Summer Activities for High School Seniors

Important information for the Class of 2012

Following up on last weeks post about summer activities for high school juniors, today I am going to post an excerpt from an email I sent out to my private tutoring rising senior students and parents.

Many of you have started your summer plans that I advised you to take: a job, summer school, travel, a special summer program, community service, internships, sports/art/science/math camps, immersion trips, shadowing someone at a job you like, etc.  Good luck and truly enjoy your adventures!

General Testing & Application information:

• June 4th SAT scores are available starting 6/23.
•  June 11th ACT scores are available starting on 6/27.
• AP scores are usually sent out mid-July in the mail.
• Common App (which added another 49 schools including University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (UNC) and University of Southern California (USC))  will go live on Aug 1st.
• University of California app will most likely go live on Oct 1st.

Can I do anything to get organized before the busy “application season”?

• Please continue to take notes for each activity you’ve done/are doing.  You’ll need to know hours/week and week/year for every activity…as well as any honors/positions held.  Update your activity resume often.
• Research the colleges/universities on your list.  If you know you want to major in a certain subject, then review how your schools offer that major/department.
• You will need to explain to most colleges why you want to apply there and what you want to study.  Start looking at websites & books to see how you’d answer these questions.
• Theater Students: Make any audition tapes for dance, music or theater.
• Art/Sports: Review you highlight tapes/DVD’s and art portfolios to see if anything is missing.  Prioritize when to finish them—preferably before you start filling out all your applications.
• Look over online applications/school websites to find out if you will need/want to send any special materials for supplements to fall applications (See Common App details below)

Should I think about my personal statement/essays this summer?

YES!

Common App/Essays/News:

• A preview version of the 2011-2012 Common App has been posted https://www.commonapp.org/CommonApp/Docs/DownloadForms/2012-11CAO_Highlighted.pdf
• Please review it to see what you’ll be filling out after August 1st.
• They have capped the number of words to the personal statement at 500.
• They have not given a word count to the short answer (it used to be fewer than 150 words)

The UC application:

• It won’t be available til Oct 1st, but they usually assure me that the essays will be exactly same or very similar to last year’s.  Here are last year’s: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/undergrad_adm/apply/how_apply/personal_statement.html

Other News:

UGA early application

• This is the earliest of early applications with an Oct 15th due date (no essays required for early action)

USC interviews

•  As I’ve told many of you, the USC interviews fill up quickly.  On campus interviews will begin in August and conclude in December.  Sign-ups for off-campus interviews will be available by Sept 1st.
• Information from the USC website is still from last year, but here is the link: http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/apply/adm_interview.html
• Let me know if you’d like to brush up on your interview skills.  We can discuss possible questions and then have a mock interview in person/over the phone/skype.
• The Common App claims USC joined, but it looks as if USC hasn’t updated its application information.

Should I check in with Danielle?

YES!

I’ve met with or Skyped with most of you already, but for those of you who haven’t checked in yet this summer, let’s schedule a time to brainstorm ideas about your personal statement and discuss summer plans, test results, your timeline, and next steps.

–Danielle

Test Prep and Tutoring. Copyright 2011 © One on One SAT / ACT Test Preparation and Tutoring in Austin, TX or Online via Skype.

Summer Activities for High School Students

Summer Activities for High School Juniors

Rising Juniors

Is your high school student headed into their Junior year of high school after this summer?  Are you looking for some activities that will help build their resume for college?  Then read on.

This article is an excerpt from a recent email I sent out to my private tutoring clients with a similar email going out to our free college timeline list.   It not only includes some great activity ideas for your rising Junior, but also some important considerations with regards to the PSAT, learning disabilities, recruited athletes, and recommended books.  If you have any questions, please be sure to post a comment here or feel free to contact me.

Thought I’d give you a mid-summer check-in!  You made it through your sophomore spring of tough classes, papers, tests, & finals and (for some of you) an SAT Subject Test perhaps.  You also hopefully selected a challenging junior year course load.  Please check in with me if you have questions about which classes to take next fall.

How should I keep busy this summer?

