Has anybody’s dc sat the US Sats?

[Crumb2Everywhere]

Any advice or experience would be gratefully received.

Hi, not yet but due to at some point in DD's Y12, subject to UK test centres re-opening. What do you need to know?

If at the start of your DC's prep and your school does not provide US application support, take a look at Fulbright Commission for basic detail on how to apply, funding, possible financial support etc.

Get your DC to register with SAT/College Board. Here he/she will be able to access lots of free test preparation materials, practise with Khan Academy linked stuff in readiness of how tests work/what subject matter will be included etc.

Decide which subject papers (it any), on top of the SATs your DC may wish to take.

Look at your prospective colleges' websites. Lots will have changed now since CV-19 impact, both for domestic and international students. Some prestigious institutions have/are making SATs/ACT testing requirements optional, but may still be viable for international students as we have different high school exams and do not capture on-going GPA data like they do. Again, all may change after this year...

Ensure your DC establishes strong relationships with their nominated subject teachers providing references!

Think about the essay writing skills - a big part of the application process.

Sorry this is a bit of a download dump of stuff; you may have already got this all covered! Good luck.

No I know very little so thank you.Ds has done most of the research so far. Picking subjects for the advanced Sats are going to prove to be a challenge. He potentially wants to do Computer Science eventually so maths is the first one. He isnt doing any of the other options at Alevel but pretty competent at Eng and could carry in with biology self study. His Alevel choices with Computer Science, psychology and maths I guess would support an application.

Where do you find out about the essay part?

Depending on your circumstances, the Sutton Trust do a summer school to encourage UK state school students (typically from non-priviledged backgrounds) to apply to US colleges that may be of interest: us.suttontrust.com/

The optional SAT 'generic' essay detail is in link below.

collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/inside-the-test/essay

Dependent on the colleges your DS wants to apply to, there may be some supplementary essays needed as part of their app process. Often, these are much smaller in word count, and often have a choice of titles to choose from. They are an opportunity for the student to share more about themselves without repeating what's in the standard essay. Ensure they are not generic, and tailored to the application.

I have purposely also kept out of the detail of process leaving it to my DD to navigate, so only vague advice here from what I know!

Final point is for your DS to collate/develop his extra curricular stuff, whether academic, sports, music, clubs, other interests etc.

Be aware that the SATs are not an absolute score, but are on a curve for each sitting, and that the international student sittings will be moderated back to much lower scores than the absolute. In my DD's year, 5 or 6 errors brought their score at an international sitting down to 1350 or so (out of 1600) where if they'd done a US sitting it would likely have been 1500+. I agree with PP that you need to have a good discussion with someone like Fulbright.

Essays take MUCH more time than you think they will. My DD applied to 4 places, and only had 6 essays, but one of her friends applied to 8 and had 45 (yes, forty-five) essays to do. Thorough research needed.