How to Really Read Your PSAT Score

Now that PSAT scores have been received by students around the country, it is worth a moment to really understand what these numbers mean.

First and foremost, unless you are pursuing a National Merit Scholarship, PSAT scores should be taken with a grain of salt. Since most students do not qualify for the National Merit Scholarship, there should be little stress or anxiety over PSAT scores. 

Unfortunately, many students and parents view PSAT scores negatively. They place great emphasis on student performance and subsequently find areas of concern. This pessimistic view is the wrong lens to use for PSAT scores. 

Instead of a pessimistic lens, parents and students should view the scores with a lens of opportunity. Much like a doctor would use a diagnostic test to identify a health plan, parents and students should use PSAT scores to determine a plan of attack for the SAT. 

For example, consider Dylan's recent score of 54 on the PSAT Critical Reading. This would translate to a 540 on SAT Critical Reading which is a score just above average. Instead of being concerned with an average score, Dylan can look under the hood of this score and get to the details. Specifically, Dylan's score report shows that he was strong on the Sentence Completion questions but weak on the Passage-Based Reading questions. 

Instead of doom and gloom for Dylan, there is great opportunity. Dylan now knows that he needs to work on his Passage-Based Reading. Instead of being negative about his performance, Dylan has a specific area that requires dedicated focus. Armed with a plan to improve his reading, Dylan has months to work on it. 

PSAT scores represent evidence of what you can do to get a better SAT score. They are not an indication of concern for a student, but rather an indication of opportunity. 

Learn more about PSAT, SAT and ACT prep from CROSSWALK. Read 2400 SCORES: 24 Life Lessons to Demystify the SAT and Boost Your Score by Brooke Higgins. 

Another SAT Prep Success Story

Time to celebrate another success story at CROSSWALK!

Sure, bragging about our own success may make us appear less than humble. Nevertheless, we take great pride in helping our students and we all celebrate when a student achieves his or her goal.

The latest example is Morgan, a student who worked on SAT prep with one of CROSSWALK's finest tutors, Dan. 

Morgan had a goal to increase her SAT score to improve her chances at attending California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Opisbo. She and Dan started SAT prep sessions last May. After a break in the summer, Dan and Morgan met regularly throughout the fall. 

Morgan's diligence, coupled with Dan's guidance, yielded strong results. This is a direct quote from the mother in an email she sent to Dan:

"I'm super proud to tell you that all her hard work has paid off, as Morgan was accepted Early Decision at Cal Poly! This was her first choice college and all we've been working towards for the past couple years. Thank you for being such an integral part of her success."

But wait, there's more:

"She raised her last SAT by 300 points overall. We appreciate the hard work you put in with Morgan, she truly feels that you were a huge part in her raising her test scores overall. She felt confident in her ability to tackle the tests with an organized plan, and obviously she was prepared and ultimately successful."

Early Decision to the college of her choice? Awesome!

Congratulations, Morgan! On behalf of everyone at CROSSWALK, we wish you continued success.

If you want to be one of CROSSWALK's success story, contact us here to learn about SAT prep, ACT prep and other tutoring options.

Also, read "2400 SCORES: 24 Life Lessons to Demystify the SAT and Boost Your Score" by Brooke Higgins to learn how to approach life and the SAT.

 

ACT & SAT Math: Show What You Know

Math word problems: do you love them or hate them? 

Chances are you hate them. Most students struggle with math problems that contain more words than numbers. Translating sentences into equations is not always the easiest thing to do.  

Despite the challenge, there is no way around word problems. Most of the math questions on the SAT and ACT deal with more words than numbers. Remember, the SAT and ACT are tests designed primarily to test your reading ability, not your math skills. 

So how do you tackle word problems? How do you sift through the cornucopia of words to drill down to the important math equation? 

The answer is quite simple: use your pencil to draw and show what you know. Often by drawing the information you know, you can create an easy shortcut to the correct answer. 

For example, let's say you are given the following question (taken directly from the College Board website): 

A special lottery is to be held to select the student who will live in the only deluxe room in a dormitory. There are 100 seniors, 150 juniors, and 200 sophomores who applied. Each senior's name is placed in the lottery 3 times; each junior's name, 2 times; and each sophomore's name, 1 time. What is the probability that a senior's name will be chosen?

