Free SAT/ACT Webinar

I'll be faster than and almost as powerful as a speeding locomotive with this message:

Tonight, our head tutor, Marissa U, will host a live walkthrough of each of the sections of the SAT and ACT, in order to help you figure out Which Test is Best...

...to help your kiddo multiply his odds of admission to his Dream School...

...and get his mitts on the scholarships you deserve to help combat the ridiculous cost of college!

The whole thing will be over in order an hour, but there will be plenty of time for Q&A.

Sign up here, and you will discover

• Which test is best for kids good at math
• Which test is the "faster one"
• The hidden "science section" on the SAT
• More

SAT/ACT PREVIEW

See you in class.

- Andy Lockwood

P.S.  There's no charge to attend, but the information you learn could save you dozens of stressful hours, not to mention thousands of donuts in wasted tutoring fees for the Wrong Test.

P.P.S.  Here's the sign up page one more time:

www.l...

If you've been on my email list for a little bit, you won't be shocked to learn that I was a big Mad Magazine fan back in the day.   

One of my favorite features was the Spy vs. Spy cartoon, which depicted outlandish battles between one faceless spy, dressed all in black, the other, identical but in white attire.

To the best of my recollection, there was hardly ever a clear winner, which was satisfying to some people, I guess.  But not to me. I always wanted to know which spy was better.

A lot of parents, and kids, feel the same way about the SAT or ACT.  There's an assumption that one is "better," meaning one that colleges prefer, or is better in some other, undefined way.  Possibly because those of us who grew up in the 80s on the East or West coast may never have heard of the ACT, which was largely a midwestern thang until it grew, and eclipsed the SAT 7-8 years ago.

Here's the deal...

Colleges are agnostic.  They accept either test.  So the logical strategy is to pick the one ...

Earlier in the week, a client said "Danger, Will Robinson!" to me, evoking a popular show people our age grew up with, Lost in Space.

That was a black and white adventure series about a family of space travelers, who bounced around from planet to planet, adventure to adventure, always trying to find their way home, but never quite getting there.

Reminds me a lot of how college planning works, including standardized testing. 

Parents (and kids) bounce around all over the place, getting conflicting, "adventurous" thoughts and advice form other parents, kids, guidance counselors, maybe even (artificial intelligence) robots about standardized testing, like:

• Don't take either the SAT or ACT, colleges don't need them
• Don't submit your scores
• You have to submit your scores if you're not a minority applicant
• You have to submit your scores if you want to get scholarships
• The SAT is better for kids good at math
• If you're bad at science, don't take the ACT
• Study for both the SAT and A
...

I get this question almost every time I send an email about our SAT and ACT tutoring options, and yesterday was no exception.  The question:

"Do you even need to submit your SAT or ACT anymore?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' herein...

There is a difference between APPLYING test-optional, and GETTING IN test-optional.

Colleges are a little cute about this. They don't readily release their stats on the number of admitted students who submitted their scores.

They do, however, brag about how many students with great or perfect scores they rejected, like Stanford did last year.

How do you decide whether to submit your scores?  Here are my thoughts and hunches:

• Test-optional policies were designed to increase minority enrollment at selective colleges.  The increase, so far:  a big fat 1%
• Admissions offices used test-optional policies to recruit other classes of students, in addition to underrepresented minorities:  legacies, athletes, international students, children of professo...