STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

ranchera20 · Marc Jacobs

I am freaking out!

lsubatgirl · Gucci

Oh girl. I know exactly how you are feeling. Junior year for me was the absolute worst. I was taking way too many honors classes and the work just would pile up and my gpa slipped up some too. But its ok. Just keep studying and relax some and your grades will come up. Besides you still have this whole semester ahead of you.

Now on to those SATs. I would suggest going to barnes and nobles and getting the Princeton review book (with a test cd if they make it) and start going through the book little by little. It will help you realize that these tests aren't really that hard. Its just checking to see if you can read and add numbers

Also the SATs and ACTs were cheap when I took them ($25 each time I think) so I would suggest taking it the next time its offered and again in the summer and the fall (yes 3 times) to try and get the best score you possibly can. Every time I took the ACT my score went up a point so it wouldn't hurt. I only took the SAT once since the south really doesn't use it. It all just depends on what the schools you are applying to require.

Good Luck!!

jacL · Coach

First of all, stressing out will only make things worse. Just concentrate on getting the best grades you can and studying for the SAT/ACT. I totally slacked off my freshman year, and didn't realize how much it hurt me until I was a junior, starting to think about college. Luckily, I got into my first pick, but I think it is so much harder to get into a good college now than even six years ago, when I first applied (this is what I tell my sophomore sister). If you have activities, that looks even better on an application.

Just try your hardest, and make some time for fun, and then you won't have any regrets.

And really, you will soon realize how lucky you are to be getting out of high school--college nad the "real world" are so much better!

Maddie · Coach

Don't worry about it. It'll be fine, I promise. I know a lot of people with some bad grades and test scores who got into good schools. I also think that with SATs, you just hae to be within a certain range, don't kill yourself trying to get a 1500. Get a book for them, but don't stress. They're so not a big deal.

My current life advice to anyone is that even if nothing goes how you wanted it, stuff will be ok. Pretty much nothing turned out as I had hoped at college, but it's fine. I'm alive and I even have fun. Also my friends who didn't get into their first choice schools and are at their safety schools are for the most part happier than my friends at their first choices. Life is funny, don't stress about it.

ILoveChoo · Hermes

aw, sweetie don't stress! I know it's hard, but you'll be ok. I agree with the other girls- get a test prep book- especially one that has the tests on cd. Its really not that hard- you're a smart girl- I know you'll ace it! Also, give the ACT a shot. I was the only person in my school who took it, but it was just a better format for me. I didn't do as well on the SATs as I would have liked (still did really well, but I am a perfectionist) and the fomat of of the ACT worked better for my brain- I got a perfect score!

The other advice that I'm going to give you might be different from everyone else's. All through High School and College I spent so much of my time focused on school and dance that I never really lived. Make sure that you make time for fun things and for hanging out with friends. I never did and it's something that I regret every day. So work hard, but play hard too, ok?

theotherjess · Chanel

Some points of advice (I don't think I could make it into a coherent paragraph ):

-Junior year is tough and it's a year colleges are going to look at the hardest. Try to do your best but DO NOT PSYCH (sp?) YOURSELF OUT!! I always do worse when I stress.

-Apply early to colleges. It's a pain in the a$$ but if you do it before the end of 1st semester, you may not have to send in a mid year grade report to the colleges (if they aren't super duper competitive) which means they will never see your senior year grades. I sent in my apps before then so they won't see my senior grades unless they request it at the end of the year (and IIRC they don't since they are such large schools and not ivy league or anything). Not sure if that made sense

-Take both the ACT and the SAT if you can. I did much better on the ACT than the SAT even though I did bad on the science part. The essay for the ACT was ridiculously easy (mine was are school sports helpful or hurtful to students?) while the SAT essay is more of a watered down AP question beginning with a quote and likely something deeper than school sports. Take each a couple times if you can. I scored 60 pts. higher on my second time for the SAT.

Let me know if you want to know anything else!

ranchera20 · Marc Jacobs

Thanks girls for helping me feel better!

I am planning on getting some prep SAT books ASAP so that I can look through those. I am going to be taking the SAT in April and in May. Is it true that the colleges get the higher score of the two or etc?

I hadn't planned on taking the ACT also but I think I will now, it wont hurt right? One question though, do colleges focus more on your SAT then your ACT?

I hadnt explained this before but the high school that I am going to is a magnet school. Which just means that it has fewer students (mine has 950 all together) and this HS has some medical related classes, which help us to get even more ready for the medical field. And I think that thinking about being in the medical field scares me a little bit. But I guess I should really just focus on right now and not let that freak me out.

Thank you girls again!

theotherjess · Chanel

For the SAT you can mix and match your scores. If you do really well on Verbal the first time and sucky on the Math and then the next time you do great on Math and crappy on Verbal, they put together your two best scores.

As far as ACT vs. SAT most colleges will accept either or and just look at which test you did better on. HTH!

jacL · Coach

Most colleges do accept either the ACT or SAT but prefer one over the other, so you may want to check out which one the schools you want to go to prefer.