College Admission Exams: Preparation Guide

This article will cover what to expect if you consider returning to school, whether to improve your job marketability or expand your knowledge base in a more meaningful and rewarding vocation. 

Test-Taking Preparation Courses

After a divorce, so many possibilities arise regarding your future. Some choose to return to school and earn a four-year degree. Others want to take their career in a totally different direction. 

In either case, if continuing education is your path, you will likely need to familiarize yourself with college and graduate admissions exams and our affiliate’s test-taking preparation courses available to help you obtain a top score.

Admissions Exams For College 

Pursuing a Four Year Degree

One path is to begin college education by attending a two-year junior college. Assuming you did well in junior college, you can apply and transfer to a four-year university without taking an admissions exam. 

Most universities base the acceptance of junior college transfer students solely on their grades.

If you apply directly to a four-year university without first attending a junior college, your admission will depend on your high school grades and your S.A.T. score. 

Although standardized tests have received criticism in recent years for being unfairly biased and not truly predictive of university performance, most universities still require them for admissions.

College Admissions Preparation Courses

Increasing Your S.A.T. (or A.C.T. Score)

Notwithstanding some schools moving away from standardized testing, more students than ever are preparing for the S.A.T. and other major standardized tests years far before actually taking the exam. This has led to many new prep courses and online instruction from educational companies and tutoring services.  

Educational testing experts contend that S.A.T. scores, on average, can increase by 60 to 70 points just by retaking the test. By using a recognized admissions preparation service such as Princeton Review, depending upon the effort you put into the course, you can increase your S.A.T. score between 150 to 300 points – a significant improvement.

Test Preparation Courses Can Be Costly

Many test-taking prep courses provide payment plans

Taking test preparation programs to prepare the student for the exam can be expensive. During the pandemic, many test preparation courses had to be offered almost exclusively online. Since late 2022 most of these schools now offer online and in-class instruction.

A high test score will significantly improve your chances for admission to most colleges and graduate programs, and merit-based scholarships are offered for exceptionally high-scoring student candidates.  

Since standardized testing will continue to be a significant driver in determining college and graduate admissions, the real question becomes how students can best prepare for such exams. The answer is to master the test and be masterful at test-taking.

How To Master Test-Taking Skills

Learning how to quickly and systematically eliminate multiple-choice answers from consideration is critical in a highly time-restricted exam. For example, most multiple-choice questions will leave you to choose between two possible correct answers. The key is learning the test’s specific criteria for why one answer is considered more accurate than another. 

The distinction is often subtle but, with practice, also learnable. Learning the differences between what testing services consider which answer is more accurate than another and why is the key to boosting your score. 

In this way, learning how to test well is not unlike learning the rules of a particular type of card game. Playing the game requires discipline and not getting emotional in answering exam questions. Once you understand the internal logic of the test, you will feel more comfortable and confident with letting the test guide you to the correct answer.  

Learning what the exam considers the “right” answer

S.A.T. preparation instructors have training in the most effective test-taking strategies for each type of exam, including the companion A.C.T. exam. The best Admissions testing programs will work with you to analyze your practice-test performance and assist you in learning why your answers were not considered the best answer based on the choices presented to you in the question. 

With enough practice, the student will learn how to reduce the risk of answering a question incorrectly, even when you do not know the correct answer.

Criticisms of standardized admission testing

While standardized admissions tests have been heavily criticized for testing single and narrow skill sets under time limitations, it has also been accused of failing to account for the many different ways people learn and think. For example, many students are primarily visual learners and thinkers, while others think and learn linearly. Some students are fast readers, while others read slowly. 

Others combine very different mental processing skills, often showing dominance in one or two types of skills. To say that anyone’s intellectual attribute is superior to the other misses the mark. This is especially true when a premium is placed on the student’s ability to speed read.

As a result of these criticisms, some of the most prestigious universities, such as U.C. Berkeley, are moving away from standardized testing and will no longer require the test as a condition of admission. 

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