Why SAT?

Students aspiring to obtain an undergraduate deSATe in any discipline from a University in America need to take this test. The SAT does not expect you to have any specialized knowledge of business or any other specific area. Nor does it seek to measure honors or achievements in any walk of life. SAT is a standard way of measuring a student’s ability to do college-level work. Because courses and grading standards vary widely from school to school, scores on standardized tests, like the SAT, help colleges compare a student’s academic achievements with those of students from different schools. The only job of SAT is to rate and se SAT gate all undergraduate aspirants on the basis of their scholastic skills, primarily in Mathematics and English. All test takers should note that the SAT is entirely in English and that all instructions are provided in English. The SAT as opposed to most other international tests is a PBT (Paper Based Test) and is entirely objective in nature.

SAT Cracke Tips

We understand that the learning needs of all students are different. We accordingly stress on an all-encompassing learning experience. In your endeavor to excel in the test, we provide you with:

a)      Comprehensive Preparation.

b)      Concepts explained in simple language.

c)      Over Hundred Practice Questions.

d)      Tests to monitor your proSATss.

e)      Solved examples with each topic.

f)        Learn the strategies to make the SAT Math section a cakewalk.

g)      Master your vocabulary through improved strategies.

h)      Learn the standard types of SAT sentence completion questions.

i)        Learn to avoid the standard mistakes which 80% of the students make.

j)        Learn our tested techniques to increase your speed.

k)      Perfect your SAT preparation with hundreds of practice questions with complete solutions.

Our tutoring service for test prep has even been known to reduce overall test anxiety and relax students prior to exams. Interestingly enough, even though the SAT/ACT provides a single standard to rate students from many different locations, the transcript is often more weighty in the college application package because it is a record of how a student has performed over a four-year period. Our test preparation program helps students learn invaluable test taking skills that will last a lifetime. Jake Nichols is a free lance internet author that comments on various trends and happenings in the education industry. Again, after each SAT practice test, evaluate your incorrect answers. Do the questions you missed follow some kind of theme? Work more on the areas you are most weak in and less on the areas you are strong in. Working on your weaknesses can be difficult, but it’s the only way you’ll improve your SAT score. I am Suraj Kumar author of this given article is provided by the SAT Exam Preparation Institute Wisdom Mart. We are the leading admissions consulting and preparatory Service in provides SAT Test Prep Courses and schedule SAT Test Prep, SAT Coaching, and SAT Classes. For more information and further details you can visit us at – www.wisdommart.com

Of course, the opposite is true as well, and those 80 or so points that he or she doesn’t get can be their worst nightmare, and change their future altogether.

No parent wants to see his or her child’s heart crushed like that. But thankfully, there’s something you can do about it.

The way I’ve found is best to do that is with SAT and ACT private tutoring. Not only can you select the type of tutor you want (even give a specific name, if you know one), but you can be there in the home to encourage your child and ensure he or she does the preparation necessary for success. It can even be a bonding expenience.

My RecommendationThe tutoring service I recommend is one that’s been around for decades. You may have heard of it: Kaplan Tutoring. Having been a tutor myself, who has seen SAT scores go up by 50% (yes, really!), I can say that Kaplan’s tutoring service really is the best way to go. The amount of professional, back-office support and assistance you get, on top of the reasonable prices and excellent tutors, makes it a winner.

Sure, classes may be cheaper, but they force your child to learn at a higher or lower level of learning than fits him or her. She’ll either surrounded by people who learn much faster than you…or much slower than her. And that’s just frustrating either way.

Top top it off, rushing to classes, when one’s got a million other things to do his or her junior and senior years, is NOT fun. But studies show that students who get private tutoring, no surprise, see a much bigger jump in their SAT scores than classroom-taught students. It’s no surprise, really. Compare personalized service, scheduled around your needs and your busy timetable, to rushing 3 nights a week to classes you don’t have time for, or reading out of a boring SAT book you don’t have the patience for.

Really, it’s no comparison.Kaplan tutoring sessions last only 1.5 or 2 hours, rather than the long and boring 3 hours of a typical SAT class. And as a parent, you can chart your child’s progress with regular updates from your tutor, including regular diagnostic reports from the Kaplan Tutoring office. Not only that, buy you have a choice in selecting your tutoring, unlike with the classes. And if you’re not happy with the tutor you get, you can always request a new one, for no extra charge.

