Preparing for College

As we discussed on our Diploma page, generally colleges do not request a diploma for entrance. (Please be sure to verify what your chosen college requires for entrance with their Admissions Department as colleges' requests vary.) Besides obtaining financial aid for college there are two other important things you must do if your student is college-bound. They need to take at least one College Boards test and have a transcript.

Obtaining Financial Aid

Applying for financial aid is important for most students as they prepare for college. As a home-schooler you may apply for scholarships, financial grants, and student loans yourself without the help of a state-recognized diploma program.
(This section is still under construction.)

College Board and ACT Tests

The ACT is America's most widely accepted college entrance exam. It assesses high school students' general educational development and their ability to complete college-level work.

Nearly every college in America accepts the SAT or Subject Tests as a part of its admissions process. The PSAT/NMSQT stands for Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. It's a standardized test that provides firsthand practice for the SAT Reasoning Test™. It also gives you a chance to enter National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) scholarship programs.

Most students take either the SAT or the ACT; however, it is not uncommon for some home-schooled students to take both.

Helpful Study Materials

You can find preparatory materials for ACT at the ACT website. The College Board's website features SAT and PSAT prep and tutorials. They also have some great SAT prep packages for a minimal fee. Number2.com offers a great SAT and PSAT prep program free of charge (ACT and GED preparatory materials are also available). Kaplan Prep Courses, Cracking the SAT and PSAT(by the Princeton Review), and 10 Real SAT's (by The College Board) are also good study guides.

When to Take the Tests

If it is at all possible, take the SAT (for practice) or the PSAT before your junior year for practice as it helps you feel more comfortable with the test. The more relaxed you are, and the more familiar you are with the test, the better you will do. Generally, students take the PSAT in 10th grade and the SAT in 11th grade. ACT can be taken as early as 6th grade, but the most commmon time is during 10th or 11th grades.

How to Sign up for the Tests

It is easiest to register for College Board and the ACT tests through their websites. You can also search the sites for all the times and locations of testing centers in your area. You can register for the SAT and PSAT tests at the Collegeboard.com website. You can register online for the ACT at the ACT website. They will then keep track of all the tests you are taking and your scores after you take them and can send your scores to the colleges of your choice.

Creating a Transcript

A transcript is communication from your home-school to the Admissions Department of a college of the prospective college student's progress and achievement in his/her studies. Their academic progress is broken down into credits, grades (letters), and points for each grade-level of their high school years. Each high-school year (beginning with ninth grade) will have a GPA (Grade Point Average).

The credits and letter grades for each course in each of high school grades 9, 10, 11, and 12 are translated into points.
The total points for each grade are divided by the total credits. This gives you the GPA for that grade level.
These GPA's from grades 9, 10, 11, and 12 are then averaged together to figure a TOTAL GPA.
To calculate credits all of the earned credits are simply added together to provide a total of credits earned through out all four high school years.

To make this process easier for you we have provided a free GPA calculator below.

To create a transcript you will need to have collected your student's grades through out his/her high school years. (To assist in this we have provided a grading calculator on our Grading page.) If you have not collected grades through his/her high school years, you will need to contact your chosen college's Admissions Department to see if they will accommodate you in some other way. Some colleges will substitute a private interview with the home-schooled student if they don't have any recorded grades.

GPA Calculator

Enter the number of credits and the letter grade (A, B, C, D, or F) for each course of one high school year. (One GPA should be figured for each of 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades.)

Credits can be measured in ¼ (.25), ½ (.5), or whole credits.
.25 (¼ credit) equals 27 hours of study in one course
.50 (½ credit) equals 54 hours of study in one course
1 unit (a whole credit) equals 108 hours of study in one particular course

For help in determining your student's letter grade, visit our Grading page.

The grade points will automatically be calculated as you enter the informtaion on the table
To display your overall GPA at the bottom of the table click the "Calculate" button
Reset courses and click "Calculate" as necessary or to clear to begin figuring the grade level's GPA.

# of
Credits

Letter
Grade
=
Points

=

=

=

=

=

=

=

=

=

=

Total # of
Credits

Total
Points
=
Grade Point
Average

=

Letter Grade GPA

A Marked Excellence 4.00

B Superior 3.00

C Average 2.00

D Passing but low 1.00

F Failure 0.00

Transcript Forms

Use the GPA calculator above to figure the points to record on one of these transcript forms. To calculate the "Total High School GPA" you will need to figure the average by adding together the GPA total for each grade level (9, 10, 11, and 12) and then divide by 4. To figure the "Total Credits Earned" simply add all of your credits from all four grades (9, 10, 11, and 12) together.

GPA Total (Example) = (9th) 4.0 + (10th) 3.75 + (11th) 3.5 + (12th) 4.0 = 15.25 divided by 4 = 3.8125
Total Credits Earned (Example) = (9th) 8 + (10th) 7 + (11th) 7.5 + (12th) 6 = 28.5

Transcript Form in EXCEL (Word)
Transcript Form in Quattro (Corel)
Transcript Form in Works spreadsheet

We recommend that you use one of the versions above; however, if you need a transcript to hand-write information, use the Microsoft Imaging Format.

Please note that a reasonable "Total Credits Earned" total would be from 15 (what the PA law requires for graduation from a home-school program) to about 35 (for a very hard-working student). The highest "Total GPA" is generally 4.0.

Copyright © 2005 Keystone Christian Institute
We are not lawyers; and, while we have researched the PA home-school law in careful detail, we are not offering legal advice.
If you need legal counsel, you should consult a professional attorney or HSLDA.