Advanced Placement Applying to College Career Resources Homework and Reference Money for College Of Special Interest to Parents	Interest Inventory Standardized Tests StudyTips Test Skills Local Weather
	www.studyweb.com Click on "Education" Then click on your desired subject area. Provides homework help and free private tutoring. You may post questions and expect to receive a response in 24-48 hours. You can also browse previous questions, answers and tips on any subject. www.homeworkheaven.com/ Fantastic study skills section as well as homework help in subject areas. www.startribune.com/education/homework.shtml Homework help in different subjects. www.kidsvista.com/index.html Homework help and references. www.charleston.net/kids/ List of homework and useful reference sites. www.bjpinchbeck.com/ List of sites to use for research and as reference. www.ala.org/alsc/children_links.html Library association links to references. www.exploratorium.edu/learning_studio/sciencesites.html References. www.xplore.com/xplore500/medium/reference.html Massive collection of very useful references. www.encyclopedia.com Reference information on all topics. www.britannica.com Reference information on all topics. www.angelfire.com/az2/coolschool/Ssites.html Cool school sites for kids. Want to know more about yourself? A good starting point is to identify your individual style of learning. This "Ways of Knowing" survey will help you understand how you learn and make you a more effective learner. The following websites provide online quizzes or tests which can help you find out more about your interests and about the types of careers you may want to investigate. The Annenberg/CPB Project has a test and information to help you "know yourself". Click here for the test. http://www.learner.org/exhibits/personality/activity1/ Click here for the information. http://www.learner.org/exhibits/personality/ To learn about possible career choices, try The Career Key. Please note: you do not have to enter your email address or web page address in order to take the test. www.icpac.indiana.edu/infoseries/skills/ss-index.html This site has a long list of study skills, as well as information on improving your test-taking abilities. It's run by the Indiana Career and Postsecondary Advancement Center. www.muskingum.edu/~cal/database/database.html The Muskingum College Center for the Advancement of Learning provides a site with help on managing your time, study and classroom skills, motivation and test-taking strategies. www.unc.edu/depts/unc_caps/TenTraps.html Useful study skills and tips from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. www2.austin.cc.tx.us/lrs/testtake.htm How to take tests and other help from Austin Community College in Austin. www.byu.edu/ccc/Learning_Strategies/test/strategy.htm More on test-taking strategies from Brigham Young University. www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/stdyhlp.html Extensive collection of help on study skills, note-taking, remembering, writing, stress management, and more – from Virginia Tech. www.dartmouth.edu/admin/acskills/right_les_lsg.htm The Academic Skills Center at Dartmouth College provides tips on reviewing for exams, note-taking, time management, handling stress, writing papers, and more. www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/Test-Taking/index.html The U.S. Department of Education's Guide "Help Your Child Improve in Test- Taking" www.sla.purdue.edu/studentserv/learningcenter/handouts/testskls.html Purdue University's Learning Center guide on test-taking skills. The PSAT/NMSQT is a test run for the SAT I which is required for admission to some colleges. If you do well on the PSAT/NMSQT in your junior year, you may also qualify for scholarships. www.collegeboard.org/psat/student/html/indx001.html The SAT I is a standardized test colleges use as part of their admissions criteria. It is a three-hour exam that measures verbal and math reasoning skills. There are also SAT subject tests – called SAT II tests. These are tests in more than 20 specific subject areas. For more information on these tests, visit the College Board at www.collegeboard.org The ACT Assessment is a standardized test used for college admissions. The ACT measures achievement in four areas – English, math, reading and science. The questions on the ACT are directly related to material covered in your high school courses. For more information visit the ACT Assessment web-site at www.act.org Advanced Placement courses are college-level courses that students can take in high school. Students who pass the Advancement Placement exams offered in May each year can earn college credit. Those credits eliminate the need to take certain courses in college, thus saving money on college tuition. The AP program is administered by the College Board. You can learn more about AP courses at the College Board web-site. www.collegeboard.org/ap/students/index.html Find out about jobs and careers at the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).Their web-site has a special section for young people who are curious about different career fields. You can get to it by clicking here. www.bls.gov/k12/html/edu_over.html If you don't find what you are interested in there, another section of the BLS web-site contains hundreds of additional detailed descriptions of various jobs and career fields. It's all in the Occupational Outlook Handbook put out by the BLS. http://stats.bls.gov/ocohome.htm If you want to look at an overall career field – for example – executive, administrative and managerial occupations or professional and technical occupations, you can do that by looking at occupational clusters at the Bureau of Labor