Chatter in the Booths

[Doll]

Man, I hate dealing with college book prices and availability. My mom has always said the textbook industry is a racket, and she's not wrong. =P What was the class? Was the book at least refundable?

Intermediate Accounting. I have it every weekday morning except Friday, so it's a big deal. Pretty much the whole class got the wrong edition, the new one is $200, I need it soon, and the wrong one I got is too much past the purchase date to return it. So I'm super happy about that.

EWW. That is so gross. =P Do you have to special order it, or can you buy it in the campus bookstore?

Yeup, the bookstore had the wrong edition. So that's why everyone got the wrong one.

[Tarol]

Wowww, the Bookstore better refund you just for that. >____>

I started my first college class today. =0 It's an online Music Theory 1 class. Three times a week there's a live stream of the professor teaching in class I should watch, and then tons of worksheets to fill out. I think it's gonna be fun. =D

( I'm posting o__0)

[TigerShadow]

I don't think I've ever taken a class like that before; sounds interesting!

@Belle: So you're still having to pay even when it's the bookstore that made the mistake? Wow. That is ridiculous. >_> Not surprising, though. Last fall for my Intro to Psychology class, the bookstore was sold out of copies of the textbook for weeks, and when I finally put in a special order for one, it never arrived, and I don't think I was ever refunded. They also ran out of all the Art History I books by the first day of class. Like, if you generally know how many students are taking the class, why would you not order enough copies?

[Doll]

@Belle: So you're still having to pay even when it's the bookstore that made the mistake?

I don't know who made the mistake. The teacher told the secretary of the department which edition of the book she was using. The secretary was supposed to tell the bookstore and somehow put it on the website. I didn't buy the book from the bookstore, I bought it from amazon, and I bought my new one off amazon too.

[Audrey]

Oh gosh, Belle, that's like my worst nightmare. That happened to a friend of mine and the book included an access code and once it was open, he couldn't return it. Lost him $250

I've been doing dual credit at my community college for two years already and the tuition was free, but I switched colleges (and states) and with my new one, the state pays for tuition AND BOOKS. AND EXPENSES. It's the greatest thing ever. My books were going to be more than $1000 and I knocked it out for free. Plus, Photoshop Elements 14 was considered an expense for my digital photography class (even though it wasn't technically on the booklist or required) so I got that for free too.

The college compared to the other one I went to sucks, but hey, can't argue with free school and graduating with an absurd amount of credits. Homeschooling is amazing.

[SirWhit]

O_O That's the greatest thing ever.

I have done no college classes yet. Although I am doing lots of SAT prep

[Tarol]

I'm literally jealous. >____> COLLEGE IS EXPENSIVE.

Oooh, good luck with that SW. Aren't you just starting highschool? Isn't that a bit early? =0 Then again, you could be incredibly smart and not even need to study for the SAT, who knows.

[SirWhit]

I'm in 10th grade >_> And I'm Asian. So yeah. I'm also taking the PSAT.

I definitely need to study, I got a 1250/1600 on a practice test which is pretty much an asian fail JK but not JK.

[Bethany Shepard]

I just realized that my ice cream rank is Pineapple Whip... Lol, too bad I'm allergic to pineapple. *dramatically collapses to the ground, gasping for breath*

[Blitz]

I'm in 10th grade >_> And I'm Asian. So yeah. I'm also taking the PSAT.

I definitely need to study, I got a 1250/1600 on a practice test which is pretty much an asian fail JK but not JK.

*is glad I'm not Asian* Everyone expects Asians to be brilliant.

I'm preparing for ACT and I go something like 7 out of ten on a short diagnostic. Apparently I'm good at science and English.

[Audrey]

10/10 would recommend the ACT over SAT. Granted, I haven't taken the new SAT. But oh my gosh, the ACT was so much easier and better for me even though I didn't study as much as I did for the SAT. Plus my SAT score was only slightly above average while ACT was pretty high if I do say so myself.

