Posts filed under 'Test Prep'
Happy New Year! I’m a big fan of reevaluating my current situation each year and setting new goals. Of course, some always fall by the wayside—like last year, when I resolved to hit the gym so that I would look like Heidi Klum in time for swimsuit season.
This year, I’ve decided to be less specific with my resolutions in favor of making more general changes that would benefit my life. First up: Have a better sense of humor. Don’t get me wrong—I already laugh a lot, but I think that humor is a great way to get through a lot of what life throws at us when we least expect it.
Take the SAT, for instance. We all know the test is no laughing matter, but when a study resource mentions the ages of Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore (along with R. Kelly’s penchant for young girls and the size of Donald Trump’s ego), it’s quite alright to chuckle! Thanks to The Laugh Out Loud Guide: Ace the SAT* Exam without Boring Yourself to Sleep by Charles Horn, PhD., there can be a whole new SAT you in 2010….
You in 2009: Being bored to death by word problems
You in 2010: Doing word problems while chuckling about juicy celebrity fodder:
1 – Fourteen years ago, Ashton Kutcher was exactly half the age of his wife Demi Moore. The sum of their ages today is 76. How old will Ashton be in 20 years when he leaves Demi for her first-born daughter?
a) 30
b) 48
c) 50
d) 52
e) 53
You in 2009: Memorizing vocabulary words, blah blah, blah…
You in 2010: Working on sentence completion examples that crack you up:
2 – Yo Momma so ____________, when you mail her a letter, you need two zip codes.
a) diaphanous
b) luminous
c) ravenous
d) grisly
e) corpulent
You in 2009: Muddling through boring critical reading passages
You in 2010: Speeding through passages like this:
3 – Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, warned consumers today about a critical flaw in their Windows operating system, the operating system used in the computers of virtually every business and person on the planet not smart enough to buy a Mac…
If only the real SAT were as cool as this! Even though you might snicker through your study sessions, this book will still help you immensely when it comes to honing your math, writing, and critical reading skills.
(The answers to 1 and 2, btw, are C and E. Oh, and the * in the book title indicates that the College Board was not involved in the publication, probably because the people on the College Board do not know how to laugh.)
~Barbara Bellesi
January 4th, 2010
Let’s play a new game called “Are You Smarter Than an SAT Workbook?”
Okay, so it’s not really a game, but it is a real scenario for students who bought Mastering the SAT Math. According to Jeffrey Newman, a math tutor, there are around 36 errors in the book that is published by Wiley—a company that normally enjoys a legacy of producing excellent educational resources. Newman’s concern for students—and their SAT scores– prompted him to inform FOX News in New York and help spread the word to those who are using this book.
This is not the first time in publishing history that a book has ever had mistakes in it, but we’re not talking about one or two glitches here: 36 mistakes means getting an entire section wrong on the SAT! Errors were also found in the SAT Math Workbook by Barron’s (yet another publishing titan), as well as in The Official SAT Study Guide, 2nd Edition by the College Board. Yes, the College Board—you know, the people who CREATED the SAT. Hmm.
Of course, there WOULD have to be problems with math. If you are anything like me, a gal who was waiting to declare English as her college major since the day she was born, trust me—we need all the help we can get when it comes to numbers.
Without a doubt, more test prep errors will pop up, which shows that to err is certainly human, although that is not much help to college-bound students. Barron’s is offering a free replacement for the book, Wiley says you can return theirs, and College Board will probably do something similar. But all that does is leave you unsure of which book to pick up next—and as you know, studying for the SAT must go on.
Remember the student who sued her college when she couldn’t get a job? Time will only tell if students will begin to sue publishing companies when they don’t get into college.
–Barbara Bellesi
November 19th, 2009
If you took the SAT this past Saturday, you are probably feeling something between a mixture of relief that it’s over and anxiety as you wait for the scores to arrive. As you wait for the moment of truth, you might feel the urge to sign up for the SAT next month, if you haven’t already. But should you go ahead and take it?
