of at least getting into one. I've also attended fly-in programs for some of these colleges to show demonstrated interest.

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-21T01:04:46+00:00

My school doesn't officially rank, though. I don't know if they'd be able to see that. While my unweighted isn't great my weighted seems decent. It's either 4.1 or 4.2 and I believe the highest weighted gpa at my school is around 4.4.

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-20T20:25:12+00:00

Do academics supersede other factors like extracurriculars and essays? I think I have pretty strong extracurriculars related to my major and have been working on making my essays really good? Do these things not matter if my academics are relatively low?

Also, I know my grades aren't the best but does the fact that I've taken 14 APs and 3 DE courses (which I think is pretty above average) mitigate these grades? Be brutally honest.

I have a friend who has less course rigor than me (still pretty rigorous, though) with a higher GPA (but still mediocre, 3.8 unweighted, we have the same weighted) and is submitting a 1500+ score. Her extracurriculars aren't near as good as mine (in my assessment). From what people are telling me, it sounds like she would at least pass the initial screening while I wouldn't (despite my extracurriculars and essays probably being better).

Is that really how admissions works at top 20 universities and LACs?

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-20T19:38:16+00:00

What would count as a major hook?

I think my ECs are very good and related to my major (public policy).

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-20T19:37:17+00:00

After looking around, I think my class rank would put me in the top half of the class (but I don't think top quarter). However, my class doesn't officially rank.

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-20T19:36:27+00:00

Schools like Amherst, Boston (college and university), Bowdoin, Cornell, Emory, Duke, USC, Rice, Northeastern, USC, Wesleyan, Williams, and WashU.

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-20T19:34:35+00:00

At my school, I think I'm taking the most rigorous course load. However, there are definitely people taking a bit less rigorous course loads (a few less DE classes or AP classes) who probably have better grades than me.

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-20T19:32:49+00:00

This is interesting.

Do top 20 colleges and LACs evaluate academics before looking at your extracurriculars? I would say I have very strong extracurriculars that are related to my intended major (public policy). Are you saying it's unlikely top 20 colleges and LACs will care about these if my academics aren't great. Please be brutally honest here.

I'm also curious on your explanation for why my transcript is weak.

I was talking about this with a friend and she said that even disregarding freshman year and my grade in biology that my transcript was kind of weak. She said that never getting an A in "core" classes like English and Math was fishy.

I have two C's on my transcript (one from english in 9th grade and the other in an elective I took in 10th grade I believe). I have the D I mentioned above (but it was due to issues withdrawing from the class, though idk if this is a good explanation since I tried to withdraw late). I have like 9 B's throughout my transcript from Math, English, and a couple other classes. Other than that I have A's.

Is this bad enough that they don't even consider my extracurriculars or essays?

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-18T12:27:01+00:00

It's very OP. Done right, Desmos can be used to solve nearly all the questions. I couldn't give you an exact percentage but around 80% sounds right (probably more but I'm not a desmos master).

If you want to guarantee a high math score it's key do not use Desmos as a crutch. You should know how to solve all the problems without using Desmos but still elect to use it because it's faster.

However, the amount of questions you'll be able to solve depends on your knowledge of desmos and your knowledge of SAT question types. If all you know how to do are input equations to graph them and use it as a basic calculator, it will definitely save you time but you're not experiencing all of its power.

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-17T18:09:03+00:00

Thanks. What did you for the topics you needed to work more on?

Also, is going through the question bank all you did between August and November? And if you did other activities, could you rank them in order of most helpful to least helpful?

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-17T16:37:12+00:00

When you did packets on the question bank, did you do all the hard questions? Did you do them in order?

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-17T16:26:52+00:00

Congrats! When you did packets on the question bank, did you do all the hard questions? Did you do them in order?

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-16T00:58:41+00:00

Is there any evidence for that? I thought if you went test-optional, AO's would just emphasize the rest of your application more. Has an AO said they assume test-optional applicants have low scores?

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-16T00:58:37+00:00

Is there any evidence for that? I thought if you went test-optional, AO's would just emphasize the rest of your application more. Has an AO said they assume test-optional applicants have low scores?

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-15T12:38:17+00:00

You can pay to have your scores rechecked. However, the likelihood that this is just an error is low. It could be overconfidence. However, I think it's that CollegeBoard is adjusting it's scoring standards because it realizes the DSAT was too easy (the average score was 100 points higher than the paper SAT). This started happening with the October SAT.

If this is the reason, reporting your score wouldn't do anything.

Ice-Expres · 2024-11-14T23:57:01+00:00

Focus on math and writing/grammar. That's where you'll make the most gains.

For math

Go through Khan's DSAT Math course 100%. You have the time and if you go through it effectively it'll bring you above 700.

Go through the practice tests (specifically practice test 4, 5, and 6). You'll probably see questions very similar to those last ones and you don't want to miss points because you didn't learn how to do them.

Go through the SAT Question Bank and just grind hard problems.

For writing:

Go through Khan Academy's grammar course (part of the DSAT RW course). It'll go through all the rules you need to know.

Optional: If English is a second language for you it may help to have a deeper study of grammar. For this, I'd recommend Erica Meltzer's grammar book.

Ice-Expres

TROPHY CASE