What Parents need to know about Advanced Placement (AP): Part 3 – The SAT Subject Test

SAT Subject Test

As mentioned in the first post of this series, the College Board develops the AP curriculum. Here are the 34 Advanced Placement courses available in high schools across the country:

 

 Art History Biology Calculus AB Calculus BC Chemistry
Chinese Lang and Culture Comp Science A English Lang and Composition English Lit and Composition Envir Science
European History French Lang and Culture German Lang and Culture Govt and Politics: Comparative Government and Politics: US
Human Geography Italian Lang and Culture Japanese Lang and Culture Latin Macroeconomics
Microeconomics Music Theory Physics B Physics C: Elec and Magnetism Physics C: Mechanics
Psychology Spanish Language Spanish Lit and Culture Statistics Studio Art: 2-D Design
Studio Art: 3-D Design Studio Art: Drawing US History World History

 

College Board runs the SAT, as well. Parents, SAT I is the reasoning that you may be familiar with. The SAT II, however, is a subject-area test that students can take. Students can use the SAT II to demonstrate advanced competency in a subject area. Here are the 21 available subject areas for the SAT II:

  • Literature
  • U.S. History
  • World History
  • Math Level 1
  • Math Level 2
  • Biology/EM
  • Chemistry
  • Physics
  • French
  • French with Listening
  • German
  • German with Listening
  • Spanish
  • Spanish with Listening
  • Modern Hebrew
  • Italian
  • Latin
  • Chinese with Listening
  • Japanese with Listening
  • Korean with Listening

Essentially, the SAT II is similar to the AP tests. For this reason, students can leverage their AP preparation by taking the SAT II in a similar subject area. Let’s say a student is taking the AP US History course. (Affectionately known as “A-Push.”) The AP test is administered in 2013 on May 15 at 8 am. (Many a student has cried over this test . . . it can be brutal!)

There is a May and June test date for SAT II. Thus this student can take the SAT II in US History either month. The SAT II is an hour-long test and students can take up to 3 tests on one date. I prefer that students take any SAT II on the June date instead and here’s why.

In short, the SAT test (whether I or II) can be draining. If a student takes the SAT in May, it’s likely that they won’t have much energy to do more studying that weekend. The AP tests begin that very next week so the AP tests may be short-changed. Also, the AP exam is generally longer than 1 hour. Students need to be well-rested and have the mental stamina in order to perform at their best on the AP tests.

I would argue that the SAT II (as a 1-hour exam) likely feels less taxing than its corresponding AP test. The student may even perform better on the SAT II after they’ve had the AP test experience. Likewise, if the student is also taking a second or third SAT II in a non-AP corresponding course, they would be able to complete more course content in the other subject area.

(See student’s biggest AP complaint.)

Taking 2 or 3 SAT II tests during the June date can save time, money, and effort. Yes, it probably seems like a lot but students will “know their stuff” even better by June date.

Please let us know if you have additional AP questions that were not covered in this three-part series.

 

Increased applications to University of California, perhaps due to SAT Subject tests

All nine of the University of California campuses received over 160 thousand applications for Fall 2012 admissions. This figure represented an overall 13% increase over last year, with a 19% increase for freshman admissions and a 4% decline in transfer applicants. The 93,000 resident freshmen applicants included a diverse pool:

  • 44.5% – first-generation
  • 39% – family income less than $44K annual
  • 30% – Latino background

UC has its own separate application and not a member of the Common Application. A change that may have attributed to this year’s increased number of applicants is that UC eliminated the requirement of two SAT subject tests. (Wow, that must have really put a dent in the College Board’s revenue stream!)

Approximately 33,000 out-of-state prospective freshmen applied to the UCs. It will be interesting to learn whether the admissions rate for non-residents is more favorable given the funding shortage in California. Reports indicate that non-residents currently comprise about 7% of the overall student body versus a mandated cap of 10%. Last year, the more popular campuses for non-residents were Berkeley, which admitted about 22%; UCLA, 15%; and UCSD at 12%. Perhaps if you’re a non-resident, you should add Davis, Riverside, or Santa Cruz to your list. 🙂 Either way, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for all my highly qualified resident and non-resident applicants to the UC campus of their choice!

How to improve your ACT score (even on the retakes)

In tonight’s podcast of The Education Doctor Radio show, we focused on the ACT.  (If you will be taking the SAT as well, please check out these prior shows on the SAT math and SAT I.) We discuss specific strategies and tips that students can use right away as they prepare to do well on this Saturday’s upcoming test.

Jim Meany, Founder and Director of Insight Tutors in Greenwich, CT, joined our show again. Jim, as you may recall from our SAT show, started his tutoring career over 25 years ago as a physics tutor. He earned his bachelors and masters from Stanford in Biology and an MBA from USC. What I found so exciting about having Jim with us to discuss the ACT is that he does subject matter tutoring as well. One of the myths that Jim debunks in our podcast is that you really don’t need to “know science” in order to do well on the science section of the ACT. Check out our podcast to find out what you do need!

 

TRANSCRIPT:

Dr. Pamela:     I am here with Jim Meany of Insight Tutors of Greenwich CT, pronounced by some as Green-wich.

