Im an american citizen but I've lived in Europe my whole life. I've always planned on going back for University, now that it is time to do so, I found out I need to take the SATs. The SAME SATs you all take. In english. I can't do it! I've never studied MATH in english, I definitely will not be able to pass the reading/wriing part of it since the only english I ever speak is during the summer when I visit my cousins! I speak fluently, but I'm way beind in the other areas. And it's not like all I need to do is PASS, I need really OUTSTANDING scores. How do I prepare? I've heard in America you have special books that help you and professors and all sorts of preparations. I don't think I'll be able to get ahold of that kind of material. What should I do? If you've taken the SATs, and you know it was hard for you, and you sense that I wont be able to do it (becase I only have 2 months to practice for it) please tell me now, so I wont put myself through the pain of spending my whole summer studying for it to find out I failed.
Do I have a shot here? Was it hard? How should I prepare? What kind of things came on the test that I should ractice on? Thank you!
Additional info, added Monday June 11 2007, 3:21 am: PS. How many times can you take the SATs? And if you take it more than once, will they show all your results or just the highest ones?
I know someone that can help you. He does free tutorials on SAT math and posts them on youtube, but he has his own tutoring company as well, so he can handle whatever you need.
Check him out here, then write him and tell him EXACTLY what you need:
TheWallflower answered Tuesday June 12 2007, 12:09 am: Your best shot is to come back to the US and take an SAT class.
The SAT math questions aren't hard, they're just tricky. They screw around with the way the words are arranged in the question to trick you. make sure you are fully awake during the math portion and read each question carefully.
Also, try to buy an SAT practice book, in the back of the book, there should be several rip out notecards that have vocabulary words on them. Rip out those words and study every single one of those words. They will provide a great deal of help on the SAT
As for the grammar part, you might want to have take a english grammar class for it. Whether here or in Europe. If you normally don't write english, then the grammar section will be ridiculously hard for you.
Visit collegeboard.com and check out their timed writes. Do as many of those as possible. Keep in the mind that the essay portion of the SAT asks you "bullshit" questions. They ask you questions with answers that are impossible to prove, such as , "Is capitalism morally corrupt?" Keep in mind they don't care about what your answer is, they care about how you answer it. For example, (although this would never happen) if they asked the question "was the holocaust a horrible even in history?" and you answered no, but managed to answer it in an eloquent way and supported your viewpoint with well written arguments, you would get a decent score, unless if some holocaust survivor grades your paper of course...
In addition, American universities also look at other aspects in your life when it comes to accepting you for their college. If you are good at any sports, such as track, you could possibly get a scholarship. Also, knowing a second language should help you with your chances of getting in college.
You can take the SATs as many times as you want, but they only offer it a limited number of times.
The ACT is a very important test, some colleges prefer it over the SAT, so yes the ACT is a test you should also take. I have no idea what is on it though.
If possible, take the SAT II's. The topics in the SAT's are universal ones such as math, chemistry, biology, etc... so a lack of an English background shouldn't impair your scores too much. [ TheWallflower's advice column | Ask TheWallflower A Question ]
Michele answered Monday June 11 2007, 12:44 pm: Yes, there are lots of books that can help you study for the SAT's. Go t Amazon.com and choose books from the drop down menu, then type SAT in the searh window. A lot of choices will come up.
I am too old to tell you what the SAT;s are like, I took them so long ago, and the test has changed since. It has three parts, and one part is an essay. If you do buy a book, make sure it was copyrited in 2006 or 2007 so you will get training on the new Essay section.
Also you can take the SAT;s as many times as you like and only your highest score counts. It cost money to take it though. good luck to you. I think you will do fine. You seem like a smart student
Attention: NOTHING on this site may be reproduced in any fashion whatsoever without explicit consent (in writing) of the owner of said material, unless otherwise stated on the page where the content originated. Search engines are free to index and cache our content. Users who post their account names or personal information in their questions have no expectation of privacy beyond that point for anything they disclose. Questions are otherwise considered anonymous to the general public.