• As I’ve told you, make sure to keep your schedule busy over the summer after your sophomore year. Many students try to “bulk their resume” the summer after their junior year.  Colleges realize this and see right through it.
• Most of you have started your summer plans that I advised you to take: a job, summer school, travel, a special summer program, community service, internships, sports/art/science/math camps, immersion trips, shadowing someone at a job in an industry you like, etc.  Good luck and truly enjoy your adventures!
• Create a college prep file: save transcripts/report cards, standardized test results, lists of awards or honors (academic, athletic, fine arts, etc).  Create lists of school and community service activities, lists of volunteer/paid jobs, your employers, and any recommendation letters they wrote for you.
• Take notes for each activity you’ve done/are doing.  You’ll need to know hours/week and weeks/year for every activity…as well as any honors/positions held.  Update your activity resume often.

The PSAT: When is it? What is it? Is it important?

• The next PSAT is administered Wed, Oct 12^th (private high schools) or Sat, Oct 15^th (public high schools).
• This test is important for 2 reasons: It’s good practice for the actual SAT and you could receive a National Merit Scholarship.
• Your school should register you, but just in case, in September make sure you’re registered.

Do you have a learning disability?

• If you have a learning disability, you should look into the requirements for getting tested/finding out more about getting extended time on the PSAT and/or SAT/ACT/AP exams.
• Learning disabilities like ADHD, dyslexia, and processing disorder may affect your progress in school work and/or your standardized tests.
• The testing process for a learning disability can be lengthy and expensive, so talk to your counselor/teachers first.  Or do you need to be re-tested?

Recruited Athletes…

• Early recruiting process: Some coaches will start looking at athletes as early as 2^nd semester 10^th grade.  Most, however, will do the serious recruiting around Jan/Feb of junior year.
• If you think you will play college sports/you are being recruited, between now and Jan of junior year is a good time to write to the coach at the schools where you have interest.  You’ll need to write a cover letter and attach a sports resume.  Talk to Danielle about more details about registering with the NCAA.

Recommended book to buy for PSAT/SAT studying:

• “CollegeBoard’s The Official SAT Study Guide (2^nd edition)

1. This book is written by The College Board, so it is the best book to buy.  You can study for the PSAT using this book as College Board doesn’t write a PSAT book.
2. There are 8 practice tests.  It is best to get through 4 before your first SAT.  By this point, most students can predict types of questions and start to feel more comfortable with the SAT test as a whole.

Recommended book to buy for ACT studying:

• “The Real ACT Prep Guide”

Should I check in with Danielle?  YES!

I’ve met with or Skyped with most of you already, but for those of you who haven’t checked in yet this summer, let’s schedule a time discuss your summer and next steps for the PSAT.

Test Prep and Tutoring. Copyright 2011 © One on One SAT / ACT Test Preparation and Tutoring in Austin, TX or Online via Skype.

The Best ACT Test Prep Tips for 2011

Top ACT Test Prep Tips 2011

Should I Take the ACT?

When I first meet with families and students, they always ask whether they should take the SAT or the ACT.  They are confused what schools will accept which test and which test might be better for them.  Every school in the nation will accept either the ACT or the SAT, so you can make the choice.  Also, you never have to show any school your SAT/ACT score if you don’t like it.  I always advise students to take each test at least once, but let’s focus on the ACT for this article.

The ACT is much more of a research-driven style of test.  It is more in the style of your school tests.  For example, you can find every answer in the reading exercises (the questions are not trying to trick you).  You won’t have any vocab on the ACT.  Math is straightforward and will test you a bit on trig (sin, cosine, tangent) toward the end.  None of the ACT goes in order of difficulty.  The ACT is divided into 4 sections.  While the English (grammar) and Math sections seem to be about the same pace as the SAT sections, often times students find the pace of the ACT Reading & Science sections to be quite fast.  However, the ACT is not trying to trick you and the questions are much easier.  Just keep a good pace going especially in the Reading and Science.  Unlike the alternating 10 sections of the SAT (random order of 3 Critical Reading, 3 Math & 2 Grammar throughout the test), the ACT’s 4 sections are always the same and always in the same order.  You start the day with all the English in 45 min.  Next is the entire Math (60 problems, 60 minutes).  Next is Reading (35 minutes for 4 styles of passages): Prose, Social Science, Humanities, Natural Science.  Last is Science: always 7 experiments to do in 35 minutes.  You end the day with the (optional—but most colleges prefer it) 30 minute essay.  The ACT has a faster learning curve.  To feel prepared for the ACT, you should take 2-3 practice tests.

