The College Insider: Admissions Freak-Out Countdown #2: SAT Prep, The Good, The Bad, And The Goofy

It's fall. Normal happy people watch the leaves change color, but parents of seniors care only for the stark black and white landscape of inked circles on bubble grids. Adults whose SAT prep involved two sharpened number two pencils and a good breakfast invest in test prep because we're terrified not to. If the test-prep czars ran the automotive industry, we'd all be out buying cars; they're that good at creating desire.

Just days before the first Super Saturday of the fall test season, seniors are finishing up weeks if not months of prep classes, private tutoring, guide books, on-line classes, or any combination of the above. Juniors are already underway; I know eighth-graders who take sample tests. Sometimes it feels as though standardized test prep is going to knock juice-and-nap time off the kindergarten itinerary.

How much are we betting? While thousands of students protested University of California system-wide tuition hikes that brought this year's tuition and fees to about $8700, a test-prep company amusingly called Revolution Prep quotes $7599 for one high-end package and won't even publish the total cost of the more expensive and extensive Global Elite Tutoring. Power to the people, indeed.

On the theory that it's never too late to save a little money, I suggest we try to deconstruct the process and look for cheaper ways to achieve results:

• Test-taking strategies: If there's a consensus on anything, it's that your child doesn't want to spend valuable time reading the instructions for the first time on the day of the test. Before you pay for sample tests in a room at a prep center, or proctored by a tutor, consider a few free sample tests at home. If a student's reading comprehension isn't strong enough to make sense of the instructions, test-prep is probably not going to turn him into a star.

• Success, SAT math: A wildfire one-word chant, "Sudoku," went up when my daughter was in high school. No hard research but lots of enthusiasm among parents who saw a link between the obsessive working of Japanese number puzzles and good math scores. If your kid can't work even the easy puzzles, then you can always consider prep or find a school that no longer requires standardized tests.

• Success, SAT verbal: This strategy really should be put into play before the training wheels come off, but it's never too late to start: Encourage your child to read when he doesn't have to for school. Reading helps with tests that require you to, yep, read. Compare the cost of a library card to a stint in Global Prep.

Parents in the Bellevue, Washington school district endorse the test-prep equivalent of home-cooking, a lonely but comforting voice in the for-profit test-prep wilderness. Are you brave enough to try it?

Nah, at this point we all want results; we want our kids to be at the high end of the advertised score hikes. But test-prep carries risk, like any investment, so let me share a couple of potential odds-busters, to take junior off the hook if the score report is south of what you'd hoped for:

• Finger length: Hormone levels in utero affect brain development - and finger length. Ring finger longer than index finger, innately greater math abilities. Index finger longer than ring finger, stronger verbal skills. And yes, researchers see a correlation in SAT scores.

• Menstrual cycles: Scientists say there's no significant relationship between test performance and a girl's cycle - and yet a prominent educational psychologist advises parents to make sure girls schedule the SAT to avoid the last four days of their cycles and the first four days of their periods.

• Personal psychology: Put one kid in a class with seven other students and he will be inspired to competitive excellence by all the ambitious energy in the room. Put another kid in the same room and the ambient anxiety sticks to him like H1N1 germs on a doorknob. You may not find out which type you have until it's too late.

Still, the two-generation peer pressure can be enormous; I'm only trying to provide a safety valve so you can get some needed rest before the exam. And for no charge whatsoever, I'm going to toss in one sophisticated tidbit that surfaced when the new essay section of the SAT was introduced a few years ago:

"Write big."

That's it. Readers slog through stacks and stacks of blue books for hours on end, and the word is that some of them get a wee bit testy, and quite possibly start to confuse volume with effort. If an essay covers a lot of pages, it must be serious; if it doesn't require the reader to turn the page, perhaps the student is blowing off the test. Big writing, it seems, matters as much as big ideas.

I have witnesses. Honest.

Next up: Admissions Freak-out Countdown #3: The Squeeze Play - Early Decision, Budget Cuts, and No Vacancy Signs.

Karen Stabiner is the author of the upcoming novel, Getting In. Write to [e-mail] or visit www.karenstabiner.com to find out more.

 

 

Comments

[Shelley Krause]

Looking for a safety valve? The list of schools that are moving away from reliance on standardized testing in their assessment of applicants gets longer by the minute.

http://bit.ly/testoptionall)

I believe that parents who want to best support their daughters and sons through this process would be well-served by learning about 1) how to find statistical information that helps you distinguish one school from the next (e.g. http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/) and 2) how financial aid works (e.g. http://www.hesc.com/content.nsf/sfc/HESC_Podcasts_Library)

Finally, tell your child that who they are -- their character, integrity, determination, curiousity, and sense of humor -- will always matter more than the name on their diplomas. And BELIEVE IT.

[QueenCeleste]

And by all means, please let kids know from an early age that if they don't do well on these tests it's not the end of the world. Very few will be accepted into the ivy league schools, and it's not the end of the world if they attend a "lesser" college. There is such tremendous stress for them today and especially so in certain communities (which shall go nameless) to excel at everything. The most important thing is their health and happiness.

[Jenifer Fox - Huffpost Blogger]

HI, here is my response to this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jenifer-fox/the-high-cost-of-a-brand_b_301710.html I think college admission has a high cost attached to it...

