Standardized Test Advice for #UVA Applicants

The College Board tweeted that students can see the results of the August SAT test today. Score release days always result in questions from students and parents about how we process and use test scores, so let's go over those topics.

The Basics

1. Take the SAT or the ACT. We don't care which one you show us.
2. There are no cut-offs. The stats we put out are describing the class that enrolled. They aren't telling you admission requirements.
3. SAT IIs are totally optional. If you don't send them, you aren't penalized.
4. The last recommended test dates are the ones in October (Early Action) and December (Regular Decision).

Now, let me explain four things that come up a lot in comments and on phone calls with applicants.

1. How UVA Receives Your Scores

Like most colleges, UVA receive scores from the SAT and ACT agencies electronically. We do not "accept" the scores, our system files them automatically. At slow times, the reports come once each day, usually around 3 AM. Around deadline, the reports come more often. I get an email every time there's an electronic transfer, regardless of whether the delivery is of one person's scores or of a massive group of scores from a popular test date. I took this screen shot of the score notification emails a few years ago. You can see that we mostly get one or two drops per day at this time of year.

2. How UVA Reviews Scores

When we built our online reading system here at UVA, we taught the system to only show us the best section scores for each applicant. I don't see all the scores a student sent us when I open a file. The system picks the best score from each section of the SAT or ACT. We use sections in our review, so the system doesn't calculate a total score, it simply shows us the best section scores.

For the time being, we'll be suppressing the essay (SAT) and writing (ACT) scores when we review applications. This could change in the future. There are plenty of schools requiring these sections, so you will probably still want to take these optional sections.

3. The Timing of Score Reporting

Send your scores to the schools on your list at least two weeks before the application deadline. In general, it takes the testing agencies 1-2 weeks to send a score report to a college. It could take the college a few days to match your score to your file. It's totally fine to send score reports before you submit your application. Anything that arrives before your application is held in a miscellaneous file. All of the application components will meet up in the end. I usually post on the blog and twitter when we have finished matching up documents so applicants know their to-do lists in our records system is up to date.

Both the SAT and ACT will give you four free score reports to use when you take their exams. Use your free reports to send scores to UVA and any other school on your list that automatically pulls the best section scores. If you wait to see your scores before sending them to us, you'll lose your free reports.

SAT Score Report Fees ($43 for a rushed report!)

ACT Score Report Fees

4. Taking (or Sending) Scores After Deadlines

Back at the beginning of the post, I wrote that the last recommended test dates are the month before each deadline. That doesn't mean you aren't allowed to sit for an exam after the deadline, but there is a chance that we will have already started the review your file before those late scores arrive.

You should still send those scores. After all, our review takes several months. There's a chance that the scores will be seen at some point in the process.




As always, I'm happy to answer questions in the comments!

Don't forget to order your scores well in advance of deadlines!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

How Much Time Do You Spend on Testing?

"Here we go."

We were only a couple minutes into an "ask the deans" panel at a high school's college planning program and the first testing question was asked. We all knew from experience that once the first testing question is asked, we don't get away from testing questions without some sort of intervention from the counseling staff in the room.

The crowd probably has lots of questions about other topics, but once testing comes up, they skip down the list to the testing stuff. And so we dwell. And the admission officers are a little perplexed that all the time is being spent on testing when there are other things they could discuss.

 

This is going to be an interesting year because of the changes made to the tests and how they are scored. Rest assured, we've been through things like this before (recentering in 1994/5, the move of the Writing test in 2005) and we will all get through the changes together. I actually like years like this because they often force students to look at the more substantial parts of their application. Remember that four years of development get much more of our time than the four hours spent taking one test.

Students, as you start this year, I want you to pay attention to how much time admission officers at schools with holistic processes spend talking about testing. I assure you that the time spent talking about the SAT and ACT will be dwarfed by the time spent talking about programs, grades, recommendations, and essays. I'm not saying testing doesn't matter. If a schools asks for something, it matters. Testing is definitely an interesting piece of data. However, we don't have minimums or cut offs in our process. We read the entire file and render a decision based on the whole package. That's what holistic admission means.

Testing doesn't warrant getting half the time during a panel program and it doesn't warrant getting the majority of your head space as you are juggling the academic load and responsibilities that come with being a junior or senior in high school.