Jim:                 That is correct. We often have to make that notice, particularly for people who are out of the area.

Dr. Pamela:     Jim, thank you so much for joining us again today.

Jim:                 You are very welcome. I am really happy to be back so soon.

Dr. Pamela:     We are going to get started.  Jim, similar to our coverage of the SAT, I would like to jump-start our discussion providing some immediate tips for seniors who may be retaking the ACT and I want to start there because one of the things that a lot of families may not know is that for some colleges, you can continue retaking the standardized test until the day of enrollment.  Those colleges often use the score to determine merit aid. Even though the kids may apply to be retakers, this will also be great for first-time takers.  If you can just start us up as a warm-up if you will for some overall strategies for students who are taking the ACT.

Jim:                 Sure, absolutely.  I will repeat something that I said the other day and I think the most important tip I can give folks is to have the right mindset going in and to look at these tests very much as an opportunity to differentiate yourself from the rest of the applicants and I know that probably comes across as heresy to the average high school senior, but it really is an opportunity for you.  Regarding the ACT specifically, one must know that there is no guessing penalty on the ACT which means that a blank answer and a wrong answer are treated the same in terms of the fact that it does not either add points or detract points from your final score.  What that means is on the multiple-choice part, you do not want to leave anything blank.  If you find yourself running out of time at the end of a section and you are not going to be able to finish, be sure to simply guess, not even an educated guess, but just guess on the final answers and you might be able to pick up a couple of extra points right away.

Dr. Pamela:     Is there any particular answer between A, B, C, D, or E that one should guess at?

Jim:                 Everyone has tried to figure that out and I am sure there is a Ph.D. in statistics somewhere out there who probably has a better answer than I do but the one that I always go with, when in doubt, Charlie out.  So, that would be going with C but on the ACT, the answer choices go A, B, C, D, F, G, H, and J.  The one that I would not guess probably is the no change.  I don’t know really.  You can mix them up and get creative.

Dr. Pamela:     That seems even riskier because then you may choose all the wrong ones but if at least you know one of them would apt to be correct.

Jim:                 When I guess, I do pick one.

Dr. Pamela:     Did you have another tip you wanted to share with us before we get into talking about the specific sections?

Jim:                 Yes, again, we mentioned the other day about the need to warm your brain up mentally before you leave for the test. That means doing a couple of basic questions from each section that you have done before. The other thing I would do so we are not simply repeating tips is very conscious of the different time allotments on each section in the ACT.  It is not consistent. The English test is 45 minutes with 75 questions. The math is 60 minutes for 60 questions.  You really want to get in the mindset for adjusting your pace and being conscious of your pace as you go through the exam.  It is like any kind of undertaking, you want to psych yourself up for it and you also want to look at it, you know it is just another day at the office, especially for repeaters.  I have been through it before, I have seen it before, and the test format and structure are not going to change. The specifics of the questions might change, but this is not something that is brand new to me. You know it is absolutely a review test.  There should be nothing on there other than the passages and the words that you have not seen before, so you really want to go in with that confident kind of attitude.

Dr. Pamela:     Okay, Great.  Let’s start out with breaking out the sections that are covered on the ACT and the first one is the writing.  Let’s talk about that with some particular strategies that you would recommend for the writing section.

Jim:                 One of the beauties of the ACT that people like is that there are four multiple-choice sections. They always go in the same order. Once you are done with a particular content area like writing, you are done with it.  It doesn’t throw another two or three sections at you as the SAT does.  Specifically, on the writing skills test, one of the aspects of it that I think is attractive is that they test your command of the English language in the context of short passages. There are more contextual clues potentially on an ACT writing section than in the stand-alone SAT, grammar questions.  A good way to handle it, one good tip that I have is that you can approach it one or two ways, you can quickly read the passage in its entirety.  I find that a little cumbersome and then go back.  One thing you want to do is you will notice there are two different kinds of questions, one where a section is underlined and one where you will have a number inside a box.  The underlined parts refer to specific sentences so you want to handle those as they come. The ones within the box have more to do with the passage as a whole.  So sometimes, especially when they appear at the end of a passage, you want to be sure you have read the entire passage because it is often, “where should we put this sentence, did the passage accomplish what it set out to accomplish, that sort of thing.  Adjust your method as you come across those different kinds of questions.  The other aspect is, paradoxically, sometimes you find the passage interesting and you are going to spend more time with it and savor the moment and read for interest and you really have to consciously avoid that drive or that impulse.  Unfortunately, we are not reading for interest here. We are reading to get questions right or answers right on the test.  It is nice if it is a passage of interest because you will probably be more comfortable with it but you have to resist the temptation to slow down and really enjoy the passage and savor it.

Dr. Pamela:     Jim, let’s go right into talking about the math.  I know in our first series on the SAT we didn’t cover the math as much because we actually do have a podcast that focuses only on the SAT math, but I do want to spend a little bit of time talking about it with the ACT math.