English:

The ACT grammar is more driven by questions in punctuation and verb tense or subject verb agreement.  The main strategy is to make a sentence more concise and to take out excessive punctuation.  Otherwise, it’s similar to the SAT sentence & paragraph improvement.

Math:

Math does not go in order of increasing difficulty, but more how you studied math in school.  The first 15 questions are usually on Algebra I, next 15 Geometry, next 15 Algebra II, and last use a bit of trigonometry.  Math questions are not trying to trick you.

Reading:

The toughest part about the ACT Reading is the pace.  The reading always goes in the same order: Prose, Social Science, Humanities, and Natural Science. Write down one word/phrase next to each paragraph as you read so you have a reference point.  ACT doesn’t always give you the direct line to find (“In lines 4-7…”) like the SAT does.  Skim the reading and get right to those 10 questions.  The questions are very straightforward and are not trying to trick you.  Just keep your pace because you must finish each reading and 10 questions in 8 minutes 45 seconds.

Prepare for the ACT Test!

Science:

Don’t worry if you are not a stellar science student.  Here you again need to keep your pace as you need to complete 7 experiments in 35 minutes (thus you can allow about 5 minutes per experiment!) Skim the paragraph if you read it at all.  Focus on the tables—recognize what’s going on vertically & horizontally in the tables.  Is it increasing?  Decreasing? Increasing then decreasing? Where is the highest number? Lowest number?  Make sure to pay attention to where they send you in the question: Table 1 or Figure 2 or Experiment 3.  Get right to the questions.  Read carefully so not to make silly mistakes (i.e. “from slowest to fastest or from fastest to slowest?)

ACT Essay:

You always end the day with the 30 minute essay.  This is a very basic essay—not a creative one.  This is my side of the argument and these are my 2-3 reasons why.  You probably learned about the structure of this essay in 6^th/7^th grade. For best results/scores, write a 4-5 paragraph essay.  I have seen a student get 10/12 points writing a 4 paragraph essay, but only students who have written 5 paragraphs (or more) have gotten 11-12 points on the essay.  The 4 paragraphs need to have an intro, 2 example paragraphs (to support your thesis), and a conclusion.  A 5 paragraph essay (preferred if you have the time to write it), adds another example to support your thesis (intro, ex #1, ex #2, ex #3, conclusion).   ACT essay topics are most always about school-related prompts.  Feel  free to use personal examples or make examples up as long as they support your argument.

ACT Expert and College Admission Advisor Danielle Bianchi

About the Author

For more information about the ACT test preparation or how I may be able to help you or your college-bound student, please visit my Services page or feel free to contact me.

Be sure to check out my ever increasing list of free college preparation and how to articles.

Test Prep and Tutoring. Copyright 2011 © One on One SAT / ACT Test Preparation and Tutoring in Austin, TX or Online via Skype.

The Best SAT Tips of 2011

Top SAT Test Prep Tips for 2011

SAT or ACT?

When I first meet with families and students, they always ask whether they should take the SAT or the ACT.  They are confused what schools will accept which test and which test might be better for them.  Every school in the nation will accept either the ACT or the SAT, so you can make the choice.  Also, you never have to show any school your SAT/ACT score if you don’t like it.  I’ll start by saying that I always advise students to take each test at least once, but let’s focus on the SAT for this article.

