Top Timing Tips for Tests
Most standardized tests require maximum production in minimal time from those pushing for the best scores. In fact, the race against the clock adds an additional dimension of complexity to most exams. That’s why your test day preparations should always involve a watch. Three Steps to Making a Watch Work on Test Day Step 1. Find a watch; parents are perfect sources of functional if not fashionable wristwatches! Step 2. Wear a watch. Step 3. Use a watch… it doesn’t do much good if you don’t look at it! Analog or Digital? If my kids are representative of their generation, the ability to read an analog clock is gradually being relegated to the same dustbin of history where we find cobbling and calligraphy. Yet some argue that analog watches make keeping time easier: With an analog clock you can actually see where time has traveled and where it’s going…
Paean to the #2 Pencil
Did you know that March 30 is National Pencil Day? Why shouldn’t we celebrate the pencil? Anyone writing the history of education in America would be wise to include a long, loving chapter in praise of the writing implement synonymous with the SAT and ACT. Anywhere students huddle over a Scantron form, you will find #2 pencils and plenty of them… at least for now! The ubiquity of this unassuming tool belies the elegance and perfection of its form and function. How the basic wooden pencil became such a valuable and useful writing implement is reviewed in a brilliant article in Popular Mechanics, The Write Stuff How the Humble Pencil Conquered the World. This lavish account of the pencil’s origins and ascendancy reveals some fascinating facts: The word “pencil” is derived from pencillum, Latin for “a fine brush.” The crystalline carbon substance we know as graphite was first discovered under a…
Annotated Test Day Checklist
No matter how diligently you prepare for the big tests, all your effort can come to naught if you drop the ball on test day. Everything you do in the week leading up to the test matters, as does everything you bring–or forget to bring–to the testing center. College Board provides a helpful Test Day Checklist that becomes even more useful with our expanded recommendations, which we update every year: What to Bring Your Admission Ticket (print at least TWO days before you need it.) Acceptable photo ID (pay attention to the rules around acceptable ID.) Two No. 2 pencils with erasers (mechanical pencils are not allowed, but big erasers are.) An approved calculator (either pack a spare or be ready if your calculator fails.) Tissues (Testing seems to elicit all kinds of sniffles, sneezes, and tears.) Required medications and medical devices (go ahead and pack a special first aid…
Test Day Nightmares: Scantrons in the Streets
Imagine you were driving down the road and saw what seemed to be really important paperwork regarding your most fervent academic aspirations. This may sound like a wild hypothetical, but, too often, truth is stranger than fiction… Raina Porras and her mom were in the car when they saw papers littering the street last week. Looking closer, Porras, a junior at El Paso High School, saw what seemed like Scantron bubbles filled in across the pages. Her mom joked that the papers were her PSAT scores because she’d just taken the exam the day before. Her mom was right. Apparently, the answer sheets for the SAT exams that students took at El Paso High School on October 27 were lost in transit after being submitted to UPS. According to the El Paso Independent School District, staffers recovered all but 55 of the answer documents. What can be done for students…
Brain Food: Eating for Excellence
Did your parents ever give you a big plate of fish for dinner, telling you it was “brain food”? Maybe you wondered how it made any sense that salmon could make you smarter, but as it turns out, there’s a little bit of truth to it. Nutritionists and physicians have studied so-called superfoods for decades, decoding the science behind their supposed effects on the human body, and there have been tons of foods with observed positive impacts on the brain: Fish, of course, but more specifically fish high in omega-3 fatty acids, like salmon, trout and sardines. Turmeric, a powerful antioxidant that’s a staple in curries. Blueberries, blackberries, and other dark berries are full of antioxidants and can combat inflammation across the whole body. Broccoli, which supplies the Vitamin K that’s a building block of the fat in brain cells. Nuts of every kind have nutrients that are linked to…
Three Steps to Score Consistency
The first step to your best test scores is, through deliberate practice and expert coaching, to prove once that you are capable of earning your target score. The next step is to prove that you can keep earning that score. High stakes testing has much more to do with sports than with school when it comes to doing your best when it counts. While one coach has been credited with saying, “That’s why we play the game to see who’ll win,” everyone who has ever competed knows well that being favored to win means nothing once the whistle blows and every player strives to win. Just like athletes, many test takers experience dramatic swings in performance from test to test. Since inconsistency stems from a variety of underlying problems, focus on fixing every aspect of your practice to unlock your best every time the moment matters: 1. Use real test…