As always, I'm happy to answer your questions in the comments.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Heads up: Order Test Scores Well In Advance of Deadlines

I started writing posts about the timing of test scores a few years ago. The posts always seemed most appropriate for October, a few weeks before the first application deadline (our Early Action deadline is November 1). A colleague told me something she learned on a conference call a couple weeks ago that made me think a summer post was more appropriate. Seeing the info repeated on the SAT website confirms the move.


Be sure to send your scores well before the deadline. The SAT is saying it could take them longer to deliver scores from the Fall 2016 test dates. The last recommended test dates have always been the month before the application deadline. Be sure to use your free reports to make sure scores get to us before the deadlines.


From the SAT website:

We built our system to automatically select the best scores from each section of the SAT. When we open a file, we don't see all of the scores the student has submitted, we just see the best ones. So, there is no need to wait to see your scores and then spend money sending just your best ones to us. Use those free reports!
 



In case you are wondering about ACT score delivery:

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

UVA and the New SAT

I usually write a post about a big admission issue when that topic has come up over and over again in discussions with prospective students or their parents. When it comes to the redesigned SAT, it seems like students and parents that are visiting us this season aren't all that worried. Maybe there are so many changes in college admission that a test redesign doesn't cause anxiety. Or maybe people are happy about the new scoring...


Anyway, we have a page on our website that addresses our testing policy.  I thought I would go into a little more detail here.

1. By the application deadline, send something.

While it's nice to have one thing in the file that is standardized (remember, schools have very different styles when it comes to calculating GPA and rank), we don't have a preference when it comes to the test you take. By the deadline, you want a score from the ACT or SAT (either of them) in your file.

2. We recombine sections to get the best set of scores.

I shy away from saying we "super score" the SAT because that implies that we are just looking at your total SAT score. Students with identical total scores could have very different sections scores. For example...

Student A:  1300 SAT (500R/800M)
Student B:  1300 SAT (650R/650M)

This isn't to say those two students would be put side-by-side in our review like that. I just want you to consider why we don't just use total scores in our review.

When we open a file, our system will automatically look for the best possible sections to show to us. We don't even see all of the scores you send us. 

3. Scores from different exams aren't combined.

We don't mix sections from different exams together. So we wouldn't put a math score from the ACT together with a reading/writing score from the SAT. Similarly, we won't mix sections from the old SAT and the new SAT. The College Board directed colleges on this last summer. They said it isn't appropriate to mix old and new because the exams are different.

4. For the 2016-2017 application season, we aren't using essay scores.

We won't be using the essay score from the new SAT next year. It doesn't mean you should take a name during that portion of the exam since plenty of schools will be using it. In light of this, we won't be using the writing section of the ACT next year. 

Let me reiterate that my statement is about next year. This doesn't mean we won't ever use those sections.

5. Four hours doesn't overshadow four years.

At the end of the day, remember that the testing piece of your application is a four hour piece. It does not take precedence over the four (okay, 3.5) years of information in the rest of the file. Test scores are interesting and helpful, but they don't "make or break" the application.

What are your testing questions? Share them in the comments and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Keep in mind that we have Final Exercises this weekend and we are still working with the waiting list, so my replies might not be immediate.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

The Timing of SAT Score Reports

I've written about the timing of SAT score reporting in the past and it seems like a good time to revisit the topic. First of all it is worth mentioning that the UVA Application Instructions page has a link to a page all about standardized testing.

There are going to be three parts to this post.

1.  How we (and many colleges) receive your SAT scores.
2. The timing of SAT score reporting.
3. What happens if you send scores after the deadlines.

This is going to be a long post, but I think understanding the logistics of score reporting will answer a lot of the questions we are getting right now.

1. How UVA Receives SAT Scores

We get a lot of email from people who ask if we will "accept" scores sent way before or way after a deadline. If you understand how scores get here, you'll know the answer.

Most colleges (UVA included) receive scores electronically. We do not accept or reject the scores, they arrive automatically. At slow times, the reports come once each day. Around deadlines, the reports come more often. I get an email every time there's an electronic transfer, regardless of whether the delivery is of one person's scores or of a massive group of scores from a popular test date.

2. The Timing of SAT Score Reporting

Now, let's talk about timing. The good news is that ETS has improved a lot over the years when it comes to how long it takes them to deliver scores.

If you have UVA listed as a school that should get your scores up front, the scores arrive pretty quickly.

However, if you wait to see your scores and then submit a request that UVA get them, it will take much longer. As a result, we do not recommend waiting to see scores before sending a report. ETS isn't totally consistent in the dates that they say they'll deliver scores. There's one spot where they say it'll take five weeks for colleges to get scores.

