Dear customer,

Welcome to the August edition of ICON+’s University Access Newsletter. You are receiving this e-newsletter because you inquired about our test prep and/or admissions consulting services.

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Good luck with finalizing your school selections and building an application strategy!

1. Our Stamford Court, City Hall branch is scheduled to open September 1!

Visit us at:
61 Stamford Road
Stamford Court #01-01

2. Registration available for November and December College Admissions Workshops (6 lessons of 3 hours each)

3. Win a $25 book voucher by submitting an answer to our Question of the Month!

It’s that time of year, and applications to US and UK universities are coming out. As you sift through your mountain of forms and struggle to build a decent application strategy, do you feel tempted to cheat?

No? Are you sure?

You could purchase a customized admissions essay for as little as US$12.55 on custom-essay.net. Or, why don’t you write your own recommendation letter and forge your biology teacher’s signature? I mean, you’ve been such a slacker that no teacher really wants to vouch for you. So why not spruce up your extracurricular resume with a couple of key leadership positions?

Come on, it’s no big deal! How else are you going to get into “Oxbridge”? Plus, everybody else is doing it…

Without a doubt, cheating has become a norm today. Upon the commencement of the new millennium, Don McCabe, founding director of the Center for Academic Integrity at Clemson University conducted a survey of over 70,000 students at 120 high schools and colleges in the US: a whopping 95% of his respondents admitted to academic cheating.

Read the full article and get application tips.

Now that you've scored well on the SAT I and the TOEFL, it's time to relax your standardized testing muscles, right? Don’t let your hair down too quickly! Some US universities require or highly recommend submitting SAT II Subject Test scores in addition to SAT I scores for admissions purposes. Read more.

Curious about your ICON+ peers’ academic background and goals? Read this feature to peek into the life of a university applicant.

Q: After you graduate from the Anglo-Chinese School in November 2010, what memories will you hold on to the most?

A: Definitely all the times I spent with my friends in school - not only the times when we ate lunch and just talked with each other, but also the times that we studied together. I’ll remember going through stressful times with my friends like going into the exam hall together. We were all really nervous, but we gave each other motivation and support. In short, I’ll remember the brotherly spirit we had. 

Q: Some say that the university-years are “the best time in life.” What do you want to accomplish by the time you graduate from university?

A: I definitely hope that my 4 years in university will make me a stronger person academically. I also hope to get some part time work experience. I’ll get some pocket money so I am not such a financial burden for my parents, and this experience will prepare me for when I work full-time.

I want to make a lot of new friends that I will always keep in contact with in the future, like some of the friends that I have here. In addition, I would hope to learn how to take care of myself. It will be the first time that my parents won’t be around to clean up after me, and I’ll need to learn to do all that myself. But this practice will prepare me for the future, when I’ll need to take care of not only myself but also my parents.

Click here to read the full interview.

The IELTS Academic Reading test is divided into three sections. Each section is more difficult than the one before. Each reading passage is between 700 and 1000 words long. There are between 38 and 42 questions. You are given 60 minutes to complete this task.

As you can see there is no much time to think about the answer for each question reading the passage again and again. Then how to get the maximum possible score in reading part?

Read tips.