Jim:                 First of all, I will say that a lot of students find the ACT math a little more approachable than the SAT math.  There are 60 questions in 60 minutes, so it is really easy for those mental math maniacs out there to figure out that you have about a minute per question.  The questions generally go from easier to harder.  A difference in the ACT is that you will have trigonometry on it.  So you do want to be sure to bring your calculator to this test for figuring out a basic sign, co-sign, that kind of thing. Another aspect of the ACT that I find kind of interesting is that it tends to go a little more into Algebra 2 and that sort of thing and students sometimes finds that intimidating but really when it gets into the more involved equations, you can often look at the question as a more basic substitution question because they will give you the equation for instance and basically what the question might require is that you simply plug in a value for the variable.  Those couple of aspects of it I want people to be aware of.  Some people think it looks a little more intimidating than it actually is.  Also, on our ACT math, you will notice that there are quite a number of word problems on it but once again the word problems tend to boil down to be something a little more basic than you have initially thought.  Those would be some of the pieces of guidance that I would offer for the math section.

Dr. Pamela:     When you say more basic than you thought, can you clarify that a bit more?

Jim:                 Sure. For instance, I am looking at a problem now that is a geometry problem. It is about a right triangle, which by the way know your right triangles, your 30/60/90, your 45/45/90, your 3/4/5 and your 5/12/13 because they love to test you on that.  It is 20/60 so it is about a third of the way through the test and they ask which of the following is true about a certain angle in the triangle and the answers involve sign, co-sign and tangent and really it is the one angle and all you have to do is work your way around the triangle and plug and chug.  It is actually 5/12/13 triangle as I look at it.  You really don’t need to calculate it because the answers in terms of fractions, the one side length over the other.  Another example that I could offer, some of these guys look like they have a paragraph worth of information in the question set up and it really boils down to, can I just generate an equation to represent the information and then solve for that equation.

Dr. Pamela:     Jim, you were writing about the writing and math section.  Now we want to move into talking about the reading comprehension section.

Jim:                 I make them all interesting in one way or another but I am a rabid reader and love it because it takes me somewhere else but again on the test I have to focus on the fact that we are looking for points.  But yes, I do like this section.

Dr. Pamela:     Great, have at it.

Jim:                 One of the things that I particularly like about the reading comprehension section on the ACT is its consistency. By that I mean, it is always 35 minutes and 40 questions, it is always four passages and they always go in the same order, starting with prose fiction, social science humanities and my personal favorite natural science.  It is very, very consistent which allows pick the order in which you would like to attempt the passages and the questions.  One aspect of the ACT that might be helpful to some of the retakers is that the ACT started out generally as an Achievement test, whereas the SAT started out more generally as an aptitude test, so the ACT and this is particularly true in reading comprehension, might be a little more straight forward. What I mean by that is to do well on the reading section does not require quite as much inference drawing and reading between the lines on the ACT as it does on the SAT. While the questions for an ACT passage do not go in as much order as they do for the SAT, the answers tend to be lifted a little more verbatim off the page.  I know someone will take me to task for that but I said a little more verbatim, not absolutely verbatim.  They tend to be not so much more obvious but more apparent.  The retakers and first time takers really want to watch for that.  In fact, that you can use to your strategic advantage in taking the exam.  One reason that I mentioned that I really like the natural sciences is that they are typically very well organized.  You might have one or two theories presented.  Let’s say you have two theories presented, Theory A, Theory B, compare and contrast and then conclusion as to which theory might be more supportable.  Those guidelines can really help you navigate your way through the passage.  Reading comprehension can be a challenge no doubt and there is always a time pressure but it is a very manageable challenge.

Dr. Pamela:     Now following up on the Natural Science on the reading comprehension, let’s talk about the science section.  I would think that this section gives students even more grief than the math sometimes.

Jim:                 It can and there are science phobes among us and a science lover.  I am crazy about science. I love science. The funny aspect of the ACT science and I don’t mean to go against my host word because that would be very rude, to dispel maybe a little bit of fear.  Yes, if you need content anywhere, it would be in the science and the math.  Math in terms of the principals and science in terms of the biology, chemistry, physics and earth science principals.  However, the dirty little secret is that the science test is almost more of a reading comprehension test than it is one that requires a lot of in-depth science knowledge.  One of the skills that you need to do well in science is to be really adept at reading charts and graphs.  That is how they present most of the information. Also, if there is a term, like say a bomb calorimeter, which is one of my favorites, you don’t need to know what that is because they will define that for you. They will give you a definition of bomb calorimeter as a device that allows you to measure the energy content of a substance.  So do let the science and science test scare you.  Yes, you do need to understand and have a basic foundation in science but again, it is as much as a reading comprehension type of test and in organizing the information kind of test as it is elucidating the genetic code or some such thing.

Dr. Pamela:     It is almost like a misnomer in a sense but that is great.

Jim:                 It is a bit of a misnomer except that if you look at it as a reading comp passage, all the passages have to do science.  That is one way to look at it.

Dr. Pamela:     In our last few minutes, we will talk about the essay.  That is optional for students, but I know that I encourage students to still do the writing so they can keep their options open for the colleges that may require it and Jim, you would agree with that as well that students generally should do the writing portion as well?

