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ACT Reading Gets Graphs
ACT Reading Gets Graphs
Starting in 2021, the ACT will join the SAT in featuring graph questions in its reading portion. Students must use the table or graph accompanying a text to answer an Integration of Knowledge question. What are graph questions? Such questions ask test takers to draw conclusions from the graph or connect the data to the text. Reading and writing oriented students may groan when they hear that…
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Why the SAT needs to stay
Why the SAT needs to stay
Or, Debunking the arguments of the standardized testing haters. When COVID-19 essentially derailed the 2020 school year, one of the casualties was SAT and ACT testing. Both tests were forced to cancel several exams, leaving students scrambling. Many colleges and universities reacted by making temporary changes to their admissions process: “test optional” became a buzzword across higher…
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Strategies for Paired Passages
Strategies for Paired Passages
When it comes to the SAT or ACT Reading section, one of the biggest challenges for students is the paired passage. Some students call it the dual passage. Others call it the side-by-side. The vast majority of students call it trouble! But using some good, simple strategies can make it much easier to navigate. What is a “paired passage”? If you’ve not yet encountered a paired passage, they’re…
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Post-COVID Effects of Online Learning
Post-COVID Effects of Online Learning
How has the year of online learning and interrupted academic work impacted our students? It seems like another lifetime ago. COVID-19 started to get coverage in the news in late 2019, but most people didn’t give it much thought. After all, we’d had swine flu and bird flu scares that didn’t impact us much, so why worry about one more? Then, in the early spring of 2020, everything changed. Schools…
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What is the SAT QAS?
What is the SATÂ QAS?
(And is it something you need?) Some of the questions I often get during or after the exam prep process are “What is the SAT QAS? And should I order it?” So let’s spend a moment to talk about what the QAS is and why it can be incredibly useful for exam prep students. A QAS (Question and Answer Service) from the SAT is a fancy term for a copy of the test a student has taken. College Board, the…
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ACT Begins Superscoring
Superscoring! Doesn’t that sound incredibly epic?! You can almost hear a bold-voiced announcer telling you that the ACT is new and improved, “Now with SUPERSCORING!” But what is superscoring? In short, superscoring is a way for students to take advantage of multiple ACT efforts by combining their best English, math, reading, and science scores. For example, let’s say a student took the ACT…
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Summer of Exam Prep
Summer of Exam Prep
It’s Spring! The sun is beginning to peek out more often. Flowers are out. COVID cases are finally decreasing, and vaccinations are continuing to rise. Before long, the new normal will hopefully start looking a whole lot like actual normal. And for soon-to-be juniors, it’s time to begin thinking about preparing for the fall SAT or ACT. Our strong recommendation is that they make this summer the…
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College Board Ends SAT Essay
College Board Ends SATÂ Essay
This week, the College Board announced that they will be ending the use of the optional essay portion of the SAT, as well as the SAT Subject Tests. Up until now, the essay was used by a number of schools to evaluate a student’s writing competency. The essay involved reading a news piece and then dissecting the author’s persuasive techniques. According to College Board, they are removing the…
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"So I got my PSAT score. Now what?"
“So I got my PSAT score. Now what?”
This week, students across the country will receive their PSAT scores. But both students and parents are often unclear about what those scores mean, the importance (or lack of it!) of those scores, and what the next steps should be. So let’s delve in a bit to the PSAT and those results. What makes for a good PSAT score? If you’re a sophomore, then the PSAT can be a good indicator of your…
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ACT Averages Dropped (Again)
ACT Averages Dropped (Again)
2020 continues to be the year of chaos. From COVID-19 to the politicizing of masks to a hotly contested election, upheaval continues to be the norm. It’s no surprise then that the ACT national average has also experienced negativity. For the third year in a row, the national ACT averages dropped. It now stands at 20.6 (out of 36), the lowest national average in 10 years. The ACT’s national…
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Educational Benefits of ACT/SAT
Educational Benefits of ACT/SAT
In ten years teaching in the classroom and another nine helping students with exam preparation, I feel like I understand both worlds. Criticism of the tests abounds, particularly this year with the additional stress of COVID cancellations and online school. One complaint is that the ACT and SAT don’t test what a student has learned in school. This is at least partially correct, but it ignores a…
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The "Death of the SAT"? Hardly.
The “Death of the SAT”? Hardly.
In an Alameda Superior Court ruling this week, a judge ruled that the University of California system must immediately stop using the SAT and ACT for admissions during the pandemic. Lawyers who brought the suit against the UC system applauded the ruling against the “racist” SAT. Many headlines have questioned if this has finally signaled the death knell for the exams. But the death of the SAT is…
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SAT ACT Cancellations in the Age of COVID
SAT ACT Cancellations in the Age of COVID
At this point, no one can deny that the COVID-19 outbreak has changed our way of life forever. College admissions haven’t escaped this paradigm shift, with some schools even moving to a “test optional” admissions process. Still, the SAT and the ACT will continue to be important benchmarks for students to use to set themselves apart. The biggest issue in the short term has been ensuring that your…
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Guessing on the SAT/ACT
Guessing on the SAT/ACT
No matter how skilled or how experienced the student, at some point on the SAT or ACT, they’ll find it necessary to take a guess. Or two. Or ten.
Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash
Guessing is part of any good test-taking strategy. Knowing the ins and outs of guessing on the SAT/ACT can make a big difference in the final outcome of a test.
Be sure to actually guess!
One of the…
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Weighing in on "Test Optional"
Weighing in on “Test Optional”
One of the most common questions I hear from students and parents involves that idea of “test optional” schools. As a result of the COVID-19 dilemma, some colleges and universities have seemingly relaxed their admission requirementsin order to accommodate those students who weren’t able to take the SAT or ACT due to cancellations. It’s a great gesture by those schools, but it’s been confusing for…
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ACT Adds Five New Dates
ACT Adds Five New Dates
The ACT announced this week that they’ll be adding five new testing dates to the Fall 2020 lineup. These dates, shown in the list below, will be potentially available beginning the last week of July, when registration opens.
Saturday, September 12, 2020
Sunday, September 13, 2020
Saturday, September 19, 2020
Saturday, October 10, 2020
Saturday, October 17, 2020
Saturday, October 24, 2020
Sunday,…
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"Test Optional" and the SAT/ACT
“Test Optional” and the SAT/ACT
As part of the academic fallout from COVID-19, several test dates for the ACT and SAT were canceled. This left many students to wait until the fall to take their exams. Some colleges and universities, to help mitigate the situation, announced that they would become “test optional” schools. The headlines emphasized the term “test optional,” but news stories rarely dug into what it means for the…
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