Counselor's Corner for CCC

Texas high school students are required to take and master multiple assessments for specific purposes, ranging from high school graduation requirements to university admissions prerequisites. Click on each test category to understand the different purposes of each exam.

State of Texas of Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) Exam

According to the Texas Education Agency, Texas high school students must take and master five (5) STAAR End-of-Course exams in order to attain a high school diploma. If a student is unable to master one of the exams, the student cannot graduate from high school. The exams all Texans high school students must master are:

STAAR English I End-of-Course (taken in 9th grade)
STAAR Algebra End-of-Course (taken in 8th or 9th grade)
STAAR Biology End-of-Course (taken in 9th grade)
STAAR English II End-of-Course (taken in 10th grade)
STAAR U.S. History End-of-Course (taken in 11th grade)

The Texas Success Initiative Assessment 2 (TSIA2) Exam

The TSI Assessment 2 (TSIA2) is part of the Texas Success Initiative program designed to help colleges and/or universities determine if students are ready for college-level course work in the areas of Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. If you are planning on taking dual enrollment courses at Jimmy Carter, you must master the examinations to take South Texas College (STC) courses.

American College Testing (ACT) Test

The American College Testing (ACT) Exam measures your achievement in core academic areas that are important for college and career success: English, Math, Reading, Science, and (optionally) writing. It isn't an IQ test--it doesn't measure your basic intelligence. It's an achievement test that's been carefully designed to be one of the tools for evaluating your college and career readiness.

Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) Test

The Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) is developed by the College Board. College Board test developers are content experts in their respective disciplines and use their expertise to create questions for the SAT that will allow students to demonstrate their best thinking. Colleges use the SAT in admissions because it's developed according to rigorous specifications, with input from numerous experts, to assess what matters most for college and career readiness and success.

Advanced Placement (AP) Subject Tests

AP Exams are college-level tests administered by The College Board based on subject areas. Students take AP exams in May and receive their scores in July. Exams are given a score of 1 through 5, with the score of a 3 typically earning students college course credit in the tested subject area. Top tier universities tend to only accept AP scores of 4 and/or 5.

AP exams are not directly related to college admissions, but AP courses and AP scores do look good on a college applications since the exam's function is to determine college credit or course placement.

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