Making choices....

The next part of my University series is going to be.. about choosing the right university!

This is one of the most important parts of the whole process for obvious reasons... it is where you will spend 4 years of your life being educated!
To start with you need to write a list of dealbreakers:

-2 year or 4year... just trust me.. for an international student 4 year is easier!!!

-Large, medium or small??
So large, over 15,000 people- this is for those of you (like me) that want to still be able to meet someone new in your year on your last day of senior year! And for those of you who don't like everyone to know who you're dating or to know you!
Medium (between 6,000-15,000), this is smaller than large... obviously... but I guess this is for those of you who like meeting new people but would like to recognise a familiar face at least twice a day!
Small (below 6,000)
The smallest university I know has 600 people... so if you want a school smaller than your highschool where everyone knows one another and you know everyone too. This is the one for you!
Of course in each section there are extremes ranging from those with 600 people to those with 70,000 people!

-Public or private?
Normally the main difference is price however for an international student fees are what we call 'out of state' and are expensive for either one... shouldn't determine your choice!

-What campus setting? Urban, suburban or town???
This below website explains the differences...
https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/find-colleges/how-to-find-your-college-fit/campus-setting-rural-suburban-urban
which fits your bill?????

-Single sex or co-ed??
I'm a flirt so this was easy for me... co-ed! If you were at a single-sex high school maybe branch out and try something new....!!!

-Residential campus or commuters??
This basically means would you rather have all your friends stay at your uni to sleep and the weekend or to go home... bearing in mind unless you are living off campus... campus may be quite empty over the weekend!!

-Does the school offer one or some of the majors you may want to take?
YOU ARE GOING TO UNIVERSITY NOT JUST FOR THE EXPERIENCE BUT ALSO FOR THE EDUCATION: DO NOT i repeat DO NOT go somewhere where in your last 2 years you can't major in the subject you need for the carrer you want... I think thats called career suicide!!- WAIT.. you can't lose something you never had!

-SAT scores?
How do you measure up... could you actually get in??

-Price?
Is money an issue then you  need to find a university that will I repeat again.. WILL offer financial aid to you... specifically to YOU, the INTERNATIONAL student!!!

AND THE MOST IMPORTANT...
DO THEY ACTUALLY TAKE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS????

So now you have a list of your dealbreaks.. so you won't look at any of those universites that don't fit that:

You can now add some other secondary dealbreakers such as:
-Greek system (more to come)
-Student publication (newspaper or TV or radio station)
-Certain sports- WILL BE A DEAL BREAKER IF WANTING TO GO FOR TEAM OR SPORTS SCHOLARSHIP!
-Other extra-cirricular activities..

But fear not instead of searching through the entire almost 4,000 universites.. there is a quick and easy method developed by the amazing collegeboard: a search for universities depending on the choices you put in...

SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR:
https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search
-type your options but start with only your absolute dealbreaks... then keep getting more specific until you feel you are left with a nice amount (between 15-30) that you can go through and by process of elimination pick the ones you want to apply for!! (but thats not till later...!!!)

Good luck
Please leave any questions below as comments.. happy to help
Much love
S xxx

Weekend.. I need you

So basically if you can guess by my slightly depressing title, its been a long week.. not longer than any other but felt long! There was quite alot of bad news and not so much of the good
Did'nt help really!

I guess Wednesday, Yom Kippur was fun and I wore a pretty cool outfit I'd say..
anyone say bow tie woohoo!!
Heres a photo of my cuzs and I in the car... after shul!

