UC's new admissions rules confuse applicants: The SAT subject exams are no longer required. If students take them anyway, good scores can help but poor scores won't hurt, administrators say. (except)
Larry Gordon, LA Times, 10/24/11
…(T)he new rules have caused widespread confusion and anxiety among students about whether to take the supplemental tests known as SAT subject exams. {Note from yours truly: These tests are the subject exams, not the regular SAT which remains required.} To boost their chances of UC admission, thousands of high school seniors are taking the subject exams even though the university has dropped them as a requirement, starting with applications for next fall. UC still requires scores from the main SAT test or its rival, the ACT.
Good subject test scores in any discipline will be a "plus factor" in a freshman application, similar to musical ability or club leadership, UC officials say. Not taking them or doing poorly won't eliminate anyone, they emphasize.
Many high school students and counselors contend that is a bewilderingly mixed message. If taking the subject tests helps some students, they ask, won't not taking them potentially hurt others in the zero sum game of admissions? Adding to the uncertainty is that several UC engineering and science programs recommend subject tests in math and science…
To help clear up confusion, UC officials have been explaining the reforms at meetings of high school counselors and administrators around the state. After a recent session in Anaheim, several counselors said they still felt unsettled. "They kept saying that the subject tests are not required but could help. What does that mean? It is a little nebulous," said Jared Fulton, acting assistant principal and a counselor at Los Amigos High School in Orange County. "You could argue both ways on what we heard."
Full article at http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-uc-apply-20111024,0,4217121.story
Confused? Maybe these guys can explain it:
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