A) 1/8

B) 2/9

C) 2/7

D) 3/8

E) 1/2

So many words here! But don't freak out. Take it slow and start with your pencil: 

Draw one block to represent 100 seniors, another block to represent 150 juniors and one more block to represent 200 sophomores. Now, you also know that the senior's names are placed in the lottery 3 times. So draw two more blocks next to the senior's block, each identical to the block representing 100 names. Draw two blocks for the juniors, each representing 150 names. Finally, sophomores don't need an extra block. 

Once you have your drawing, now comes the easy part. Probability, you might recall, is nothing more than a fraction. The numerator is the number of desired outcomes and the denominator is the number of total outcomes. By using your blocks, you can see that the total desired outcomes (senior's names) is 3 blocks of 100, or 300. The total outcomes is all of the blocks added together: (3 x 100) + (2 x 150) + 200 = 800. In other words, the probability is 300/800 or 3/8. The correct answer is D. 

Even though this is a hard question according to the College Board, it becomes quite easy when you draw things out. 

When you are faced with math problems that seem to have no solution, start drawing! Getting your pencil to paper will help you organize what you know and guide you towards finding out what you don't know. 

Learn more test prep tips by contacting CROSSWALK, the Monterey Peninsula's resource for test prep and tutoring. Also, read 2400 SCORES: 24 Life Lessons to Demystify the SAT and Boost Your Score by Brooke Higgins for SAT-specific tips. 

If ACT and SAT Scores Were GPAs

One of the first activities I like to do with my ACT and SAT students is to begin with the end in mind. In other words, before we do any test prep, we research the SAT and ACT scores for the schools the student is considering. Armed with the knowledge of what score a student needs, the real preparation begins.

Understanding what score you need on the ACT and SAT is the most important step in your preparation. Once you know the score you need, you can figure out how many questions you need to answer correctly and how many you can get wrong, skip or guess (note: even if you skip questions on the ACT, be sure to get an answer in the bubbles as there is no punishment for wrong answers).

This activity really demystifies things for students. Most students quickly learn that they don't need a perfect score on the test to get into the school of their choice. In fact, the score many students need is actually quite achievable.

Take Trevor for example. Trevor is interested in attending the University of Puget Sound. In our first session, we got onto the school's website and found out that most students that get accepted by the university score an 1800 or so on the SAT and a 27 on the ACT.

What boggled Trevor's mind is what the score would mean in terms of a GPA. An 1800 on the SAT expressed as a percentage would mean a 75% (1800/2400). Scoring a 27 on the ACT, when expressed as a percentage, means Trevor would also need a 75% (27/36) to get into the school of his choice.

In other words, Trevor needs to get a C on both tests. That's right, a C! Trevor is a normally a B+/A- student. When we went through the simple exercise of expressing his goal test score in terms of a percentage or in terms of a GPA, a big smile crossed his face.

"You don't need an A on this test," I told him. "You just need a C!"

This little nugget made the test preparation experience more enjoyable for Trevor. It was our first chance to get his attitude in the right mindset to let his aptitude shine.


No stress for Trevor. Just a clear direction and a focused approach to accomplish an achievable goal.

Try it for yourself: if the ACT or SAT were scored like your GPA, what would you need to get? A C average? B average? Something totally doable? I would like to think so.

Learn more SAT test preparation tips by reading 2400 SCORES: 24 Life Lessons to Demystify the SAT and Boost Your Score. Contact CROSSWALK here for personal test preparation on the Monterey Peninsula or for Skype sessions on your time and schedule.

How Long Do You Prep for ACT and SAT?

The next ACT test is scheduled for September 13th. Undoubtedly, I will field a call from a parent or student looking for test prep help on September 10th. 

Same goes for the SAT. With the next test scheduled for October 11th, someone will frantically call me October 8th trying to schedule some test prep. 

Here is how the calls usually go: 

Parent: Can we schedule some tutoring before Saturday's test?

Me: We can definitely schedule some tutoring, but I doubt that it will do much good. 

