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.