Testing
Testing is often an important indicator colleges look to when reviewing a student’s application for admission. At MPA, the real work for successful testing happens daily in the classroom.
Upper School students are provided with three opportunities to take college entrance practice tests at school. Tenth graders take the PSAT and PreACT exams and juniors take the PSAT exam in the fall. MPA registers all sophomores and juniors for these exams and covers the cost related to these practice tests. The following sites provide more detailed information on these exams.
Information on the PSAT
Information of the PreACT test
In the fall of the junior year, the College Counseling Office provides all juniors with an orientation session on the SAT and ACT exams with instructions and guidance on registration and preparing for these exams. Juniors are recommended to take both the ACT and SAT exams in the winter or spring of their junior year. This timeline provides students with the opportunity to retest in the fall of their senior year if necessary.
Students are responsible for registering themselves for these exams and for all costs related to taking these exams and having their test results sent to the colleges and universities to which they apply for admission. The following sites provide information on the SAT and ACT exams.
Registration
Registering for the ACT and test preparation materials
Registering for the SAT
MPA offers numerous AP courses on a yearly basis. The exact offerings change from year to year and in 2024-25 include AP Calculus AB, AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics, AP French, AP Spanish, AP English Literature, and AP World History. AP exams from each of these courses are offered at MPA in May.
Information on the AP exams
Testing Accommodations
If you are interested in applying for accommodations on the ACT or College Board (SAT) exams please refer to the following web sites.
www.collegeboard.com/ssd/
This site describes the College Board’s Policy for Documentation. Applications for extended time and special testing are available from the College Board, the College Counseling Office and the Learning Specialist.
www.act.org/aap/disab/policy.html
This site describes ACT Policy for Documentation to Support Requests for Testing Accommodations on the ACT (No Writing) or ACT Plus Writing
www.act.org/aap/disab/opt3.html
This site describes Special Testing: Extended Time and Alternate Test Formats. An application is available to download.
www.act.org/aap/disab/chart.html
This site describes the difference between Extended Time and Special Testing. An application for Extended Time is available for you to download.