High School Placement Test (HSPT)

MLS administers the HSPT to all incoming freshmen and sophomores. The MLS Admissions Committee uses the results of the test, along with a student's academic record and references from the student's teacher and pastor, to determine admission status. The test includes batteries covering verbal skills, quantitative skills, mathematics, reading comprehension, and language.

Pre-Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT)

MLS offers the PSAT to juniors as a warm-up for the college testing process. It is not required, but the school encourages juniors to take the PSAT. MLS personnel administer the test on our campus on a Saturday morning in mid-October for the fee charged by the College Board. The PSAT is also the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT) and does offer juniors some scholarship possibilities, although the possibility is remote. The PSAT includes batteries covering math skills, verbal ability, and writing ability. MLS instructs the juniors about the PSAT in early September each year.

Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP)\

MLS administers the MEAP High School Tests to juniors in spring. They are optional tests and not required, but we encourage our students to take the tests because the $2,500 Michigan Merit Award scholarship is available to students who do well on the MEAP tests. Typically, about 85 percent of MLS seniors receive this scholarship. MLS informs the juniors about the MEAP tests in late winter each year.

The MEAP tests are five: mathematics, reading, science, writing, and social studies. The state uses the scores for the first four to determine the Merit Award, so MLS does not administer the social studies test. Students receive the Merit Award if they score a 1 or a 2 (out of a 5-point scale) on the four tests. Students may also get the Merit Award if they score a 1 or 2 on two of the tests and have a composite score of 24 or better on the ACT. Students who are not residents of Michigan are eligible for the Merit Award because they are attending a Michigan high school. Students have three opportunities to achieve the necessary qualifying scores for the Merit Award, once in the junior year and in the fall and spring of the senior year.

The state government is reconsidering the amount and the method of distributing the Merit Award scholarship. As the government makes announcements, we will update our information.

American College Test (ACT) or Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)

The MLS governing board requires all MLS seniors to take either of these pre-college tests by the December test date of their senior year. The board also requires seniors to submit their scores from either test to Martin Luther College at least once.

The ACT and SAT are similar tests; in fact, the recent revision of the SAT has made it very much like the ACT. About half the college-bound seniors in America take the ACT, and half take the SAT. Because Midwestern colleges and universities prefer the ACT, we encourage our students to take that pre-college test. Each year one or two MLS students will take the SAT. Colleges and universities across America will accept the scores of either of these tests for admitting a student.

Both the ACT and the SAT are administered on Saturdays at various sites across the country. Neither is given at MLS. Both tests require a fee, and students must submit a lengthy registration form well in advance of their chosen test date. MLS instructs juniors about the testing process at the beginning of their second semester. Application materials are available in the MLS administration office; students may also register for the tests on-line at either www.act.org or www.collegeboard.com.

Preparation materials for both tests are available in bookstores, libraries, from ACT and SAT, and through various private agencies. We encourage students to prepare well for the test they will take. Students make take either test-or both-multiple times. Colleges will look at the best scores that students achieve.

The current batteries of the ACT are English, mathematics, reading, science reasoning, and writing. The writing battery is new for 2005. Because it is new, not all colleges require students to take the optional writing section; the writing section requires an additional fee. Martin Luther College at this time does not require it; Michigan State University and the University of Michigan do.