Last month, I discussed the importance of building good reading skills and habits. Another important way to “prepare early” for tests and improve general academic performance is to build vocabulary skills. A strong vocabulary is a huge help on virtually any standardized test. Some tests, including the ISEE and the GRE, directly test vocabulary knowledge. [...]
Yes, you should (probably) guess! Now that the New SAT, PSAT, and AP tests have abolished their guessing penalties, the short answer is “yes.” The long answer is still what it was before: it depends on the test. Very few tests today, however, penalize random guesses. A notable exception is the SSAT, a test required [...]
After working through a grueling standardized admissions test, the moment of judgement arrives when you get your scores. If you got the score you were hoping for, congratulations! You can now focus your time and energy on the rest of the admissions process. If your score is much lower than you’d hoped, however, you have [...]
Proctoring an organized diagnostic/practice test is an easy job. All the proctor does is keep time and “babysit” a room full of quiet kids, right? So, why even wake up early and go into an office or classroom to do something you could do at home? One reason is that some students don’t take the [...]
What’s the difference? If your child is applying to independent or Catholic schools, you are probably familiar with the different entrance exams that schools utilize to help select students for admission– primarily the HSPT for Catholic schools, and the SSAT or ISEE for independent private schools. […]
