http://www.prepmatters.com PrepMatters Tue, 6 Jan 2009 1:44:58 CST en-us http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/65669 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/65669 Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:37:35 CST A recent front page article by Daniel de Vise of the Washington Post recounted what many in schools and the tutoring world have been observing for a number of years now: more and more students in the DC area are no longer taking just the SAT for college admissions. The ACT is on the march. The number of ACT test-takers area-wide has doubled in the last three years, a veritable sea change. Many students find that the ACT is simply a better test for them, and it's great for them to have the... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/65032 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/65032 Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:19:06 CST So a student of mine let me know that he ran a marathon the other weekend. "Oh, I didn't know you were planning to do that." "Well, I didn't either. It's just that the racecourse came right by my apartment, and since I wanted to go for a run anyway, I just jumped in. I was going to run five or six miles, but since everyone was cheering so much, I just kept going for, like twelve or thirteen miles. "Wow! Don't you have to register or something?" "Well, sure. I guess, but what were they going... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/64790 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/64790 Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:13:00 CDT Reading comprehension on standardized tests is a clever thing. One of the more tricky aspects of the test writers' design is the need to craft wrong but compelling answer choices. A commonly used method is to his help students lose track of their thoughts. A student has to read a sometimes 100 line passage, parse a potentially convoluted question, consider his answer, and then consider the five different answer choices. That's quite a few mental balls to keep juggling. Appealing answer... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/64444 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/64444 Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:51:41 CDT So, we're a few weeks into school. You are settling into classes, sports and extracurriculars. Homework is substantial and quizzes and tests are cluttering up your calendar. Welcome to junior year! This week, I've heard a nearly steady chorus of "I've never had so much work in my life," "Man, what a week!" and "I am completely fried." With the Autumnal Equinox (Fall) arriving Monday, it's important for us all to acknowledge that summer is, in fact, over. I know that's sad. The truth often is.... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/64362 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/64362 Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:39:10 CDT A new report in the journal Nature shows why some people are just better at math than others. Some people do seemingly "just get it." As reported in this week's Washington Post, adult humans, infants, and non-human animals all share an ability to approximate numbers. In the study, participants were asked to say whether a quick computer screen-shot of blue and yellow dots had a higher percentage of blue or yellow. When the disparity between the numbers was high, nearly everyone did well. Bu,... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/63584 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/63584 Tue, 02 Sep 2008 08:44:23 CDT So the Olympics are over. Some competitors surprised the world, and perhaps themselves, with their outstanding achievements. Some came short a fraction of a second, inch or point, while others missed the bar completely. To invoke the late Jim McKay, "some felt the thrill of victory, others the agony of defeat." Some came away thrilled by their experiences, even if not by their final standings. Win or lose, they can always know they were Olympic athletes. For those left unsatisfied, their... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/63419 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/63419 Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:45:56 CDT So, it's the Olympics season. Watching the best athletes form countries all over the world, it' easy to get swept up in the passion, competition, and drama, wondering "I wonder whether I could…" Apart from our couch-bound musings, few of us will ever compete at a national level, much less at an Olympic one. Hundredths or thousandths of seconds won't matter in our daily lives. A recent study about sprinters revealed that, for those for whom those fractions of seconds do matter, starting on the... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/61312 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/61312 Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:40:47 CDT In a move sure to cheer students, rile foes, and vex admissions officials, the College Board announced over the weekend that beginning with the Class of 2010, students may choose what scores (both SAT and SAT Subject Tests) to submit to colleges, creating "score choice" for the SAT and reinstating it for the Subject Tests after a six year hiatus. What critics deride as a calculated measure by College Board to stanch the inroads made by rival ACT and to bolster both the number of SAT... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/60631 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/60631 Mon, 02 Jun 2008 09:59:34 CDT "Do no harm" is a loose translation of the beginning of the Hippocratic Oath, the oath sworn by physicians for the ethical practice of medicine. It's an idea that popped into my head this week as I received queries from a handful of parents whose freshmen and sophomore children were contemplating taking SAT Subject Tests (SAT IIs) next week. Many colleges require two or more Subject Tests for admissions, and students are wise to consider what tests they are likely to do well on. Moreover,... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/60245 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/60245 Sun, 18 May 2008 06:52:21 CDT One of the primary components of my work here is to be a perpetual nag. I'm a mom, so while I don't always relish the role, I am quite adept in "encouraging" people to do things they would rather put off until another day. I also know that for juniors in high school May is a busy month. Exams are looming, papers and project due dates are fast approaching, and the unrelenting demands of one's social life make for a pretty full existence. Despite my astute observation, there... EileenWilkinson@prepmatters.com (Wilkinson (Counseling)) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/60008 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/60008 Wed, 07 May 2008 16:51:22 CDT So raise your hand if you or someone you know is near the point of melting down about AP exams this week and next. At the risk of invoking the ire of every AP teacher from here to California, I offer this advice: don't sweat them for they really don't matter. At least, they don't matter as much as other things or as much as you think. APs are not an admissions criterion for college. As you look at your schedule of what needs to be done this week and next, and whenever you find yourself... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/59606 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/59606 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:47:54 CDT I got a call from a grad student the other day looking to retake the LSAT. He had done prep before and scored a 148. The LSAT is scored on a 120-180 scale, so a 148 is somewhat akin to a 480 on the SAT Reading or Math, not a score likely to gain you admission to strong programs. So, the score would have to come up to improve his choices and chances. The complicating factor is that he had already applied to and been rejected from top-tier programs, consternating his girlfriend who had been... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/59424 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/59424 Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:28:40 CDT I am not a huge fan of winter unless it snows, so this year I am especially pleased to see April arrive. Spring Break is already a distant memory, but the light and warmth puts one in the mood for a road trip or two, right? What better time could there be for packing up the car, your parents, (a sullen sibling or two, if you've got ‘em) and driving, say, to Ohio? Sure, Ohio possibly doesn't make everyone's Top 10 of Exotic Destinations, but what it lacks in tourist sites, it... EileenWilkinson@prepmatters.com (Wilkinson (Counseling)) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/57506 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/57506 Fri, 07 Mar 2008 10:02:23 CST Sitting in the hallway of a local school waiting for a student of mine to arrive, I overheard a girl saying she has never been so scared in her life. Her SAT is tomorrow she is telling her friend. She is recounting all the reasons why she is unprepared, how she doesn't have enough time, and that she's sure to crash. Her friend asks her about her preparation and what work she has done. Yeah, well, she acknowledges, still it's going to be a train wreck. I was struck by an overwhelming urge to... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/55392 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/55392 Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:41:39 CST I was meeting with a student last week who is sharp and eager but bedeviled by dyslexia. She had gotten a full grade lower than she should have. She had been nicked by the cumulative effects of small errors, forgetting to distribute the negatives in multiplying polynomials, dropping exponents, and the like. She knew what she was doing but made "silly mistakes" when her attention seemed to be on harder facets of the questions. As she is much more an auditory and kinesthetic learner, I asked... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/52214 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/52214 Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:59:19 CST Another resolution for the New Year may be to get yourself, your house, or possibly your spouse organized. Additionally, with mid-year exams either fast approaching or safely behind, the opportunity to get your son or daughter on a new heading may be at hand. Many studies suggest that the need is greater for your son. As it turns out, many of the skills needed to be academically successful revolve not just around intelligence and content-knowledge but around organizational skills, ones that... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/52040 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/52040 Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:25:44 CST It’s the turn of a new year and the typical time for resolutions for the new year. As I recover from holiday fun and the late nights that such fun entails, I am mindful of the difficulty of getting back to my usual sleep schedule after staying up hours past my usual bedtime. How, I wonder, did I manage late-night shenanigans as a youth and still function the next day? A recent study suggests I hadn’t. “’You can't do your best work when you're sleep-deprived,’ Thacher says of her... