TESTS: ACT, SAT SCORES KEY TO UNIVERSITY ADMISSION

When it comes to the ACT and SAT college entrance exams, some high school students take them again and again in hopes of obtaining better scores.

It's easy to see why. Many colleges across the country have tightened their admission requirements and scholarship money often hinges on such test scores.

Christina Totton, 18, a senior at Cape Girardeau Central High School, took the ACT (American College Testing) exam three times -- once as a junior and twice this academic year.

"I got two 22s and the third time I ended up with a 20," said Totton, pointing out that the questions were different from one exam to the next.

ACT, the predominate college entrance test in 28 primarily Midwestern states including Missouri, is scored on a scale of 1 to 36.

Students who take the college entrance exams more than once can choose their best score.

Totton said she's in the top 10 percent of her class. Even so, she still found the multiple-choice exams to be tough.

"Basically the time limit is what makes it so bad," said Totton.

The English section of the test, for example, requires students to answer 75 questions in 45 minutes. Students have one hour to answer 60 math questions.

"With five minutes left, I had 15 questions unanswered on almost all of them (the sections).

"I went ahead and answered them. I had to guess," said Totton, who believes the time limit is a little severe.

Totton said she's glad she doesn't have to take the ACT exam again and, in particular, the reading comprehension section. "The stories were so dull and lifeless. They were horrible."

She said she will probably attend the University of Missouri-Columbia on a $3,200 scholarship that would pay her tuition.

Central High classmate Yung Park, 17, will attend Duke University on a $10,000 scholarship.

Park took both the ACT and the SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test). The SAT is the preferred entrance exam for many of the prestigious East Coast and West Coast schools. A perfect score on the SAT is 1,600.

Park said he took the SAT exam four or five times -- the first time as a sophomore and the last as a senior in the fall of 1993.

"My first test was about average," he recalled. Park said he scored around 1,100.

When he took the SAT exam last fall, he garnered a score of 1,430.

Park took the ACT exam three times, first as a junior and the last time as a senior last fall. Over that time, he saw his ACT score improve from 30 to 33.

Park said he took both the ACT and SAT exams because he was applying at the time to East and West Coast colleges as well as institutions in the Midwest.

As to how to do well on the tests, Park had some simple advice. "You have to just go with the flow and answer as many questions as you can."

Students pay a fee to take the ACT and SAT exams, which are offered several times a year. Central High School gives the SAT exams to not only its own students, but also those from other high schools.

Southeast Missouri State University administers the ACT exams in this region.

Jerry Witvoet, a Central High School counselor, said students are not required to take either the ACT or SAT exams.

But he said, "We strongly encourage everybody to seriously consider taking one ACT test."

Witvoet said there are some differences between the ACT and SAT tests.

"The SAT is a math and verbal analysis of the ability of a student." The ACT exam, on the other hand, tests "a broader range" of subject matter involving math, English, reading and science reasoning, he said.

Central High students as a whole do well on the ACT. "We have always been above the national average," said Witvoet.

In 1992-93, 203 Central High seniors took the ACT exam. The students had an average ACT score of 22.4, while the state average was 21.1 and the national average was 20.7.

Fewer students take the SAT. In a year's time, Central High gives it to about 75 high school students.

The dates of this year's ACT and SAT tests stare down at Witvoet from a wall of his cramped office.

A sign on his door states in big yellow letters: "Have a Happy Day."

But when it comes to the ACTs and SATs, it's anything but a happy day for some students.

"We have some students that we know do not test well in that type of situation," he said.

But those who take a solid core of high school courses generally do well on the exams, he said.

Witvoet said it's never too early to start preparing for college.

Some students start taking the exams as early as seventh grade just to get experience with such standardized tests. As many as 20 to 25 seventh graders take the SAT test in the course of a school year, he said.

To get into a four-year college today, a student generally must have at least an ACT score of 18, said Witvoet.

Colleges, he said, used to be more flexible in terms of admission requirements. But that's no longer the case.

High school graduates today have to have an ACT score of 18 at minimum to enroll at Southeast.

"We really started enforcing it pretty rigorously around 1988," said Fred Snider, assistant vice president and dean of enrollment development.

Nationally, SATs and ACTs have been around for a long time.

"I think the ACT was first used in 1956 and the SAT before that, in the late '30s or early '40s."

Said Snider, "The reason the tests started to begin with was to take some of the subjectivity out and identify the potential for doing well in college."

Snider said there is a correlation between good test scores and doing well in college.

"In general, if the scores are very low they are not going to do well in a college or university like ours," he said. "We are pretty confident that if a person has less than 18 they are not likely to be successful."

Like Witvoet, Snider believes it's important for students to be well grounded in core subjects like math and English in high school. "Students who have completed the core curriculum are more likely to succeed in college," said Snider.