SPECIAL TALENTS
Colleges need running backs for their football teams and violins in their
orchestra. Even if you haven’t been recruited by the Bears and aren’t the next
Itzhak Perlman, make sure your colleges know about any special talents that you
have. One of our past guest editors, who originally was deferred Early Action at
MIT and Cal Tech, got into both Regular Action after sending an application
update that included info about the guest authorship and a percussion audition
tape for the band and orchestra conductors at each school. Of course, we at Up
Your Score believe that we were the deciding factor, but the tapes couldn’t have
hurt.
PARTING WORDS OF ADVICE
(To Be Read the Night Before the Test)
Dear Reader,
Congratulations! You’ve made it through (or else you’re peeking at the end of
the book). You have your ID, your admission ticket, three sharp number 2
pencils and one dull pencil, a calculator or two with charged batteries, and some
good food to bring into the test all waiting by the door. Maybe you’ve studied
everything in a day; maybe you started with verbal flashcards four and a half
years ago. Who cares? It’s over now; no amount of studying the night before the
test is going to help you significantly.
If you need a boost of confidence, just remember that there are people out
there who will be taking the test tomorrow without having read this book first.
(Unthinkable, isn’t it?) If you botch the test, you’ll just take it again on the next
test date. If you don’t get into the college of your choice, you can choose
another one that probably doesn’t cost as much and has a better football team.
I’m not telling you how many times I took the SAT. Let’s just say it became a hobby.
—Samantha
We hope you enjoyed our book and learned a lot. Our objective was to teach
you how to take the SAT, but we hope that along the way you learned some stuff
that will help you for the rest of your life. At the very least, you’re now an expert
on grammar rules, but if we did our job right you are a cleverer test taker and a
better thinker than you used to be.
All of us authors went through the same thing you’re going through right
now. We know how you feel. There is a lot of pressure. It feels as if someone is