College-bound students—and their parents—often feel that more is better when it comes to taking the SAT. “How many times should I take the SAT?” is a question on most high school students’ minds. While it is certainly advisable to take the SAT more than once if you didn’t achieve your score goal the first time, that score won’t miraculously rise on its own unless you study harder in between exams and focus on what needs to be improved. So before you sign up for the SAT for the third, fourth, or tenth time, consider these options instead:
Take the ACT. It is entirely possible that you are caught in an SAT rut and need to try a test with a different format. Enter the ACT. While it is still a standardized test, there are several major differences between the ACT and the SAT, including no penalty for guessing, no surprise experimental section, and no mandatory essay—you only write if the colleges to which you are applying require it. Many students are intimidated by the science section on the ACT, but don’t worry—the section asks you to analyze and make inferences based on given data, not on how well you have memorized the Periodic Table.
Take a subject test. Like its name, the subject test allows you to concentrate on one subject at a time, and for many students, the single focus takes away a lot of the pressure. Let’s say you are an A student in English, but struggle in math. Your stress over the math sections on the SAT may cause your verbal score to suffer, but this won’t happen when you take the English subject test. You’ll be free to concentrate on what you do best, your score will reflect it, and colleges will notice.
Take a break. Years ago, the SAT was not offered as many times as it is now, and students benefited from the longer breaks in between tests. Most students only took the test twice, interspersed by a subject test. Now, it seems that students are taking the SAT upwards of five times, simply because they can, and as a result, they are burning themselves out. It’s understandable that a senior who is trying to meet application deadlines wants to squeeze in one last score, but if you are a junior, aim for quality more than quality—take some time to formulate a game plan to improve on your weaknesses rather than taking test after test. Also, keep in mind that the more you progress through school, the more you will learn, which will make the SAT a bit easier—that’s why students take it during both junior and senior year.
On the other hand, if you are a senior, you might even be able to submit a new set of SAT scores after the application deadline has passed, provided that you have already submitted a complete application with at least one set of scores—check with the college admissions office to see if this is acceptable.
You’ve heard it time and again from admissions counselors, but the SAT is indeed just one portion of your entire application. Your GPA, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities, and your essay all work together to provide a clearer snapshot of you as a future college student, so be sure to focus on the big picture.
–Barbara Bellesi
November 9th, 2009
If you are a college-bound student, the big question on your mind isn’t “Will you take the SAT?” but, “How many times you will take the SAT?” 
I’ll make this easy. The answer is three. Three times is the charm for most things, but when it comes down to a big, bad standardized test like the SAT, it actually makes a lot of sense to cap yourself at three tries. Here’s why:
Take it once. No matter how many hours you put into studying for the SAT, nothing can quite prepare you for the actual day of the test. From the sneezing and sniffling student sitting behind you to the grunts of the football team as they practice right outside your window (that one happened to me), be prepared for a host of distractions. In fact, the only thing you can really be certain of the day of the test is that you will need a #2 pencil. In short—cut yourself a break. The SAT is a loooong test, and you don’t realize just how long it is until you sit down to take it.
Consider the first time you take the SAT to be a dress rehearsal for your second SAT. Give it your very best shot, but understand that you will have another opportunity to eat a better breakfast, get a better night’s sleep, and yes, get a better handle on all those vocab words.
Take it twice. Unless you are one of those lucky few who score 800s across the board on your first try, you’ll take the SAT again. (And if you do get a perfect score, please don’t be tempted to go for a repeat performance. This is not the Olympics—pat yourself on the back and sleep in instead.) This second time around, you’ll have a better idea of how to pace yourself during the long stretch—you might have taken several practice tests already, but sitting in the comfort of your own home is not the same as sitting in a hard chair in a packed, overheated (or ice-cold) classroom.
What can you do differently this second time? Pull out a few of the test-taking strategies that you know and try them out. You might be tempted to fill in a circle for every single question, so experiment with leaving some of the hard questions out this time around. After all, you are penalized a 1/4 of a point for a wrong answer on the SAT, and it is possible to still get a very high score by skipping a couple of questions.
Remember that most schools will take the higher of two scores that are reported for an entrance exam, so if you pulled up your score for the second test, you might want to consider yourself retired from taking the SAT. But if you are still not happy with your score…
Take it three times. This time, your test-taking stamina should be your main concern. The SAT is not at all like your favorite movie that you can watch over and over again—a third try on the SAT requires you to give yourself a serious pep talk to get you through that last question, let alone yet another timed essay. But it’s not all bad—by the third time, you are a seasoned test-taker and know what it’s like to sit in a room for four hours straight. You bring your granola bars. You remember to layer your clothes. You might even hand out tissues to those who are inclined to sneeze. In short, you know what to expect and have learned to roll with the punches…and hopefully roll with a high score, too.