BTW: just so you don't say nah ah no fair you got Wednesday off.. I 'd much prefer to be in school learning about Covalent bonding and unit of elasticity.. but no I had to go to shul and fast! YAY!!!
- HOPE YOU GOT the sarcasm there!!!
So this post an update... next week I promise more on US colleges and all that jazz!! I cross my heart!!
A list:
I have been revising (yeh I know 4 weeks in....)
-Biology for my SATs especially
-Physics (due to my love the Big Bang Theory... it is boderline obsessive

-Buisness (I have coursework on monday- 25%)

Now just lets stop for the moment...I normally try to memorise coursework... (don't worry that is allowed, as long as I don't bring my home-done work.. that I have done myself in control conditions in the time period.. with me) sounds a bit stupid doesn't it... coursework nowaday is a bloody memory test... WOW... blogging really helps get it all just out of my system doesn't it!!!
So due to having a bad week.. I am finding it for the first time impossible to learn my coursework I have done evertything
- listened to it while falling asleep
-making up a song
-reading it repeatedly
-acting it
-writing in repeatedly
NOTHING I REPEAT... NOTHING is working!!!

What I have to learnt... turned on its head.. literally!!

 

But maybe tomorrow everything will be ok!! I hope...
And maybe the bad thing in my bad week will improve... pray with me please!!! xxxx

So onto my obsession with the Big Bang Theory... I am sure you all feel this way when you watch it

... need I say more....

I love you SHELDON!!!

On Thursday it was my schools open evening so well obviously me being me helped by showing potential parents and their kids round our school I got some pretty good comment slips back...

So another silver lining.. I guess!

So otherwise..theres nothing else to report!
Tonight I am with my bestie Grace... yeh you've met her.. the mad girl with the video camera!!
We're having a relaxing girly evening movie and chocolate fest...
I need it so badly!!
Any ideas on movies... clueless or I dunno.. which one??? xxxx

But one more thing......
Today my dad and I went running again just a 6K, around my area.. we are training for a 10K... may not get that far may only do 5K but I found that once I had ran I was in a much better mood... well
exercise releases endorphines,
endorphines make you happy and...
Happy people just don't shoot their husbands..... they just don't!

(Legally blonde)

Much Love
Hope you all had a better week than me

S xxxx

SAT.. ready to revise!!!

You hear an american saying I got 1200 or 2100 or any score ranging from 600-2400.. this is their total SAT score.
The SAT is a standardized exam given to all juniors/seniors in the US and is the way colleges can weigh them up against eachother and choose who to take in!

The SAT exam is split into 3 main sections:
Critical reading
Maths
Writing
For each section you are given a score between 200-800, the mean for US students is around 500.

Now heres how the exam goes:
There are 10 sections and the exam lasts 3 hrs and 45 minutes (But some are longer due to breaks inbetween each section)
As part of the main critical reading section there is:

• Two 25 minute sections
• one 20 minute section

As part of the Maths section there is:

• Two 25 minute sections
• one 20 minute section (like the one above)

As part of the Writing section there is:

• One 25 minute section
• One 10 minute section
• One 25 minute essay

You may be counting and realise that only adds up to 9 sections... fear not i HAVE NOT got it wrong... there is one experimental section which could be either of the 3 sections but it does not count towards your score.. you will not know which out of the 10 is the experimental so you will have to try your best on all sections!

The SAT is a multiple choice paper:

You may be thinking... oh that makes it so easier..  but it doesn't:
It normally goes there are 2 out of the 5 options the answer is definitly not but then sometimes 2 look like they could both be right???? So what do you do.... Time for some tips!!!
1. Know how to guess and when... for this it requires a bit of practise... if you can get your 5 options down to 2 guess!
2. Keep track of your time
3. Remember each question no matter how easy or hard is only worth one point so answer the easy ones and make sure they are correct before looking at the harder ones
4. Like a UK test the questions get harder as you move on in on 20/25 minute section
5. A wrong answer get minus 1/4 mark so don't guess on too many or some you have no idea about!

Read more tips my buying this book:
Barron's SAT
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sat-25th-Ed-Barrons-SAT/dp/0764144367

Question types:
You can find examples of the question types on collegeboards website, so check it out....
Critical Reading: Sentence completitons (pretty self-explanatory) and reading comprehensions

Maths: 44 multiple choice and 10 Grid ins ( your own answers not multiple choice)

Writing: Identifying sentence errors, improving sentences, improving paragraphs.