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/51824 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/51824 Wed, 12 Dec 2007 16:04:28 CST They say that no one is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they'd make up their minds. - Winston ChurchillPerfectionism. A badge of honor for some students. A nightmare for all tutors. High standards? Love ‘em! Compelling goals? Can't get enough of them. Perfection? Look out. My friend Joe warns me not to let perfect be the enemy of great. Kids afraid to strike our may never step up to the plate at all. Or, they will create so many issues, excuses and concerns that... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/51678 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/51678 Mon, 03 Dec 2007 00:01:11 CST You are trying to balance shopping, holiday travel, shopping and no fewer than two dozen social engagements on three packed weekends(and that's just your kids) and now this: like a small bomb, the PSAT results just landed amid the precariously balanced act that is your household. Boom! These are your scores?! My word, what are we going to do?! Your child is distraught that he or she didn't do as well as his peers, who you just know are vying for the spots at your child's dream school. Plus,... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/51469 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/51469 Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:45:55 CST What’s more fun for students than taking tests? Why, talking about them with their parents, advisors, friends and random strangers! “Hey Sally. You just took the SAT, right? So, how did that go?”As Michelle Slatalla relates in her recent “Guidance Counselor” piece on the “ACT vs. SAT,” she felt only slightly more uncomfortable discussing the relative merits of the ACT and SAT with her teen daughter than she would have the relative merits of underage drinking. At least in the... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/51416 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/51416 Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:39:26 CST Goals are great. High standards for oneself are to be lauded. Perfectionism, however, is not the badge of honor people think it is.Allow me to start with a few illustrations of what I perceive perfectionism to be. I recall a conversation with my mother-in-law where she was evincing her frustration with some shortcoming of a consumer electronic. Why, she wondered, can't it be made to be more durable and reliable? Her complaint was well-taken. My father-in-law responded that it certainly could... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/51280 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/51280 Fri, 02 Nov 2007 21:27:58 CDT The winds of change are blowing again and they seem to be Santa Ana winds. Much like the flames that did so much destruction, rumors of a policy change by the University of California may again set on fire the hair of College Board officials, as well as of admissions officials across the country. A recent blurb by the Chronicle of Education (link) relates that officials of the UC system are contemplating dropping its requirement for SAT Subject Tests (formerly know as SAT IIs). It is with no... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/51212 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/51212 Fri, 26 Oct 2007 12:15:21 CDT So my colleague just got scores back from a student. His math scored ticked up a few notches higher than the already strong score he had last year. Not a math student, a 700 seems to have been just outside of his reach. Despite the higher score on math, the news was mixed as his perfect 800 on reading slipped to 740. When his mother asked my colleague over the summer about whether he should retake the test, he suggested “No, not really.” The student had worked really hard last year, had... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/50767 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/50767 Mon, 15 Oct 2007 13:24:14 CDT So, we all know that cheating is wrong. Do you know why it hurts you? (Beyond pushing you down the road to perdition, that is.) Well, people know when they are doing something wrong. The fight or flight mechanism that engages when we are physical peril also kicks in when we cheat or steal or do something else wrong. Trained experts can often tell when someone is lying by watching people’s physiological changes when they respond to questions. That’s what lie detectors are all about, after... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/18923 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/18923 Tue, 09 Oct 2007 12:48:14 CDT Expect the Best, but...Your proctor blows the time. Your calculator malfunctions. You fall ill during the test. The marching band warms up outside your classroom. These and other mishaps can and have happened. Be prepared. Remember that if one section goes poorly, it may be the experimental section. Even if it’s not, the other sections may go correspondingly better that you still meet your goal. Keep you head in the game and wait until all sections are done before contemplating throwing in... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/18658 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/18658 Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:41:58 CDT So, it's the week before the test. You've worked hard. You've studied vocab, done the homework and sacrificed your weekends taking practice tests. What's the most helpful thing you can now do? To learn new things, change your processes, get a new or another tutor/coach? Um, no.This is the time to review what you've done, taking confidence from the considerable work you've put in and knowing that the real test should be similar to what you've done for practice. The tests are standardized after... