Tag Archives: Testing
5 Questions to PSAT Prep Success
Coming from LEAP, where we pride ourselves on increased ACT and SAT scores of students in our program, it may sound counterintuitive that we advise most rising juniors not to prep for the PSAT. (This is not the advice we give for ACT and SAT prep!) See, most families who are questioning whether or not to prep for the PSAT are doing so with the National Merit Scholarship program in mind. The bar is high to qualify as a finalist, as we talked about in an earlier post on PSAT and National Merit basics. Essentially, finalists are the top 15,000 scorers from … Continue reading
What’s the “Write” Option?
Students who don’t like to write are often looking for outs when it comes to writing. The ACT calling their writing or essay portion of the test “optional”, often feels like it’s ripe for opting OUT of the dreaded essay. I caution students who are ready to take the easy way out. Round One Let’s take an actual LEAP student who took the ACT twice. First round, the student earned an ACT composite of a 26 which is a good score. The national average for ACT is a 21 and this student scored at the 84th percentile. Furthermore, this student … Continue reading
Tips for Getting ACT Extended Time
You’ve never finished a PSAT, EXPLORE or PLAN test within the allotted time. Performing your best on the ACT is daunting task, because you most always require additional time at school. Quit stressing and apply for extended time on the ACT. You never know, you may just qualify and can relax a bit! Who Qualifies and How Students with physical disabilities, hearing or visual impairment, those who have diagnosed ADHD, psychiatric conditions or learning disabilities may apply for extended time. Before you apply for accommodations, you’ll need to register online for your ACT test. As with everything in the college selection and application process, … Continue reading
Dominate the SAT Subject Tests
Your college(s) of choice may have stringent testing standards that require you to take the SAT Subject Tests. Be sure to check all testing requirements for each prospective school to avoid overlooking important admissions criteria. What are Subject Tests? As their name indicates, these tests (formerly known as SAT II) measure achievement in specific high school courses. There are 20 possible tests across five content areas. They are different in nature to the SAT, which is a reasoning test. They also differ from AP tests, which measure college level curriculum. Many students find Subject Tests similar to classroom tests or … Continue reading
Timing is Everything with Testing
Every fall LEAP receives at least several calls of anxiety ridden parents whose senior student has yet to have a first attempt at the ACT or SAT, let alone the recommended second attempt. Now they realize their back is up against the wall with limited testing dates and college application deadlines. With the ample number of ACT and SAT test dates year-round, there is no reason for a family to ever get in this position. Make a Plan LEAP has been prepping students for college entrance exams since 1999 with great results. From our experience, we advise for most students to start … Continue reading
ACT or SAT: Which One is for YOU?
ACT and SAT: either or both? Many juniors are faced by this dilemma. There is no one cookie cutter answer. The good news is all colleges accept either, so you have options. LEAP is in the business of helping students sort out the details and make the best possible decision for you. Which is exactly what our FREE ACT-SAT Essentials Seminar is all about on October 12th, 2011 @ 7:00 p.m. If you are in the Greater Cincinnati join us by RSVP’ing here. Different Types of Tests To begin with, the nature of the ACT and SAT are different. The ACT is an … Continue reading
ACT & SAT College Readiness Benchmarks
ACT and SAT College Readiness Benchmarks are meant as a guideline to indicate students likely to be successful in college as a freshman. That is they have the ability and if they put the work in they are likely to succeed. ACT Benchmarks Came First In 2005 when ACT added the optional Writing portion to their test (remember: LEAP encourages all students to take the writing portion!), they also established College Readiness Benchmarks for each of the subtests: English, math, reading and science. Meeting the benchmark would indicate a student has a 50% chance of earning a B or better and … Continue reading
PSAT & National Merit Basics
Stephanie Meyer Twilight author, M. Night Shyamalan movie director, Jeffrey Bezos CEO of Amazon.com, JohnRoberts Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, Bill Gates former Microsoft Chairman, Ben Bernanke Chairman of the US Federal Reserve have one thing incommon. They were each National MeritScholarship winners chosen from a pool of 15,000 National Merit Finalists. How did they get there? Each October more than 1.5 million high school juniors enter the National Merit Scholarship race by taking the PSAT test through Collegeboard at their local high school. The PSAT doubles only in the junior year asthe National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test … Continue reading
Who Should Take the ACT or SAT Again?
To Retest or Not? By Lisa Mader, LEAP, 2011 If you were told you have a 55% chance of winning the lottery tonight, would you purchase a ticket? Of course! That same percentage of students will increase their ACT or SAT scores on a second attempt. Often this can lead to what feels like winning the college lottery. Many juniors taking their first round of ACT and SAT tests in the spring want to be done with testing only to move on to tackling college applications. Regardless of the first set of scores, I regularly encourage students to take a … Continue reading
