How to Score High on the SAT Essay

(Education Week) By Walt Gardner– Although the new SAT makes the essay optional, almost two-thirds of test takers in the spring went for it (“How a teacher bombed the SATs,” The Boston Globe, Jul. 14).  The essays were rated by two scorers on the basis of reading, writing, and analysis.  The scores were added up for […]

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Does Applying to More Get You Through the Door? Why More Is Not Better in College Admissions

(Pleasanton Weekly) By Elizabeth LaScala “If 10% of applicants are accepted to the most selective schools to which I apply, doesn’t that mean I will have a better than 1 in 10 chance of getting into any one of them if I apply to all of them?”  Many college applicants would like to think this […]

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How to identify testing bias

(Metro US) By Alizah Salario–When Sheila Akbar, director of education at test prep company Signet Education, took a practice exam for new SAT, one passage threw her off. In the reading section, students were asked to analyze a letter exchange between two women in the 1830s arguing about whether they should become involved in the abolitionist […]

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Approaching Highly Selective College Admission Testing

(Forbes) By Willard Dix–Let me be direct about this topic: Over-emphasizing the ACT and/or SAT at the expense of other necessary college application components like academic achievement, doesn’t make sense. It’s far more productive for college admission and personal development to approach school and education as an ongoing enterprise instead of as the make-or-break proposition that college […]

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The Typical College Student Is Not Who You Think It Is

(The Atlantic) By Conor Friedersdorf– Who are today’s college students? The answer surprises most people who attended four year universities, according to Jamie Merisotis, President and CEO of Lumina Foundation. Addressing audiences, like the one he spoke to Friday at The Aspen Ideas Festival, co-hosted by the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic, he frequently poses […]

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