International students wanting to avail scholarship programmes and admissions in US universities and colleges have to go through the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) conducted by the College Board internationally. SAT is one of the qualifying examinations required by colleges, universities and scholarship programmes to ascertain how well prepared a student is to do college-level work. The College Board SAT programme consists of SAT-I (Reasoning Test) and SAT-II (Subject Test). Before taking the tests, it would be advisable to find out if the colleges you are interested in require SAT-I or SAT-II.

SAT-I:

SAT-I is a three hour test, primarily multiple-choice, that measures verbal and mathematical reasoning ability.
The test comprises seven sections: Three verbal, three math's sections and one 30 minute equating section.

Verbal Section tests:

Your ability to understand and analyze what you read.

Recognizing relationships between parts of sentences.

See relationships between pairs of words.

Vocabulary skills are tested by reading passages, sentences and word pairs.

Math Section tests:
Your ability to solve problems involving arithmetic, algebra and geometry.
Your SAT-I scores help compare academic preparation ability with two million students who take the test each year.

SAT-II:

SAT-II Subject Tests are one-hour, mostly multiple choice tests in specific subjects. These measure knowledge of particular subjects and the ability to apply the knowledge. Five general areas for subject test are: English, History, Social Sciences, Mathematics, Sciences and languages.

Subject tests generally help colleges compare the academic achievement of the students from different schools because courses and grading standards may vary. Many colleges require or recommend one or more of these tests for admissions or placement purposes. Even if not required by a college, subject test performances can be added to your portfolio to support competency in academic areas.

PROCEDURE:

Both SAT-I and SAT-II cannot be taken on the same day. You need to either take SAT-I or up to three SAT-II subject tests on the same day. SAT tests are administered in India by the US Educational Foundation in India (USEFI). While SAT-I is offered at a fee of US $53.50, fee for SAT-II is US $ 43 plus an additional test fees. Payment is to be made by dollar draft payable to SAT programme at any bank in the US.

Completed application forms should be sent to College Board SAT Programme, Princeton, New Jersey-08541, USA.

For details log on to: www.collegeboard.org

Courtesy: The Times of India.