Are You a High School Junior? It’s Time For The PSAT!

The PSAT is a great jump start to your standardized testing preparation for the college admissions process. Not only does it give you the chance to practice for the SAT, it gives you access to scholarship searches, and college information.

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More Opinions on Advanced Placement

One of our most commented on posts is “Which is Better: AP or IB?” In the post, Mark Montgomery highlights the differences between the two academic programs.  Recently, the NY Times published a piece where five different professionals offered opinions on the expanding Advanced Placement program.  The article states that the number of students taking Advanced Placement courses has risen nearly 50% from 2004 to 2009.  For some, this vast increase is cause for concern.  For others, there is a need to expand AP courses, especially to low-income and minority groups.
As mentioned in our previous post above, whether or not a student should enroll in AP (or IB for that matter) courses depends on the student’s ability and preparation.  Of course colleges want to see students enrolled in the most challenging curriculum available, however it is also about the grades that the student receives.  Students, parents and guidance counselors should work together to determine the best curriculum match for the students abilities.  That is the best way to ensure the student has a strong academic performance.
Katherine Price
Educational Consultant
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Hate the SAT and ACT? Me Too, But Colleges Still Love These Tests

Perhaps the most vexing aspect of college admissions in the United States today is the use and abuse of standardized tests.  While there is no solid research to support their pivotal role in determining who is accepted and who is rejected by the nation’s colleges and universities, the fact is that they are a competitive credential.  The better your scores, the better your chances of admission.  Of course, high scores alone will not guarantee you anything but a wet, sloppy kiss from your proud parents.  But all other things being equal, good scores are preferable to low ones.
Much has been written about the history of these tests, and we have described the differences between the ACT and the SAT elsewhere on this blog.  Suffice it to say that the growth of these two tests can be attributed to colleges’ need for some sort of thumbnail comparison of students across schools, across states, and across curricula.  The fact is that with 14,000 school districts and perhaps 2,000 more private high schools in the US, there is little standardization from one school to the next. So it has always been difficult to judge the correlation of 4.0 GPA from an inner-city high school on the South Side of Chicago from a 4.0 GPA from Phillips Exeter.  Supposedly, the standardized tests are a leveler–they help admissions folks compare students from different schools in different parts of the country.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.  Here’s some reasons why.
First, there is no correlation between success on these tests and success in college.  This correlation is generally assumed to exist:  if you do better on the exams, you are therefore smarter and better able to succeed in college.  In fact, research undertaken by Bates College in Maine demonstrates confirms the absence of any such correlation.
Second, the SAT and ACT tests are not “levelers.”  Quite the opposite.  What research we do have on these tests demonstrates that students of lower socio-economic classes do worse on these exams than do students from more affluent backgrounds.
Third, these tests do not really measure either intellectual capacity or aptitude; they  measure performance on these specific tests.  It is possible, therefore, to cram for these tests and improve scores–without taking more high school courses or taking steroids to improve brain capacity.  Thus, a multi-billion dollar test prep industry has developed to help students cram for the tests.  While not all test prep courses or tutoring will lead to a significant score increase, some test prep can lead to dramatic increases.  A recent study from the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) indicates that test prep courses and tutoring will raise scores, on average, by only 20 or 30 points on the SAT tests and perhaps only a point on the ACT.
However, I have seen students make very dramatic gains by working one-on-one with a very experienced, very talented private tutor. Thus my interpretation of the NACAC data is that most test prep is pretty lackluster.  If a student really wants to raise his score, he will have to seek stronger test prep services from those who know what they are doing.
I don’t recommend test preparation for all  my clients.  Much depends on what sort of schools interest them, and whether their first round of testing was good enough to allow them to achieve their goals.  But if their scores fall short of those goals, I will work with them to identify good resources to help them do their best.  For while I don’t think that these scores have much to say about a student’s abilities or potential, they have become very important in competitive college admissions.
Mark Montgomery
College Planner and Adviser
 
 
 
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Average SAT Goes Up! and Down!

It’s always fun when two different–and reputable–publications report the same story and lead them with different headlines.

The facts: the College Board reported that the average score on the SAT tests last year went down slightly. The averages were 501 for critical reading, 515 for mathematics and 493 for writing.

Inside Higher Ed led this story with the headline “SAT Scores Drop, Gaps Grow.” This publication chose to emphasize that while the overall scores did not decline all that much, the “achievement gap” between white kids and kid “of color” have widened slightly. As more students take the test, it becomes more and more apparent that black and Latino children are not performing as well as their white counterparts. (Note that when we talk about the “achievement gap,” we are not generally referring to the widening gap between Asian Americans and white kids…but that gap is widening, too. Nor are we emphasizing the gap in performance between boys and girls…but that gap exists, too).