[Tim Ellis - Huffpost Blogger]

This articles serves a great purpose (while making the point more softly than I might) in knocking over-rated test prep services into proper place when contrasted with equally efficient - but free - do-it-yourself tips. And the closing piece of advice - "write big" - is certainly worth a shot.

However, I'm afraid the author loses the plot a bit midway through:

"Menstrual cycles: Scientists say there's no significant relationship between test performance and a girl's cycle - and yet a prominent educational psychologist advises parents to make sure girls schedule the SAT to avoid the last four days of their cycles and the first four days of their periods."

So scientists say there's no significant relationship between test performance and a girl's cycle - but somebody who isn't cited and isn't even named disagrees. What conclusion are we supposed to draw from this? Clearly the author thinks it's worth including, and maybe it is - but a little sourcing would go a long way. I have my doubts, but I'm willing to be proven wrong. What I'm not willing to do is take it on the word of some mysterious "educational psychologist."

I point this out only because I found it a jarring note in an otherwise timely and well done article that addresses an important issue. I doubt very much that there was any deliberate attempt to mislead.

[Karen Stabiner - Huffpost Blogger]

Good point; I'm all for named sources. This, unfortunately, was part of the underground wisdom circulated by parents when I was going through the process, and I didn't dig out the name. I will be sure to be more specific in the future. Because you're right: No deliberate attempt to mislead; I just want to share what I've learned and heard with parents whose collective blood pressure is too high at the moment. Thanks for the kind words as well.

[Tim Ellis - Huffpost Blogger]

Fair enough! To be honest, it would make complete sense to me that the menstrual cycle could have a fairly significant impact on testing scores. I plunked through a quick google search and found this:

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED393899&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED393899

... which would appear to indicate that there is a correlation. Definitely worth looking into further. Keep at it - like I said, the article was timely and made some very important points, a solid entry for HuffPo.

[RachelMc]

smh@ SATs. the 2nd time i took it as a senior and my score actually dropped. same with those who took the prep course. they made lower test scores in general.

[LarryD]

Those test prep biggies who 'create desire': Isn't their true genius capitalizing on parents' fears that Sally or Harry won't get into the Harvard or Yale of her or his choice? Speaking of those parents, isn't some of their concern based on a simple if brutal matter of return on investment? They've been shelling out over $20,000 a year on private schools. If that money 'invested' in a 'good education' is only getting them their kid in a state university, why did they spend it?

[minimalist syntax]

You can't take research that drew conclusions about groups and apply it directly to individuals. Research concerning the ratio of ring finger to index finger (digit 4:2) is research that applies to *groups*. This ratio that is thought to be a reflection of exposure to sex hormones en utero. (Limb length of various types such as long versus short legs etc. also signal something about exposure or sensitivity to sex hormones en utero). The ratio found in males as a group is a slightly longer ring to slightly shorter index. The ratio found in females as a group is approximately 1:1 so same length. This is incidentally looking at the right hand. Just like secondary sexual characteristics can have asymmetries whereby one side of testes/breasts are larger than the other side, it is true for digit ratio too.

[Tim Ellis - Huffpost Blogger]

Exactly. This is the ecological fallacy, a phrase I am only using because I randomly learned about it today while perusing the web and am thrilled to have the opportunity to work it into conversation so quickly. Thanks, internet.

Statistical group averages tell you something about the group, but they tell you nothing about an individual within the group because you don't know where in the range of results that individual falls. So while you can draw a correlation between finger length ratio and verbal vs mathematical acumen for the group as a whole, you can't accurately apply those results to an individual.

[ImissBush]

SATs r all goofy
its been proven best indicator of sussess in college is success in HS

but no money in tht

[MamaBird62]

This makes me want to barf. I made around 1300 on the SAT in 1980 with absolutely no test preparation. (I don't remember anyone even discussing such a thing.) I had spent 11 years with great parents, pretty good public schools and teachers, and a love of books.
Two things:
If "test prep" works, then the test itself is bogus. In their own defense, the good folks at the College Board will tell you that test prep doesn't work. I think we already know this, but this test industry has a choke hold on the college admissions process.
If it doesn't work, then why waste the money and time?

Where does that leave us?

[minimalist syntax]

You should clarify that it was 1300 out of how many?? because nowadays the total possible score is 2400, so 1300 would look abysmal to a young reader.

[RachelMc]

they did say that was back in 1980

[MamaBird62]

If a 20-year old can't comprehend from the context of my comment that 1300 in 1980 was a very good SAT score, then I doubt they did very well on their own verbal SAT score.

[MsCuda]

I donno. My rig finger is about as long to a tad bit longer than my index, and I pretty much suck at math. (I was taking 080 levels and struggling.) Yet, my verbal was way up there.

Then again, I've heard that people who are good at math tend to be good at music. I'm also tone deaf, so at least I follow that trend.

[Lordemil]

Sudoku!! for SAT Math prep, You have got to be kidding.... There is no math in Sudoku .

[sansom]

True, no math, only logic needed for sudoku. And although general logic could maybe help a student narrow down some choices on an SAT math problem, logic alone would probably not get them to the one right answer.