You can also find more about SAT sections on the Kaplan website
http://www.kaptest.com/College/SAT/About-the-SAT/sat-at-a-glance.html

To apply for an SAT do exactly the same as a subject test and get online now on collegeboard:
Normally take the SAT in year 12 towards the end (spring) and then if you would like to retake do it during the sept/oct/nov of year 13, you can do it earlier if you want!
The SAT is offered almost every month of the year so don't worry about when you can take them!!
I hope this was helpful please leave any questions down below and remember to check out all the websites mentioned!

Hope you're all having a lovely week
Much love
S xxxx

SAT subject tests....

Ever heard of them? Some may say yes and some no... but I am here to make sure by the end of this post you all say YES!
So here goes: Enjoy!

As part of the admissions section to get into an American University there are a few exams one must take. The first is a general exam called the SAT this is overall scored out of 2400 and covers writing, critical thinking and maths (next weeks blogpost will be on this)

But also to get into those even more difficult universities or just most univerisites you are required to have  at least 3 SAT subject tests now these are exams that are specific to different subjects and are each marked out of a score of between 200-800! Some colleges even specify on their website which ones you should have a score of: but you have to do your own research to find out I am afraid!

These allow you as a student to show in a 1 hour exam paper to showcase your achievements or strengths in particular subjects. It allows helps to differentiate yourself between other students as it allows colleges to see which subjects interest you and where you also excel.
There are 20 Subject Tests across five general subject areas: history, maths science, English and foreign languages. The SAT Subject Tests that you choose to actually take should be based on your strengths in certain subjects.
To find more help on which ones you should take visit:
http://sat.collegeboard.org/about-tests/sat-subject-tests/which-tests-to-take

These subject tests are avaliable in the following subjects:
Literature
Maths- level 1 and 2
U.S. History
World History
Biology E/M
Chemistry
Physics
French
French with listening
German
German with listening
Spanish
Spanish with listening
Modern Hebrew
Italian
Latin
Chinese with listening
Japanese with listening
Korean with listening

Lets start by going through each and telling you as a UK international student about each:
Literature: In order to feel ready for this test having a GCSE in english literature would be fine, but if you want to take English literature later on in college (majoring or minoring in it.. will explain about those later!) Then I suggest taking English lit in at least AS level, as this would most likely increase your mark.

Maths: There are 2 types- level 1 and level 2, level one has everything but trigonometry therefore level 2 has everything plus trigonometry: your best bet if you can only take one is to take level 2 and in order to do so a GCSE is a definitie and an AS and especially and A2 will help dramatically

Histories: Be careful of these: these exams are based on how history is taught in the US... dramatically different... WW2 yeh won by the US... not what we're taught here so unless you have taken a US history course taught in a US school don't take the US one. For the World you need a gcse but even me who loves History and wants to major in it, isn't going to take it due to the nature and US-ness of the questions!

Sciences: In order to do each science, you must I repeat MUST have a gcse in each separate science (triple science) also by doing an AS-level would really help! But if you download the SAT booklet off the collegeboard website this explains and provides a checklist for what each science covers and go through your cirriculam to see if you have covered everything in GCSE... but even doing AS level doesn't mean you still won't come acrosss questions you have no idea about.
Please note: Biology is called 'Biology E/M' as on the day of the test you can choose either Ecology: E (to do with animals, life cycles, food chains) or Molecular: M (biochemistry, meiosis, DNA)
I am doing OCR Biology and feel fully prepared after unit 4 of GCSE to do E but I am waiting till after AS level Biology to do M as most of the stuff we don't even think about until then!


