FREE and FAST Prep for the ACT

With the ACT just around the corner, some students are in stress mode. How can you prepare for the test with only a week to go? What can you do on the cheap? 

The bad news is that test prep takes some time. If you really want to move your score, you need to put in several weeks if not months. Test-taking is like any skill: the more time you have to practice, the better you can get. 

However, not everyone has the benefit of time. Especially those that will take the test in about a week. Further, not everyone can afford to hire a private tutor. 

So what can you do? 

First, don't stress. Stress out and watch your score plummet. Stress is your number one enemy. So take a deep breath and get into the mindset that test day is a fun challenge. Tests are just puzzles to solve, riddles to figure out or games to play. 

Now that you have the right mindset, download the free "Preparing for the ACT" right here. This is a free study guide that includes a full length practice test. 

Use this guide and do the following: 

• Read everything cover to cover
• Read the directions for each section so that you don't have to waste time on test day doing the same
• Try some of the practice questions
• Make note of how much time you have per section and how much time you have per question

All told, this should take about two or three hours. Doing more than that with a week left before the test will only stress you out. (Bad idea because remember, stress is the enemy.)

Reviewing the free study guide with only a week before a test is not the ideal plan, but it can help a lot. Again, the ideal scenario is when you have lots of time to prepare. Nevertheless, you can gain a good understanding of test strategy and content by reviewing the "Preparing for the ACT" study guide. It's fast, and more importantly, FREE! 

Learn more ACT and SAT study tips by contacting CROSSWALK, the Monterey Peninsula's local resource for private tutoring, test prep and SAT/ACT Boot Camps. 

Read "2400 SCORES: 24 Life Lessons to Demystify the SAT and Boost Your Score" by Brooke Higgins right here. 

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. 

Take Note: Laptop or Not?

While many agree that technology moves slowly in education--consider how little most classrooms have changed in the past century--some technology zooms. 

For example, the laptop. Now more than ever, students rely on laptops to write, access information and collaborate. Most importantly, students take notes in class knowing they can type faster than they can write. 

However, a new study suggests that taking notes on a laptop may not be the best way to comprehend and retain information. Instead, pen and paper help students remember better than a laptop. 

It seems that the act of writing things down helps cognition. 

Read the entire article here. 

So don't use a laptop to take notes in class? Maybe those old classrooms had it all figured out in the first place. 

Learn more study habits with tutoring from CROSSWALK, the Monterey Peninsula's local resource for private tutoring and SAT/ACT Prep. Read "2400 Scores: 24 Life Lessons to Demystify the SAT and Boost Your Score" by Brooke Higgins. 

What Will You Read This Summer?

Summer is fast approaching. Amazing how fast this school year came and went. 

With vacation around the corner, what will you be reading this summer? 

My students quickly learn that the SAT and the ACT are nothing more than reading tests. Don't be misled by science or math sections. While the content may deal with science and math, these sections force you to analyze text, interpret information or translate words into an equation. In other words, they are just reading tests. 

So what is the best way to get ready for a reading test? That's right, READ! Read, read, read and then read some more. 

You don't have to take my word for it. I always say that active reading prepares your brain for success on the SAT and ACT, but a recent piece in the New York Times reminds us that reading will also touch your heart, spirit and soul. 

So with only weeks to go before summer starts, start now by figuring out what books you want to read over the next several months. The beauty of summer is that you can read whatever you want! Seriously! With no set assignments, there is no limit to what you can read. Obviously, the more challenging the reading, the more you may expand your vocabulary. But don't let that deter you from grabbing any fun novel and diving in. 

Lose yourself in a book. Lose yourself in several books. Reading will not only help you get ready for the SAT and ACT, it will touch your soul will in ways that you cannot even imagine. 

Learn more study tips by contacting CROSSWALK, the Monterey Peninsula's local resource for test prep and private tutoring. Read 2400 SCORES: 24 Life Lessons to Demystify the SAT and Boost Your Score by Brooke Higgins available for your e-reader at Amazon. 

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.