Parent: What do you mean?

Me: Test-taking is a skill that takes time. It is hard to learn a new skill overnight.

Parent: Oh (awkward pause follows) 

The moral of the story is that learning to improve your SAT or ACT score is like learning a new skill. Standardized test-taking is not a skill frequently practiced in schools. Most tests in school require you to memorize content and spit it out the next day. But the SAT is not a content-based test. Even the ACT relies less on content memorization and more on problem-solving. 

And since you don't frequently practice the skills to manage contextual problem-solving in school, you must put in the requisite practice time in order to get better. 

All told, getting better at the ACT and SAT takes time. Lots of time. You can't do it in one week and you probably can't even do it in one month. 

The CROSSWALK students that move their scores the most work on it for months at a time. Ideally, you have all of junior year to hone your craft. Spending a year to learn a new skill should be a realistic goal. 

So avoid the frantic call days before the test. Put together a study plan that covers at least three months. Even better, plan on prepping for a whole year. 

This doesn't mean you need to meet with a tutor for a whole year. There are plenty of things you can do on your own. 

But the most important thing is to schedule the time. When time is on your side, you can vastly improve your score. 

Learn more SAT and ACT study tips by contacting Brooke Higgins and CROSSWALK, the Monterey Peninsula's local resource for test prep and academic tutoring. Brooke Higgins is the founder and lead instructor at CROSSWALK as well as the author of 2400 SCORES: 24 Life Lessons to Demystify the SAT and Boost Your Score.  

Good & Bad News About SAT Smartphone Vocabulary Apps

Lamentably, flashcards are now passé.

Call me old-school, but in my day I spent a lot of time writing vocabulary words on one side of an index card and their definitions on the other side. I would tote around stacks of cards to class, the library and home. 

Nowadays, it is all about using your smartphone to study. And why not? Smartphones are portable, easy to use, and fun. A good smartphone app for learning SAT vocabulary can mean no more lugging around flashcards all over the place.

The good news is that there are many very useful SAT Vocabulary apps, some of which are free. The bad news is that few of them mirror the context vs. content approach crucial to the SAT. 

First the good news: with so many useful apps available for both iPhones and Androids, students have many portable vocabulary-building options. While I have explored several, including SAT Vocabulary by Du Nguyen and Virtual SAT Tutor by Ivy Standard, my favorite is SAT Vocabulary by Magoosh. 

Magoosh offers several test prep applications that all share the same clean layout and easy-to-use interface. The SAT Vocabulary app offers different levels of study: Basic, Intermediate and Advanced. Each level cycles through a series of words that you define by multiple choice. If you get a word wrong, or don't know it, the words will cycle back several times until you master the definition through repetition. Most importantly, you can track your progress. 

Despite the multitude of smartphone apps, there is bad news: none of the apps I researched provide vocabulary questions in context like those found on the SAT. The Sentence Completion questions on the SAT don't simply task students with defining a word or uncovering the definition via multiple choice. Instead, they are presented with a sentence that has a blank or two blanks. Based on the information in the sentence, students must figure out the missing vocabulary words(s). 

Since none of the apps I found offer this style of questioning, something is definitely missing. Even Magoosh, which ultimately provides the vocabulary words in a sentence, does not display this contextual information until after you answer the question. 

All in all, there is good news for SAT preparation on the go: many apps will help build vocabulary. The bad news is that few capture the context-based questions that students need to practice for the test. 

If you know of any helpful apps, particularly ones that leverage the context-based approach, by all means contact me and let me know or simply post a comment to this blog. 

For more SAT tips, read 2400 SCORES by Brooke Higgins available at Amazon. Contact Brooke Higgins and CROSSWALK to schedule your private tutoring or Boot Camp for SAT, ACT and more. 

How to Sleep Your Way to a Better SAT Score

Stress kills on the SAT. 

My students hear me wax poetic that stressed brains do not learn as well as unstressed brains. In fact, one of my first lessons with my students demonstrates that attitude is more important than aptitude. Simply put, a student's aptitude cannot shine when the student's attitude is negative, tired, unfocused or stressed. 

