Getting ready to apply for college can be nerve-racking at best, terrifying at worst. Perhaps one of the most daunting obstacles between you and your dream school is the dreaded standardized test. There are two standardized tests that are accepted by almost every university: the SAT and the ACT. Choosing which of these two tests [...]
Archive for the ‘test prep’ Category
Deciding whether to take the SAT or ACT
By admin on Monday, August 15th, 2011 | 8 Comments
What “EdTech” Means to a New Parent
By admin on Wednesday, July 13th, 2011 | No Comments
There have been a lot of new developments in my life recently. I started a new job working with an online and mobile test prep company known as TestSoup that makes flashcards for a variety of different standardized tests. I am learning about marketing, social media, and (of course) education. But perhaps the most significant [...]
Texting to Teach–Seriously?
By admin on Wednesday, May 18th, 2011 | No Comments
If you asked most educators and parents to suggest possible new ways to help teenagers significantly improve SAT, ACT and AP test scores as well as overall GPA’s, “texting” is probably not one of the first (or second or third) things that would come to mind. After watching my teenage daughter on a car trip [...]
Saving time and money with CLEP Tests
By Suzanne Shaffer on Wednesday, February 9th, 2011 | 1 Comment
Every college student will spend their first two years of college studying information that they’ve already covered at some point during their four years of high school. Algebra, Biology, U.S. History, Government, and English Composition are all classes the students are already familiar with. Even if your student wasn’t a straight “A” high school student [...]
Evaluating Test Preparation Options
By Suzanne Shaffer on Monday, January 17th, 2011 | No Comments
Today I’m sharing a post from Akil Bello, owner and founder of Bell Curves, LLC, an educational services company in New York. Akil does a great job of explaining the test prep options you have for your college-bound teen. He has graciously allowed me to post his original article from his blog. ************** When people [...]
College Helper #3-Akil Bello
By Suzanne Shaffer on Monday, December 27th, 2010 | 2 Comments
In his own words…Akil is “father, husband, GMAT-SAT-ACT-LSAT guru, aspiring abecedary, neophyte preceptor, inchoate pedagogue”. For those of you who are not linguists–that is a bunch of synonyms for “teacher”! Akil, along with his father and brother, started Bell Curves–a completely minority owned test prep company. What sets Akil apart from the others (other than [...]
SAT "Eureka" Moments!
By Suzanne Shaffer on Monday, August 30th, 2010 | 2 Comments
When you’re a parent of a college-bound teen you have a ton of questions. Every day brings a new list of “how do I…, where do we find…, how do we do….; you get the picture! And if it’s questions you have and answers you need, one of the best places to go is #CampusChat [...]
Test Optional Colleges
By Suzanne Shaffer on Friday, June 25th, 2010 | 1 Comment
What is a “test optional” college? It is a college and/or university that deemphasizes the use of standardized tests by making admissions decisions about substantial numbers of applicants who recently graduated from U.S. high schools without using the SAT or ACT. Some schools exempt students who meet grade-point average or class rank criteria while others [...]
Is the SAT just a test?
By Suzanne Shaffer on Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 | 1 Comment
Preparing for the SAT/ACT tests cause panic and stress for college-bound teens and their parents. Why? Because colleges use those test scores as part of the college admissions evaluation process. Some parents are willing to shell out massive amounts of money to assure that their teens do well on those tests. But controversy around the [...]
Knewton SAT Prep
By Suzanne Shaffer on Monday, April 26th, 2010 | 2 Comments
Recently I received a tour of Knewton’s SAT Prep portal online. I have to admit, I was skeptical. Based on personal SAT prep courses with my daughter, I always felt those type courses were too expensive and didn’t significantly improve her SAT scores like they promised. However, I was pleasantly surprised with Knewton’s services. Here’s [...]