Languages: Exactly what they say on the tin.. I would say a GCSE is necessary unless that is your native tongue and again an AS-level is helpful! Those exams with listening have some marks reserved for listening exercises therefore you need a cd player:
Following the link below to find out what else you need to bring with on test day:http://sat.collegeboard.org/register/sat-test-day-checklist

So to book your Subject test follow the link below and make an account with collegeboard:
Then book yourself in for a test date and place:
You can take a maximum of 3 a day (3 hours each with breaks inbetween!):


Now onto the books and how to revise:
There are different companies that sell different books to help not just with the SAT SUBJECT tests but also the SAT: one issue is they are hugely expensive so I have done a small review to help you decide which ones to get:

The brands are:

• Collegeboard
• Kaplan
• Barrons
• Princeton Review

To definitly get would be 'The official study guide for all SAT subject tests' by college board as this provides you with an full hour exam paper for each subject test so that you can try out each and those that you get the best score on can be the exams you actually take!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Official-Study-Guide-Subject-College/dp/0874479754/ref=pd_sim_b_2

In terms of wanting to get specific books for each SAT paper maybe try one from each of the remaining 3 or look online for reviews: College Board do one whole book for both Maths level one and 2 where as the other companies have them as individual books: and considering each book costs around or sometimes less (like the one below... YAY!)  $20 or so dollars but around £15-£20, its not cheap to get like all of them!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Official-Subject-Tests-Mathematics-Levels/dp/0874477727/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c

Also for some of them: such as with Kaplan try to get the most update version so for now the 2011-2012 of if they're doing them the 2013 ones!

Some other examples from each brand:
Kaplan:


Princeton Review:


Barron's:



I hope that was helpful to you!
If you have any questions please leave them below
My next post will be about the SAT
Much Love
S xxxx

 

I gotta go back, back, back to school again!!

Oh you won't find me,
till the clock strikes three,
i'm gonna be there till then,
I gotta go back (ummm) back back to school again!

Recognize it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJQGkx5LpuA
The opening song in Grease 2... give it a chance it may not be as good as the first but Michelle Pfifer is very good!!!

Now onto the point of this blog... I get distracted sometimes!!!
TODAY the 5th of September was my first day of year 11...
THE YEAR THAT COUNTS.. apparently last year didnt!! (Don't think so!!!)

So this brings me onto prepartion for college:
This year I will be taking extra exams for US college called the SAT subject tests in those subjects I am not taking for A-Level such as Biology to find out more information about these SAT subject tests:
http://sat.collegeboard.org/about-tests/sat-subject-tests
Don't worry there will be a whole blog post dedicated to it: that will be next weeks probably!

But onto again the point of this blog: an update on my day:
My school spends the first few periods of the first day handing out planners and timetables, we then spend the rest of the day in our lessons for that day:

This year I have just started Economics: I love it!
Over the summer I read 'Economics for dummies' to get myself in the mood and to read ahead... hey I told you I was keen!!

It really helped and already I feel just that bit more prepared!! Who knows I may be taking this subject at A-level if all goes well!!!

The folder we were given for this subject is yellow: matches the book yes I will grant you that but yellow really doesn't compliment my skintone!! I'm just kidding with you... I wouldn't not use a folder due to its colour and I not being two peas in a pod!!

Also a new year brought new year 7s.. .adorable I remember when I was a year 7.. who had a too long skirt and a ugly heavy backpack they'll soon realise handbags are in!!! But obviously given they were new alot of them got lost so I thoroughly enjoyed helping them to find their class and look forward to having to do this for the next few weeks while they find their feet!!.. (figure of speech they all do have feet btw!)

Otherwise the other subject were following on from what our year had done last year!! But what was being asked alot was friends to friends or friends to other pupils friends (the word friends is really starting to get on my nerves) about their results!! I was asked god knows how many times and simply told them only my history grade which I will tell you all too... A* i know I was so happy... but for the others I would simply say: I was very happy were you? xxx
Its the best way, it makes sure you don't seem to be boasting!

Maybe you want to see a list of what I bring to school: (Below is a photo of some of the things but I'll list them all too!)

