We’ve just released another version of our Admission Calculator. You can now use our admission calculator app on the Android as well as the iPhone. Our admission calculator shows you your chances are of getting into any 4-year college in the United States. Just enter your SAT scores along with your unweighted GPA, extra curricular activities and class rank to find out what your chances are.

Once you’ve found a few schools you think you’ll get accepted to, read uncensored college campus reviews from the student who go there. It will help you find the right campus for you and not just tell you all the good stuff like they do in the brochures. Read college reviews at StuVu.com.

Disclaimer:This tool is based on a statistical algorithm. Results are non-binding and do not represent the opinions of any of the colleges tested. Everyone has a different academic “story” and without a complete application and full review from the school there is no way to tell your actual chances of getting in. This is a “best guess” based off a small, albeit cruicial part, of your academic profile. Don’t let these results deter you from applying to a school.

You’ve done all the practice problems, you’ve read the “How to take tests” article and you’re more than ready to sit for the SAT’s.

Here’s how College Board suggests you work through the Math section of the SAT:

• Familiarize yourself with the directions ahead of time.
• The test does not require you to memorize formulas. Commonly used formulas are provided in the test book at the beginning of each math section.
• It is up to you to decide which formula is appropriate.
• Read the problem carefully. Note key words that tell you what the problem is asking. Ask yourself the following questions before you solve each problem: What is the question asking? What do I know?
• With some problems, it may be useful to draw a sketch or diagram of the given information.
• Use the test book for scratchwork. You are not expected to do all the reasoning and figuring in your head. You will not receive credit for anything written in the booklet, but you will be able to check your work easily later.
• Decide when to use a calculator.
• For multiple-choice questions, you may want to refer to the answer choices before you determine your answer.
• Eliminate the choices. If you don’t know the answer to each question, try some of the choices. It is sometimes easier to find the wrong answers than the correct one. On some questions, you can eliminate all the incorrect choices.
• Make sure you answer is a reasonable answer to the question asked. This is especially true for student-produced response questions where no answer choices are given.
• All figures are drawn to scale unless otherwise indicated.

Read more on How to take tests.
No matter what college you get in to, read reviews of the college campus first.
Additional SAT test taking information can be found at www.collegeboard.com.

Some of the best music schools in the country are listed below in alphabetical order:
(click on a school name for more info and student reviews of that college)

• Berklee College of Music
• Cleveland Institute of Music
• Curtis Institute of Music
• Harvard School
• Julliard School
• Manhattan School of Music
• New England Conservatory
• Oberlin College
• San Francisco Conservatory of Music
• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• University of Rochester (Eastman)

In deciding what school you want to attend consider the following:

• What would you like to study, where do you want to be located and prioritize your requirements.
• Collect information and brochures from the schools and study them carefully. You want to be armed with enough information to make informed choices based on your decisions and priorities.
• Create a list of questions that will help you find out if the institution has what you seek.
• Visit the college campus and take a campus tour [link to College Campus Tour, It's a Must article] to see firsthand if it’s an environment you can see yourself in for the duration.
• Prepare to meet portfolio and entrance requirements.
• What are the possibilities for personal, artistic and intellectual growth.
• Who are their faculty members, are they presently practicing music? In what ways?
• Who are the visiting artists that come to school? How often do they have special presenters?
• Who’s on their alumni list?
• Last, but not least, once you decide on a short list of schools to apply, understand your commitments and responsibilities if you enroll.

When you think about the school’s reputation, look to the visiting artists and the alumni. The caliber of visiting artists will give you an indication of the school’s reputation in the industry. The alumni list is a testament of their product.

Overall

• Answer easier questions first as all questions are worth the same number of points regardless of the type of difficulty.
• If you don’t know what a word means in a sentence completion or reading passage, consider related words, familiar sayings and phrases, roots, prefixes and suffixes. Have you ever heard or seen a word that may be related to it?
• In your test booklet, mark each question you don’t answer so that you can easily go back to it later if you have time.

