SEM (Students Education Media) 2015

College Admissions Newsletter

2015 OctOber SAtWhat you can expect...

College News Six Reasons To Take AP Classes 3 Biggest Lies in College Ad-

missions

SAT Analysis The 2015 October SAT format? The three year trend Reading Sections analyzed What are levels on the SAT? Score comparison charts What is needed to score above

2200 on the SAT

Mega Prep guarantees 2200 on SATGet Free Assessments

Whats InsideDistinctive Features

Science passages may be paired with questions focused on hypotheses, experimentation, and data.

LiterAture passages may be paired with questions focused on theme, mood, and characterization.

SAt wOrdS: the SAT will focus on words that derive their meaning from the contexts in which they are used.

2015 Oct. SAT I will reflect the changes in 2016 New SAT I

eviDence BaseD reaDing

evidence reAding: Stu-dents will need to find the evidence in a passage that best supports the answer to a previous question or that serves as the basis for a reasonable conclusion.

the AnALySiS Of An Argu-ment: Students will need to identify the way authors use evidence to support their claims.

the AnALySiS Of quAntitA-tive infOrmAtiOn: Students will need to examine informational graphics and relate the information conveyed by them to the information and ideas con-veyed through words.

Read more on page 3 Source: collegeboard.com

Issue 1: May 2015

Page: 2 SEM (Students Education Media) 2015

College Admissions

3 Biggest Lies

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4

5

6

Impress College Admissions CounselorsTaking AP Courses shows your dedication and seriousness.

Develop College-Level Academic SkillsHigh AP Scores show that you can handle college level courses.

Save Money

Choose a Major Sooner

Take More Elective Classes in College

Add a Minor or Second Major Easily

If you take enough AP classes and pass the AP exam, you can potentially graduate from college a semester or even a year early, resulting in saving tens of thou-sands of dollars. Some private colleges, however, do not give credit for AP.

Each course provides an in-depth intro-duction to a specific subject area.A high score on the exam often fulfills one of a colleges general education requirements.

Elective classes- classes that are not required for graduation. General educa-tion requirements and major requirements leave little room for fun and exploratory classes. If you want to take the interesting class on glass blowing, AP credits will allow you to fit it in your schedule.

Testing out of certain classes via the AP exam will allow you to add more classes that will result in graduating with possibly two majors.

Source: Forbes Magazine 2013

Asking for financial aid wont have an impact on the admission decision

Colleges are no longer need blind.

If there is a choice between two virtually-identical applicants but one needs financial aid and the other does not, the admission is going to the one who can pay full tuition.

Today, families must meet a certain income level be-fore a no-loan financial aid package is offered.

SAT and ACT scores are less and less important

Colleges are actually rely-ing increasingly more on SAT and ACT scores.

The number of people ap-plying to colleges is soar-ing, with more 18 year olds graduating high school.

More students from foreign countries are applying to US colleges.

People now apply to multi-ple colleges at once.

There is little increase in the size of admission staff.

Colleges use SAT and ACT scores as a fast, easy cut of the applicant pool.

There is a level playing field in college admissions

Colleges want a well-rounded class, not a well-rounded student.

Colleges want some real scholars for every depart-ment, some superb athletes, great musicians and actors, and some legacy to keep alumni happy.

Do I have a better chance of getting in via early decision than through the regular admission pool? It improves your chances, but slots are reserved for students the school really wants (athletes, legacy, etc).

DO NOT apply early deci-sion to a reach school.

6 Reasonswhy you should take AP Classes

Source: Forbes Magazine 2013

Page: 3 SEM (Students Education Media) 2015

SAtAnALySiS

2015 October SAT 1What will it be like?

Three Year Trend of SAT Reading Sections

The past three year trends provide the foresight of the 2015 October SAT.

Maximum Score

The Maximum Score is achieved if all the questions up to that level are answered correctly and if all the ques-tions above that level are answered incorrectly.

SAT questions are divided into 5 levels, ranging from level 1 (the easiest) to level 5 (the hardest). The top tables show possible reading scores for each level. For example,

Raw Score

The Raw score is an unconverted score based on the total number of correct answers minus the number of incorrect an-swers and penal-ties.

Number of questions

Total Reading = 67 Total Vocabulary = 19 Total Passage Based = 48

Understanding the levels

Understanding the Table and the Trend

if you answer all the ques-tions from level 1 to 4 correctly but miss all the level 5 ques-tions on 2014 October test, your reading score is 650.

Page: 4 SEM (Students Education Media) 2015

33%

40%

27%

2012 October

Reading

Math

Wri4ng

43%

28%

29%

2013 October

Reading

Math

Wri4ng

60%

13%

27%

2014 October

Reading

Math

Wri4ng

What does the trend mean?

33%

40%

27%

2012 October

Reading

Math

Wri4ng

43%

28%

29%

2013 October

Reading

Math

Wri4ng

60%

13%

27%

2014 October

Reading

Math

Wri4ng

33%

40%

27%

2012 October

Reading

Math

Wri4ng

43%

28%

29%

2013 October

Reading

Math

Wri4ng

60%

13%

27%

2014 October

Reading

Math

Wri4ng

1. Reading passage questions are get-ting harder, whereas the vocabulary questions are getting easier.

2. Math questions are getting easier.3. Writing questions remain the same.

Overall Trend

The percentage of level 5 reading questions is increas-ing, whereas the percentage of math and vocabulary ques-tions is becoming smaller.

Reading Trend The Proportion

The proportion of reading lev-el 5 questions has increased every year: 33% in 2012, 43% in 2013, and 60% in 2014. This trend shows that getting a high score on the SAT de-pends on the students reading skills. High-level reading questions test students not on their skills on identifying information and ideas but on their analyses of rhetoric and synthesis.

The trend in the number of level 5 questions.

By Number

By Percentage

Why is level 5 Important?If you answer all the level 5 questions incorrectly, the maximum scores you can get are:

The scores are based on the essay score of 10 out of 12.

Top colleges prefer a read-ing score of 760 or above.

Page: 5 SEM (Students Education Media) 2015

How we can guarantee:

megA PreP guArAntee

Get into our advanced classes, and you are guar-anteed to score at least 2200 on SAT or 33 on ACT. If you do not get above 2200 or 33, we will teach you at no charge until you do.

The Result

Just by finishing the advanced classes, 90% of our students get over 2200 on SAT or 33 on ACT, with average increase of 375 (SAT) and 5 (ACT).

2014 Notable Improvements

2015 Notable Improvements

Guarantee

SEM (Students Education Media) 2015

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