COllege Admissions News and ACT / SAT Strategy

We’re taught to be modest – not to brag or talk too much about ourselves. But when you write your college essay, you’re forced to do the exact opposite, and that shift can make students uncomfortable. It’s hard to strike the right tone in writing or speaking about yourself, especially when you’re discussing something at which you excel. Here are some tips on how to write about your accomplishments without bragging (hint: they’re all about showing rather than telling).

Show what you’ve learned

Talking about your achievements shouldn’t be a list. It should be a discussion. Focus on just one - or a few - accomplishments instead of listing every single one, and then give more details and context to measure your success. What skills have you developed as a result of excelling at an academic subject, a sport, or hobby? What happened the first time you tried, and how is it different now that you’re more experienced? If you naturally excelled from the start, how have you managed to keep challenging yourself and to hold your interest over time? If you didn’t succeed at first, what kept you from giving up?

Have you thought about starting your college applications this fall? If so, you should spend some time considering which teachers you want to write your college recommendation.

Math is a subject that most students either love or hate.  In either case, preparing thoroughly for the Math section of the ACT is important in order to do your best.  If math is not your strongest subject, building a solid foundation of understanding will be important for maintaining a decent overall score.  If math comes easily for you, reviewing will still be important in order to fill in the gaps in your knowledge, especially if you want your score to truly reflect your ability.  Either way, this series of posts gives you valuable strategies that will help you maximize your score.  This post is the third of a three part series that looks at strategies for acing the ACT Math section.

Math is a subject that most students either love or hate.  In either case, preparing thoroughly for the Math section of the ACT is important in order to do your best.  If math is not your strongest subject, building a solid foundation of understanding will be important for maintaining a decent overall score.  If math comes easily for you, reviewing will still be important in order to fill in the gaps in your knowledge, especially if you want your score to truly reflect your ability.  Either way, this series of posts gives you valuable strategies that will help you maximize your score.  This post is the second of a three part series that looks at strategies for acing the ACT Math section. 

Strategy #4: Budget Your Time

Since the ACT is a timed test, using your time and focus effectively will have a huge effect on the outcome.  Sixty minutes for sixty questions may seem like plenty of time, but the questions cover a range of difficulties, and some will take much longer than a minute, which means that others will have to take much less.  For example, suppose you take two minutes to complete one problem.  Then you will have to complete two problems in only thirty seconds to make up for this time.  If it took you three minutes to answer one problem, you would have to answer three more in only twenty seconds each to stay on par.  And a six-minute problem would cost you six ten-second problems!  So, if a problem is taking too much time or draining your ability to focus, don’t be afraid to skip it and come back to it if you have time.  Since all of the questions count the same regardless of their difficulty, the more you are able to answer the better.

A college essay does not have to be about an important topic – cancer, death, poverty, etc. – basically, the Worst Thing That’s Ever Happened To You Or Anyone Anywhere. It has to be important to you, but not by definition heavy or serious. However, sometimes a major world issue or a personal tragedy is vital to understanding you and your worldview. It’s understandable to want to share that with an admissions committee. If you truly want to write about something serious, here are some tips on how to handle it.

Keep the focus on how YOU relate to the topic at hand

Discuss major issues in the context of you and your life story. It can be difficult to have any sort of meaningful dialogue about such topics as war or racism in approximately 650 words. Narrow your focus down to a specific time or event when your life was personally affected by such an issue. Describe how it made you feel, what your reaction was, and how you have grown as a person as a result of going through the experience. Providing relevant (the key being relevant, not “every sordid”), specific details will be the key to keeping your college essay from feeling generic or superficial. Ultimately, the point of the essay is to give a little insight into an applicant as an individual. Don’t waste the opportunity by pontificating on ending world hunger without relating it back to exactly why it’s a goal of yours and what you plan to do about it.

Math is a subject that most students either love or hate.  In either case, preparing thoroughly for the Math section of the ACT is important in order to do your best. If...