Just bombed my PSAT

[strohmie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsferrari There was no time gap. I basically walked out of undergraduate graduation onto the plane for the US. Everything was planned well before my undergrad finals. I had a hold on registration in the USA until my final results came out I was here already...when my undergrad finals scores came out

I think what I'm confused by is that you mention in your resume completing the undergrad in 1996, but didn't take the GRE until 2002. I think that's where I'm kinda lost.

Quote:

I had to choose with $$$ in mind. I had the following admits :- * UCLA * Drexel University * Virginia Tech * USF * SUNY SB couldnt afford anything...even USF was too pricey then and nobody was handing out financial aid - things were tight after Sept 11th.

I applied to (in electrical engineering):

U Illinois Urbana-Champaign
U Michigan Ann Arbor
Johns Hopkins (in audio design, actually a music major there)

Got into all three, but no financial aid. Got in touch with a couple people in their music and engineering department, and pulled a tech assistant job in the Music department. Pays the bills, almost completely. Ridiculously lucky in that.

Sorry to see you didn't have the same good fortune.

 

[zachary80]

avoid the answer that seems obvious. always.


to me it seems the more logical do better on the act and the more creative on the sat


edit
i think i got like a 1400 (if its on the 1600 scale) on sat and 33 on act

oh and my dad took a testing course when he went to ND and apparantly found interesting results from his own studies....like leading buisness leaders doing horrible on buisness tests and such

 

[mikeg]

Is the term nerd applied to diligent students, who are serious about their studies, and who tend to excell in school? Is this term generally applied to them by students who don't excel academically?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephonovich Main Entry: nerd Pronunciation: 'n&rd Function: noun Etymology: perhaps from nerd, a creature in the children's book If I Ran the Zoo (1950) by Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) : an unstylish, unattractive, or socially inept person; especially : one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits <computer nerds> Pinkie, SAT originally stood for Scholastic Aptitude Test, Scholastic Achievement Test, Scholastic Assessment Test, or Standard Aptitude Test, depending on who you talk to. Now, it doesn't stand for anything, AFAIK. It's just 'SAT'. Basically, a college entrance exam.

 

[strohmie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by minya Since everyone here is super-smart and does really well on their SATs, I'll bring up the rear with a couple personal statistics.

At least you have good taste in music.

 

[gsferrari]

Quote:

Originally Posted by strohmie Sorry to see you didn't have the same good fortune.

I am an international student who had an accent like Fez from "that 70's show" before I came here. I still speak with a weird accent but it was pretty "Simpsons Appu" like when I first got here

Besides...International students have no good fortune. Our fees was supporting this stupid university. God I hated it. I had one semester fees waived - thats it! because I got 3 A's and had a job that paid me $10.00 an hour. I went home because my grandpa died...came back and they had filled the position...no $10.00 job = no financial aid.

You really should take a look at the rules we have to follow to play this game. I sometimes wonder where democracy and freedom went

SO MANY restrictions because we are all Osama Bin Ladens in the making.

Sad

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stephonovich Pinkie, SAT originally stood for Scholastic Aptitude Test, Scholastic Achievement Test, Scholastic Assessment Test, or Standard Aptitude Test, depending on who you talk to. Now, it doesn't stand for anything, AFAIK. It's just 'SAT'. Basically, a college entrance exam.

aha, thanks for the clarification Stephonivich I thought it may be something along those lines but you never know these days...

Armed with this info I would say don't worry steel102, maybe shave that moustache off and you'll feel more relaxed taking your exams.... you don't need qualifications to "do" medicine but they are essential if you want to practice medicine.. my advice is "enjoy" studying and enjoy your subject, if you look at it as a chore then you will never excel in it.... start enjoying the subject and live and breathe it and 100 / 100 will be easy to acheive.

 

[nauqneyugn]

PSATs are important for National Merit Scholar and the like. You can't take it again, so I wouldn't worry about it and try extra hard on the SAT, AP tests and your extra curricular activities.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Man, some of you guys are genius level... gsferrari, NeilPeart, etc. It's really amazing to be in such company. These are what we used to call the "steel trap-like analytical minds." I mean this 100% and am being fully sincere. But these kinds of results are rare and not everyone is so lucky.

What I've found in life is this: what matters most is that you put your heart and mind into what you do, that you care more than the other guy, that you plan for success, and that you are not afraid of it once it arrives, but also that you are not afraid to keep on trying harder and harder than the other guy, and on each successive attempt, you will get closer to where you want to be. This simply means that if you don't get the scores that you are hoping for on the PSAT, just do everything within your ability to do better on the SAT, and live with whatever results come your way. Make the best of it no matter what competitive environment your scores end up placing you in.

I guess I learned the hard way. I wanted to go to Notre Dame but I just wasn't bright enough to get in. The fact that I was scheduled to pitch the second game of a double header for our high school baseball team on the day of my ACT exam (a Saturday in May) probably didn't help my cause, but you know about excuses... It was funny though, because my left arm was loaded up with "Atomic Balm" (which is like Ben Gay, only about 5 times as intense) and it stunk up the whole room. Nobody at the test site could sit within 20 feet of me. So there I am, thinking about the game and wanting to get down to the locker room so I could get dressed and join the team in between games, warm up, and toss a no hitter... the last thing on my mind was the ACT exam!

