If you have recently completed a test prep course for testing in March or May, the good news is that the techniques learned there should be conditioned skills that won’t be lost in the short term. To keep yourself fresh we recommend one full-length practice SAT or ACT per month and maintain the golden rule of one full-length practice test the weekend prior to any real test. Practice tests can be found in the official study guides for the SAT or ACT which you should already have from your prep course, as well as online. Remember, not all practice tests are created equal: always use practice tests issued by the test makers themselves for reliable results.
NJ high schools are always open as test centers in August for the national administering of the SAT. That test date is always the third weekend of the month, and, so, may be far enough from now to run without cancellation.
Reports of rising cases of COVID-19 in the United States and the impact of the pandemic on the economy have monopolized the news. But what about our high school juniors fast approaching their College Application seasons? As it stands right now, the admission testing required by over 85% of American colleges and universities has been made unavailable to students since March. The SAT was cancelled in March for many New Jersey students whose high school testing locations were closed due to early cases of Coronavirus in the community. Two weeks later, once all U.S. schools had closed, the College Board, the private company responsible for the SAT, and ACT Inc. both suspended their next rounds of testing, the May SAT and the April ACT. This left hundreds of thousands of 11th graders across the country prepped for the spring testing, but with no tests to take. According to CDC recommendations and with New Jersey still three weeks away from the peak of the pandemic, it is a very real possibility that the June SAT and ACT will be cancelled as well.
So where does this leave our juniors with no Spring SAT’s and early admission deadlines as early as October 15, 2020? As I see it, we have three possible outcomes. The first hinges on the CDC and local governments giving the all clear by August for public high schools to reopen as testing centers. This would enable the August SAT to run as scheduled. In this scenario, the October test date would also run as scheduled giving college applicants those 2 test dates only to reach their career high scores before the Early Admission deadlines. Of course, in this scenario it is certainly possible that colleges will extend their deadlines for application as they are always the good guys in the process. For example after Hurricane Sandy, colleges extended application deadlines for all students in areas affected by the storm. Extended deadlines could give Early Admission applicants the chance to submit scores from the November and December SAT’s as well. The College Board will no doubt be looking for every opportunity to schedule make up dates to avoid issuing refunds for the canceled March and May tests, but the college application timeline itself will limit just how many they can schedule.
Marlee Napurano, BA Yale University, is Co-founder of WaveLength tutoring and test prep, a test preparation and college consulting company in its 19th year serving Monmouth and Ocean counties.
In the second scenario, if state clearance is not in place in time to permit the administering of the August SAT, it is entirely possible that colleges will not want their application season contingent upon students’ opportunity to take the SAT and ACT. In this case, colleges will waive standardized testing for that admission cycle, essentially going Test Optional nationwide for the class of 2021. In place of the SAT/ACT, the colleges will impose some other requirements such as a graded writing sample or extra essays. Either way, there will be additional hoops to jump through. Graduate school programs are already setting precedent for this scenario with universities poised to announce their waiving of GRE and GMAT scores for admission for Masters and MBA programs.
The impact of this scenario could, of course, be devastating for the College Board and ACT Inc.. Once we get used to something, we are likely to stick with it, and both testing bureaus could find their positions precarious for future admission cycles. In an effort to avoid this, the testing bureaus may be driven to a third scenario.
Marlee Napurano, BA Yale University, is Co-founder of WaveLength tutoring and test prep, a test preparation and college consulting company in its 19th year serving Monmouth and Ocean counties.
The impact of Covid-19 is of course, devastating for the College Board and ACT Inc.. Once we get used to something, we are likely to stick with it, and both testing bureaus could find their positions precarious for future admission cycles. In an effort to avoid this, the testing bureaus may be driven to a third scenario, in which they hustle to roll out the tech to administer these exams to individual students at home online. We have seen this technology on many platforms currently used in online college and graduate level courses, where testing is performed in a room at home, but with a WebCam monitoring for a remote proctor and strict time constraints for completion all of which ensure the test taker is not collaborating with anyone else or using outside materials. It may be hard to imagine the manpower required to administer the SAT to thousands of students all in separate locations, but the alternative for the College Board could be the untimely death of the SAT, and they are certain to go down swinging.
So what should you take away from all this if you have a high school junior? The college admission process is sound, fair, and pre-dates the SAT by two-hundred years. American colleges are no strangers to surviving crisis: Yale University, for example, closed its campus for two whole years during the American Revolution (yep, that’s how long they’ve been around). Colleges will not persecute our kids for the Covid-19 damage done to admission test scheduling. They are on the forefront of efforts to preserve normalcy during social distancing, delivering admission decisions last week as usual and brainstorming creative ways to celebrate the achievements of seniors in lieu of traditional commencement ceremonies. This season’s college admission process will be different from the norm, but no more difficult. The hardest part will probably be getting your refund for your cancelled SAT.
Marlee Napurano, BA Yale University, is Co-founder of WaveLength tutoring and test prep, a test preparation and college consulting company in its 19th year serving Monmouth and Ocean counties.
Why are my SAT Math scores so low even though I am a good Math student?
High school math courses rely heavily upon homework. It is doled out daily, done mechanically by rote, and very few, if any of the problems are word problems. This is why so many students fear Physics and Chemistry classes. They may not realize it, but those classes and life after school are word problem based. The most common misconception about the SAT Math section is that it is primarily about Math. It is not. It is roughly 90% word problems, and as such, it is primarily a reading comprehension section. Math is secondary.
Chemistry and Physics should be easy classes because they describe the world as we experience it. We have so much first hand knowledge from our first breath to our drivers’ test, that physical sciences ought to be intuitive. In contrast, analyzing the poetry of Walt Whitman, learning a foreign language, or writing an essay about democracy and the helots of ancient Greece should be far more difficult than understanding gravity, friction, or acidity.
The inherent difficulty is in the words. Our Math and Science teachers take for granted that high school students know how to read a word problem. Teachers lack the time to address this critical step because they must teach new formulas and concepts in order to give their students the requisite knowledge they need to pass their impending quizzes, tests, and exams.
Students learn to read narratives at an early age. This is a different skill than reading a word problem. Word problems don’t have a back story or character development or even a denouement. The plot never thickens because it never exists.
Word problems are a set of instructions like a manual that tells us how to assemble a doll house. Insert tab A into slot B. Check! Onto the next instruction. Ultimately we assemble information into equations.
I have developed a method for reading word problems once to conclude with the correct answer. This is vital, because if a student has to read a word problem two, three, even four times before answering, they are essentially taking 90% of the test as many times. They will not finish the section in time. It is also likely that they won’t be sure if they are answering the question correctly or even understand the question being asked.
I would love to tell you more about how I teach this technique and what it entails, but it is so simple that every student learns it well and any teacher could teach it. I am sure you aren’t the only one reading our blog.
What I can tell you is that vocabulary plays a part and I have developed a list of SAT Math vocabulary that is complete and concise and all of it is found both in the SAT and the Skinny, WaveLength’s SAT study Guide.
After students learn my word problem method they have far more time to take the test and actually think about the Math. This relieves stress, minimizes careless errors and mental fatigue, and ultimately raises SAT Math scores to reflect or surpass school Math grades. There is an added bonus to all of this. Student Science grades will inevitably rise with out extra studying.
Read more about the ripple effect of our lessons and programs on our website under, Testimonials. Or for more details about our Math vocabulary and word problem method, Contact Us. Read carefully and keep practicing!
Here is an article that I happen to find fascinating: One Key Difference Between Kids Who Excel at Math and Those Who Don’t
ACT or SAT, which is the best test for me?
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