
Trung Ngo from LA TUTORS 123 asked me his top 5 questions:
1. All parents want their young ones to excel on the SAT, but few make the time and effort to examine and take the test with them—much less just take the test 7 times. Beyond keeping your son motivated to succeed on the SAT, what kept you going from one test to another location?
Well, first of all of the, i’d say that any parent can do what we did (in other words. motivate a teenager to study for the SAT), and it generally does not take 7 tests! Any amount of warm engagement from a parent can do (even if they do not behave like it at first. Be client. They shall!). What kept me going had been that I actually just like the SAT (crazy as that noises). It was enjoyed by me… like a crossword puzzle.
2. Year the College Board reports that 55% of juniors improved their score when they took the SAT again in their senior. Exactly What is your advice for students retaking the SAT? How do they get the most out of it?
Oh, wow, let me see if I can here be brief: Be methodical with the preparation. The greater amount of vocab, the better. Stay in the front row on test day, if possible. Simply Take the test in a classroom that is smallnot just a cafeteria or gym). Make an effort to get a regular desk (i.e. maybe not a arm/chair desk tablet).
3. You took the SAT 7 times over the course of 10 months: how did your scores improve from the test that is first the final?
4. Having tried a variety of test prep methods, which did you find the most effective? What set it apart from the others?
5. On your blog, you provide a lot of practical SAT tips that are not directly regarding using the test, for example, most useful SAT snacks or picking the right test location. From your experience, what’s the single many tip that is important of kind?
The Hidden Faces of Test Optional
Many prestigious colleges and universities Bates that is including, American University, Sarah Lawrence, Smith and Wake Forest now do perhaps not require SATs. The movement has even spawned a sub-category, referred to as ‘test flexible,’ which allows a pupil to determine from a wide array of tests, including the AP, the ACT, or the SAT Subject tests, as alternatives to the SAT.
But it doesn’t mean that high schoolers should forgo the drudgery and anxiety of attempting to do well on SATs or virtually any test that is standardized they have to. For while test policies that are optional the impression that colleges wish to diversify their applicant pools, they have been perhaps not always as noble as they sound. Moreover, a school can identify itself as ‘test optional’ for admissions purposes, however require test scores in terms of awarding scholarships or determining course positioning.
Experts argue that ‘test optional’ colleges are simply gaming the operational system to get status in the rankings, especially the U.S. News & World Report ranks, which have developed a frenzy of colleges vying to move up in prestige. A policy that is test-optional more applicants, which means more applicants to reject, this means more ‘selective’ as far as the rankings go. Test-optional also means that the institution’s SAT average are artificially inflated because applicants that do submit scores have shmoop term paper service higher scores 100-150 points greater, on average than applicants whom don’t.
There’s also the fact that ‘test optional’ means various things to various schools. Students with low SAT scores can be hoping for the chance to be viewed as being a entire person rather than a test rating, but it’s not always that simple. There are policy nuances, such as test optional for pupils with a certain GPA. Or, test optional state schools, but perhaps not if you’re an applicant from away from state or abroad.
On the flip side, there’s a opportunity for some students with high test scores to work the device to their benefit because the applicant pool at test optional schools is presumably filled with score-free applications. High scores might even mitigate the results a decreased GPA at a test optional university.
There is no doubt this one test should maybe not figure out an applicant’s chances, but in 2009, the faculty Board began offering ‘Score Choice’ where students can determine whether or not to send SAT scores from a test that is certain or, when they had a particularly bad morning, omit the scores for that time (there are exceptions). And yes, there are definitely other limits to the SAT’s ability to capture a whole person, and certainly inequalities whereby those who can afford expensive test prep and multiple testings can gain a bonus. But for many students, ‘test-optional’ is harder than it might first appear.