The Informer - the International School of Stavanger

The Informer 11 November, 2005News from the High School Counselor...TO SENIORS SUBMITTING REGU-LAR DEADLINE U.S. and UCASapplications:All application materials are due in theCounseling Office by Tuesday, 15November, 2005TO NORWEGIAN STUDENTS CON-SIDERING NORTH AMERICAN UNI-VERSITIES:Do you plan on studying in the USA orCanada? Are you interested in locatingscholarship sources to help fund the cost?The Norway-American Association offersa wide variety of scholarship opportunitiesto Norwegian students bound for campusesin the USA and Canada. For moreinformation, see their website atwww.noram.no and apply by2 December, 2005Reminder of Visiting Universities:•Champlain College (Liberal Arts Collegein Vermont): Tuesday, 15 November, atISS during lunch break (outside cafeteria)•Hong Kong University of Science andTechnology: Tuesday, 15 November, atISS during lunch break (outside cafeteria)•Concordia College (Liberal Arts College,with a fine music program, in Minnesota):Wednesday, 16 November, at ISS duringlunch break (outside cafeteria)Ask the Counselor…A parent asks: “What exactly is new aboutthe “New SAT” and how will students behelped to prepare for the new format?The content of the SAT Reasoning Testchanged beginning with the March 2005test administration. The new SATincludes a written essay that requires studentsto take a position on an issue, usingexamples to support that position.Multiple-choice questions test a student’sability to identify sentence errors,improve sentences, and improve paragraphs.Two types of questions-analogiesand quantitative comparisons are not onthe new SAT. However, sentence-completionquestions remain on the test.Analogies have be replaced with short,paragraph-length reading passages, andthe math section now includes someadvanced math topics (but nothingbeyond Algebra II) such as exponentialgrowth, absolute value, functional notation,and negative and fractional exponents.Greater emphasis is placed onother math topics such as linear functionsand scatterplots.In an effort to prepare students for thesechanges, the Counseling Office will usepart of Junior Seminar in the spring termto clearly inform students about whatthey will need to know in order to performwell. Any Junior who is planning toattend college/university in the U.S.should plan to take the SAT in the springof their junior year.Question for the Counselor?Then email cschweid@isstavanger.no. Atthe very least you can expect a reply by e-mail and, in those cases where several students/parentsmight have a similar questionI will try to respond in the nextInformer.Ms. Carole SchweidHigh School Counselor4