University of California Admission by exam

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If you don’t meet UC’s minimum requirements, you may be considered for admission to UC if you earn high scores on the ACT with Writing or SAT and two SAT Subject Tests.

In general, this method of consideration is designed for students who have been unable to meet the regular subject requirements and/or earn a high school diploma because of unique circumstances, such as non-traditional education or long-term illness.

To be considered, you must take either the ACT with Writing or the SAT, as well as two SAT Subject Tests.

You must earn a minimum UC Score total — calculated according to the instructions below — of 410 (425 for nonresidents). In addition, you must achieve a minimum UC score of 63 on each component of the exams.

You may not use a SAT Subject Test to meet these requirements if they have completed a transferable college course with a grade of C or better in that subject.

How to convert your test scores to UC Scores:

If you took the SAT Reasoning Test (prior to March 2016):

  • Convert the highest scores in critical reading, math and writing from a single sitting and the two highest SAT Subject Tests from different subject areas to equivalent UC Scores (see the SAT test score translation table).
  • Add all five UC Scores to produce your UC Score total. For example: critical reading + math + writing + Subject Test 1 + Subject Test 2 = UC Score total.

If you took the SAT with Essay exam (starting March 2016)

  • Using scores from a single sitting, convert the new reading, math, and writing & language scores to the old SAT scores using the tables listed below. Get the equivalent UC Scores for the three converted scores using the SAT test score translation table.
  • Convert the two highest SAT Subject Tests from different subject areas to equivalent UC Scores using the SAT test score translation table.
  • Add all five UC Scores to produce your UC Score total.

SAT w/ Essay
Reading

Old SAT
Critical Reading

40 800
39 760
38 720
37 700
36 680
35 660
34 640
33 610
32 590
31 570
30 550
29 530
28 520
27 500
26 480
25 460
24 440
23 420
22 400
21 380
20 370
19 340
18 310
17 280
16 270
15 260
14 250
13 240
12 220
11 210
10 200

SAT w/ Essay
Math

Old SAT
Math

800 800
790 780
780 760
770 750
760 740
750 720
740 710
730 700
720 690
710 680
700 670
690 660
680 650
670 650
660 640
650 630
640 620
630 610
620 600
610 590
600 580
590 570
580 560
570 550
560 530
550 520
540 510
530 500
520 490
510 470
500 460
490 450
480 440
470 430
460 420
450 410
440 400
430 390
420 380
410 370
400 360
390 350
380 340
370 330
360 310
350 300
340 290
330 280
320 280
310 270
300 260
290 260
280 250
270 240
260 240
250 230
240 220
230 220
220 210
210 200
200 200

SAT w/ Essay
Writing & Language

Old SAT Writing

40 800
39 760
38 740
37 710
36 680
35 650
34 630
33 600
32 570
31 550
30 530
29 510
28 490
27 470
26 450
25 430
24 420
23 400
22 380
21 370
20 350
19 340
18 320
17 300
16 280
15 270
14 260
13 240
12 230
11 220
10 200

 

SAT test score translation

SAT Score

UC Score

SAT Score

UC Score

800 100 490 48
790 98 480 47
780 97 470 45
770 95 460 43
760 93 450 42
750 92 440 40
740 90 430 38
730 88 420 37
720 87 410 35
710 85 400 33
700 83 390 32
690 82 380 30
680 80 370 28
670 78 360 27
660 77 350 25
650 75 340 23
640 73 330 22
630 72 320 20
620 70 310 18
610 68 300 17
600 67 290 15
590 65 280 13
580 63 270 12
570 62 260 10
560 60 250 8
550 58 240 7
540 57 230 5
530 55 220 3
520 53 210 2
510 52 200 0
500 50

If you took the ACT Plus Writing:

  • Convert the highest math, reading, science and combined English/writing or ELA score from a single sitting to equivalent UC Scores (see the translation table below).
  • Multiply the sum of the converted math, reading and science scores by two-thirds, then add the converted English/writing or ELA score.
  • Add this subtotal to your two highest SAT Subject Test scores from two different subject areas, which are also converted to equivalent UC Scores. For example: (math + reading + science) x 0.667 + English/writing + Subject Test 1 + Subject Test 2) = UC Score total.
ACT test score translation

ACT Score

UC Score

ACT Score

UC Score

36 100 20 47
35 97 19 43
34 93 18 40
33 90 17 37
32 87 16 33
31 83 15 30
30 80 14 27
29 77 13 23
28 73 12 20
27 70 11 17
26 67 10 13
25 63 9 10
24 60 8 7
23 57 7 3
22 53 1-6 0
21 50

Conquer TOEFL by yourself! Part II

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TOEFL Deciphered

TOEFL is divided into four major parts: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Because of the education system and the environment in Asia, Asian kids usually score relatively higher in reading, but have a disadvantage in listening and writing. Therefore, finding your own strength to complement the weaknesses is critical for this type of tests.

