Trung Ngo from LA TUTORS 123 asked me his top 5 questions:
1. All parents want their children to do well on the SAT, but few make the time and effort to study and simply take the test with them—much less simply take the test 7 times. Beyond maintaining your son inspired to ensure success on the SAT, what kept you going from one test to another?
Well, first of all, i’d say that any parent can do what we did (in other words. motivate a teen to study for the SAT), and it doesn’t take 7 tests! Any amount of warm engagement from a parent will do (even if they do not become it in the beginning. Be patient. They shall!). What kept me going had been that I really 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. Just What is your advice for students retaking the SAT? How do they get the most from the jawhorse?
Oh, wow, let me see if I can be brief here: Be methodical with the preparation. The greater vocab, the better. Stay in the row that is front test day, if possible. Simply Take the test in a classroom that is smallnot really a cafeteria or gym). Make an effort to get a desk that is regulari.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 last?
4. Having tried a variety of test prep methods, which did you discover the most effective? What set it aside from the others?
5. On your own blog, you provide plenty of practical SAT tips that are in a roundabout way related to using the test, for example, most useful SAT snacks or picking the right test location. From your experience, what is the single most crucial tip of this kind?
The Concealed Faces of Test Optional
Many prestigious colleges and universities including Bates, Bowdoin, American University, Sarah Lawrence, Smith and Wake Forest now do maybe not require SATs. The movement has even spawned a sub-category, referred to as ‘test flexible,’ which allows a student to choose from a wide variety of tests, like the AP, the ACT, or the SAT Subject tests, as alternatives to the SAT.
But that doesn’t mean that high schoolers should forgo the drudgery and anxiety of trying to do well on SATs or virtually any test that is standardized they have to. For while test optional policies convey the impression that colleges want to diversify their applicant pools, they are not always as noble as they sound. Moreover, a school can recognize itself as ‘test optional’ for admissions purposes, but then need shmoop online paper writer test scores when it comes to awarding scholarships or determining class positioning.
Critics argue that ‘test optional’ colleges are simply gaming the operational system to gain status in the ranks, especially the U.S. News & World Report rankings, 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 college’s SAT average are artificially inflated because applicants that do submit ratings have higher scores 100-150 points higher, on average than applicants whom don’t.
There’s also the actual fact that ‘test optional’ means various things to different schools. Students with low SAT scores can be longing for the opportunity to be looked at as a person that is whole than a test rating, but it’s not always that facile. There are policy nuances, such as test optional for pupils with a particular GPA. Or, test state that is optional, but not if you’re an applicant from away from state or abroad.
On the flip part, there’s a window of opportunity for some pupils with a high test ratings to the office the machine to their benefit because the applicant pool at test optional schools is presumably filled up with score-free applications. High ratings might even mitigate the consequences a reduced GPA at a test college that is optional.
There is no doubt any particular one test should maybe not figure out an applicant’s possibilities, but in 2009, the College Board began offering ‘Score Choice’ where students can determine whether or not to send SAT ratings from the certain test day or, should they had a specially bad morning, omit the scores for that time (there are exceptions). And yes, there are other limits to the SAT’s ability to capture a entire individual, and truly inequalities whereby people who can afford expensive test prep and multiple testings can gain an edge. However for many students, ‘test-optional’ is harder than it may first appear.