Standardized Testing

Riddle me this - what are three letters that strike fear into the hearts of upper-level high schoolers? If you guessed SAT, congratulations, you live in America.

In this section, I'm not going to spend a plethora of time focusing on "how to ace the SAT." There are plenty of great books out there for that (my personal favorite is the one published by the Princeton Review). However, I am going to expound on the differences between the ACT and the SAT as well as offer insight into making the most of your scores.

ACT vs. SAT
The popularity margin in this equation really seems to depend on location. My friend in Missouri says that everyone in her school takes the ACT, but in my home state of Texas, everyone takes the SAT. Really, what's the difference? I have taken the ACT twice and the SAT three times; from what I can personally deduce, it's simply a matter of learning styles.
To me, the ACT was a more reading-based test, favoring the well-read rather than the well-reasoned. The SAT seemed to focus more on logic skills and had a stronger math base. Since I never really progressed passed elementary addition, my ACT scores were much higher than my SAT scores. I believe it is advantageous to all students to take BOTH tests. You never know how which one will be better suited to your testing style.

Making the most of your scores
For the seriously cash-strapped, look at smaller schools you may not have thought of before. A smaller institution can more adequately provide for your financial needs. Larger schools have enough students vying for spots; they simply don't need to "pay" bright kids to enroll. My test scores got me into several big-name schools, but they got me full tuition at several smaller universities. Beat the system by considering a school that caters to your needs.