Jim:                 Absolutely. And that is for exactly the reason that you say.  Not all schools require the writing section or even will look at it on the SAT, however, you don’t want to be late in the game and see a school that maybe you hadn’t thought about before that does require the writing test and all your testing is done and now you are caught not able to apply to that school. I am very much a fan of putting as many resources in your basket as you can.  I would strongly encourage people to take the writing test as well.  Another reason for that, and another appeal of the ACT is that you get 30 minutes for the essay whereas the SAT allows you only 25 minutes.  It is the same 1 to 12 score, and by the way you want to be 10 or above if you can.  You have three pages on the ACT for your essay and two pages on the SAT and then maybe the biggest benefit of all is that personally I find the prompts on the ACT essay much more relevant for high school juniors and seniors than those often found on the SAT.  What I mean is, instead of finding the one we talked about the other day on the SAT which is, is there always a however, the great philosophical wondering, you will get questions on the ACT like should there be a dress code within a high school?  Should seniors have special privileges within a high school and what senior is not wondering about where he will park his or her car if he or she drives to school? Another good one that I have seen, (and of course they don’t repeat) but it is the spirit of it.  Another good one was should high school be extended to five years?  I think and this is only anecdotal evidence, I think that the ACT tends to pick topics that are more top of mind for the test takers than the SAT might do.

Dr. Pamela:     You make me want to go back and retake the ACT myself.

Jim:                 If I only knew then what I know now.

Dr. Pamela:     What would be a couple strategies that you would give to students around doing well on this writing portion?

Jim:                 A couple things I would say, the prompt says in your essay, take a position on this question.  There is no right or wrong answer.  It is how you present your answer.  Two common myths I want to dispel as long as we have the chance.  1)  Longer is not necessarily better.  It is very easy as a reader to spot fluff.  If a word is not developing your essay, can it.  It will not help you.  2) The other very common misconception is that people will say that you need a historical reference and you need a literary reference.  Categorically not true.  If you have one or two and can use it for the essay, perfect.  But you don’t want to be constrained by that misinformation because all you are going to do is sit there and stress if you can’t think of a relevant example.  All it says on the ACT is use specific reasons and examples to support your position.  It does not say use a literary reference and a historical reference to support your position.  What the graders are looking for is sophisticated analysis, relevant examples, good development of those examples and they grade the essay holistically so they are looking at the whole package.  Those would be some of the suggestions that I would make.

Dr. Pamela:     I think those are excellent.  Jim, I want to thank you so much for joining us. We have come to the end of time but that is a great show and I appreciate you sharing and I certainly want our listeners to know that you will be having a web site coming up soon and I will definitely post that information on my site and link to it and if they have any further questions, they can always direct them to our radio at Compasseducationstrategies.com email address and we will get it over to you.  Thank you so very much Jim.

 

 

 

Timely strategies and tips to Ace the SAT

This show is the first of our two-part series on standardized testing.  The second show in this two-part series on standardized testing focuses on the ACT.  There’s no mistaking that the SAT is a very different test from the ACT. The SAT has its roots in intelligence/aptitude tests. Students can benefit from knowing how to take this test before the test day.

Jim Meany of Insight Tutors in Greenwich, CT joined our show today to share some timely and timeless strategies and tips that will help students do well on the SAT. Jim started his tutoring career as a physics tutor, earned his bachelors and masters from Stanford in Biology and an MBA from USC (which Stanford alums affectionately referred to as the University of Spoiled Children!) Jim has over 25 years of tutoring experience and has led Insight Tutors for over 10 years. Please check out the audio podcast or transcript below!

 

TRANSCRIPT:

Dr. Pamela:     Thank you so much again for joining us.  We are excited to have you on the air and I know the seniors who are listening are excited to hear from you because there is an SAT that is coming up in the next couple days.  I want to jump right in and ask you what are some strategies for seniors that are retaking the SAT.

Jim:                 It is a really good question. Given that it is late in the game for the seniors with the test this Saturday, they might think all is lost but not necessarily. The SAT and standardized testing, in general, is a huge opportunity for those to embrace it as such.  One thing that seniors can do is to go into the test with that mindset.  This is yet another chance for them to differentiate themselves on their application and while they may not have the time or taken the time to prepare as they might have wanted to, there is still some stuff they can do or actions they can take in the next couple days.  One is to adopt a certain perspective about the undertaking.  That is, while the SAT and the ACT are very important Metrix and I genuinely believe they are very important Metrix that unfortunately sometimes are used improperly, they are only one aspect of a multidimensional holistic application.  If they can keep that in mind, I think it will help to allay some of the anxiety about going into the test. It is an important aspect of your application.  It is not nearly the most important aspect except in very rare cases and that perspective will help them a lot.

That being said, in terms of what they get down and studying actions they can take, they can still pull up a prep book, make sure they understand the directions going in, because directions don’t change and your time on the test is too precious to be reading directions, you want to jump right into the first question.  They can be sure on test day morning to warm up before the exam.  It is just like any athlete does before an athletic event, if you are going to be exercising your brain for the next four hours; you want to warm up your brain. By that, I mean taking a couple of easy math questions that you have done before, that you know the answer to so that you don’t get stumped and don’t get freaked out. Work through those questions.  Get in the mode in thinking mathematically.