While many of my conclusions are based in scientific research and years of instruction, I was recently blown away by a study about sleep and the SAT. 

According to authors Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman in the book NurtureShock, teens need to sleep longer in the morning than adults. Scientifically, an adolescent brain continues to release melatonin--a hormone that regulates sleep--until well after dawn. Adults, on the other hand, slow their release of melatonin as the sun rises. For this reason, teens shouldn't be forced to wake up as early as adults. 

Bronson and Merryman cite a study done in a high school in Edina, MN. Testing the idea that teens should sleep longer in the morning, the high school changed its start time from 7:25 to 8:30 giving teens an extra hour of sleep. 

In the year prior to the change, the top 10% of Edina's students averaged a math score of 683 and a verbal score of 605. A year after the change, the top 10% averaged a 739 on math and a 761 on verbal. In other words, math scores went up 56 points and verbal scores went up 156 points. Furthermore, the study also concluded that these students were more motivated and less depressed after the change. 

Astounding, no? By simply allowing teens to sleep longer, and letting their hormones do what they are supposed to do, test scores shot up and kid's lives improved. 

So maybe letting Junior sleep a bit longer in the morning is actually a good thing?

Learn more SAT test-taking tips by reading 2400 SCORES" 24 Life Lessons to Demystify the SAT and Boost Your Score by Brooke Higgins. Contact CROSSWALK today to learn about SAT/ACT Boot Camps, private tutoring and other ways to improve your academic standing. 

How to Make Time for SAT/ACT Prep

Spring might be the busiest time of year for students. At this point in the year, students have lot on their plate what with upcoming final exams, team sport commitments, and end-of-year celebrations like prom or graduation. What's worse, the warmer weather can prove to be a major distraction.  

With all of this going on, how can you possible have time for SAT or ACT Prep? 

One option is to avoid taking the SAT or ACT in the spring. Trying to cram in a test at a busy time of the year can be a recipe for disaster. For this reason, the spring months might be the worst months to take the test. 

However, it is possible to squeeze it all in with a little diligence and discipline. 

A diligent student will make test prep part of the normal routine. Making things a routine is a life skill that will help test preparation, as detailed in Score #1500 of 2400 SCORES: 24 Life Lessons to Demystify the SAT and Boost Your Score. Just like brushing your teeth, the more test prep becomes part of your regular routine, the easier it is to manage. 

While diligence will help you build a routine, you also need discipline to maintain it. One way to stay disciplined, is to save your dessert for last. Saving your dessert for last is another life skill detailed in 2400 SCORES: 24 Life Lessons to Demystify the SAT and Boost Your Score. The idea is that you delay the gratification of dessert until you eat all of your vegetables. In other words, postpone any fun things until after you finish your test prep. Doing test prep first and giving yourself a reward after will make you more productive and could make the fun things even more enjoyable. 

This is a crazy time of year. Finding time to prep for the SAT or ACT can be a challenge, but with some diligence to follow a routine and some discipline to delay gratification, you can squeeze it all in even during busy times.

Learn more about preparing for the ACT and SAT by contacting CROSSWALK, the Monterey Peninsula's local resource for private tutoring, test prep and ACT/SAT Boot Camps. Read 2400 SCORES: 24 Life Lessons to Demystify the SAT and Boost Your Score by Brooke Higgins for more tips to get ready for test day. 

You Are More Than a Test Score

One of my first lessons for my students is that you cannot stress about the SAT or ACT. Stress is not allowed on the test because your life represents more than just a test score. The more you get wrapped up in the score, the more you stress. And the more you stress, the worse you perform. 

Even the latest study by the National Association for College Admission Counseling points out that a student's success in college has little or nothing to with the fact that he or she reported test scores to the university. 

In fact, this study implies that using standardized test scores as a predictor of college performance is not a reliable model. Students that submitted test scores to colleges finished their degrees with a trivial difference in both GPA and graduation rate as compared to students that did not submit test scores. 

Now, it would be premature to think that the sunset is upon the SAT and ACT. These tests remain major factors in the college application process. But since over 800 schools hardly use the ACT or SAT for admission decisions, the writing may be on the wall. 