Mere imagination is useless, if you are not sure what is your strength (in fact, I think most people only have a vague concept, but is unclear about what their strengths are), then I suggest that you take a TPO simulation exam. Use the actual exam time to calculate the range of your abilities as well as analyze your strengths and weaknesses. That way, you can make better use of your time to improve the score you need in a short period.

[READING SECTION]

Because reading is what most people do best, please be reminded that unless your English reading speed is fast, do not read every word from start to finish. Read the questionsreading
first, and think about what the questions focuses on to increase reading efficiency! Do not be frightened of the words you don’t know, testing you for difficult words is often not the objective of the test.

Keep in mind that the objective of the TOEFL examination is to determine whether you have the ability to study in English-speaking countries. So the primary goal is to master the key points and understand the meanings instead of focusing on your vocabulary volume or whether you have become an encyclopedia.

 [WRITING SECTION]

The writing section is divided into two parts: (1) “based on reading and listening” and (2) “based on knowledge and experience.”

I think that for most people, writing based on knowledge and experiences is not hard. Just remember that English writing is a more direct and clear style. Just make sure the Topic sentences, supporting ideas, and a conclusion are written in a simple and clear manner. If you follow this major structure, don’t deviate from it, and do not try to deliberately and excessively use difficult vocabulary words to flaunt. Then, it shouldn’t be a problem for you to obtain a great score.

taking toefl

The based on reading and listening part is usually more difficult. The speech you listened to may talk about the A perspective, but the article you read may raise the contradicting B perspective. So listen carefully to what the speaker said, and respond to the comparison areas mentioned in the article. List the relevant points, draw up an appropriate conclusion, and then you are good to go.

A few tips on how you can score higher points are listed below:

1. Clear structure!

This is being repeated again because it really is the top priority You can have a weak argument, even fail to understand what the speaker said or what the article meant, and forget a lot of the details; however, as long as your framework is there, you will get the basic points.

2. Commonly used examples

Although the words “for example” is a pretty boring method to introduce supporting ideas, it is simple and practical. As long as the example is good or the example was raised by the speaker or article, it can demonstrate your clear logic and understanding of the subject again.

3. Strong supporting references

You may be thinking, there is no Internet access during the test, so where is the data? However, the “based on knowledge and experience” writing section usually revolves around topics familiar everyone. When a person writes down straightforward facts, doesn’t it appear more convincing than “according to a survey from National XX Center”?

A person may suddenly be unsure of how to use authoritative references. In addition to using vague terms such as “according to survey/investigation,” maybe you can write something like, “The recent survey from Peking University revealed the fact that…”. Quoting well known schools to present an academic knowledge actually works pretty well, however, remember not to write about facts that you are not too familiar with, or the errors would become obvious and it would do more harm than good.

4. Use a good rhetoric and remember to provide a good ending.

Make use of some parallelisms and analogies to enrich the article. However, one thing is important. Try to finish off with ending sentences that links back to the main topic. The last sentences are usually the most impressive. The examiner has to read so many essays. So if the ending is strong and the grammar, sentence structure, or word choices are appropriate, the overall points will improve significantly as well.

[LISTENING (Part 1)]

TOEFL-listening-hubThe TOEFL Listening section is divided into two parts. Each part has a conversation and two lectures. Listening time for each section is approximately 20 minutes, and the answer time is 10 minutes. Therefore, each part takes approximately 30 minutes overall.
Because the TOEFL test is designed to test non-native English speakers or those who have not studied in English-speaking countries and determine whether they have sufficient English proficiency to live inside the campus, most of the dialogues will revolve around campus related topics such as questions related to registration matters, how to do homework issued by a professor, how to argue your own ideas with professors, etc. 90% of the dialogues are about daily life activities. So just relax, and you will soon know that the questions are actually pretty easy to answer.

What is worth noting is that the lecture parts instead may be discussing more specialized topics such as “Marine Ecology,” “Abstract Art History,” etc. You may encounter many technical terms that you are not aware of, or hopefully be fortunate enough to come across a field that you are familiar with during university studies. If that is the case, how do you prepare?

TOEFL is mostly testing for general English fluency abilities, so cramming school is really needed. The key is knowing how to improve yourselves. Please stay tuned as we will provide answers in the next part~

How to start writing your essay !

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We all find it challenging to sit down, focus, and start a task. A lot of us even  procrastinate. The best advice on how to start would be to simply start! This may not sound very helpful, but the action itself is extremely powerful if you just try it. There is no magical way to help you start writing your college essay, if you just take a minute and stop stressing over how to start you will actually achieve the first step.

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