[originaltext] American colleges and universities consider a number of thing

American colleges and universities consider a number of things about a student who wants to be admitted. Experts on the subject say the most important thing is the student’s high school record. Admissions officers look not only at the grades that the student has earned. They also look at the level of difficulty of the classes.
    A student’s interests and activities may also play a part in getting accepted. But in most cases another consideration is how well the student did on college entrance exams. This week in our Foreign Student Series Program, we discuss two of these tests: the SAT and the ACT. Most American schools accept either one.
    The SAT measures reasoning skills in mathematics and language. Students have almost four hours to complete the SAT. The newest part is an essay. Students have 25 minutes to write an answer to a question.
    Students may also need to take SAT subject tests in areas like history, science and foreign language.
    The ACT is an achievement test. It is designed to measure what a student has learned in school. Students are tested in mathematics, English, reading and science. A writing test is offered but not required. Without it, the ACT takes about three hours to complete. The essay part adds 30 minutes.