The best advice, at this point, is to prepare for both the SAT and ACT as if they were games or puzzles to solve. Don't let stress enter the equation. Keep your brain focused, fresh and flexible. Just because you may have to take the test doesn't mean you should stress about it. 

If you remove the stress over achieving a perfect--or near perfect--score, then your performance will soar. 

Learn more test prep tips by reading 2400 Scores or by contacting CROSSWALK. CROSSWALK offers SAT/ACT Boot Camps, private tutoring in person or via Skype and other tools to prepare academically.

The Twelve Days of Test Prep

In a perfect world, you spend at least six months preparing for the SAT or ACT. After all, test-taking is a skill that can be learned, like playing the guitar. And any skill can be perfected over time.

Unfortunately, not everyone has time. Too often I field calls from families looking for test prep one or two weeks before the test. It's not an ideal situation, but there are several things one can do just weeks before the SAT or ACT. 

Above all, don't stress. With only two weeks to the test, stressing or cramming will actually hurt your score. 

Instead, and in light of the holiday season, try the Twelve Days of Test Prep: 

Note: these twelve days assume you already have access to a reputable study guide like this one here for the SAT or this one here for the ACT.

12 Days Before the Test: Take a full-length practice test. Time yourself and follow the the directions just like you would have to do on test day.

11 Days Before the Test: Score your test. Calculate your Raw Score for the test. Be sure to follow the guidelines in the test guide to do your calculation. Then, use the scale provided in the test guide to determine your Scaled Score. Also, see if you can determine any patterns in your answers, like you struggle with algebra questions or passage-based reading. Recognizing your strengths and weaknesses will be key on test day: score points quickly and accurately in areas of strength, skip or give yourself extra time in areas of weakness. 

10 Days Before the Test: Prepare a Game Plan. The first step in your Game Plan is figuring out the score you need to achieve. Compare your score from the previous day with the score of accepted students to the school(s) of your choice. Once you know how much you need to improve, you can figure out a Game Plan of how many more correct answers and how many fewer incorrect answers you need per section. For example, if you need to score 100 points more in the SAT math section, this could mean that you only need ten more correct answers and four less incorrect answers in the total math section of 54 problems. For both tests, your Game Plan really takes shape when you manage correct answers versus incorrect answers. The second step to developing a Game Plan is to leverage your knowledge of your strengths and weaknesses from the previous day's exercise. With these three data points (the score you need, which questions to answer quickly and which questions to avoid) you have the foundation of a solid Game Plan. 

9 Days Before the Test: Practice your Game Plan on one section. Use the study guide for another practice test. Score your section, analyze it and adjust your Game Plan as needed. Keep in mind: avoid stressing or cramming by doing only one section of the test: like just the math portion on the ACT or just the critical reading sections of SAT. Keep in simple. 

8 Days Before the Test: Same as the previous day, but with another section.

7 Days Before the Test: Same as the previous day, but with another section. By today, you should have completed all of the multiple choice sections of the SAT practice test.

6 Days Before the Test: Complete the ACT practice test and perform the same score analysis as other days. If you are prepping for the SAT, write and essay on this day and see if you can get your English teacher or a tutor to read it and score it. Learn how to increase your score on your essay. 

5 Days Before the Test: If you are taking the ACT with the writing, write and essay. As with the SAT essay, get this one scored and see how to improve upon the score. 

4 Days Before the Test: At this point, it is time to slow down on the studying and reduce any stress. You could try and memorize some vocab words, but go slowly and certainly don't exert yourself. The most important muscle to build at this point is your confidence.

3 Days Before the Test: Check in with your Game Plan. Review how many correct answers you need and how many incorrect ones still keep you in line for the score you want. Revisit the two practice tests to see if there are problems that you might want to avoid on test day. For example, if you struggled on

2 Days Before the Test: Remind yourself that you are ready and prepared for test day. Think about the test as a game or a puzzle that you will master with your Game Plan. Mentally prepare yourself with positive visions of you scoring points quickly and easily. Above all else, gets lots of rest and eat right. 