Good luck to all of you taking the SAT tomorrow! Check back to see Monday’s blog on what’s next for you after the SAT.
–Barbara Bellesi
November 6th, 2009
Who says you have to shell out top dollar or leave your home state in order to receive an Ivy-League caliber education? Thanks to the power of the Internet, dozens of colleges and universities from across the country have made it possible for students to download and view lectures from some of their top professors and courses.
The best thing about these online lecture sites? They’re free! Check out a few below:
Who? Academic Earth
Where? www.academicearth.org
What? Features video lectures from the following universities: UC Berkely, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, UCLA, Yale.
Sample subjects? Physics III: Vibrations and Waves, Computational Science and Engineering I, and Aircraft Systems Engineering.
Who? Open Culture
Where? www.openculture.com
What? MP3s and videos of lecture from such schools as Columbia University, CUNY, UC Berkely, MIT, and Oxford University.
Sample subjects? Existentialism in Literature & Film, Astrobiology and Space Exploration, and Information, Law and Policy.
Who? WGBH Forum Network
Where? http://forum.wgbh.org/
What? Speeches and video lectures from professors and other movers, shakers, and top minds from around the nation.
Sample subjects? Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forces with Prof. Frank Wilczek, Poetry and Perception with Susan Stewart, and Cultural Humanist with Joss Whedon.
And if you need to pump up on your math and science skills for upcoming SATs, make sure to check out the Khan Academy, which we first covered back last December. The founder, Salman Khan, is a Harvard MBA and has taped dozens upon dozens of YouTube videos detailing everything from the basics of algebra to the nitty-gritty of physics.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
>> Thanks to CollegeCandy for their recent coverage of Academic Earth and Open Culture.
August 26th, 2009
Used to using YouTube for quick comedic clips, moving music videos, and film from family and friends? Well, it looks like you’ll have to reevaluate your view of the site from now on. While colleges and universities have been uploading clips of their courses and professors for quite some time, April marked the formal introduction of YouTube EDU, a YouTube landing page that puts you in touch with educational videos from schools all over the nation.
While the page looks a bit chaotic at first, it does boast a directory that will link you to the school channel you’re interested in. So far this list includes such top names as Harvard University, Stanford University, and Virginia Tech, with videos covering everything from physics to cooking lessons. It’s definitely worth checking out whether you’re already in college or just starting to consider the possibilities.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
April 6th, 2009
The recession hasn’t just taken its toll on jobs and sales, it’s also hitting education — standardized testing, to be precise. The College Board, ruler of all things AP and SAT, just announced that it would cease to offer Advanced Placement exams in Italian, computer science AB, French literature, and Latin literature. The decision, according to the College Board, was made in light of inadequate funding for the exams and a lack of interest on the part of high school students. While the AP exams in English and history regularly score hundreds of thousands of test takers, the exams being dropped only had in the range of 2,000 to 5,000 test takers each.
Interestingly enough, the recently added Chinese and Japanese AP exams will continue despite equally low interest amongst high school students. Reports say that this is because these new exams are administered by computer while tests like the Italian AP exam are taken the old-fashioned, pen-and-paper way. Our question: why can’t the College Board just bring the four defunct AP exams into the digital age and cut costs at the same time? It’s unfair that students eager to get a start on earning their college credits (and cutting down their tuition costs) will no longer be able to thanks to a money-minded business decision.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
January 9th, 2009
The SAT is an exam riddled with stress — you know it, I know it, and so do the brains behind the operation, a.k.a. the College Board. That’s why they’ve decided to cut the some of your SAT-anxiety with a new policy that lets you pick and choose which of your test scores get sent to colleges. The policy’s name? Score Choice.
The decision is already picking up criticism amongst college admissions officers and high school counselors who say that it was a market-driven move to get students to not only take the SAT over the ACT (its standardized testing competitor) but to take it more often. The College Board, however, argues that Score Choice for the SAT and SAT subject tests will allow students to take a more relaxed approach to testing since their scores won’t affect their college careers unless they choose to release them.
Still, there are other colleges who wish that students would just do away with their standardized testing fears altogether, and realize that college admissions are about more than just one score on one test. These schools — like the University of Southern California, the University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University — already take a relaxed approach towards standardized testing by combining the highest section scores from a student’s various SATs to arrive at a higher, more beneficial, overall score.