The SAT is more for the problem solver.  There are many tricks to taking the SAT, but it is also a test that often does a good job tricking…so the test taker needs to be on alert!  Go into the test with a competitive spirit…like you need to break the test-makers before they break you.  The Vocab, Math, and Grammar sections all go in order of difficulty.  Use this to your advantage.  Skip questions if you can’t narrow the choices to 2 possibilities.  To feel prepared and to start to predict the SAT test questions, you should take 4-5 practice tests.

SAT Essay Tips:

You always start the morning with the 25 minute essay.  This is a very basic essay—not a creative one.  This is my side of the argument and these are my 2-3 reasons why.  You probably learned about the structure of this essay in 6^th/7^th grade. For best results/scores, write a 4-5 paragraph essay.  I have seen a student get 10/12 points writing a 4 paragraph essay, but only students who have written 5 paragraphs (or more) have gotten 11-12 points on the essay.  The 4 paragraphs need to have an intro, 2 example paragraphs (to support your thesis), and a conclusion.  A 5 paragraph essay (preferred if you have the time to write it), adds another example to support your thesis (intro, ex #1, ex #2, ex #3, conclusion).

SAT Critical Reading Section How To:

Vocab:

There is no way to learn all the vocab that might be on this test.  It is better to learn prefixes and roots of words to understand whether a word has a negative/positive connotation.  The vocab sections go in order of difficulty.  Use this to your advantage.  Do the easy ones without thinking twice.  Go with your gut instinct as your answer is most likely the correct one. For the medium difficulty vocab, try to break words down by positive/negative connotation and figure out the context of the sentence.  The last 1-2 sentence completions will be the hardest either because the word choices are more sophisticated vocab words or because the way the sentence is worded is confusing.  Be extra cautious and only answer if you can cross off 3 words and narrow to 2 choices.  Otherwise, skip the question.

Reading Comprehension:

Prepare for your SAT!

Plan on the reading passages boring you.  Don’t get caught up in the subject matter.  Just pay attention to when an emotion changes, when an author chooses an opposing point of view or when a crisis happens or is solved.  If you’re pressed for time, you can get by reading the questions first, underline and circle words the questions ask you about and then skim the reading.  Pay attention to topic sentences of each paragraph, read a line before and after the one they ask you about, and be aware of the overall positive/negative feeling of the passage—the questions tend to follow in that positive/negative tone.

SAT Math Section Prep:

The Math sections go in order of difficulty.  Use this to your advantage.  Do the easy ones without thinking twice.  Go with your gut instinct as your answer is most likely the correct one.  For Math medium difficulty questions, (depending on your math capabilities) answer the question with a bit of care, but finding the answer shouldn’t involve a lot of steps.  Only answer the last 1-2 math questions if you’re strong in math.  Remember the grid in section (aka student produced response) is the one section on the whole test where you should make a guess even if it’s a random guess.  This section only tallies the questions you get right out of the 10 questions.  The answer will never be negative, a square root, or a letter.  It will always be a positive number (fraction/decimal/whole number).

SAT Grammar Section (“Writing”):

The Grammar sections with “Sentence Improvements” and “Sentence Errors” go in order of difficulty.  Use this to your advantage.  Answer all the early easier ones with your gut instinct and don’t second guess yourself.  For medium difficulty grammar, you need to know the rules (not just think a sentence “sounds” wrong).  You need to know about dangling modifiers, punctuation, and run on sentences.  The last 2-3 questions are meant to be challenging—either because it’s an obscure rule or because the question is trying to trick the student.  Be extra cautious or know to skip the hard ones.  Skipping is better than missing.

SAT Expert and College Admission Advisor Danielle Bianchi

About the Author

For more information about the SAT Test Preparation or how I may be able to help you or your college-bound student, please visit my Services page or feel free to contact me.

Be sure to check out my ever increasing list of free college preparation and how to articles.

Test Prep and Tutoring. Copyright 2011 © One on One SAT / ACT Test Preparation and Tutoring in Austin, TX or Online via Skype.

2010 SAT Subject Test Dates:

Work intelligently and prepare for all of your upcoming tests, including any SAT Subject Tests that you think you may want to take.