I did pretty bad on the ACT, and we lost the game anyway. I think I walked about a dozen guys and hit 3 or 4 more, one of them right in the head, only because I was so mad at myself for choking on the ACT. I'm on the mound thinking, why was this important? That day I didn't concentrate on anything when I needed to. So I ended up at a community college (the only place that would accept me) instead of Notre Dame.

But it didn't end as bad as it began. I did well there, and then at Illinois State University (not an ND by any stretch of the imagination, but they had and excellent undergraduate accounting program, and again, I did well in that competitive envoronment). In no time, I learned what I've stated above: what matters in life is that you do the best you possibly can by putting your heart and mind into what is important to you, and you should never be afraid of success, accept whatever results come your way, and then plan to do it better the next time.

I know it's probably hard to hear this, and trust me, when I was your age it wouldn't have made sense to me, but it matters less what your actual results are than it does what you do in response to the situation that those results place you in.

 

[bln]

High SAT scores do not an intelligent person make.

And Internet forums do not bring out the honesty in people. Just saying.

 

[Tim D]

Quote:

Originally Posted by minya Seriously, aren't there any more loser procrastinating slackers on this forum? Oh, wait... no. Everyone on Head-Fi is Asian.

I'm a serious procrastinator. But I'm Asian too. I took the GRE sometime in 2002 as well but never knew what it was really out of before now, but I guess I didn't do so bad if I remember correctly. I was in a lousy mood for the SAT cause I think I was locked out of my car before the test as well lol. I also never study, and stopped taking notes early on when I realized I was literally unable to go back and decipher what I put down on paper because my handwriting wouldn't pass grade school. I stopped buying most school books when I realized I never open them.

In anycase I also have a final and two projects due next week and haven't even started. I literally sleep in class and slept through college. But now I have a full-time job so I also care less than I even cared before. Regardless I manage to have an A in the last grad class I really need to take for my Masters. Course there is that whole thesis thingamabob but unfortunately I think that actually takes a certain level of dedication. Actually I didn't even plan on really getting a grad degree, I just started and before I knew it I now have the burden of finishing it. Its just a MS in CS so I really don't care for it...maybe if I study something that is more to my liking I'd apply myself.

Now I have a friend who is actually already a med student and is applying for residency for neuro. Its hard to say what type of guy he is, more like an immature jerk more than anything, but really I don't think he'd ever be one to freak about PSAT's. Just be confident. In fact I'd say disregarding his intelligence, its his confidence and activities/accomplishments that makes him stand out (but yes I know at undergrad admissions you are more statistics at that point than a person). In anycase you don't need to go to some uber exclusive private school for undergrad to be top notch candidate for med school anyways, just a 'good' school, which you can get into with a 'good' SAT score. There are going to be far harder trials and tribulations to go through for that whole med school thing to worry about besides PSAT believe me.

 

[adhoc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeilPeart I'm proud of my nerdery, damnit!

so am i. (

) 800 verbal 720 math. still didnt get into med school though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by minya Seriously, aren't there any more loser procrastinating slackers on this forum? Oh, wait... no. Everyone on Head-Fi is Asian.

roflmao

 

[wrhawk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bln High SAT scores do not an intelligent person make. And Internet forums do not bring out the honesty in people. Just saying.

signed,
yes

 

[NeilPeart]

Quote:

High SAT scores do not an intelligent person make.

I completely agree with this statement. No test (IQ, SAT, ACT, etc) can determine anyone's level of intelligence. My best friend barely completed high school, always scores poorly on tests and never attended any institution of higher learning; however he's the most intelligent person I've ever met hands down. What the SAT does is test one's ability to take a test that is based upon standard fundamentals and rules; it forces those who attended unorthodox schools to prove they learned the basic math and English skills necessary to enter a university, nothing more and nothing less. Far too many people place too heavy an emphasis on standardized testing, but society needs some type of litmus test to gauge a student's education level. Let's take a student who hardly ever reads and never learned solid mathematics but attended a simple high school and achieved a 3.8 while another student attended a very challenging high school and earned only a 3.4, but his fundamental scholastic skills are much more developed - this student would be at a heavy disadvantage of some standardized appraisal method did not exist. I do hope that one day a more diverse test will be created that covers more topics and fields (the sciences, history, etc.), but the SAT IIs are an interim solution.
Quote:

And Internet forums do not bring out the honesty in people. Just saying.

Why would I lie on some headphone site? I attended Berkeley from 1999-2002 and I'm currently working at Lockheed Martin in Sunnyvale while attending Santa Clara University. If you're ever in the Bay Area you should drop buy for a visit.

 

[meithkiller]

Back when I was in High School (20 years ago), the only thing offered in the area was the ACT. You had to drive several hours to take the SAT IIRC. I took the ACT my junior year in high school, I had never had any math beyond algebra, and no science in HS to speak of (no biology, chemistry, or physics). If my aged memory serves me correctly I got a 26, more than good enough to get me into any of the schools I was planning on going to. My plans were to take the ACT again my senior year and shoot for a higher score, but I decided a 26 was good enough, I was a bit of an underachiever my senior year in HS. I did have physics my senior year, so I likely could have improved a couple of points had I taken it again.

-Keith

 

[oneeyedhobbit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bln This is going to turn into one of those threads in which nerds compare SAT scores. I'll pass.

Agreed.