Take a look at maybe a short reading comp passage that you have done before so that you are warmed up and ready to tear it apart when you get into the test set.  Maybe look at an essay that you have outlined, that sort of thing so that you are not using the time during the test to warm up.  Again, that time is way too precious.  To use another athletic analogy and I don’t mean to overuse them, on your very first test question, you want to be at race pace.  You don’t want to be climbing that hill to get to race pace.  You want to be able to hold that pace through the exam. It is kind of a marathon more than a sprint.  While your energy will lag and soar during the exam, you want to keep that constant high energy level throughout the exam and not let down until they call time on the last section.  Those are some of the ideas that I would have for our seniors out there.

Dr. Pamela:     Now one of the things, Jim, in terms of what you said right after adopting a perspective and before the warm-up, you mention taking a look at a prep book. Are you suggesting doing that between today and tomorrow, the night before, or doing that the morning of?

Jim:                 Both. What I would do, you know, standardized tests traditionally are not tests that respond well to cramming.  I am not suggesting a mega cram session as I am sure you are familiar with your Stanford case.  What I am suggesting is, I am not even suggesting sitting for a full-length practice test because by now you should have done that and if you are repeating the test you know what it is like to sit still and focus for over four hours. That would not be a good use of one’s time.  However, what would be a good use would be to handle a couple of passes under timed conditions, maybe a math section, and go into it, especially for the seniors, go into it with an understanding of where your strengths lie. That is where you are going to get your points this Saturday.

Don’t worry so much about the stuff that is still not familiar to you or still not easy to accomplish. That is going to only slow you down on test day.  Maybe an hour a day, just ultimate familiarity and then test day morning, you are sure to have your ride arranged, you are sure to have your admission ticket, your number 2 pencils, your calculator, fresh batteries, etc.  Just take 10 or 15 minutes, even in the car on the way if you are being driven, not if you driving please, but if you are being driven and do a couple of practice warm-up problems.  I think you will find, if you follow that, paradoxically, you will be in the test center, ready to go and you will be upset at all the other people who forgot their number 2 pencils or don’t know where to go because you will want to jump into the test, seize it as an opportunity and you will want to show the test makers just how adept you are at taking their test.

Dr. Pamela:     That’s a tip I should have known for the GMAT too.

Jim:                 You make a very valid point.  A lot of the standardized tests are variations on each other.  We have the SAT and ACT for college admissions.  We have the GRE which I loosely refer to as SAT for grownups. We have the GMAT which has problem-solving and a little twist on problem-solving called Data Sufficiency, but it also has critical reading as well as critical reasoning, the LSAT has logic games, everyone’s favorite and critical reading. There is no math on the LSAT for the math folks out there. They are often different birds of a slightly different feather but very related.

Dr. Pamela:     So Jim, let’s talk through the sections of the SAT and what students need to know to do their best on test day.  Can we talk through the sections?  Which section do you want to start with?

Jim:                 We might as well start with the first section which is the difference from the ACT.  On the SAT, you sit through the essay first.  The ACT if you take the essay, comes last, but on the SAT you are presented with a prompt in which you are going to write a response in 25 minutes.  I would like to tell people, the prompt is where it is at. You want to look at the wording that they use, for instance, I am looking at one right now in one of the sample tests and the question is, “Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?”  One thing I will mention about the SAT versus the ACT, the SAT started more as an aptitude test.  It tends to be a little more esoteric.  You see this, especially in the essay.  My all-time favorite SAT essay prompt is, “Is there always a however?”  I am sitting there thinking, I didn’t know I was sitting for my PHT in philosophy trying to answer “Is there always a however?”  Back to the point at hand here.  “Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?”  I see very important keywords there.  Knowledge, what do we mean by knowledge?  Is it didactic knowledge, mathematical knowledge, knowing one’s self; is it knowledge of an event coming up?  Burden, what do we mean by a burden?  Does that mean something bad is going to happen?  Are we going to have to pay damages, are we going to feel guilt, that kind of thing.  Benefit. What kind of benefit are we talking about?  Are we talking about the financial benefit, benefit to one’s self, society, etc?  You can see that if you key in on the keywords, you can generate your thought process pretty quickly.  One other tip I will give the students who are taking the test on Saturday, you will notice that with every SAT prompt, there is a box of short paragraphs, maybe three or four sentences above it that often is a quote from someone in the past.  This one starts with “Knowledge is power.” Which is a very interesting statement.

One mistake that students make is they think they have to repeat that part of the prompt in their essay and that is wasted space. The readers have that prompt right in front of them, you only have a limited amount of space anyway and that doesn’t do anything to move the line forward in terms of your test performance. What you want to use that for is to stimulate your thought process. As an example, knowledge is power, what kind of power?  Financial power, personal power, military power, and then it goes on to say in agriculture medicine and industry for example. Three very different yet related entities and that is where you go to generate your examples. Medicine.  Is knowledge power?  Yes, if I know how to cure cancer, I have the power to make people’s lives better.  Industry.  I will give you a contra example.  Knowledge is power.  What if it is insider trader knowledge?  Is that power or does that confer power to someone else like the Securities and Exchange Commission to indite you?  So, I love essays.  It allows you to go in many different directions. There is no right or wrong answer.  Your 1 to 12 score depends a lot on how well you present your ideas. Believe it or not, there is great freedom to write the essay of your choice, as long as it satisfies certain guidelines.