The New York Times, on the other hand, led the same story with the headline “SAT Scores Steady for Class of ’09.”  The emphasis here was on the fact that while there was a slight decline in the average critical reading, the average math scores held steady.  The article does point out, however, that these gaps in achievement according to ethnicity, gender, and socio-economic class are increasing, in part because more and more minority students are taking the tests (40% of test takers were minorities in 20009, up form 48% in 2008).

Just goes to show you that the headline does not convey the entire picture, and different publications with different editorial policies will choose to emphasize different things in their articles.

On this particular story, I prefer the Inside Higher Ed version.  It gives a bunch more information, including a breakdown of scores by ethnicity and with some comparisons of scores between 2009 and 2005.  While the average yearly decline is not great, the decline over five years is more pronounced.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Planner



SAT, Score Choice, and the Business of Standardized Testing

Today’s edition of Inside Higher Ed presents an excellent analysis of the College Board’s new policy allowing students to select which of their SAT scores they’d like to submit to colleges.

Ostensibly, this new policy is to alleviate the stress of taking the tests, and to give more power to students in the admissions process. However, at the same time, the College Board is telling colleges that they can have their own policies with regard to “Score Choice,” thereby eliminating any real “choice” by the students. Colleges still retain the right to see whatever scores they want to see.

As the article points out, the College Board is talking out of both sides of its mouth. To its student customers, it is saying, “we’re here for you…we care about your pain and suffering.” To it’s college and university customers, it is saying, “we’ll help you implement your policies and subvert student choice, if that’s what you want.”

Face it, folks. Higher education is a multi-billion dollar business in the USA. Colleges and universities act as businesses. The College Board is a company. It may be classified as a “non-profit” for tax purposes, but it has revenue goals like any other economic entity. And College Board competes in our capitalistic system alongside the ACT.

The problem is that the College Board has two sets of customers whose needs and interests are, if not diametrically opposed, at least in conflict. The College Board sits squarely between the colleges–who want ways to compare apples to oranges in an educational environment that is chaotically diverse–and high school students–who want the opportunity to present themselves in the best possible light with the minimum of stress.

My advice to clients is to not to get caught up in a frenzy. Test scores are important aspects of the overall application process, especially to the most selective colleges. While I have seen a few students make huge leaps in their performance on these tests, most make only modest gains–even after extensive (and often expensive) test preparation tutoring. I do not think that these tests are particularly fair. Nor do I believe that they are measures of aptitude or predictors of future success. And I applaud colleges who dare to move away from using them.

But it doesn’t do high school juniors and seniors much good to get agitated, indignant, stressed, or depressed. The tests aren’t fair? Well, life isn’t fair And it we may as well start learning this little fact at age 17.

So again, what do I tell my clients?
–Prepare the best you can.
–Make realistic goals based on the reality of the numbers.
–Develop a strategy to present yourself in the best light possible.
–Do not allow your test scores or grades to define you as human being.
–Remember that there are many paths to success–and it’s never too late to choose a different one.

In short, let the professional educators, policy makers, and people like me rail against the unfairness and silliness of it all. For now, just do your work, enjoy your life, and have confidence that you have many wonderful opportunities ahead.

 

Mark Montgomery
College Counselor

 

 

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Tuition Costs Went Up. What a Surprise!

The annual report from the College Board indicates that the cost of tuition went up last year.  On average, costs increased from 5-6%, depending on the type of institution.  If you want more specifics, you can see the summary of the report in today’s edition of Inside Higher Ed.


The big question is how much colleges will have to raise tuition in the next budget cycle.  A lot will depend on how their admission and financial aid numbers look.  But most colleges set their budgets for the coming year before the incoming class has been accepted–much less made commitments to attend by putting down deposits.  I expect colleges will be very conservative in the coming budget cycle.  Will colleges and universities raise tuition?  Is the sky blue?  Of course they will raise tuition.  But will prices rise by a much higher percentage than in the past?  Hard to tell at this point.


Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant




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College Board Announces a Pre-PSAT Test for 8th Graders

Time Magazine reported the other day that the College Board has developed a new pre-PSAT to administer to 8th graders.  The test, called “Readistep,” is supposed to provide an early measure of academic ability and readiness for college.


This argument is a bit rich, given all the debate about whether the SAT itself measures predicts anything useful about a student’s future success in college.  Further, with 775 colleges now considering SAT or ACT tests as optional in the admissions process, it’s hard to understand the argument that more tests is the trend of the future.  Plus, with each state required by No Child Left Behind to administer standardized tests to measure school quality, does it make sense to offer yet another standardized assessment?


On the other hand, this test has been developed and will be marketed by the College Board.  So I wouldn’t underestimate the power of the organization to help shape how and when our college-bound students are assessed.


Mark Montgomery
College Counselor





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