International Student Info | Undergraduate

Most U.S. colleges and universities require that you take at least one standardized admissions test as part of your application. Admissions tests are intended to provide a common measure for comparing abilities of people from different educational backgrounds. They measure skills such as analytical, verbal and quantitative ability. They don’t measure retention of facts about specific subjects or issues.

While an overall high score on the test is good, schools look at scores on the separate measures to determine if a student has the required skill level for the program they’re applying to. This is because different majors require different levels of preparation in specific skills. For instance, an English department will expect applicants to have a high score on at least the verbal measure, while an Engineering department will expect a high score in the quantitative and analytical measures.

Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)

As an undergraduate applicant, you’ll be required to take the SAT. The SAT is a multiple-choice test used by colleges and universities to make admission decisions and eligibility for financial aid. The test is administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) and given seven times a year in the U.S., but six times at locations outside the U.S.

The SAT is a seven-section, three-hour exam, consisting of three verbal, three math and one experimental sections. The experimental section can be either verbal or math and does not count towards your final score. It is used by ETS for its own research, primarily to develop new test questions. You won’t know which of the sections is experimental, so you have to take them like they all would count towards your final score. You will receive two composite scores on the SAT, one for math and one for verbal, each scored on a scale of 200 to 800. You can register for the SAT online at collegeboard.com. You can also request paper registration forms if that is your preference. See products to help you prepare for the SAT here.

Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)

The TOEFL is used to evaluate the English proficiency of people whose native language is not English. Most U.S. schools will require you to submit a TOEFL score if you are an international student and did not receive your high school diploma at a U.S. school. This may be true even if you have lived in an English-speaking country, and English was the language of instruction at your school. The TOEFL is administered by ETS and is offered many times a year in the U.S. and international locations. The test used to be offered in both paper and computer-based formats, but it is now offered strictly in the computer-based format. The test has four sections: listening, structure, reading and writing. The listening and structure sections are computer-adaptive, meaning that you will receive test questions targeted to your performance level, while the reading and writing sections are not. You will receive three section scaled scores: Listening (0 to 30), Structure/Writing (0 to 30), Reading (0 to 30), and a total score (0 to 300). Many schools will set a cut-off score for the TOEFL. This is a score that they determine to be the minimum score of acceptable candidates. This score is usually between 173 and 213, depending on how much English preparation they want you to have and the competitiveness of the school. If you score at or above the cut-off, your application will be considered. If, you do not attain this score, your application may be rejected without been considered. If, however, you are not too far below the cut-off and the admissions committee feels you’ve met the other admission requirements, you may be offered a conditional admission. This means that you must take an English as a Second Language (ESL) course at the school before you can start your actual program. You should check with the schools you’ll be applying to find out what their policy is. See products to help you prepare for the TOEFL here.