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I'm in a small high school. What should I be doing next with sophomore PSAT scores of:
Math 53, V39, Writing 58. GPA 3.8
I live in California and wanted to go to a UC. Is there hope? How do I get my V score up?

By Socaljessie (Socaljessie) on Saturday, March 06, 2004 - 01:57 pm: Edit

UC Riverside and UC Santa Clara aren't that hard to get into (UCR actually sends acceptance letters to people who don't even apply). UC Irive and Davis are in the middle and UCLA, UCSD, and UC Berkley are pretty hard. You can go onto www.ucop.com and look around. Somewhere you can download this booklet with the exact acceptance rate and how many they accepted with such and such GPA and SAT score. As for the getting you V score up, practice, practice practice!

By Julz711 (Julz711) on Saturday, March 06, 2004 - 02:03 pm: Edit

The best way to get your verbal score up aside from vocab drilling is to to read. The kids who get the best verbal scores read enough so that even if they don't know what a word means, they can recognize it in context. Also look up words you don't know when you come across them and put them on a list.

By Belle28 (Belle28) on Saturday, March 06, 2004 - 02:55 pm: Edit

uhh. . . just had to correct socaljessie: there is no "UC Santa Clara" I think you mean Santa Cruz?

But I agree with Julz, read. Read periodicals or anthologies cuz those are like the ones they pull for reading passages. I'm a fan of the New Yorker but just about anything that's not like seventeen or a car mag will work.

btw: have you heard of the ELC program? If you're in the top 4% of a cali public high school, or in the top 10% statewide (it's based on GPA and a few other school based factors, not test scores), you're gonna go to a UC even if you have to go to the local community college first and transfer in. they work with you. it's pretty nice.

By Ucbhopeful (Ucbhopeful) on Saturday, March 06, 2004 - 03:35 pm: Edit

your SATs need to go up a little more, and you need to at least hit the mark of 1000 or above. a good piece of advice would be to take the ACTs, which are accepted by most schools, universities, and colleges. They are a little easier and follow more along the lines of your school curriculum. Good luck!

UCs:
Berkeley
Davis
Irvine
Los Angeles
Merced (hopefully to open in 2005)
Riverside
Santa Barbara
Santa Cruz

Grad Schools:
All including UCSF for medical

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Saturday, March 06, 2004 - 11:52 pm: Edit

I'd also suggest that you go to the college board site www.collegeboard.com and read up on how the SATs will be changing next year. There will now be a writing section, including an essay. The UC's are the driving force behind this change and you can expect that they will look at the writing section very carefully. In any case, some of the changes to the verbal section may help you somewhat - for instance, analogies will be eliminated and there will be more reading comprehension. The new math section will include more higher level math problems from Algebra II. Get smart about the changes and that may help you get your verbal up.