Some important reminders about taking SAT subject tests:

1. You may take up to three SAT Subject Tests on a single test date.
2. Calculators may be used only on the Mathematics Level 1 and Level 2 Subject Tests.
3. You cannot take the SAT Subject Tests and the SAT on the same test date.
4. You must indicate which SAT Subject Tests you plan to take when you register.  However, you may change which test(s) you actually take on test day — except for Language with Listening tests.

To register for any of these tests visit the College Board Test Registration Page

Test Prep and Tutoring. Copyright 2011 © One on One SAT / ACT Test Preparation and Tutoring in Austin, TX or Online via Skype.

Please forgive this site’s outdated information. Many of the dates and times for the SAT and ACT tests have not been updated in quite awhile. That is about to change. Please feel free to email me at danielle at this domain name if you have any questions.

Thanks!

Test Prep and Tutoring. Copyright 2011 © One on One SAT / ACT Test Preparation and Tutoring in Austin, TX or Online via Skype.

For those of you reading along, here are the dates for the next SAT and ACT tests are:

ACT September 15, 2007
SAT October 6, 2007
ACT October 27, 2007
SAT November 3, 2007

Test Prep and Tutoring. Copyright 2011 © One on One SAT / ACT Test Preparation and Tutoring in Austin, TX or Online via Skype.

Just posted a list of important college admissions dates as well as some general tips when thinking about applying to college. Many of the dates posted, (ie: UC application deadlines) do not change from year-to-year, but you should ALWAYS be sure to check with the school(s) to be sure the information is correct.

Test Prep and Tutoring. Copyright 2011 © One on One SAT / ACT Test Preparation and Tutoring in Austin, TX or Online via Skype.

When you go on your college visit, make sure to call in advance to tell them you’re coming. It lets them know that you’re making the effort to see their school. Whether it’s 300 miles or 3000 miles away, it flatters them. Sign up for a campus tour as well as an interview with someone in admissions. If you’re interested in drama, a sport, a particular program of study…make sure to speak with someone in that department too. If you’re an athlete, be prepared in case the coach asks for a sports resume or a tape, but don’t be presumptuous and give it when he hasn’t asked for it. Have it tucked in your bag or your mom’s purse. You don’t want to appear overly confident. You can also let him know that you can send him anything if you don’t want to lug it around.

If you decide to go on your own tour around campus (you don’t feel like doing the entire scheduled tour, or the timing doesn’t fit with your schedule), take notes on the unique qualities of the school. The weather, the buildings, etc don’t need to go in this group of notes. Notice the kiosks…what are the papers and flyers saying…are they very politically focused, are they talking about the upcoming concerts, upcoming sports games, lectures, are they about topics such as racism, gay/lesbian issues, is religion predominant, or is everything very Greek (sorority/fraternity) focused? Can you get a feel for the student body walking around…or does everyone seem to be in the library? Does it feel southern? eastern? midwestern? Do the students seem sophisticated? Too dressed up or too casual? Do you see teachers walking around or giving outdoor classes? Do you like the food in the eating halls/food centers? Does it seem healthy or is it all fast food? Are there good options? Do students stay on campus on the weekends or is it more of a commuter school? Are the athletic facilities close to the student dorms?

These questions will help you to distinguish between schools. You may see 8 schools with brick buildings, green grass, and great weather…be able to go beyond those descriptions.

Test Prep and Tutoring. Copyright 2011 © One on One SAT / ACT Test Preparation and Tutoring in Austin, TX or Online via Skype.

Juniors and Seniors…now is a good time to start thinking about writing a personal statement. The main question (500-600 words) for most college applications will ask you about a significant experience, person, book, or event in your life that has helped you to become who you are today. Often the short question (150-200 words) will ask you about your most meaningful extracurricular activity. Start making a list of ideas that could be topics for these essays. The long essay should show (not just tell) a lot about you. The short question is your chance to explain how or why a sport, club, class, camp, or a community service activity has been meaningful to you.

Test Prep and Tutoring. Copyright 2011 © One on One SAT / ACT Test Preparation and Tutoring in Austin, TX or Online via Skype.