Increasingly, seniors in high school consider taking a post-graduate year, or “PG” year, prior to enrolling in college. This means that after graduating from high school, they enroll in another secondary school — typically a “prep” or “private” high school — in order to study one more year before becoming college freshman. Why in the world would anyone ever consider a fifth year of high school before escaping to college? Good question. There are several reasons. Join me in this prepcast as I discuss some of the possible benefits of a post graduate year. (more…)

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One of our favorite websites, Inside Higher Ed, reports on the decision of Middlebury’s History Department to ban students from citing Wikipedia in their research.

As educators, we are in the business of reducing the dissemination of misinformation, said Don Wyatt, chair of the department. Even though Wikipedia may have some value, particularly from the value of leading students to citable sources, it is not itself an appropriate source for (more…)

As I logged on to my computer this morning, I came across this 12-question civil rights history quiz.

Based on my score, I think I need to reread some of my old history textbooks and law school casebooks. By the way, (1) the quiz itself was a good learning experience and (2) I managed to answer a couple of the questions correctly based on information I gleaned from some of the other questions — a useful strategy for any test.

Incidentally, one of my best friends from childhood, Wan Kim, now heads up the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Needless to say, I am very proud to be his friend.
You go Wan!

An old friend of mine sent me this New York Times article yesterday. Some of the students interviewed for the article remind me of one of my former college roommates who thought that his freshman year at Princeton was a lot easier than his senior year in high school. (I thought he was joking when he first made the comment, but I quickly learned that he wasn’t.) According to the article, it seems more and more advanced high school students are “yawning” their ways through their first year or two of college.

Contrary to the influx of criticism claiming the SAT test favors the wealthy (who are more likely to affort test prep services), I strongly believe there is no royal road to knowledge, and the SAT test is no exception. Sure, on average, test prep services such as SAT tutoring
and SAT test classes can have a positive impact by raising a student’s SAT score. However, with strong determination any student can apply the same principles used in prep services to maximize their score. (more…)

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In this prepcast, I will share my thoughts on competition and achieving a maximum SAT test score. In short, you need to focus on yourself and what you can do; not others and what they are capable of doing. (more…)

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The news is out about a recent drop in SAT scores and it’s generating a lot of noise! The new SAT scores released show the largest decline in 31 years and one of the largest in the history of the SAT test. The College Board insists that the drop in scores is not due to the length of the new test (the New SAT takes over 4 hours to administer!) Read the article and decide for yourself. It appears many of the SAT test advantages learned by students in prep courses are being eroded by the length of the new test.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this one. Maybe we aren’t pushing our kids hard enough

If you have an hour to kill or are intrigued to discover how the SAT Test came into existence, I encourage you to watch this video gem of UC President Emeritus Richard Atkinson discussing the history of college admissions testing and the process that led to the wholesale changes to the test in 2006. It’s not “The OC”, but a great (more…)

Most good students cruise through their first SAT or the PSAT feeling pretty good about their performance. When they receive their scores, however, many are shocked and dismayed. Autopilot is probably what happened. Learn how to avoid (more…)

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I have tutored countless extremely bright students over the years. Yet many of them occasionally fall into the trap of working out a problem correctly only to then shade in the wrong answer choice. I have some advice on recording and bubbling in your answers that may help you get all the points you deserve. (more…)

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