Ticket to Your Future

Ticket to Your Future

By J



         Congratulations! You have just signed up for the SAT Admissions Test. Print out your Admission Ticket. You will need it – along with proper photo identification – to your test center on test day. Attached to your SAT admission ticket is Important Information for the Test Day.

         Please arrive to your assigned test center by 7:45 am, unless otherwise instructed. You should be finished with your testing between 12:30 and 1 pm (except if testing with extended time). We, the CollegeBoard, ask this of you even though you probably get up no later than 6:30 am, five days of the week already. Remember, arrive at 7:45 am, even though you will receive information about how testing cannot start until 8:45 am or when “everyone” has arrived at the testing room.

         There are also important Requirements for test day. Remember to bring acceptable photo identification (The name listed on your ID must match exactly your name listed on your Admission Ticket). Bring two No.2 pencils and a good eraser even though it is highly likely that you will go through at least four or five because the test will result in four straight hours of bubbling bubbles, writing writing, and scribbling work. Also, bring a scientific or graphing calculator with fresh batteries. Bring what we call an acceptable CD player with earphones and fresh batteries (for an Language with Listening Subject Test) despite the fact that nobody really uses CD players anymore and you will have to find one in your local antique shop or garbage dump. Bring snacks. However, it is likely that you might be too excited or nerve-racken to even eat.

         There are also prohibited items. Please leave the following items at home. You may not bring mechanical pencils or pens. Somehow, we believe it poses danger to the testing environment. Also, cell phones are not allowed. We do not care that you may not be able to contact your family to pick you up after four hours of exhausting testing. In addition, we fail to recognize that some schools confiscate phones with their metal detectors while other schools are much more lax with our cell phone policy, therefore allowing many students to cheat with their smart phones. This is why any electronic devices are not allowed at the test center. But if your phone or electronic device is not confiscated after metal detector scans, especially in the case of centers that only tell you to turn your phone off, you may be able to freely use one while in the bathrooms.

         At some schools, proctors don’t even get up to monitor testing students. Please, if you seat in a corner seat or any seat with an obstructed view from your proctor, do not take out your iPhone and Blackberry to look up vocabulary while your lazy proctor is sitting on her ass texting or sleeping. Do not download all nine of the dictionary apps available in the App store and do not use the Internet as a means of acquiring answers.

Some proctors will even give students extra time. At other times and other places, the proctor will count down every exact second, therefore preventing you from finishing the last sentence of your essay or the last bubbles for the math section you are working on.

         According to Collegeboard standard procedure, you will be seated in alphabetical order. The student next to you will receive a different form of the test while the students in your row will receive identical tests. We do not anticipate your signing up with your friends so that you can share your answers. If you find any testing centers that should be deemed deficient because they host proctors that do not care about seating, please report this. This is because these testing centers will allow you to sit with your smart friends and acquire the answers vital for your high score. We do not check for cheating if it is your first time taking the test. In fact, we have no way to find or disqualify cheaters if it is their first time taking the SAT admissions test.

         Bonus note: We, at the CollegeBoard, also recommend that you take the SAT Admissions test before the end of the year. Try taking the test early and sample it. You may even ace it on your first try. However, the curves on the SAT tests and difficulty of the questions on the December, January, and March tests are lowered and increased - drastically and respectively. This will probably prompt you to retake an easier test in May, October, or November. As long as you pay the $48 fee for the test, it actually does not matter how many times you take our test. In addition, our easiest testing in actually done in June, but we, at the CollegeBoard, recommend that you use this month for your SAT II Subject tests.

         Reminders for the Test Day. Check our website the night before to make sure that your test center is open. It may be affected by weather or some other event. not cheat, unless it’s your first time. Do not attempt to sit with your friends, even though you may be able to share and crosscheck your answers in your lax test center. Bathroom policy varies at your test center. You may or may not be able to go into the bathroom to share answers or use your phone/ electronic dictionary. Get a good night’s sleep so you’re well rested, even though you may not sleep well due to anxiety, and eat a healthy breakfast.

         The SAT Admissions Test will allow you a fair and equal opportunity to showcase your abilities to all colleges, including your dream schools. We wish you the best of luck.

                                                 Sincerely,

                                                                     The CollegeBoard