
Trung Ngo from LA TUTORS 123 asked me his top 5 questions:
1. All parents want their young ones to do well on the SAT, but few make the effort to study and take the test with them—much less just take the test 7 times. Beyond maintaining your son motivated to achieve success on the SAT, what kept you going from one test to the next?
Well, first of most, I would personally say that any parent can do what I did (i.e. motivate a teen to learn for the SAT), and it does not take 7 tests! Any amount of warm engagement from a parent does (even at first if they don’t act like it. Be client. They will!). What kept me personally going was that I really like the SAT (crazy as that sounds). I enjoyed it … like a crossword puzzle.
2. The school Board reports that 55% of juniors improved their score once they took the SAT again in their senior year. Exactly What is your advice for students retaking the SAT? How do they get the maximum benefit out of it?
Oh, wow, let me see if I can here be brief: Be methodical with the planning. The more vocab, the better. Stay into the front line on test time, if possible. Take the test in a small classroom (not a cafeteria or gym). Make an effort to get a desk that is regulari.e. not a arm/chair desk tablet).
3. You took the SAT 7 times over the course of 10 months: how did your ratings improve from the very first test to the last?
4. Having tried a variety of test prep methods, which did you discover the most effective? What set it apart from the others?
5. On your own blog, you provide a great deal of practical SAT tips that are not directly associated with using the test, for example, SAT snacks that are best or picking the right test location. From your experience, what is the single many essential tip of this 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 maybe not require SATs. The movement has even spawned a sub-category, called ‘test flexible,’ which allows a student to choose from a variety that is wide of, such as 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 trying to accomplish well on SATs or just about any standard test unless they need to. For while test policies that are optional the impression that colleges want to diversify their applicant pools, they have been perhaps not always as noble as they sound. Moreover, a college can determine it self as ‘test optional’ for admissions purposes, then again need test scores when it comes to awarding scholarships or class placement that is determining.
Experts argue that ‘test optional’ universities are simply gaming the system to achieve status in the rankings, such as the U.S. News & World Report ratings, 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 who do submit scores have actually higher scores 100-150 points greater, on average than applicants whom don’t.
There is also the actual fact that ‘test optional’ means different things to schools that are different. Students with low SAT scores can be dreaming about the opportunity to be viewed as being 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 students with a specific GPA. Or, test optional state schools, but maybe not if you’re an applicant from away from state or abroad.
On the side that is flip there exists a chance for some students with high test ratings to the office the device for their advantage as the applicant pool at test optional schools is presumably filled up with score-free applications. High ratings might even mitigate the results the lowest GPA at a test college that is optional.
There is no doubt this 1 test should perhaps not determine an applicant’s chances, however in 2009, the faculty Board began offering ‘Score Choice’ where students can decide whether or not to send SAT scores from the test that is certain or, should they had a specially bad morning, omit the ratings for that time (there are exceptions). And yes, there are definitely other limitations towards the SAT’s ability to capture a whole person, and truly inequalities whereby those that can afford expensive test prep and numerous testings can gain an edge. However for many students, ‘test-optional’ is harder than it may first appear.