The ACT is way more logic based, so even with the "science" portion all it is is reading passages and finding all of the correct answers in them. I don't know anything about science and still got a pretty good score on that section of it.

[Tea Ess]

10/10 would recommend the ACT over SAT. Granted, I haven't taken the new SAT. But oh my gosh, the ACT was so much easier and better for me even though I didn't study as much as I did for the SAT. Plus my SAT score was only slightly above average while ACT was pretty high if I do say so myself.

The ACT is way more logic based, so even with the "science" portion all it is is reading passages and finding all of the correct answers in them. I don't know anything about science and still got a pretty good score on that section of it.

This. The ACT is more straightforward and easier to study for. And if they haven't changed recently, I think the SAT penalizes guessing while the ACT doesn't. Math and English aren't too bad, as long as you know the rules for each. Reading kind of depends on the person, but practice exams definitely help. Science is basically critical reading, interpreting graphs, and basic math, with a healthy dose of being a good guesser.

[TigerShadow]

It really depends on where you want to go. Some universities require you to take the SAT, some the ACT, and some both. And if you're a National Merit Semifinalist, you have to get a high enough score on the SAT to be considered for Finalist status.

[Audrey]

And if they haven't changed recently, I think the SAT penalizes guessing while the ACT doesn't. Math and English aren't too bad, as long as you know the rules for each. Reading kind of depends on the person, but practice exams definitely help. Science is basically critical reading, interpreting graphs, and basic math, with a healthy dose of being a good guesser.

True. Though the new SAT miiiiight have changed. I didn't have enough time to finish my math section, so I guessed on the last 10 questions. Still got a 26 on that section, somehow. And yeah, practice exams are great.

It really depends on where you want to go. Some universities require you to take the SAT, some the ACT, and some both. And if you're a National Merit Semifinalist, you have to get a high enough score on the SAT to be considered for Finalist status.

Also, now that they've made the writing section optional on both, that's a whole other thing:p Thankfully I've taken both writing portions because a lot of people apparently aren't and then are seeing their college requires the writing section. Be safe and take it anyways, IMO.

[Tea Ess]

Yeah, that's true. I think the SAT is the dominant test on the coasts, and the ACT is more common everywhere else. If you have a choice, it can be helpful to take a practice test for each exam and see which one comes easier for you.

[TigerShadow]

Man, this reminds me of when I was a junior in high school and the school paid for all of us in my year to take the ACT (including the guy who took it already and got a 36, which...okay). After we all got our scores a couple of months later, this obsessively overachieving girl I knew was talking about how she got a 33 and how "obviously that's not good enough" so she was going to retake it...to which I neglected to mention that I got a 33. =P Test score elitism is the worst.

[Tea Ess]

Man, this reminds me of when I was a junior in high school and the school paid for all of us in my year to take the ACT (including the guy who took it already and got a 36, which...okay). After we all got our scores a couple of months later, this obsessively overachieving girl I knew was talking about how she got a 33 and how "obviously that's not good enough" so she was going to retake it...to which I neglected to mention that I got a 33. =P Test score elitism is the worst.

Haha, I got a 33 too. Yeah, realistically, there's not that much benefit to retaking the test and getting a perfect score if you're already satisfied with what you got.

[Tarol]

I took the SAT this spring. It no longer gives penalties, so you can guess on every question. Also, the new SAT seems drastically different from the old, from what I've seen. Articles say it's kind of trying to look more and more like the ACT. I recommend preparing for the essay though. #failedthat

I hardly studied for the SAT and did really well... so if you're saying the ACT is "easier" then maybe I won't study at all. xD #thisOctober

[Blitz]

Yes if the ACT is easier, I'm gonna nail it. I would agree that the ACT is much more reading. Probably the hardest is the math.

[TigerShadow]

The math section gets progressively harder—like, the first few questions are really easy sixth-grade math stuff, then it gets into eighth grade algebra, then you get to geometry and trig and some ridiculously hard stuff for the last few free-response questions. It's pretty intense.