1 Day Before the Test: Get lots of rest and eat well. Make test day stress free by printing your admission ticket, getting your picture identification, pencil, calculator, snack/water all ready for tomorrow. Ideally you wake up on test day and seamlessly get to the test center with little stress and plenty of time to think more positive thoughts. 

While test day is not Christmas Day, hopefully the twelve steps above will get you ready and prepared for the big day. Sure, there is a lot more you could have done, but by following the above steps you will undoubtedly have a good plan on how to maximize your score. 

And here's hoping that Santa treats you nicely with a robust score! 

Learn more SAT study tips by reading 2400 SCORES available at Amazon. Contact CROSSWALK to learn more about the SAT/ACT prep as well as academic tutoring in all subjects. CROSSWALK is the Monterey Peninsula's local resource for tutoring and test prep. 

Do-It-Yourself SAT and ACT Prep

While private tutoring and group classes can lead to improved scores on the SAT or ACT, not everyone has the time for a group class or the money for private tutoring. 

Luckily, test prep is not rocket science. As long as a student is motivated and dedicated, she or he can prepare for both the SAT and ACT on his or her own. Even better, it won't take inordinate time and/or money to get ready on your own. 

Here are six steps to ACT and SAT prep for all you Do-It-Yourselfers:

1) Buy a Reputable Test Prep Guide Book: I generally recommend the Official SAT Study Guide for SAT prep and the Real ACT Prep Guide because these books are produced by the test writers. Better to use a guide that matches the test as much as possible. 

2) Take a Practice Test: Take just one of the several practice tests found in your study guide (there are 10 in the SAT book and five in the ACT book). 

3) Score Your Practice Test: Based on the scoring systems detailed in the guide books, figure out your Raw score. Note that the SAT is scored differently than the ACT. Be sure to read the scoring guidelines detailed in your book to understand how to calculate your Raw Score. Each guide book will also give you an estimated conversion table so you can figure out your Scaled Score. The Scaled Score is a maximum of 800 on the SAT and a maximum of 36 on the ACT. Understanding the scoring for both tests is an important step towards understanding how to improve your score. After all, it is simply a numbers game. 

4) Analyze Your Results: Find out what areas present challenges to you and what areas were relatively easy. For example, maybe Math is a challenge while English was easy on the ACT. Or even more detailed, maybe the Algebra problems on the SAT were easy but the Geometry problems were hard. Knowing your areas of strengths will enable you to score points quickly and accurately on test day. Along those lines, understanding your weaknesses will allow you to study up on those areas that need some extra time. 

5) Devise a Game Plan to Maximize Your Score: Each student should have their own personal Game Plan for test day. For some students, this might include strategies for each question type. Other students will want to figure out which questions to guess on or skip altogether. Your Game Plan should entail ways to address your weaknesses. Ultimately, every Game Plan should address the scoring system (see Step #3) and ways to manage both strengths and weaknesses (see Step #4).

6) Practice: After you set up your Game Plan, take a practice test to evaluate the success of your Game Plan. Repeat all of the steps after each practice test and see if you are moving your score. If you are not seeing any improvement, analyze your results again and see where you can score more. 

Above all, remember that in order to get better at anything, it takes some work. You have to be willing to put in some time if you want to see results. You may not need a 12-week course and you may not have to spend thousands of dollars. But if you want to maximize your score, you need to put in some effort. Do nothing and nothing will happen. 

Find more useful study tips by reading 2400 SCORES by Brooke W. Higgins now available for your tablet at Amazon. Or contact CROSSWALK today. CROSSWALK is the Monterey Peninsula's local resource for tutoring in all academic subjects, ACT/SAT Boot Camps and private ACT, SAT or PSAT preparation. 

SAT Score #1000: The Farther You Go, The Harder It Gets

TRUE or FALSE: hard questions on the SAT are worth more points than easy questions.

Before I give you the answer, please be sure to understand that test questions on each SAT section are usually organized from the easiest to the hardest. In other words, the first question of a section should be easy while the last question should be hard. Not every section follows this formula exactly, but in general, most sections start easier and build towards harder questions. 

