So I’d like to cover this topic before I perpetually forget to do so, you see I was having a discussion with my stepmother regarding these three topics in relation to my younger brother who is near the doorstep of reaching his college years. He’s a very good student and I’d like to offer them as much information as I can to help him along the way and in doing so I figured that I might as well share this information to anyone else who might find it helpful as well.

First off I’m not really going to address the topic of SATs much because it’s something that my stepmother is already well aware of, but for anyone else who might not be as familiar with it I’ll simply say that it is one of the main exams that colleges and universities look at when they’re deciding whether or not to accept a students’ college application.

Second I’ll cover the ACT exam because my stepmother had never heard of it and unless things have changed since the time that I was in my college bound years, then it is the second exam that colleges and universities look at when going over applications.

The only site that I found that discusses which test you need to take or if you need to take both is https://www.princetonreview.com/college/sat-act. It seems that based on the information it gives you can take one or both and that most colleges will accept either test but just click on the link to read the information for yourself and to see what the Princeton Review suggests.

As for information regarding the ACT test alone the link for the information on their exam is here: http://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/the-act.html. One of the additional links provided from them on that page which includes a free study guide would be this: http://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/Preparing-for-the-ACT.pdf.

As for the TAG agreement (aka the Transfer Agreement Guarantee), this is an agreement between community colleges and the UC’s in California. It basically is a transfer agreement between the community colleges and the UC’s, wherein 6 out of the 9 UC’s in California are participating in this program.  It is basically that the student will have to meet a list of requirements provided by the given UC’s including number of units, specific classes taken, and minimum GPA. As long as the student has applied to enter the agreement and has met the requirements then in the end the given students will automatically be accepted and be able to transfer to the UC after they have met its requirements. The agreement gives the student a 60 and a 90 unit option. I had a couple of friends that took this route and went to UC Davis and I had considered and applied for it as well, but decided not to go on with it, although even now that I am working I’m still receiving emails from these UC’s. It’s definitely a good option for people who want to save some money by entering community college first. The link for the TAG agreement is here: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/guarantee/index.html. The six participating UC’s are: Davis, Irvine, Merced, Riverside, Santa Barbara, and Santa Cruz.