The Obvious:
Folders/books for that day (depending on the lessons I have)
Pencil Case
Calculator
Maths Set
Planner
French dictionary (only when I have french)

The extras:
A4 lined notebook
To Do list pad
Filofax
Umbrella (Especially in this country)
Tissues
mirror

The extra extra girly extras:
Hand wipes
Mini First Aid Kit
'Being on' kit
Travalo
Hand cream
Hand sanitiser

Well as you can see my bag needs to be pretty big!! It is believe me... it also has to fit my lunch and a bottle of water... (but I keep that in my locker usually!) xxx

And do you like my shoes: they're from tesco!!!

If you have any questions please leave them below!
will blog very soon about the SAT /SAT subject tests!
Much love
S xxx

Do we have to go home??

So as you have probably read... and if you have not you should have read my above/below blogpost all about GOZO, I just spent the last week in the beautiful island of Malta staying at the Hilton Hotel in Portamaso, I had a wonderful time.. as you can probably guess from the title of this blog!!
When we got there we met up with my first cousins who had decided to also come on holiday with us.. us 3 girls (me, my first cousins: Izzy and Georgia) had an absolute blast, everyday was spent sunbathing, listening to music, swimming and relaxing and then in the evenings we all got dressed up and hit the town.. not literally as we weren't old enough into any of the clubs even though as we walked through that area we were handed little coupons saying 'free drink/cocktail' by different owners of those bars!...Flattery I think that we even looked 18!!!

(I promise to make a collage of photos and update it onto this blog!)
As much as this was amazing, my dad and I had the original plan of going everymorning scuba diving with an instructor in order to earn our paddy badge.. I know exciting.. not really!
 To tell you the honest truth the organisation until we got to the place where we were diving was very unorganised!!! We then put on our scuba suits and got taught all about the breathing stuff we had to carry and etc etc.. we then were pushed into the sea.. wait I WAS TOLD WE WERE STARTING IN A POOL... A POOL NOT THE SEA!! So I was ok for a bit but as we dove down to 12metres.. on my first dive, I suddenly panicked and swam to the surface.... I was so scared!! I know babish but it was the first time I had done anything like that... I then tried again and the same happened so I said I wanted to get out and didn't want to continue wiht the 5 day course!!
Then as I was trying to climb out of the sea... I felt a burning sensation.. on my arms and my left leg.. I asked if this was normal and turns out I got stung in 6 places by a jellyfish!! So the person at the reception poured vinegar all over me.. i smelt like fish and chips!!
But ahhh it was so painful!!! It felt like needles pricking my skin!! Xxxx

Will update later
Much Love
S xxxx

MY First...,.

The title does not mean what all your dirty minds think it does! Right now I am on holiday.. Celebrating my gcse results!! And it is my first time blogging on the go, on my iPod actually!

So I thought this week my blogpost would be an update.. I am now at the kempinski in Gozo which is  an island no bigger than Enfield, just south of Malta the island south of Italy!! I am very south!
So for the past two days I have been relaxing and sunbathing which brings me onto suncream, I have very fair skin and a multitude of freckles... this equals to me needing factor 50 suncream! if you also fit the above description as well as having incredibly sensitive skin.. i recommend the nivea suncream factor 50 comes in a white bottle:

Yes I know it says for kids but honestly... reaplying this baby and never again will the sun have its way with you and burn you sensless till you're red and peeling!!!

So you're probably wondering what i have been up to.. well when i got to Malta on Sunday we took a ferry over to Gozo and then went out that night for dinner and as you do on holiday... we all ate too much!! Then yesterday i spent the day reading and sunbathing.. listening to Jake Owen and Luke bryan,  have i mentioned how much love country music! Especially Taylor Swift's new song... you know the one!!!

 

We went out for dinner last night as well in Xlendi to a place called Da Manuel.. found on trip advisor like everywhere else my family eat at on holiday: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g230155-d1816227-r118173315-Da_Manuel_Restaurant-Xlendi_Island_of_Gozo.htm
Sad to say we are leaving this afternoon to go back to Malta to the Hilton,  i LOVE it here Gozo especially this hotell.... it is so quite and beautiful see for yourself!

 

Will blog again soon all about Malta
Much Love

Sxxxx