Statistics site. www.bls.gov/ocohome.html Want to know which jobs and careers are in the fastest-growing fields? The BLS makes employment projections which show what jobs are expected to be most in demand in the next ten years. www.bls.gov/empocc1.html The following websites provide information on specific career fields: Careers for Chemical Engineers http://www.aiche.org/careers/ A planning guide on careers in Science and Engineering: http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/careers IInformation on various engineering areas--everything from aerospace, chemical or civil engineering, geology, computer science, military engineering, software and more: http://www.englib.cornell.edu/ice/ Mathematical Sciences career information: http://www.ams.org/careers/ The Interactive Medical Student Lounge--information on medical school and medical careers: http://www.medstudents.net/ Picking a college that's right for you College visits The application process The Texas Common Application can be used to apply for undergraduate admission to any public university in Texas. You fill out one application and apply to several Texas colleges and universities at once. The application form can be filled out online or printed out and mailed in. http://www.collegefortexans.com/choosing/commonapp.htm Writing college admissions essays College admission interviews Early action programs Early decision programs The Scholastic Registry allows students to create a personal profile highlighting academic accomplishments and emphasizing extra-curricular achievements. Student profiles are placed in the Student Registry database which colleges search for potential students. http://www.studentregistry.com Saving money for college Financial aid for college You can get a comprehensive guide on federal student financial aid from the U.S. Department of Education. It's called The Student Guide. It's updated each year and gives you details on all the programs discussed here. It also tells you how to apply for them. Read it carefully. It pays to be informed about financial aid. Show me the Student Guide. www.ed.gov/prog_info/SFA/StudentGuide/1999-0/index.html You can also call this toll-free number, Monday through Friday, 8AM to 8PM EST, to get a copy of the guide, or to get information on applying for aid. 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243) (TDD 1-800-730-8913) Texas residents may be eligible for certain waivers and exemptions from college tuitions and fees. Check here to see if you qualify. For extensive resources on financial aid programs for Texas students, check out the state's higher education agency – the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. http://www.collegefortexans.com/paying/ To apply for federal financial aid and for some state aid programs, students must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). This should be done early in the year in which you will be attending college. You can get more information on FAFSA and can fill out the form online at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ Here are some additional sources of information: College Board Online http://www.collegeboard.org/ Click on "Financial Aid Services/The Process" College is Possible http://www.collegeispossible.org/paying/paying.htm Information on how to pay for college College Guides and Aid http://www.collegeaid.com/ You can order a book with information on financial aid. College scholarships, fellowships and postdoctoral awards http://scholarships.kachinatech.com/scholarships/scholar6.html Information on scholarships, fellowships & postdoctoral awards in the following medical fields: Medicine, Dentistry, Ophthalmology, Optometry, Pharmacology, Public Health, Nursing, Veterinary Science Fastweb (Financial Aid Search Through the Web) http://www.fastweb.com You must register and provide your email address and age to use this service. The Financial Aid Information Page http://www.finaid.org/ Financial Aid Services for Students and Parents http://www.collegeboard.org/css/html/indx001.html Create a plan to save and pay for college Peterson's Education Center http://www.petersons.com/resources/finance.html Students.gov http://www.students.gov/index2.html Gateway for students to government resources on getting into and paying for college Office of Postsecondary Education -- U.S. Department of Education http://www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/index.html Information & advice. Sallie Mae: Student Loan Marketing Association http://www.salliemae.com/content.html Mapping Your Future http://www.mapping-your-future.org/ Information about student loans and more. Costs of a college education. Find out at www.ed.gov/pubs/Prepare/pt4.html How to save for college. Scholarship for Texas students who complete high school in 36 months or less. http://www.collegefortexans.com/paying/ Find out about financial aid for your child. The Texas Tomorrow Fund – a prepaid college tuition program. www.texastomorrowfund.com/ Texas Education Agency (TEA) The Texas Education Agency is a source for information about your school district and all your local schools. The TEA compiles statistics on all Texas schools and provides information on school performance. This information is available at the TEA web site at www.tea.state.tx.us/ The TEA has information on what your child should be learning in each course at www.tea.state.tx.us/teks You can find out about the different high school graduation plans at the TEA web-site at www.tea.state.tx.us/teks/handbook/index.html Parent -Teacher Organization/Association The National PTA Suite 2100 330 North Wabash Avenue Chicago, IL 60611 (800) 307-4PTA Or visit their web-site at : www.pta.org