Dr. Pamela:     That is really good information.  Insightful.  Let’s talk about the other sections.  One of them I know which gives some students grief, particularly one of our international students right now, the reading section. The verbal section was a little bit more challenging.  What strategies do you have for students on that particular section of the SAT?

Jim:                 We have a couple that we can mention.  One thing I will mention first, is they mix up the order of the sections on the SAT. While a practice exam may have presented the reading comprehension section right after the essay, your test might have the math section and that can vary within a room even.  You don’t want to be worried about what if I get math first or what if I get verbal first because you want to have the mindset of “I can handle whatever they want to present to me and do a good job on it.”

Regarding the verbal section and the critical reading section.  For students for whom English might be a second language, this can be a challenge. There is no denying that. Colleges I believe also look at the TOEFL exam, Test of English as a Foreign Language, in part of their assessment. Again, you are not necessarily dead in the water if verbal is not a strong point of yours.  A couple of tips that anyone can use on the verbal, is absolutely the first thing you want to do within any section is to turn your pages to the end of the section, do not go beyond the end of the section but you want to have any idea of how many passages are there, are there the dual passages, the compare and contrast packages, is there one short passage and one longer passage and I am getting beyond the two short first paragraph passages.  You want to get the overall view of the sections so you will know better how to marshall your resource of time and distribute that.  It always starts with the sentence completion.

A lot of people make the mistake regardless of what is their primary language at home, at looking at the answers first to try and fit the answers back into the blanks. That is the kiss of death.  Believe it or not, the test makers don’t necessarily have your best interest in mind.  They will write answers to confuse you. What you want to do instead, is you want to cover up the answers with your hand or your grade sheet and read the sentence looking for contextual clues. You want to think about, “Well if I were writing the test, what word would I put in the blank?” It could be something as basic as, “I would put a positive word or a negative word.”  Then you go quickly without dwelling on any one answer until you have seen all five you go quickly through the answers to say, “Yes, that word might fit.  That works pretty well.  Then, before you move on, you re-read the sentence with your choice in it and if it works, you circle the answer in your book, which you should do on all the answers and then transfer it to your grade sheet either one at a time or by the page, which I think creates much greater efficiency. That would be a suggestion I would have for the sentence completion.  Handling the essays, I say absolutely, that would be a classic wrong answer on reading comprehension because it is too extreme, but you want to consider previewing your questions first. That tells you what the author thinks is important in the passage.  That tells you what the passage is about and it can give you a leg up on your analysis of the passage.

You do not want to pre-read the answers for two reasons.  1)  Four out of five of them are wrong.  2)  You don’t have the time. Another very important tip I can give to students is that pick the answer that best fits it.  You want to go after the reading comp section with the understanding that four of the answers are categorically wrong and one of the answers is categorically correct.  I know that sounds extreme but what that does is that keeps you from arguing with yourself, well this could be the right answer, that might be the right answers, which one do I pick.  No, four of them are wrong and one of them is right and it is a huge confidence builder and it is a huge speed builder if you will. The other aspect that I mentioned, that we cover here at Insight Tutors is these tests are written to a formula. The sections are written to formula, the right answers are written to a formula and the wrong answers are written to a formula.  Learn to recognize the wrong answers.

If I have a minute, I will just run through the five or six that they want to be on the lookout for, would that be okay?   The one answer that I alluded to before is the answer that is too extreme.  If I tell a client I never make a mistake in front of a client, it is pretty easy to prove me wrong.  I have to mess up once.  But if I say I generally don’t make mistakes in front of a client, it is much harder to prove me wrong so be very wary of answers with “all, always, never or none” in them. Sometimes they are right but most of the time they are not.  The answer is half right or half wrong.  It starts out looking good and the end is a variance and the test makers do that because they know you are nervous and know you are in a rush and you see the promising beginning, circle it, and move on and they have trapped you.  Look for the answer that is the exact opposite of what you want.  This shows up particularly true on tone questions and questions where there is dialogue. They give you the answer that speaker B would have said instead of speaker A.  Especially the answer that is the wrong point of view or the wrong part of the passage.  On the SAT, the questions generally go in order with the passage.  The answer is a “wow that is funny” answer.  Where did that come from, totally unrelated to the passage that you can eliminate and “Wow that is funny, close in cousin, the one that corrupts the details.”  They know you have seen the words before but they might reverse cause and effect and then finally the one that makes an unwarranted comparison.  It might be a science passage about two theories. One of the answers says, “Well Theory A is more believable than Theory B” and nowhere in the passage was that stated or even suggested.  I just ran you through a couple of hours of tutoring right there.  Those would be some of the suggestions on how to handle a reading comprehension section.

Dr. Pamela:     Those are great.  We only have a couple of minutes left so I don’t want to take another break but what I do want to do is if you can give us a snapshot or two really good math or quantitative strategies that students can use.  We did a show earlier that focused just on the math but I would like to hear from you what you suggest to your students.

