Strategies to Score High on August and Future SATs

 

Students planning to take the August 27th SAT exam, or a PSAT or SAT exam in the fall, should go into the test with knowledge of the key strategies so they can reach their potential on these all-important tests.  Many top public high schools in Central New Jersey report average SAT scores above 600 in both Evidence-based Reading & Writing and Math. A couple of high schools even reached or topped 1500 for combined scores. So the bar is set high for local students.

The current SAT exam focuses on three areas: critical reading, grammar, and math. A key strategy, that is relevant on all areas of the test, is for students to answer each question (even if it’s a guess) as there’s not a penalty for wrong answers. 

On the reading section, students should pay extra attention to the “duo” questions where two points are at stake. One question asks about an aspect of the passage, and the following question asks which lines in the passage support the answer.  It’s often easier to do the second question first, and then back into the first question.

Identify and Get Accepted to Your Ideal College

 

Students in search of the perfect college all have a couple of criteria in common.  They want a college that offers a great program in their major of choice that will put them on track for a well paying career.  They also want a college to which they can likely gain admission. 

There are many tools that students can use to identify colleges that offer a strong program in their chosen field.  U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Colleges,” for example, lists the colleges and universities with the most reputable programs in various areas of business: Accounting, Business Analytics, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Insurance/Risk Management, International Business, Management, Marketing, and others. It does the same for various areas of engineering: Aeronautical, Biomedical, Chemical, Civil, Computer, Electrical, Industrial, Mechanical, and more. There are also a host of websites that list the top colleges for a gamut of other fields.  

Organized Timeline To Maximize Student Success

As parents and students plan for a new school year, it’s important to realize that having a carefully organized timeline can help avoid the stress of an anxiety-filled year.

A student’s path to success actually starts during the early part of freshman year. Colleges admire students who show longevity in their activities, so the sooner students identify their clubs, sports, volunteer work, or other activities of passion, the longer they have to build a track record of accomplishments.  Freshman year is the perfect time to take on a new musical instrument or sport that might make a student particularly attractive to colleges.  A demonstrated commitment to volunteer work could earn a 50% to 100% tuition scholarship to The College of New Jersey which seeks “Bonner Community Scholars” and expects 300 volunteer hours each college year.

Ivy League Schools versus Public Ivies

When considering the most prestigious colleges in the United States, the eight Ivy League schools, all located in the northeast, most often come to mind. The first of these elite schools was Harvard, founded in 1636, with Yale following in 1702.  Five more of these institutions were established in the mid-1700’s (University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, Brown, Columbia and Dartmouth) while Cornell was founded in 1865.

But the term Ivy League wasn’t coined until 1954 when the NCAA athletic conference for Division I was formed.  Since then, these elite schools have certainly maintained their athletic rivalries. But a sense of academic competitiveness thrives as well, with many of these institutions claiming bragging rights for the number of U.S. presidents they’ve educated.  Harvard: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, George W. Bush, Barack Obama. Yale: William Howard Taft, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush. Columbia: Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Barack Obama. Princeton: James Madison, Woodrow Wilson. University of Pennsylvania: William Henry Harrison, Donald Trump. (Several presidents attended more than one school.)