Sentence Completion

• Work on sentence completion questions first. They take less time to answer than the passage-based reading questions. The difficulty of sentence completion questions increases as you answer them in order.

Reading Questions

• Reading questions do not increase in difficulty from easy to hard. Instead, they follow the logic of the passage.
• Reading carefully is the key to finding the correct answer. The information you need to answer each reading question is always in the passage(s). Don’t be misled by an answer that looks correct but is not supported by the actual text of the passage(s).
• Reading questions often include line numbers to help direct you to the relevant part(s) of the passage. If one word or more is quoted exactly from the passage, the line number(s) where the quotation can be found will appear in the test question. You may have to read some of the passage before or after the quoted word however, in order to find support for the best answer to the question.
• Do not jump from passage to passage. Stay with the passage until you’ve answered as many questions as you can before you proceed to the next passage.

Read more on How to take tests
Additional SAT test taking information can be found at here

According to US News and World Report Best Colleges 2010, the following schools are the nation’s best business programs. Also listed are the top 5 schools in each specialty areas.

For some, this is the more daunting portion of the exam. To give you an idea of how to tackle this section, here’s College Board’s suggested approach on how to work through the Writing section of the SAT.

Multiple-choice writing questions

• Read the directions carefully, and then follow them.
• Look at the explanations for each correct answerwhen you use practice materials. Even if you got the question right, you may learn something from the explanation.
• Eliminate the choices you are sure are wrong when you are not sure of the answer. Make an educated guess from those that remain.

Essay

There are no short cuts to success on the SAT essay. You will not receive high scores on your essay just because it is long, or has five paragraphs, or uses literary examples. The high school and college teachers who score the SAT reward essays that insightfully develop a point of view with appropriate reasons and examples and use language skillfully. So what can you do to write a successful SAT essay?

• Read the entire assignment. It’s all there to help you. Every essay assignment contains a short paragraph about the issue. Imagine that you are talking to the author of the paragraph about the issue. Would you argue with him or her, or agree? What other ideas or examples would you bring up? Answering these questions will help you develop your own point of view.
• Don’t oversimplify. Developing your point of view doesn’t mean coming up with as many examples as you can. Rushing to give multiple relevant examples can lead you to oversimplify a complex topic. An essay with one or two thoughtful, well-developed reasons or examples is more likely to get a high score than an essay with three short, simplistic examples.

There’s nothing wrong with “I.” You are asked to develop your point of view on the issue, not give a straight report of the facts. This is your opinion, so feel free to use “I,” and give examples that are meaningful to you, even ones from your personal life or experiences. Of course you need to support your ideas appropriately, and show that you can use language well, but remember: the essay is an opportunity for you to say what you think about an issue relevant to your life.

Read more on How to take tests [link to article "How to take tests"].
Additional SAT test taking information can be found at collegebound.com

Nursing school rankings can be found for graduate nursing programs such as US News and World Report. The NIH (National Institute for Health) also creates a ranking system based on the amount of money a school is given for research purposes.

Here’s a list of some of the best graduate nursing schools in the country according to US News and World Report:
Click on the school name for more information and reviews of the school

• University of Washington
• University of California – San Francisco
• University of Pennsylvania
• Johns Hopkins University
• University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
• University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
• Oregon Health and Science University
• University of Illinois – Chicago
• University of Maryland – Baltimore
• University of Pittsburgh
• Yale University
• University of California – Los Angeles
• University of Iowa
• University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
• Case Western Reserve University
• Duke University
• Indiana University – Purdue University
• University of Colorado Denver
• Columbia University
• Rush University

Read college reviews by college students for any college in the US.

For an undergraduate student considering a nursing school, here are some questions to answer when deciding on a school. Make sure to check their accreditation, student/alumni reviews and affiliation with hospitals or research facilities for practical hands-on experience. See what nursing programs they offer especially if you’re considering specializing in a particular field of nursing. Evaluate the school’s affiliations with neighboring hospitals, how close is the hospital located? Do they offer internship opportunities and hands-on training programs? Is clinical rotation part of their program? What percentage of their graduates pass the nursing board? Where do their graduates work?