Jim:                 Scan the math section first and go to the easy questions.  By easy, I mean the ones that are easy for you.  Although the questions generally go in order from easier to harder, that is a statistical thing, it is not necessarily relevant to your test-taking ability.  For example, if you like geometry and you are nervous about the math section, go through and do all the geometry questions first after you have reviewed the section.  The other tip I would offer is the calculator 99 times out of 100 is a hindrance.  Do not rely on your calculator.  If you are using it for guess and check, you have forgotten what the question was after you have gone through all the guess and check.  By the way, they will put answers in there that are correct answers to the wrong questions. Again, they have trapped you. I would suggest doing the questions that you like the best first and not relying too heavily if at all on the calculator.  They will give you problems that involve exponents of 2 to the 99th, I will you a really basic one divided by 2 to the 98th and if you are punching 2 to the 99th into your calculator you will exceed its capacity anyway.  The answer is 2 to the 1st.  2 goes into the 99 minus 98.  It took you five seconds to figure that up and now you have built up a surplus for the harder questions that you will want to do at the end. Given that you have a little bit over a minute per question in general, if you save 55 seconds on one question, you now have over 2 minutes to do a really hard question.  Those are two suggestions I would have.

Dr. Pamela:     Thank you, Jim, for joining us.  I want to thank those that are listening as well.  You can always e-mail additional questions that we can share later and post those answers up for you.  We will be doing part 2 on the ACT so look for the announcement there. Bill will come on and tell you more about how to stay connected with us.

 

If you’re taking the SAT this weekend: Read this

In the last week, I’ve received several calls from parents who are worried about their son’s or daughter’s preparation for the SAT. My first response is to allay their fears that this one test will doom their teen’s future admission to college. While it’s true that these standardized test are reviewed in the college admissions process, it is only one of several factors considered. (Sigh! Thank goodness it’s not the only one, right?)

There is a growing number of test-optional colleges. If you don’t test well but you do write well, those colleges should be considered.

If you’re still reading this post, you’re probably already registered for Saturday’s SAT exam, so I’d like to offer you this invitation:

Please join me on BlogTalkRadio this Thursday, December 1 at 9 pm EST

We’re hosting the first segment of our two-part series on standardized tests, which will focus on Last Minute Tips and Strategies for the SAT. My guest will be Jim Meany of Insight Tutors in Greenwich, CT. Jim has over 25 years of tutoring experience. He is a graduate of Stanford University and University of Southern California.

If you have any questions for Jim, you are welcomed to send those to radio at compasseducationstrategies.com.

 

P.S. Jim will join us again next week to discuss the ACT!

 

Best tips for Acing the ACT or SAT

There’s a great quote which states (paraphrased): “If you think you are, you are.” Research on test-taking confirms this statement. If you are nervous about your test performance (read, telling yourself “I’m not going to do well”), then it actually impairs your test performance. To ease their anxiety, students can follow these tips:

1. . . . teaching yourself in advance to think differently about the test, Dr. Driscoll says. Envision yourself in a situation you find challenging and invigorating; a soccer player might imagine scoring a goal, or a mountain climber might envision herself topping a ridge, he says. Then switch your mental image to the testing room and imagine yourself feeling the same way. With practice, you’ll be able to summon up more confidence on test day.

2. . . . reducing “novelty and stress on the day of the exam” can prevent choking under pressure, says Sian Beilock, a researcher and author on cognitive performance. If you are taking the exam in an unfamiliar place, visit the room in advance.

3. . . . setting aside 10 minutes beforehand to write down your worries, says Dr. Beilock, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Chicago. She and a fellow researcher tested 106 ninth-graders for anxiety before their first high-pressure exam, then asked half of them to spend 10 minutes writing down their thoughts right before the test. The anxious kids who did the writing exercise performed as well on the test as the students who had been calm all along. But anxious students who didn’t do the writing performed more poorly. Expressing one’s worries in writing, Dr. Beilock says, unburdens the brain.

via Toughest Exam Question: What Is the Best Way to Study? – WSJ.com.

Two additional pre-test tips that I constantly share with my students are getting a full-night’s rest before the test. So many teens have become accustomed to staying up late, that they don’t even realize the sub-optimal performance of doing so. My own teen is a great example of that! Secondly, eating oatmeal on the morning of the test also improves your performance. Even when my children were in elementary school, I would make oatmeal each morning of the testing period for achievement tests. I read about the research on oatmeal several years ago  and it still holds true.

Denise Pope of Stanford University: What Families need to know and can do about Student Stress

Our previous programs have covered a range of topics related to education options, like summer programs, gap year programs, boarding schools, and colleges. We’ve discussed standardized testing and of course specifics on college admissions. Our topic today was somewhat different but very much related to all the discussions we’ve had on previous shows.

We discussed stress on The Education Doctor Radio Show® today. If you’re wondering what does stress have to do with education, I’ll sum it up . . . a great deal. Especially in my consulting practice with families, the stress among

college-bound students and their parents is palpable. I follow the research on student stress so that I can know best how to support families without adding to the stress they are already experiencing.

