Since I’ve mentioned exams in the previous article, I’ll talk about the exams you have to take in America.
If you are a student in high school in California, you are required to take California State High School Exit Exam (CASHEE) in order to graduate high school. This exam is quite easy to pass, if you have basic knowledge of math and English.
During the school year, you are also required to take GSE and STAR in second semester. GSE stands for Golden State Examination. It consists of English, Math, Science, Social Science (History) and Foreign Language. Everyone in grade 9-11 are required to take English and Math and history. If you are taking a Science class, you may also be required to take the GSE Science exam. You can get scholarship if you are in the top 5 percent. Also, if you have good scores in the GSE, you can also get a certificate indicating that you have a good score in GSE. This may come to use when you apply for university.
Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) is another state exam you have to take. I guess the purpose of this exam is the same as GSE, to test how well you learn in different subjects and if you achieved the standards of the state. This exam is used to decide how well a high school performs in teaching their students. (I think) I’ve taken English, Math, History and Science last year. Each exam has 5 grade levels: far below basic, below basic, basic, proficient and advanced. The highest score you can get in each exam is 600. During the summer you will get a report card to tell you what you get for each examination. So you may improve on areas that you score badly.
Apart from the two California state exams, there are also other exams you have to take to apply for university. These exams are SAT I, SAT II and ACT (optional if you’ve taken SAT I).
SAT I is an exam consists of two parts: English and Math. Each part of the exam is 800, so the highest score you can get for SAT I will be 1600. For the English part, you will have to know lots vocabularies. As for the math, it should not be very hard as long as you passed Algebra 2. There are books and classes you can take to help you prepare for SAT exams.
SAT II is the second part of SAT exams. It is called subject exams because each exam only tests on one subject. You are required to take the SAT II English Writing and SAT II Math. You can choose the third SAT II exam from a variety of different subjects, such as history, science or foreign languages.
ACT stands for America College Test. You can choose whether to take ACT or SAT I, but most universities look at your SAT I score. ACT is an exam that tests your English, Math, Science and history.
If you wish to know more about SAT I, SAT II and ACT, you can go to http://www.collegeboard.com or search on the website.
Another exam you can take to have a good chance of going to the university you want is AP exam. There are different AP classes you can take in high school. AP are classes you take in the first year of university. If you take AP classes in high school and get a 5 (highest score) in the AP exam, you can advance to the next level when you go to university. AP classes are considered the hardest classes in high school, but if you can get good grades in it, it will pay off when you go to university. But if you think AP classes are too much for you, do not take it. It will give you a bad impression when you apply for university if you have a bad grade in AP exam.
(to be continued)
B.L.
