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Test Prep

High School Entrance Exams – demystifying the acronyms SSAT, ISEE and HSPT

Gaining admissions into some private middle and high schools is surprisingly similar to the college admissions process. Everything from a student’s grades, extra-curriculars, and teacher recommendations are looked at by the admissions officers at different schools. Since curricula, educational and assessment standards can vary widely from school to school, admissions personnel can compare students from varying backgrounds with respect to the “core subjects” using the standardized test scores.

The most popular of these exams are The Secondary School Admission Test (SSAT), The Independent School Entrance Exam (ISEE), and The High School Placement Test (HSPT). The former two are prerequisites to be considered for admissions to many private or independent high schools, while the latter is taken for admissions to parochial (Catholic) high schools. Step one, as with any standardized test, is to determine which schools you’re interested in, and to find out each school’s requirements or preferences. Step two is to learn a bit about what to expect, and how you can begin to prepare. Here’s a breakdown of the three tests:
Read More »High School Entrance Exams – demystifying the acronyms SSAT, ISEE and HSPT

Want to boost your test scores? Try Meditation

Finding it hard to focus on studying? Is your mind wandering as you prepare for your big test? Meditation may be the answer to your troubles. Mindfulness meditation can help quiet your mind and focus your attention on the present. It’s commonly used to manage stress, depression, and pain, and studies show it can be used to improve test scores as well.

Practicing meditation can lessen people’s habits of mind wandering, which can undermine performance on tests, through disrupting working memory capacity and intelligence. The working memory, an individual’s ability to retain information, is key for better test performance. Read More »Want to boost your test scores? Try Meditation

8 Essential Tips to Boost your SAT Reading and SAT Writing Scores During the Summer

test taking hand-250x300Okay, so it’s summer – and many of you have just scrubbed off the last of the school year in the shower.  We know all you want right now is to be out in the park with friends – we want that too!  But we also know that October is right around the corner, and for many of you, that means the next SAT.  And we know that the verbal sections of the SAT (particularly the reading comprehension, simply because the answers are necessarily more equivocal) are often the most difficult to study for in a short period of time.  So to ensure you don’t find yourself at the beginning of the next school year, juggling all your new classes while simultaneously cramming for the SAT, we’ve compiled a few suggestions for the summer, so that you can begin studying with plenty of time to spare.  If you can set aside just two or three hours a week to study, you’ll be well ahead of the game.  Here are our top suggestions:

 

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Should I take the SAT or the ACT?

CalculatorPhotoAnswer a few questions about yourself and get an idea of which one may be a better fit for you…

As you’re likely to have noticed, the SAT has generally predominated in discourses about standardized testing for college admissions.  This is because traditionally, colleges have used the SAT as the gauge by which to evaluate candidate admissions.  But in recent years most colleges and universities have begun to accept ACT scores from applicants – some in addition to SAT scores, and others in lieu of them.

Of course the best way to determine what your scores might be on either test is to put yourself through some practice tests (I would suggest they be both full-length and timed, so you can get a sense of your endurance levels and the speed at which you work).  Read More »Should I take the SAT or the ACT?

5 Ways to Learn SAT Vocabulary with (Apparently) Little Effort

My experience with helping students study for the SAT is that vocabulary tends to fall by the wayside. Students generally come to me needing verbal help because they’re worried about comprehension in the Critical Reading sections or because they think their grammar skills aren’t up to par. But consider this: there are three Critical Reading sections on every SAT exam, two of which begin with five or six questions that are specifically vocabulary-based (these are known as “sentence completion” questions), and one of which begins with eight. In addition, each of these Critical Reading sections contains at least 2-3 questions that require you understand the vocabulary involved: the College Board will either ask you about a word as it appears in context (“In line 34, the word “cloudy” most likely means: a) muddy b) overcast c) nebulous d) lackluster”), or it will present you with answer options that contain some demanding words (“The author of passage 1 would most likely assert that the position of the theorist in line 19 is: a) atypical b) perspicacious c) haughty d) unpretentious”).

Read More »5 Ways to Learn SAT Vocabulary with (Apparently) Little Effort

What Should I Know About the AP Program and the AP Tests?

If you’re a middle school or high school student, or the parent of one, chances are high you’ve been hearing about this quasi-mysterious “AP” for quite awhile.  But what do the AP program and the exams mean, what are they used for, where do they differ, and how can you participate in and prepare for the APs?  My goal is to answer some of these basic questions in the following article.

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How Long Should I Study for the GMAT? – Part 2

Continued from How Long Should I Study for the GMAT? – Part 1

  • Remember studying for the GMAT is a daily practice. If you have to miss a day, fine; but don’t miss two consecutive days. Also keep in mind that it’s not just the sitting-down-and-studying part that should be daily: you shouldn’t ignore a question type for too long either (don’t, for instance, work on math questions for a week and then verbal questions for a week: the exam won’t be like that, so why would your study time?) Try to fit in both in every sitting if you can (both problem solving and data sufficiency for the math, and all three (critical reasoning, reading comprehension, and sentence correction) for the verbal). Read More »How Long Should I Study for the GMAT? – Part 2

Which of the SAT Subject Tests is best for you to take?

(If you’re having similar difficulties deciding between the SAT and the ACT, by the way, check out “SAT versus ACT: The Test-Taker’s Guide”).

First, a word to all you history buffs out there who are currently scheming to just take both U.S. History and World History and wash your hands of the matter: most colleges that oblige you to take Subject Tests require they be in different subject areas.

Before deciding, you should first make a list of all the colleges you’re considering.  Then spend some time checking (and double-checking!) their requirements Read More »Which of the SAT Subject Tests is best for you to take?

What About Those SAT Subject Tests?

So you’ve been studying for the SAT for what seems like years now, and your critical thinking, grammar, and math skills are on par with the pros.  And yet, you’re finding your dreams of becoming an on-site biologist who studies homeostasis at the Congo River basin have not quite been furthered by all of this study.  So how do you show the colleges you’re interested in – well – what you’re interested in?  Or that you’re a much more well rounded student than the SAT (or ACT) might have them believe?  Further, when do you get a chance to prove to the world out there that everything you learned in your World History class actually “stuck”? Read More »What About Those SAT Subject Tests?

8 Helpful Hints for the SAT Essay

The SAT essay is – for good reason – always one of my students’ hugest concerns. I say “for good reason” on a number of grounds. In the first place, students sit down to the SAT writing section after years of high school English classes that have instilled in them the process and practice of writing a meticulously organized exposition – one that takes multiple drafts, demands countless hours of editing, and occasionally requires a sleepless night or two. Suddenly they are faced with a 25-minute window in which their first instinct is to squeeze that whole working-and-reworking process into a significantly shorter period of time. Of course, this isn’t humanly possible – nor will it be expected of you. In the second place, the essay is the only section of the SAT that is scored – let’s admit it – subjectively. Read More »8 Helpful Hints for the SAT Essay