Your Guide to All the (Necessary) Standardized Tests
Now I understand that exams are just a week away, and everyone is cringing at the thought of having to sit in a room for two hours having to write essays and answer questions, but (unfortunately) it doesn’t get much better. Here I introduce to you a guide to some of the most common tests that you will likely need to take when getting ready to send out those college applications if you have not already done so. Get familiar with them!
1. SAT
The SAT is a globally recognized college admission test that lets you show colleges what you know and how well you can apply that knowledge. It tests your knowledge of reading, writing and math — subjects that are taught every day in high school classrooms. Most students take the SAT during their junior or senior year of high school, and almost all colleges and universities use the SAT to make admission decisions.
What you may recognize is although the SAT is a globally recognized test, it is only for the use of America’s universities and probably Korean’s universities. UNIS is one of SAT test centers in Vietnam.
Duration: 3h 45min
Score out of: 2400
Fee: 52$
A big change in SAT is coming in 2016, so if any students who intend to take SAT should have a look at https://sat.collegeboard.org/home to find out more information.
Beside SAT test, there are SAT subjects tests which would be done depending on admission requirements of each school. Usually, the number of subjects to take is 2. The subject’s tests available are in 4 categories: Sciences, Language, Math and History.
Duration: 1 hour
Score out of: 800
Fee: $26 Basic Subject Test Fee (per registration)
+$26 Language with Listening Tests (per test)
+$16 All other Subject Tests (per test)
If you wonder what SAT stands for, I don’t know either. It used to be called the Scholastic Aptitude Test then the Scholastic Assessment .
2. ACT (American College Testing)
This is SAT alike but for students who are fond of sciences. The ACT test is a college entrance exam covering English, reading, math, and science. It measures what students have learned in high school, so taking the right courses is important.
Duration: 3h 25 min (including the optional writing test)
Score out of: 36
Fee: 37$ (no writing)
54$ (with writing)
The questions in ACT are not as tricky as in SAT but it is real time pressure. However the plus of ACT is that you don’t get penalized when answering questions wrong. If you get tired of SAT, ACT is a good choice since it is considered the same as SAT.
3. TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Lnguage)
Exactly as the abbreviations stands for, if English is your mother tongue, there’s no need to do that. Often universities require it when you are not native speaker. TOEFL has multiple types of tests but currently most people do TOEFL iBT. The TOEFL iBT test measures your ability to use and understand English at the university level. And it evaluates how well you combine your listening, reading, speaking and writing skills to perform academic tasks.
Duration: 4h 30min
Score out of: 120
Fee: 170$ (in Vietnam)
Note that TOEFL result will be out of validation in 2 years, therefore, it should be done in grade 11 or 12 but not earlier.
4. IELTS (International English Language Testing System)
It is exactly like TOEFL, except it is the UK’s version. Still, it doesn’t matter much if you take TOEFL instead of IELTS or vice versa, they are considered pretty much the same.
Duration: 2h 45min
Score out of: 9
Fee: 3.5 million dong (in Vietnam)
http://www.ielts.org/default.aspx
- UKCAT (The UK Clinical Aptitude Test)
This is the test you have to do if you are a doctor-wanna be in UK. It’s harder than the above 4 tests.
Fee: £ 100
As long as I know there is a test which is way harder and longer than UKCAT which is MCAT, it tests not only on Chemistry, Biology but also Physics and Psychology and lasts for 7 hours. Still, this can only be taken in university so MCAT is not on the list.