It’s that flexibility and attention to detail that makes Kaplan Tutoring a winner. I’ve seen firsthand the difference it’s made in childrens’ lives, and sometimes it can be downright emotional receiving a phone call from a student saying he got the score he needed to get into that dream university!

What To Do NextHey, junior and senior years are stressful enough for the average American high school student. Make it a little easier, and their dreams that much more tenable, by giving your child a personalized, flexible service that gives them a tutor who knows how to get the best out of him or her.

Take it from me, having been an SAT tutor myself: Kaplan private tutoring can work wonders. You’ll not only thank Kaplan – you’ll thank yourself.

What she didn’t know is that college admissions officers won’t just look at Julie’s essay score when judging her suitability for admission. They will read a scan of the essay she wrote and use that as one criterion when they decide to reject or accept her application. In fact there are at least three important ways that college admission officers plan to use your student’s SAT Essay in deciding who will attend their undergraduate programs.

1. To see if your student can really handle the pressure of a college “blue book” exam.

How can an admissions officer know who will sail through their college exams, get on the honor roll each semester and graduate in 4 years? The answer: they can’t know for sure. That’s why they are constantly looking for new ways to predict college success and failure. And since most high school students don’t take in class essay exams as part of their curriculum admissions officers can’t use their transcripts to see how well they’ll do on college essay exams. That’s where the SAT Essay comes in. Many universities intend to use it to see who will do well on exams. For example, Ted Spencer, director of undergraduate admissions at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and trustee of the College Board stated, “The SAT essay will be a first draft, written under timed conditions not unlike the on-demand writing of a college “blue book” exam. It will… give us a better, more complete understanding of the student’s writing abilities.” And Lee Stetson, dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, said, “the essay test will give admissions officers a better feel for applicants’ writing and verbal skills and their ability to perform under ‘constraint.’”

2. To see how well you communicate ideas “on the spot” (even for math and science majors).
It’s a common misconception that math and science majors only need to do well on the Math section of the SAT. College officials from math and science oriented disciplines have consistently expressed the need for their students to have highly developed writing skills. For example, Ben Streetman, Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin said, “This new requirement will be a great help to us in choosing students who can succeed in engineering. One of the most important skills an engineer has is the ability to present his or her ideas verbally and in writing. Virtually every engineering project begins with a written proposal, requires interim reports and culminates in a written summary. Professional success in engineering depends not only on the ability to apply the techniques of math and science to solve problems, but also on the engineer’s ability to write those proposals and reports in a way that helps others understand the work.” So while knowledge of math and science is obviously still very important for your student to gain admission to these programs, having powerful writing skills will set him or her above many students who lack these skills.

3. To see if any students “cheated” on their applications.

Sure, many students get help in revising and improving their college application essays. However, for years admissions officers have known that many students get “extra” help to make their essays appealing. There has never been a good way of knowing who these students are until the College Board added the Essay to the New SAT. Now, according to a survey done by Kaplan, almost 60% of the top 374 colleges and universities plan to use the SAT Essay to find writing level discrepancies among college applicants. For most honest students this shouldn’t be a problem unless they happen to write much worse on the SAT Essay than they did for their college application essays. Of course the best way to avoid suspicion of getting too much “help” on the admissions essay is to learn to write a good SAT Essay.

Now that you know that there are many important reasons why your student needs to do well on the SAT Essay, you might be wondering what are some of the best ways to prepare.

Successful preparation involves doing two things:

1. Writing an essay that will score well and
2. Writing an essay that will impress college admissions officers

For your student to score well she needs to learn the five characteristics that all high-scoring essays have in common and develop the skills to put these into her writing in under 25 minutes and under the pressure of test day.

Second, your student must write an essay that shows how insightful and intelligent he is so that admissions officers are impressed by the quality of the writing.

Below I list some important resources that can help your student prepare to write a stellar essay that will improve his or her chances of admission at the best schools.

The Official Guide to the New SAT published by the College Board and available on their web site http://www.collegeboard.com.