Screen shot taken here, 12/1/2015

However, the SAT folks assured me via Twitter last year that the five week wait is for international schools and most scores are sent to colleges one to two weeks of a request being made. If you are applying for Regular Decision and are reading this, send your scores well in advance of the deadline.

3. Sending Scores After Deadlines

In the first part of this post, you saw that we don't accept or reject score reports that come to us from ETS. So let's talk about what happens if you send scores after the deadline.

In our application instructions, we say that the last recommended test date is October for Early Action students and December for Regular Decision students.

If you take tests on those dates and designate in advance that UVA should get your scores, we know your scores will be here when we start to review your file. This doesn't mean you aren't allowed to send scores from tests taken after the deadline. It just means that there is a chance that we will have already started to review your file before those scores arrive.

You should still send those scores. After all, our review takes a few months and there's a possibility we'll be looking at your file several times after the scores arrive. Make sure there are SAT or ACT scores in your file by the deadline, but it is perfectly fine to send updated or new scores later.


Feel free to ask questions about testing in the comments!

Jack isn't stressed about testing at all.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

The Timing of SAT Score Reports

I'm going to address four topics in this post.

1. Delayed score reporting by the SAT (the ACT was addressed earlier this week).
2. Rushing scores.
3. Canceled test dates.

1. Delayed SAT Score Reports

The SAT folks went on hiatus for a little while and weren't sending score reports to colleges. The files are starting to roll in again. Yesterday, we received just over 3000 reports in the first transfer since the break and it will take a few days for the system at UVA to match scores with applications that have already been submitted. 

If you are one of the students who has been told that your scores are delayed, please know that we will review your scores whenever they arrive. You can still apply under Early Action.

2. Rushing Scores

If you didn't send your scores already and you are applying under Early Action, send your scores ASAP using the standard delivery option. At this point, it is not worth $31 to rush your scores. We have enough files to read to keep us occupied until ETS can get those scores to us.You do not have to rush scores at this point.

3. Canceled Test Dates

This happens every year. A storm, a power outage, or some other problem causes a testing center to cancel the administration of the SAT or ACT. My own nephew was affected when Hurricane Joaquin came ashore earlier this month.

Admission offices have always been flexible around deadlines. If your SAT or ACT was rescheduled, you will be okay. Make sure you submit your part of the application by the deadline and that your teachers and counselors have everything they need to get their part done (we give them a grace period, by the way). The testing piece might just have to come later this year and that will be fine with us.

 CavPup's first major rain event. He was not pleased.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

UVA's Policy on the New SAT

The SAT is changing again.

The last time the SAT changed, the writing exam stopped being a Subject Test (most selective schools required it) and a writing section was added to the regular SAT. Most schools adjusted pretty quickly to the change, though I have to admit that I never got used to hearing scores cited on the 2400 scale. So now we are poised for another round of changes that will affect students who are starting their junior year in high school and it's time we let them know how we'll be using their scores.

Take a Test

Like most schools, we don't have a preference when it comes to the SAT and ACT. Now, we'll add "New SAT" and "Old SAT" to that statement. We want you to send the results from one of the standardized tests to us, but we don't care if you send the new SAT, the old SAT, or the ACT.

We Look at the Best Combination of Sections

If you send scores from multiple administrations of the same exam, our computer system is programed to pull the best section scores for us to use.When I open an applicant's file, I don't see all of their scores. I just see the best score they've gotten for each section of the exams they submit. I totally made this up, but this is sort of what we see:

If a student sends both the SAT and the ACT, we'll favor the exam with the better score. Using the conversation chart on the ACT website, it looks like the student I made up for my example did a little better on the ACT, so we would pretend that SAT I isn't there. We'll still use the score from the Biology subject test.

The College Board folks have told us that it is not appropriate to mix scores from the old SAT with ones from the new SAT. So, if you opt to take the new and old versions of the SAT, we will see both sets of scores.

Writing/Essay Sections Won't Be Required

Juniors, we are not going to require you to take the essay section of this new SAT. Some day, we might add it back in, but we will wait to see some research about the exam to have that discussion. Because of this, we are going to drop our requirement that students taking the ACT take the writing portion.

Seniors, nothing changes for you. You will take the old SAT, which includes the writing section or you'll take the ACT with Writing.


If you have questions, feel free to post them in the comments. You can also read posts I've written about testing in the past by click on the subject labels below.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad