To attend university, receive a scholarship, and compete in the NCAA, all student-athletes need to write the SAT. This is a very important examination and, sadly, scholarships have been lost because of student-athletes not achieving a high enough score. As a Canadian student-athlete wishing to attend an American university on a scholarship, it was required that I not only write the exam, but I also attain a high enough score to meet university admission requirements.
What is the SAT? The SAT is an important entrance exam used in the United States, written by the final year of high school. It is used by American institutions as a standard to compare each student applying to the institution. How does the SAT work? Well, the SAT has modified its scoring system since I wrote the exam back in 2006. The redesigned SAT is scored on a total out of 1600 points focusing on two important sections. The first section is focused on reading and writing. The second section is focused on math. You earn a total scaled score between 200 and 800 points in each section. The lowest possible score you can achieve on the redesigned SAT is a 400. For more detailed information on how the SAT is scored, check out this link.
Planning how you study for the SAT is very important to achieve a successful score. I found creating a consistent study schedule to be very important during preparation. As the exam is almost four hours long, the SAT can seem very intimidating. You want to put yourself in the best possible situation to succeed. There are many ways to study for this exam and each student will have an approach that works best for them. For me, back in 2006, I purchased a huge study book online with thousands of SAT practice questions and I set aside a couple hours every night as ‘SAT prep time’ to study after my track practices.
If you are planning on attending a higher education in the United States, I highly recommend writing the SAT far in advance. Should you fail or need to re-write the SAT, you want to make sure you give yourself enough time to retake it as there are costs to writing it and the exam is only offered around six times a year in Canada. Plan, prepare, and give yourself plenty of time to study for the SAT – Good luck!
My next blog post in my series – An Athletically Inspired Educational Journey – will continue with my experiences as NCAA student-athlete.