This site has several examples of essays graded by College Board graders which can give you a good sense of what it takes to get a high score.

Second, I recommend the website http://www.rocketreview.com which has a computerized program to help you grade several essay topics available there.

Third, I recommend my e-book “How to Write Fast and Effectively for the New SAT” which teaches the 6 steps to success on the SAT Essay, includes dozens of classroom tested exercises and many examples of real high scoring essays. It is available at http://www.sat-essay.net

It is totally different than the tests given by your high school teachers. Your high school teachers don’t have to be consistent with their testing styles or questions. But, the testing styles on the SAT must be standardized in order to make meaningful comparisons from year to year. Thus the questions, the format and the concepts must be consistent from year to year.

So, instead of studying for the SAT, you need to determine the concepts, discover the patterns, and develop strategies to conquer the SAT. But, you have a limited amount of time to develop your plan of attack. So, here is a plan for a quick SAT prep.

1. Get “The Official SAT Study Guide” by the College Board

This is the only study guide you need to buy. It is produced by the people who write the test and is the only guide that contains true SAT problems. Don’t waste your time or money on other testing guides.

2. Read and familiarize yourself with the directions

The directions on the study guide practice tests are the same as the directions on the real test. So, learn the directions ahead of time. If you already know the directions before the test, you can skip reading the directions and save lots of time.

3. Take a practice test, NOW

You are short on time and need to get started immediately. So, get two sharp pencils, your calculator, a timer and the answer sheets for the first test. Now, find a quiet location and take the test using the correct times. Try to make everything like it’s the real test. Don’t change anything unless you have modifications for the real test.

After taking the test use the score key to correct your answers and determine your score. The score isn’t important at this point but knowing how you did is.

4. Learn by correcting your mistakes

You need to thoroughly examine the first test and determine why you missed the problems that you missed. You need to do this for every problem that you missed so you can get familiar with the patterns that are used on the different sections. Yes, there are patterns and you need to find them.

5. Practice SAT problems every night

You can use the second and third tests as a source for homework problems. But, you must do at least one hour of SAT homework every day until test time. It’s best if you do a few math problems, a few writing problems and a few reading problems each night. Remember the quality of your practice will be determined by how much time you spend correcting your mistakes.

6. Take another practice test

A few days before the real testing day you need to take another practice test. Test four or five would work just fine for this purpose. Again use the official times and rules that will be used at the real test including any modifications you might have. Then score and correct the test to get the full benefit of a practice test.

7. Test day is here

The night before the test relax, eat a nutritious dinner and get to bed early. Then get up on time and dress comfortable but not to relaxed or sloppy. Be sure to have a good breakfast but stay away from fruit juices and foods high in refined sugar. If possible, balance your carbohydrates with protein.

Before you leave the house make sure you have your ticket, two sharpened #2 pencils, a working calculator, your picture ID and a snack. Be on time! If you are late you will not be allowed in the testing area for any reason.

Happy testing.

In addition to becoming the latest group of students to perform the traditional rite of passage of test-taking, they are also part of a multimillion-dollar machine called the educational testing industry.

The market for education is enormous, representing roughly $750 billion annually in the United States alone. It is about 10 percent of the US gross domestic product and growing. It doesn’t matter where you are on the education curve – small child, kindergartener, high school student, college grad or even corporate executive – your life will somehow be touched by educational testing.

Thanks to the tests mandated under No Child Left Behind, states will spend up to $6 billion to implement new testing procedures according to the Government Accounting Office. And that only includes the costs associated with creating, scoring and reporting on the tests. It doesn’t include extra costs for the teachers who have been tapped to prepare students for the new tests, proctors who must administer the tests and the time parents and educators spend. The real costs of new testing could be 15 or even 20 times higher than the GAO’s estimates.

It’s a heavy investment, especially when you consider that many teachers and parents are at best undecided about the results of the testing programs. The focus has shifted from traditional learning methods to pure test preparation as schools battle it out for the bragging rights to the highest median test scores in each district and state.

Parents of stressed-out high school students have argued nationwide that colleges and universities need to apply a more personalized process to admissions rather than ranking their students solely on test scores and grade point averages.