Our guest today is a former undergraduate classmate of mine at Stanford. . . . When I talk with college-bound students about the size of a campus that interest them, many of them say that they want a campus where they feel that they don’t know everybody in their class. That certainly describes what my class at Stanford was like because I didn’t meet our guest until many years later when I returned to Stanford for my doctorate program and she had joined the faculty. . .  Dr. Denise Pope co-founded Challenge Success at Stanford University. She is the author of Doing School: How We Are Creating a Generation of Stressed-Out, Materialistic, and Miseducated Students. She had a great deal to share with us about stress among students and practical guidance for parents as they seek to balance stress and academic achievement.

Highlights from Dr. Pope’s interview on The Education Doctor Radio show:

  • Stress on kids starts as early as 3rd grade and increases as they get older
  • What is stressing our pre-teens and teenagers today, versus years ago?
    – Grades
    – Tests (can we say AP, ACT, SAT, etc?)
    – Homework (although homework has been found to show little effect on academic achievement)
    – College admissions (our firm works so hard to lessen the stress of college admissions on families)
  • Signs of stress include sleep deprivation, chronic headaches, listlessness, etc.

Listen to our interview and learn more about Dr. Pope’s practical tips for what families can do now to reduce stress on their students:

The first SAT for 2011-2012 is October 1

Seniors who are taking the SAT this Fall still have time to register for the test without any late fees. When planning whether you want to take the exam in October, November, or December, here are 3 things to keep in mind:

1. If you’re applying early, please make sure you confirm with the college(s) the last acceptable SAT date. This will ensure that your application is complete by the deadline. Most colleges will not review an incomplete application.

2. Plan for ample study time. You may study through an online program, take a class, or work with a private tutor. The most effective approach will be whichever program you can complete. Some students use a self-guded book. Even if you’re discipline enough to follow a self-guided plan, it will be just as important to stick with a study plan to completion.

3. Be familiar with the test-taking rules. For example, students must take the SAT and subject tests separately. So if you need to retake the SAT and/or SAT II (subject tests), you cannot take both exams on the same day! Also, not all SAT Subject tests are offered for each term. Depending on which subjet test you select, your test dates may be limited.

Here are upcoming dates for the SAT. Choose them wisely!

SAT Date Registration Deadline
October 1, 2011 September 9, 2011
November 5, 2011 October 7, 2011
December 3, 2011 November 8, 2011
January 28, 2011 December 30, 2011
March 10, 2011 No subj tests February 10, 2011
May 5, 2011 April 6, 2011
June 2, 2011 May 8, 2011

 

It costs how much to take the SAT??

The costs to apply to college add up very quickly, especially when students procrastinate on their testing. For example, if students applied for the September ACT with Writing last week, the fee was $49.50, but this week, applicants must pay an additional $21 for being late. These same late fees apply for the SAT as well.

Now that College Board has become so profitable in the last decade, it’s no wonder that eyebrows are raising on the burden these costs put on college-bound families:

Founded by Harvard and 11 other universities in 1900 to create a standardized test to admit students based on merit rather than family connections, the College Board … [president] turned the nonprofit company into a thriving business, more than doubling revenue to $660 million by boosting fees, expanding the Advanced Placement program and the sale of names of teenage test-takers to colleges.

A former West Virginia governor, he persuaded 11 states to cover fees for a preliminary SAT in the 10th grade. Now, Caperton is planning to retire amid concern that the College Board’s improved revenue has come at the expense of students and their families, who pay hundreds of dollars in fees even before they apply to college, parents, admissions officials and high school counselors said.

“The College Board is more interested in marketing and selling things than it is in its primary responsibility, promoting equity and educational opportunity,” said Ted O’Neill, who stepped down as admissions dean of the University of Chicago in 2009 and served on several College Board committees.

via Not For Profit College Board Getting Rich as Fees Hit Students – Bloomberg.

I find selling the names of college-bound teenagers to be the most problematic source of revenue for the College Board. (Granted, I probably never would have learned about Stanford during my admissions process, if it wasn’t for a mailing.) The mailings feed the college application frenzy and stress even more. When students receive so many glossy brochures from colleges, it often leads to applying to more colleges where there’s no serious intent of going which eventually crowds out students who are indeed interested. The standardized test score alone does not make a match.

Please sign up for our monthly newsletter . . . Great stuff!

When can I take the ACT?

ACT

If you’re planning to take the ACT in September, today is the last day to register. From August 13 to August 26, all late registrants will be required to pay an extra fee of $21 (ouch!). This will be in addition to $34 for ACT alone or $49.50 for ACT with writing. Please be sure to check the fine print on the college websites. The last thing you want to do is take the test without the writing and find out later that it’s required by one of the colleges where you’re applying.

Here are the other test dates for this year:

Test date

October 22, 2011

 Deadline to register

September 16, 2011

 Late registration

September 17 – 30, 2011
December 10, 2011 November 4, 2011 November 5 – 18, 2011
February 11, 2012* January 13, 2012 January 14 – 20, 2012
April 14, 2012 March 9, 2012 March 10 – 23, 2012
June 9, 2012

 

*No NY tests in February

 May 4, 2012 May 5 – 18, 2012

 

via ACT Registration: Test Dates in the U.S., U.S. Territories, and Canada.

 

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