OK, much like everything else, good SAT/ACT/AP etc scores can "cure the sick, but won't raise the dead, and vice versa."
Don't get me wrong - they can be very important (I currently am on merit-based scholarship to BU, and this is primarily based on standardized test scores - they're just something I'm good at) . . . But they're not everything, and can mean very little. You DO still have to send scores to schools, through the college board (or, at least you did as of 1999) - PSAT scores are public, but you have to approve the scores to be sent (or at least i did - it cost money too, bastards), although they do get all of them. However, believe that they do take only the 'best' or whatever formula they claim; there's no reason to believe they don't.
Don't freak out about these sort of tests - that's the big reason most people don't do better. I'm convinced that attitude going into the test is 50% of your score - i've seen many very smart kids pull low scores because of nerves, and far fewer due to lack of preparation. It's a general-knowledge test.
Although I only took the SAT and ACT once, I found practice tests (and thus would assume real ones) to be the best prep - even the PSAT was solid prep for me, I felt.
Anyway - feel free to drop me something with more extensive questions, and you'll do fine dude. Just don't treat it like a huge deal - there's far more important things in life, especially for ya right now. Live it up, and don't let ish like this bug ya.
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