Now, back to the TRUE/FALSE statement. The statement that "hard questions on the SAT are worth more points than easy questions" is entirely FALSE! Scoring on the SAT is not based on question difficulty. You score the same amount of points on an easy question as you do on a hard question. 

So strategically speaking, score points quickly and accurately on the easy questions. As for the hard questions, you can choose to skip them altogether or give yourself some extra time to solve them.

Further, for easy questions in the beginning of a section, the answer should be very obvious without any tricks or traps. However, on harder questions, the obvious answers are usually tricks. So if you are at the end of a section and you are rushing to finish, the answer that looks quick and easy is probably a trap. Be wary because the further you go, the harder it becomes. 

Learn more SAT Scores by reading 2400 SCORES: 24 Life Lessons to Demystify the SAT® and Boost Your Score by Brooke Higgins available at Amazon. 

Contact CROSSWALK to schedule private tutoring or sign up for our One Day SAT or ACT Boot Camps. CROSSWALK is the Monterey Peninsula's local resource for ACT/SAT Boot Camps, private tutoring for test prep and private tutoring for academic subjects. 

How SAT & ACT Prep is Like Training for a Marathon

What do you do the night before a Biology exam? More than likely, you stay up late to cram a bunch of content into your brain. 

OK, so what does a marathon runner do the night before a big race? Do you think she stays up late to cram in a bunch of last minute training? 

Of course not. 

You can cram for a Biology exam because you only need to recall the content for a short period of time. 

You can't cram for a marathon because you would actually harm your body. 

Same goes for the SAT and ACT. Think of them as the marathons of tests. 

Consider that both the SAT and the ACT, are not content-based tests. They are more about context. To perform well on context-based tests, your brain needs to be rested, focused and clear in order to think critically and solve problems. Cramming the night before will only hurt your ability to perform at an optimum level. 

Furthermore, the SAT and the ACT are long tests. Sitting for the SAT and ACT requires 3-4 hours of intense focus. Focus for the SAT and ACT is developed over time. To be comfortable in a long test, you need to practice taking the test for long periods of time. 

Finally, remember that a marathon runner doesn't just show up on race day without undergoing some kind of training program. And the more a runner is dedicated to a training program, the more success will ensue. 

So train hard and long for both the SAT and ACT. When there is a week left for the test, like the marathon runner, taper your training. Reduce your studying, get lots of rest the week and do whatever your brain and body need to get into optimal performance mode for test day. 

Learn more by reading 2400 SCORES: 24 Life Lessons to Demystify the SAT and Boost Your Score by Brooke Higgins now available on Amazon. 

And contact CROSSWALK for information on private tutoring, test prep and SAT/ACT Boot Camps on the Monterey Peninsula. 

2400 SCORES

SAT Test Prep guides are everywhere. It seems that just about every book publisher has a guidebook bigger than most telephone books. Full of pages and pages of problems, these books can be overwhelming for many students. 

Wouldn't a more condensed approach be easier to digest? Or one that you can take with you wherever you go on your tablet? 

Good news: there is one such resource that exists. It's called 2400 SCORES: 24 Life Lessons to Demystify the SAT® and Boost Your Score. Best of all, I wrote it! 

I have worked on this e-book for over two years. The advice contained in this book is a compilation of my most recommended SAT prep approaches. 

The basic idea of the book is how to apply life lessons to SAT test preparation. Learn how to Begin with the End in Mind, why Attitude is Greater than Aptitude, how Context  is More Important than Content and much more. Understand why you Save Dessert for Last, why You Don't Need to Do Everything and other helpful strategies. If you read nothing else, but sure to master the Numbers Game! 

Full of stories from my decade of tutoring SAT, ACT and GMAT, this book is a valuable resource for anyone about to tackle  the SAT. While the book is intended for students, both parents and educators will find practical, useful and easily implementable SAT strategies one and before test day. 

Check it out on Amazon right here. It might be the best $3.99 you spend on test preparation! 

As always, feel free to contact CROSSWALK to learn how we can help you get ready for the SAT or ACT. CROSSWALK also offers tutoring in all academic subjects. CROSSWALK is the Monterey Peninsula's local resource for test prep, Boot Camps and tutoring.