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/18287 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/18287 Fri, 14 Sep 2007 12:39:44 CDT There are lies, damned lies and statistics. Ascribed to Benjamin Disraeli by Mark Twain a hundred years ago, this lovely epithet rings as true today as it did then. The phrase has been bouncing around my head since I read the New York Times piece “What SAT Scores Say About Your Hedge Fund” from Sunday’s paper. (link) I’ll start by saying that I don’t invest in a hedge fund and so arguably know little about and am strongly less motivated to look for the secrets of funds’ success... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/17404 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/17404 Thu, 06 Sep 2007 13:25:58 CDT High school grades are (still) the best measure of success in college.Who’d of thunk it? Grades predict grades! It seems that Aristotle was right when he said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” A recent study by Saul Geiser and Maria Veronica Santelices of the University of California at Berkeley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education (link) has found that not only do high school grades do a better job of predicting first year college... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/17227 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/17227 Tue, 28 Aug 2007 21:53:46 CDT I've lost track of how many times I've taken the SAT. And always the students taking it with me are nervous and apprehensive. They know their futures ride on how they do on this single, grueling, marathon exam. They probably haven't gotten a good night's sleep. They probably didn't eat much breakfast. They arrived at the test center before 7:45 AM for an ordeal that will last until after lunch â€" except that they don't get to eat lunch. It's too much, and much too long. As one student put... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/17066 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/17066 Wed, 22 Aug 2007 22:02:46 CDT Man, am I tired,” a succession of students has lamented to me all week. “Really, how come?”“Our coach just ran us and ran us.”Every year, I watch bemusedly as students returning to school and preseason sports limp into my office, bedraggled from workouts for soccer, field hockey and the like for which they seem physically and mentally unprepared. Inquiries into their summer training regimen elicit blank stares. They seem incredulous that their coaches would AGAIN emphasize running... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/16827 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/16827 Thu, 09 Aug 2007 16:23:14 CDT Recent research suggests that the use of gestures in teaching has appreciable benefits in learning. As reported in the Washington Post, (link), teachers who used gestures while instructing students in algebra, and had students mimic those gestures, found when students were tested weeks later they were three times more likely to answer the math problems correctly. (The full study results are reported in the July 25 issue of Cognition.) Researchers were intrigued to find that gestures were not... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/16674 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/16674 Thu, 02 Aug 2007 13:16:03 CDT Although analogies were removed from the SAT in 2005, vocabulary continues to figure prominently both on the exam and in the minds of the students who take it. Words that once populated analogies have in many cases snuck across the page to constitute answer choices for reading comprehension questions. So, thinking underscore and undermine are synonomous may leave you bereft! Even more problematically, the PSAT and SAT routinely feature a series of questions that all focus on a particular... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/16519 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/16519 Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:42:04 CDT “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” I suspect I will never pen anything as pithy or wise as this Aristotelian aphorism, but I do hope I have the good sense to learn from it. A recent article in the New York Times relates a plan to pay students for taking standardized tests. The theory promulgated by economist Roland G. Fryer is that financial incentives can lead students to develop habits conducive to long-term success. Read about it: here. One... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/16227 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/16227 Wed, 11 Jul 2007 15:36:41 CDT So it’s finally summer vacation! Woohoo! But, why is it we find summer so wonderful? Why do we pine for it so? One thought that has occurred to me as I contemplate my upcoming vacation is: sleep. I get more of it. I get better sleep. I can “play” and sleep. It’s not an either/or, a zero-sum game between doing the things I want to do (staying up late with friends or watching the fourth quarter of a West-coast basketball game) and having the mental acuity that my work purportedly... nedjohnson@prepmatters.com (Ned Johnson) http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/14861 http://www.prepmatters.com/ht/d/ViewBloggerThread/i/14861 Tue, 05 Jun 2007 11:42:16 CDT Coming Soon!Our president and founder, Ned Johnson, will share tips for test day , insights into test-taking psychology and his views on the educational issues that matter most to high school students and their parents. aaron@prepmatters.com (Aaron Golumbfskie)