For many, even the sound of the phrase standardized test induces an instantaneous state of discomfort—a mixture of disappointment, defeat and anxiety.  For others, a sense of accomplishment, achievement and nearly contagious confidence beam from them when the topic arises. What might explain such contrasting experiences of students who often play on the same sports teams, sit in the same AP classes and sometimes even live in the same house?
(read more…)

Having studied student error patterns on standardized tests for a decade, it has become increasingly apparent that careless errors on the SAT/ACT are typically not as “careless” as they seem.  In fact, clear patterns emerge when you sit down to study students grappling with inherent “carelessness.”

(read more…)

We would like to congratulate Grace Shea, Zack Cook and the four other high school seniors we worked with who were recognized as STAR students by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators Foundation in February. These high school seniors worked hard to be recognized for maintaining a grade-point average in the top 10 percent of their class and achieving the highest SAT score at their schools. Six of the 19 STAR students, which stands for Student Teacher Achievement Recognition program,  from the North Atlanta neighborhoods of Brookhaven, Buckhead, Dunwoody and Sandy Springs, were tutored by Appelrouth.

(read more…)

I just received an interesting article from my doctoral advisor, a memory researcher at GSU.

Some psychologists at Kent State are examining how testing affects memory and memory strategies.

Testing, as we know, is not just to gauge student progress or inform our sessions.  Testing is a powerful tool to enhance learning.  Testing has a significant impact on retention and encoding information into long-term memory.  Study alone is not as robust. This is why we insist that students take practice tests.

Why does testing (AKA taking mocks) impact retention in a way that review and study (practice problems) do not?

The KSU researchers found that students need a chance to fail (retrieval failures) in order to strengthen or replace their memorization strategies.  You don’t know you need a new strategy until the one you are relying upon comes up short.  And when a strategy for memorization (a mantra, a heuristic) was successful in a testing situation, the researchers proposed that this strategy was consequently enhanced in long term memory.  After failure, students in this study went back (the test-restudy condition) and modified their memory strategies to find more effective ways to remember the content.

So students clearly learn from their experiences of success and failure in testing experiences, and the act of taking a practice test is actually one of the best ways to encode information deeper into long-term memory.

You can listen to the podcast that discusses Mary A. Pyc and Katherine A. Rawson’s study, Why Testing Improves Memory: Mediator Effectiveness Hypothesis, which was originally published 15 October 2010 in Science Magazine.

A college admissions committee spends on average 7 minutes with each application. Will your child stand out?

On Wednesday, November 17, Jed Appelrouth, MS, NCC and Steven Goodman, MS, JD and will be meeting to discuss the ins and outs of college admissions. You can attend the event in-person or watch it live online:

Attend Webinar Attend In-Person

(learn more…)

Updated: Last week the AJC reported that the State Board of Education voted to use $1.1 million of the $400 million Race to the Top funds to pay for ALL 10th grade PSATs.

Updated: Last night I heard from DeKalb county teacher that the Race to the Top funds would be used to pay for PSATs. My Google search didn’t yield any new info, but if you know something I don’t, please share in the comments.

In May, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that budget cuts would limit public schools’ funding for the PSAT for sophomores.

Georgia had been paying for all 10th-graders to take the PSAT and for students to take two AP exams, but now will pay those costs only for students eligible for free and reduced-price lunches. The PSAT costs $13; each AP exam is $86.

Why does this matter to students? Well, studies have shown that repeated exposure to a test has a definite impact on students’ performance. The more a student practices a test the more comfortable he will be when he takes it for real Junior year. Not only is the PSAT good practice for the SAT, but a high score on it might lead to full scholarships at a number of colleges and universities.

Former State schools Superintendent Kathy Cox has long been a vocal supporter of the PSAT program, confident in its power to help students perform well on the SAT. It will be interesting to see how students continue to perform on the SAT, especially with the news that Georgia scores have already fallen.

There’s a great article in today’s NY Times: Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits.  It spells out some valuable strategies for parents to help their kids get an edge on studying more effectively.

I wanted to outline the main points in the article and add some commentary from my own research and experience.

(read more…)

The Associated Press reported yesterday that ACT, Inc. released a report indicating that across the country this year’s Spring ACT scores fell from those in 2009.  ”Last spring’s high-school seniors averaged a composite score of 21.0 on the test’s scale of 1 to 36, down slightly from 21.1 last year and the lowest score of the last five years. ”

(read more…)

You can lead a horse to water, but how can you get it to study its SAT vocabulary? This is the challenge that test-prep coaches have dealt with for years. How do we motivate others? Specifically, how do we influence and motivate teenagers?

(read more…)

The required PSAT score to be recognized as a National Merit Semifinalist varies from state to state every year.  This year, the states with the highest cutoff score of 221 were Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington, DC. The state with the lowest cutoff score was Wyoming with 201. Georgia’s cutoff score was 214.