Is the Internet to Blame for Poor Reading Scores?

There is a growing debate about the stagnating or even declining reading performance by students on standardized tests, particularly the SAT. Is the Internet the culprit? Does on line reading enhance or detract from the intellectual growth of a young mind? The New York Times examines this issue today. There is no right or wrong answer. There are plenty of opinions however. The debate is a matter of perspective. Students have their opinion, as do parents, educators and certain organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts and the Educational Testing Service (ETS), the entity which administers the SAT. Click on the title to this post to read this in- depth and fascinating article in the NY Times.

Your Calculator, The SAT and The ACT

Maybe I am old school, but I look at the calculator on the SAT and the ACT as a hindrance rather than as a useful tool. When I was a kid (many moons ago) there were no stinking calculators allowed in the testing rooms! Finally, when the test makers decided to allow calculators, did you really think that they were doing so for the students' benefit? Think about it! You can solve every math problem on the entire exam without a calculator. Remember the math is easy, its the set up that will get you every time. Never, ever, ever, use a calculator for a division problem when you are asked to solve for the remainder. Don't use a calculator when the answer choices are in fractions. When practicing math, try to solve every math problem without the use of your calculator. Use the calculator only to check for silly mathematical errors and for adding subtracting, multiplying and dividing complex numbers or numbers with decimals. That's my only exception to the NO CALCULATOR RULE!

Inverse Proportion

In the previous post we basically defined direct proportion as what we do to x, we must also do to y. Specifically we said that if you double x, then we must double y to maintain the relationship as directly proportional. With inverse proportion when we double y we must halve x. The equation xy=k where k is the constant. For example suppose when x=3 y=20. If x is doubled to equal 6, y must be cut in half to 10 to maintain an inverse relationship. Using our equation xy=k we first solve for k--(3)20=60 so k=60; if we double x from 3 to 6 then we have 6y=60; y=10. So when x is doubled from 3 to 6, y is halved from 20 to 10. Simple as that.

Direct and Inverse Proportion

There is usually at least one question on the math section which requires the student to know either direct proportion or inverse proportion. Quite simply with direct proportion if x goes up y goes up in proportion. If x decreases, y decreases in proportion. Here is a helpful rule for Direct proportion using variables x and y can be thought of as y=xk where k is a constant. Cross multiply and you get a variation of this equation: y/x=k. For example if x=2 when y=4, then when x=4 then y=8. The constant k=2 so y will always be twice x. Simple enough? If x were to be reduced from 2 to 1 then y would still be twice x but in this case it would be reduced to 2. In our next entry the more difficult concept of inverse proportion will be tackled.

New Blog for College Bound Students

I have started a new blog for those of you who have mastered the SAT or the ACT and are now focusing on the next step--college. This blog will address every important issue and question new college students and their parents may have--from the application process, to furnishing a dorm room. You can access this blog by clicking on the title heading of this post or by the link that I will provide in the margin of this blog. You can also subscribe to this new blog called the College Check List by clicking on the RSS feed icon from your web browser. If anyone needs a relevant question answered on this new college blog, please do not hesitate to pose the question by email to steve@testniques.com

Weekend Reading

Two articles of interest this weekend with regards to the SAT: US News & World Report outlines 6 steps to plan in advance for the SAT. A solid plan should begin in the freshman year of High School. The link to this article is here: http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/k-12/2008/07/18/6-ways-to-tackle-the-new-sat.html

The next article of interest concerns the University of California considering revising its admissions policies by scrapping the requirement of SAT subject tests, known as SAT II's. Currently the University of California is the only large public university system that requires the SAT II for admission. Please read the full story here: http://www.diversityinc.com/public/3865.cfm

Identifying Sentence Errors

Realize that for approximately 20% of these questions the correct answer will be choice E- no error. Correct sentences are the most often missed answer choices by students. Naturally when you are doing a series of questions which are called IDENTIFYING SENTENCE ERRORS the first thing you are looking for are errors. After searching for an error (or two) if you still have not spotted an obvious error chances are its choice E- no error. Do not try and create an error. Learning to identify correct sentences are just as important as identifying the errors.

Words Can Have Several Meanings

Knowing that common words have several meanings is a valuable tool towards solving passage based reading vocabulary in context questions. For example the word mean can be used as follows: "Mommy was mean to me!" or "What does that word mean?" or "86 degrees is the mean temperature for NYC in the summertime" or "Danny plays a mean saxophone". See what I mean? No pun intended. Do not fall for the first definition that comes to mind. Read the passage and once you fully understand how a particular word is used in the sentence IN CONTEXT, then predict what you think the answer should be and then find that answer! The ability to master these questions will greatly bolster a student's SAT reading score.

