Research Opportunities
Ralph Becker
The Importance of High School Research

Many applicants to the most selective university programs share high grades, high test scores, solid recommendations and generous doses of community service and volunteer activities. Yet, if they want to set themselves apart from the pool of exceptional students, a significant research experience in STEM or the social sciences helps.

The Importance of High School Research

Standardized Tests

The Test Optional Alternative

The Test Optional Alternative

While many parents and students are still wrestling with the interchangeability of the ACT and the SAT; the National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC) released a study in February 2014 showing there is no perceptible difference in academic performance between students who do and do not submit ACT or SAT scores.

Such a statement almost seems blasphemous in the realm of college admissions, yet the evidence was culled from a study of over 123,000 students across 33 colleges with test optional policies.

More than an SAT Score

More than an SAT Score

On April 16th the College Board released sample questions from the 2016 ‘New’ SAT which were received with much fanfare by the SAT test-training world.

The questions and new essay format, though curriculum based and seemingly ‘more relevant’, still measure convergent thinking: the ability to assess multiple strands of information to arrive at one best answer. Convergent thinking alone, however, does not measure a student’s creativity or intellectual curiosity. To gain a fuller picture of a student’s creative capacity, measuring divergent thinking, the ability to develop multiple approaches to a problem, needs to be included.

The Redesigned SAT

The Redesigned SAT

At last the new redesigned SAT was formerly announced on 5 March 2014 ending months of speculation about its content.

The new test content will be first administered in the fall 2015 PSAT, with the SAT launch in ‘spring 2016.’

The New SAT will eliminate the quarter point guessing penalty, obviate ‘obscure vocabulary’ from its reading sections—stressing discovery of meaning through context, and require students to support their answers to reading questions from evidence supplied in the passage.

On the mathematics front, the New SAT will focus on problem solving and data analysis (ratios, percentages, and proportions), linear equations and systems, and something that sounds a bit daunting, “Passport to Advanced Math” which deals with ‘manipulation of complex equations’. In essence the New SAT will be narrowing its math focus to the three aforementioned areas

Report on Upcoming Changes to SAT & ACT

Report on Upcoming Changes to SAT & ACT

When College Board president David Coleman addressed the National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC) conference in Toronto two weeks ago, he confirmed that the new SAT, slated for delivery in 2015, will be undergoing substantial changes, especially the Essay section.

Coleman, during his address, posited the idea of a new and improved SAT essay: “What if you were analyzing a source and using evidence from that source. Might such an essay prompt celebrate analytic writing?”

The Benefits and Limits of Advanced Placement (AP) Courses

The Benefits and Limits of Advanced Placement (AP) Courses

Some students in preparation for the challenges of college take four AP courses junior year, and another four or five senior year. Invariably, this makes for late nights studying, even cramming, although for many, this sometimes translates into delving into the subject and gaining a solid sense of the material. Whatever the motivation for joining a AP classes, it’s worth knowing how they’re perceived and used beyond high school.

SAT in Amherst, Massachusetts for a mere $4,495

SAT in Amherst, Massachusetts for a mere $4,495

When Henry Chauncey launched the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in 1947, which was and still is today, the exclusive test creation service for the College Board’s SAT, he was firmly convinced that he and his brilliant social engineers would revolutionize student assessment.

Chauncey believed that the creation of a standardized test would help sort out the most promising students, and would be “the moral equivalent of religion but based on reason and science rather than on sentiments and tradition.” (p. 68-69 The Big Test, Nicholas Lemann, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2000)

The Importance of the SAT Subject Tests

The Importance of the SAT Subject Tests

Many consider the SAT Subject test one test too many. Most applicants to the very selective schools are already taking AP or IB exams, the ACT and/or SAT, and the CAHSEE (in California) to determine English and math competency. Why add the SAT Subject Tests to the burden? The UC Regents concur; they’re ending the SAT Subject Test requirement beginning the fall of 2012.

College Board’s Score Choice Launches March 2009

College Board’s Score Choice Launches March 2009

If you take the ACT, you have control over which scores are submitted to which colleges. It’s a practice the ACT has had since its inception. Now the College Board, following the ACT lead, is introducing Score Choice. If you want to get more information on Score Choice, go to the following link: http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/sat-reasoning/scores/policy to get a copy of the fact sheet, and a PowerPoint presentation. Score Choice launches this March and will be available through the College Board’s website or customer service department.

What Happens when a College Goes Standardized Test Optional

What Happens when a College Goes Standardized Test Optional

The NACAC (National Association for College Admission Counseling) led by William Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid at Harvard, issued, during the latter part of September, its annual commission report questioning the value of standardized tests in the admissions process. The report mentions that admissions offices that begin analyzing standardized tests soon question their value.