There are, unfortunately, no magic tricks. Scoring well on the SAT or ACT means practice, practice and more practice.  These tests should be treated as a marathon.  It is true some people go out, run, and finish without much preparation, but almost nobody would achieve their full potential this way.  On the flip side, marathon training can be extremely arduous, become compulsive and begin to define a person’s life in a negative way.  In order not to increase the stress and anxiety young people already feel about their future it is important to start preparing for college admission exams early and continue at a sustainable pace.  What is appropriate for each individual student may vary, but there are three main ways students prepare for the SAT and ACT tests:

1. On Their Own– Students can find study materials and practice tests on-line at both The College Board and ETS, the people who design the SAT and ACT respectively.  There are also many study books by myriad companies that can be bought at your local bookstore.  These are all generally good sources of information and can provide the first step toward high achievement by giving students familiarity with the exams and real questions to practice.  This is the budget option that will (have to) work for some, but it puts all the onus on the student to set aside time to study, take practice exams under realistic testing conditions, accurately score those exams and design an effective strategy for improvement.

2. A Test Prep Class– There are well known national companies (such as Princeton Review and Kaplan) and often local organizations that provide these classes.  The price tag usually ranges from $500 to $1500 depending on the length of the course. These courses provide a good overview of the entire test giving students both familiarity and realistic practice.  On the down side however, classes obviously consist of a number of students, so they are designed to be general and often end up serving the lowest common denominator.  Additionally, while most instructors will be competent, you do not get to choose and quality may vary.

3. Individual Tutoring– This is the Cadillac of test preparation and education in general. Students and their family can hire a tutor for intensive individualized one-on-one coaching.  On top of gaining familiarity with the tests and having them accurately scored, a tutor will provide a customized study plan based on the student’s needs. It is true this is a more expensive option, but once a baseline has been determined, a tutor is able to help a student study in the most effective and efficient manor.  However, hiring a “master tutor” from one of the major companies, has two major drawbacks. First, you still do not know exactly who your tutor will be.  Second, it can be expensive. For the best tutors with the most experience test prep companies often charge more than 350 dollars per hour. For that amount of money I would like to choose a tutor who my student is comfortable with, trusts and enjoys.

Amidst much talk of gaming the system, it is important to remember that whether you study on your own, with one of the test prep companies, or with a private tutor, it is dedication to the task over a sustained amount of time that will make the most difference.  Again, basing college admission on standardized tests may not be good educational policy, but for now it is reality  and you know what they say about the mouse trap…….

I am not a fan of standardized testing or even grades for that matter, but neither are likely to disappear en masse anytime soon.  To be fair however, standardized tests like the SAT and ACT do seem to have a correlation with student success in the their first year of college and therefore colleges’ retention and ultimately graduation rate.  These are of course educationally sound goals, if more than a little self interested.  The only thing worse for a colleges’ “ranking” by U.S News than their students not graduating, is accepting a student who chooses not to matriculate.  While the uses and abuses of college rankings will be addressed in a forthcoming the post, it is the tests that I want to consider here.

As I mentioned, for college admission in the United States, the SAT and ACT are the most important standardized tests.  Traditionally the SAT was taken by students on the coasts, since that is what colleges there required, while the ACT was taken by most students in the middle of the country for the same reason.  Today, however, since almost all colleges except either test, many students elect to take both and use conversion charts to see which “looks better.” There are differences in the tests and therefore different strategies for success, but in my experience most students score very comparably.  The key is not which test one takes, but how he or she prepares that matters most.

Let me say it again, these are not diagnostic tests, students are expected to prepare for them, and how they prepare will go a long way toward determining the college they attend and how much they (you) pay in tuition.  In addition to earning admission, there is so much merit-based financial aid available to students who score high on these exams that not performing up to a student’s absolute best, can be equated to throwing away money.  Now I know many rich people, and while most of them are quite generous, they did not get rich by throwing away good money.  So for the rich, and the rest of us, it only makes sense to give our students the best chance to maximize their potential on these tests.

Look forward to part 2 of this post to learn the best way to prepare for these tests.

For admission to Ivy league or other selective colleges and universities like Stanford, MIT, Northwestern or Duke students must show both high achievement and intellectual passion.  So what is the difference and how do you demonstrate it?

High achievement is the more easily measurable of the two.  It is defined by earning high grades in a rigorous curriculum and high scores on standardized tests like the ACT and SAT.  There is no substitute for high achievement. To compete for admission at the most selective colleges students must be high achievers relative their peers.

Now, when students have intellectual passion, high achievement often comes with it.  The problem I see a lot in students is high achievement without a real passion for learning.  Specifically, intellectual passion is a combination of curiosity and commitment that results in learning beyond the classroom.  Many of these students are engaged in extracurricular activities and even take advantage of summer enrichment opportunities that appropriately nurture their interest, but the real key, evidence of the desire the most selective colleges are looking for, what is often missing from the applications of denied and wait-listed students, and that Thomas Jefferson so eagerly recommended, is independent study.

This means reading, and to choose to read in the digital age means you must love it. If you don’t love reading, it is easy to avoid. In fact, it is not uncommon for high achieving students to frankly admit that they do not like to read.  They will do it, sometimes copious amounts of it, to score well on a test or to earn a top grade, but the divide is usually still quite apparent.  In my experience, on standardized tests like the SAT and ACT, I see many students scoring very well, but the very top scorers have a passion that is evident.  Beyond the tests and grades however, there are two parts of a student’s application where intellectual passion shines through.  First, in the recommendations by the student’s teachers, there will be no mistaking a mere a high achiever from a truly passionate individual.  These recommendations carry much weight since they come from somebody who has spent a year or more getting to know the student and has a large frame of reference.  Second, the alumni interviewer will be able to tell in a short amount of direct contact with a student how intellectually passionate they are in comparison to the other high achievers they have interviewed.

So what can be done to help insure your student has a passion for learning?

1. Read to your child.  Most people do this early in their child’s life, but often stop far too early.  Once your child is able to read, reading can be done together and not just before bed.

2. Read yourself.  A child is much more likely to enjoy reading on his or her own if that child witnesses a parent reading regularly.  There is no substitute for this.

3. A combination of 1 and 2, when your student begins high school you should make an effort to read what he or she is reading. Casually discussing it proves that reading and learning is important and not something that ends when you leave school.

4. Take students to library early and often.  All that knowledge held in common for the public good and available to anyone with library card can be very exciting for students.

OK, you say, we got it, read, read, read. Read to them, with them, and on our own. But what should they read?  The simple answer is that before high school reading almost anything is great.  Follow their interests.  If they are interested in music, science, art, movies, or money they can read and learn about it.  There are, of course, specific texts that will give a student an advantage through high school and beyond by imbuing important cultural capital. For instance, familiarity with the stories of the Bible and the Greek and Roman myths are important foundational monuments.  More modern stories that are appropriate for adolescents, culturally important and fun to read include Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.