Before making a short list of schools to send applications, make sure to visit the school, join a campus tour and try to attend a class. Before your campus visit, arrange to meet with an admissions counselor or advisor and be prepared with a list of questions you want to ask. Consider the school as a whole and examine the nursing programs offered. You will find that once you’ve done the research and legwork on each school, your decision will naturally follow.

As always if you want more information on any college or university you can see all the data and college reviews on StuVu.com.

To see how US News calculates the rankings – click here

The SAT is comprised of 3 sections; Critical Reading, Mathematics and Writing.

Critical Reading
This section is a 70 minute exam with two 25-minute sections and one 20 min section. It’s passage-based reading and sentence completion. Scores 200-800.

This section gives you a chance to show how well you understand what you read. There are two types of multiple-choice questions in the critical reading section:

• Sentence completion questions test your vocabulary and your understanding of sentence structure (19 questions) Take some practice test questions here
• Passage-based reading questions test your comprehension of what is stated in or implied by the passage, not your prior knowledge of the topic. (48 questions) Take some practice test questions here.

Mathematics
The math section of the exam is 70 minutes long which include two 25-minute sections and one 20-minute section. It is comprised of multiple-choice questions and student-produced responses. Score 200-800.

This section consists of two types of questions:

• Multiple-choice questions (44 questions) Take some practice test questions here
• Student-produced response questions appear without answer choices. You’ll use your answer sheet to “grid in” your solution. (10 questions) Take some practice test questions here

The questions require students to apply mathematical concepts and to use data literacy skills in interpreting tables, charts, and graphs. They cover skills in four major areas; numbers and operations, algebra and functions, geometry and measurement and data analysis, statistics and probability.

Links:
SAT Calculator Policy
SAT Mathematics concepts

Writing
A relatively new part of the exam, this section is 60 minutes long comprising of two 25-minute sections and one 10-minute section. There are multiple-choice questions (35 minutes) and a student-written essay (25 minutes). Scores 200-800

In the Writing section you will find:

• An essay. You will be asked to present and support a point of view on a specific issue. Because you only have 25 minutes, your essay is not expected to be polished — it is meant to be a first draft.
• Three types of multiple-choice questions:
• Improving sentences (25 questions) Take some practice test questions here
• Identifying sentence errors (18 questions)Take some practice test questions here
• Improving paragraphs (6 questions) Take some practice test questions here

The multiple choice sections measures your ability to communicate ideas clearly and effectively, improve a piece of writing through editing and revisions, recognize and identify sentence errors and improve paragraphs.

There is an unscored section of the exam which is alloted 25-minutes. This “variable” section may have critical reading, mathematics, or multiple-choice writing questions. It does not count toward the final score but it is used to try out new questions and to ensure that scores on new eidtions of the SAT are comparable to scores in earlier editions.

After long hours of SAT prep, practicing and reviewing for the exam, it’s time to take the exam. Go into the exam confident and ready to take the test.

Good luck!

There are many SAT prep resources, study guide books and online SAT prep courses online. Here are a couple great sources:
College Board’s SAT Preparation Center
Yahoo Education Test Prep Center

This will give you and idea of what schools you have a chance at and should consider applying to. If you have a low percentage you might be able to cross it off your list. If you have a high percentage you may consider it a good back up school to apply to if it’s not your first choice.

Give it a try:
Calculate your college admissions chances

You can also read college reviews by college students for any college in the US.

Disclaimer:This tool is based on a statistical algorithm. Results are non-binding and do not represent the opinions of any of the colleges tested. Everyone has a different academic “story” and without a complete application and full review from the school there is no way to tell your actual chances of getting in. This is a “best guess” based off a small, albeit cruicial part, of your academic profile. Don’t let these results deter you from applying to a school.

Use this school ranking as a guide. Each student will have different personal and academic needs which should be considered when choosing the right school. You’ll also want to look at schools that specialize in the type of engineering degree you want to pursue.