Whatever the College Board’s reasoning may have been, Score Choice is coming to an SAT near you as of this March. But before you decide what you want to do with your scores, make sure to check with the admissions office at your prospective colleges to see how they view the SAT and Score Choice, in particular, during their decision making process.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
January 2nd, 2009
At College – U. Got It?, we’re always on the lookout for guest bloggers. This week we asked Vincent Mackey, an administrative assistant for The CollegeBound Network, to share his study tips for a successful college career.
Students new to college life (or just gearing up for it) have much to learn in the ways of unlearning, and hopefully my experiences here regarding the transition from high school study habits to college study habits can help. In fact, it was unlearning how to study that ultimately got me through college. Here are couple of tips I learned along the way:
A busier schedule equals better grades…
I had always thought that more free time meant more time to study. But while I definitely had more time, I wasn’t necessarily spending it studying during my early college years.
This all changed when I tried completing 25 credits in one semester. When you have so much going on, instead of becoming overburdened, you become focused. The drifting and procrastinating almost go away entirely because you have no choice but to sit down and get it all done.
Schedule your classes strategically…
This actually has a big impact on how you study. Whenever I was home, I noticed I was easily distracted and rarely started homework; my home is my comfort zone — not my workplace.
Try scheduling classes with a couple of hours between them. You will find that you are almost forced not to go back to your dorm or home because there simply is too little time. Instead, go to the library and find a quiet work place. You will be surprised how much work can be done in a focused two hours.
“I don’t need to study if they give reviews…”
Sounds like something the kid failing class would say, right? Not really, if you do this right. A review session basically gives you the test answers the day or two before you take it. If you really want to get through a class without barely opening a book, then here is your chance. But be careful. Sitting through a review and nothing more, simply put, will make you fail.
Be very attentive during the review and immediately sit down for a good three to four hours in the library and study. Write out your answers. You need to be extremely active at this point, but once you get your good grade, you can go back to being a slacker again — until the next review, anyway.
The time doesn’t matter…
Studying at nine and finishing at 10 at night because you have to go to bed and get up in the morning probably worked when you were in high school — but you’re in college now! These are the years where going to bed at 1a.m. is “turning in early” and waking up at 7 a.m. simply does not exist. I found myself cracking open a book at strange hours of the night — and day — on plenty of occasions. The trick is to schedule you study time when it works for you. For once you don’t have mom and dad barking at you to do your homework, so take advantage!
The Internet is your friend…
If you spend more time messaging your friends on MySpace in a week then the amount of sleep you had last month, you’re going to find the Internet very useful in studying. Just because you have a paper book opened doesn’t mean you have to abstain from a computer. Try using the Internet to clarify problems that your textbook or professor did a poor job of explaining. It saves time and you’ll avoid beating yourself over the head in the search for — potentially — simple answers.
– Vincent Mackey
December 30th, 2008
Back in the early 2000s, I only had three ways of boosting my calc grades: study group, teacher tutoring, and cable access programs. While I did manage to ace the class, it was only after I made significant changes to my schedule that allowed me to meet up with teachers and fellow students that my grades improved. If only there were some way that today’s calc students could amp up their GPAs when it’s convenient for them — a sort of Tutor-on-Demand system.
Oh, that’s right! There’s YouTube. Yes, YouTube. The bane of many an office and college with its nearly endless supply of irreverent videos and songs, YouTube has become a private tutor to today’s students. Rather than keep their academic prowess to themselves, teachers and pros in the know have been taping lessons and explanations so that students wide and far can benefit from at-your-pace learning in the comfort of their own homes.
One such budding tutor is Salman Khan, the mind behind the one-man not-for-profit Khan Academy, which has posted well over 600 videos on everything from trigonometry and physics, to the credit crisis and SAT prep. With an academic record that includes the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, Khan has become a scholastic sensation over the last two years. His minimalist videos (Khan uses MS Paint to work through equations) have amassed more than 100,000 views and his hits keep climbing thanks to word-of-mouth and recent coverage in various news outlets.
If you’d like to check out some of Khan’s tutorials, check out his site www.KhanAcademy.org that links back to YouTube.
– Genevieve M. Blaber
December 12th, 2008
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