But most universities continue to require the examinations for entrance. They have created a market place where students and their parents must bear the additional financial burdens of test preparation in addition to the costs associated traditional education. While the entrance tests themselves are relatively inexpensive – less than $100 for college-related tests, over $100 for graduate related tests – test preparation is another issue entirely. It isn’t unusual for a student preparing for the LSAT test to pay $5,000 in tutoring.

“This seems to create a bias for rich kids,” says M, the founder of Test Sherpa, a web site devoted to bringing free and affordable test preparation tools for the LSAT Test and SAT Test. “If you can afford tutoring, you will score higher. So those with privilege have a special advantage in testing.” To level the playing field, M has put all of Test Sherpa’s LSAT courses into an easily accessible format on it’s web site and is working on converting content for SAT and GRE as well.

“We still charge for tutoring – we incur a cost for that so we have to charge,” M says. “But we want to get as much information about the LSAT out there as possible.” When other companies are charging several thousand dollars for the same information, what Test Sherpa is attempting is quite laudable.

One thing is for sure — tests are not going away any time soon. Colleges and universities will always face the daunting challenge of assessing student performance and success metrics. And in the meantime, many will continue to profit from the increase in spending on test preparation and administration.

Actually, this is partially true. If you are totally stumped on a question and cannot even eliminate a single answer choice, then yes, you should omit the question. However, if you can eliminate even one choice, it is statistically to your advantage to guess among the four choices on that question. The College Board applies a “guessing penalty” of one-quarter of a question per missed question and does not penalize for omitted questions, so guess accordingly.2. The length of the essay is irrelevant

Even though the College Board will tell you that the length of an essay is not related to its score, studies have shown that there is a strong correlation between essay length and higher scores. Therefore, it is always better to write an essay that is lengthier and incorporates more details, examples, and experiences. However, you should not fill an essay with “fluff” – such mundane, wasted words only annoy the graders. 3. The best time to take the SAT is on (so-and-so) testing date

We’ve heard this one time and time again. Many students feel that the curve is easier on the June and September testing dates because more students who performed poorly on the first test are retaking, or because fewer students overall are taking the test. Neither of these claims is necessarily true, and there is virtually no link between difficulty of the curve and testing date. Test after you have studied, and base your decision only on your own abilities. 4. You can guess which section is the “experimental” one

Simply put, there is really no way to determine the “experimental” section. It could be writing, math, or reading. It could feature easier or tougher questions. You should not work “less hard” on a section because you think it is the experimental section5. Since the Writing section is new, it doesn’t matter/It’s harder

The Writing section has a lower mean score because it is newer, but most prepared students actually find the Writing section easier than the Reading section. In fact, students who have taken test preparation courses experience the highest score increase in Writing. Along those same lines, even though the section is new, you cannot dismiss it. Colleges may claim not to look at it, but it’s right there next to your other two scores on the score report. Don’t take your chances – do well!6. Re-Testing “looks bad”

Total nonsense. Almost all colleges do not consider a student who re-tests any worse than the student who does not, and most students re-test. Why? Re-testing usually marks a very medicore increase in score because the SAT is designed to test intelligence, not knowledge. Students do not typically become “more intelligent” between testing periods. However, some students experience great success after preparing for the exam. In general, if you are not happy with your score, re-testing is a great option.7. You should use your calculator to solve most math problems

The students who receive 800′s on the math section are typically not the ones who are calculator whizzes – they are simply better-prepared for the exam. Using a graphing calculator to solve simple math problems may seem like a great solution to your math issues, but in the end you will only be shorting yourself. Calculators require time and effort and are prone to input errors. While practicing for the math section, do as much as you can without a calculator.8. The SAT doesn’t really matter anyway/doesn’t test intelligence

We can debate the merits of the SAT all day, but at the end of the day, it is the standard for college entrance. Just as you should not become infatuated with SAT preparation, you should not blow off the SAT. Your personal opinion is not that of the college you will be applying to.9. A bad score may be due to a bad day

Unless you were sleep-deprived during a particular day, it is unlikely that re-testing alone will boost your score. Many people attribute low scores to “having a bad day,” but research shows that this is generally not the source of the low score. If you get a bad score, take it as such – don’t blame your mood or the way you felt – and find out how you can improve.