The SAT's are unpredictable. I got a 1180 on them and a 27 or 28 on the ACT. Both of those scores are low, but I still managed to get into a good school.. I sure know I didn't get in on those scores, rather because of what I did in high school and my personal statement. Anyways, back to the topic... yes, study a lot of analogies, mathy stuff and vocab. And be sure to make sure if there's a guessing penalty or not (I think there is on the SAT) cause it can make a big difference in your score.
*nods to above posts* Yes, the SATs are pretty unpredictable. I'm pretty sure that I just got lucky. I scored a 710 on math and 690 on verbal, for a grand total of 1400. You can take the test as a sophomore and still compete for the scholarship as long as you take it again as a junior. As for getting the scholarship, it depends on how many people take the test and how well they do. The top 50,000 scores across the country qualify either for Commended Scholar (most schools will give scholarship money to Commended students) or Semifinalist, in which case they have to jump through a series of hoops such as the aforementioned essay, recommendation letter, and the SAT. After you complete all that, they will tell you if you made Finalist or not, and then it's completely up to the participating schools and corporations to shell out the dough. Generally, to qualify for Commended you will have to test in the 95-98th percentile, and for Semifinalist, the 99th percentile. I hope that helps.
So Semifinalist is actually harder to get than Commended? And yes thanks for the clarification, it really helped.
I heard the ACT was difficult because there's less time and 200 questions and more areas of testing. I was told the ACT was more difficult than the SAT. No bother, I took the test on Saturday and it seemed a bit easier than my previous one. The SAT used to stand for the Scholastic Aptitude Test, then Scholastic Assessment Test and now, because of the questionability of it's title, the SAT simply stands for the SAT lol. I agree, the SAT isn't everything, and I don't believe people above 600 are necessarily smart, but most test preps consider people to break down into each below 1200 or above. I was right below it before I took the recent test. Also, just to say, for those of you outside America who consider yourself lucky, the SAT is a way for people like me who don't strive vigorously in school to show we have the skills necessary. Although I am in an AP class... At this point, this is my list of colleges of choice: Loyola Marymount University Southern Medthodist University Baylor University University of North Texas maybe UT Austin, but they're very tough Does anyone recommend I take the ACT?
Omar- people tend to do better on the ACT than the SATs. So if you have any doubts, why don't you just give it a try?