These Two Types of SAT Questions Are Similar

Sentence Completions and Vocabulary in Context questions are both included in the Critical Reading Section. The techniques used to solve sentence completions are very similar to the approach a student must take toward Vocabulary in Context questions. In my previous post, I urged the student to try and predict in his or her own words how a sentence should be completed. Well, this is especially true with these two question types. Before predicting a Vocabulary in context question, go back to the reading passage and read around the indicated sentence, ie. read the sentence before the actual sentence, then read the sentence, then read the next sentence. Finally, before predicting, realize that most of the time the word in question will have several meanings and the answer will usually be a secondary or third meaning. More about how words have several meanings in my next post.

Do Not Look At the Answers!

This statement is especially true with respect to the sentence completion and passage based reading questions in the Critical Reading sections as well as the Writing multiple choice questions . Do not underestimate the power of prediction! Read the question only and try and predict what the answer should be. Then glance at the answers and find the answer which closely matches your prediction. Many times its as simple as that. Remember many answer choices on the SAT are designed to confuse you, lead you off track and ruin your concentration.

Put this method into practice-- without looking at the answer choices, focus on the particular grammatical rule by correcting the sentence yourself or figure out the vocabulary word which best completes the sentence This saves precious time and increases your accuracy. When doing practice tests, you may want to physically cover the answer choices with your hand to force yourself to gain confidence in your ability to predict. If you are unable to predict an answer, skip the question and come back to it later. Believe me, subconsciously your mind is still trying to process and figure out the answer even while you have moved on to other questions.

When the Student is Ready The Teacher Will Appear

This ancient Chinese proverb is a fixture on this blog. Applying it to prepping for your SAT or ACT is simple. Just remember there are many wonderful resources that are ready, willing and able to help prepare you to ace this exam. Internet resources, books, podcasts, blogs, review classes and private tutors to name a few. They are all here for you today tomorrow and next month. Its up to you to avail yourself of these tools and its up to you to put in the time and the effort.

Happy Fourth of July!

The fourth of July marks a time to relax, kick back and have a good barbecue with family and friends. The 4th of July is also exactly three months from the October 4th SAT. Most well thought out SAT study plans are about 12 weeks long. Most of my students hire me for 12 sessions, usually a week apart. The longer you plan in advance, the less stress you have for last minute cramming. Why force a situation where a tutor must meet with you 2-3 times per week? Those who wait until September must prepare with the added stress of senior classes and college planning. The summer is a quiet time to focus on preparing for the October exam. So have a wonderful July 4th. However, starting July 5th, make a pact with yourself to wake up an hour early and study at least 30 to 45 minutes. Slow and steady wins the race.

AP Classes, Think Before You Act

Advance Placement classes have lots of benefits: the potential to earn college credit; a chance to delve deeply into a subject you enjoy; a transcript enhancer and a plus to any college application. Too much of a good thing, however can often be self defeating and unnecessary. Before signing up for every AP class known to mankind, realize that some colleges impose limits on the amount of AP credits they will accept. Some colleges require AP test scores of 4 or 5 to receive credit while other colleges will not accept certain AP credits even if you achieve the highest score of 5. If you are entering your high school senior year, take the time this summer to learn the AP credit policy for each school you will be applying to. There is no point accumulating 30 AP credits and then applying to schools which will only accept 15.

How to Approach Improving Sentence Questions

Good writing is short and to the point. A succinct sentence is preferable to a wordy or run on sentence. When approaching the Improving Sentence Questions on the Writing multiple choice section of the SAT try and correct the sentence by inserting the shortest choice possible. If this does not work, then try the next shortest choice and so on. After doing many practice questions in this area the student will begin to discover that the shortest answer choice is usually correct unless such correction makes the sentence a fragment or does not correct the original problem.

Do The Easy Questions First

Today's Question of the Day involved a series of mathematical combinations and permutations. While the mathematical calculations were simple (as they always are) understanding and setting up the problem would have taken a lot of time (as most difficult math questions take). SAT scoring does not reward more points for these difficult questions. The SAT is not like Olympic diving or figure skating or even AP classes, ie. there is no extra credit for degree of difficulty. So don't be a hero, get as many easy points as possible, then go on to the medium questions then after checking for careless mistakes, use any extra time to tackle the more difficult questions. A math question which takes 5 minutes to solve is clearly not worth the time and effort and omitting such a question will not adversely impact your score.