July 27th, 2014
You’ve racked up great scores on the ACT and SAT tests, you’ve worked hard to get good grades and your recommendations are stellar. Yet you find yourself on your preferred school’s waiting list. A casual effort on the college application essay may be the reason.
Over the past 10 years the college application essay has become an increasingly important metric for getting into college. The reason? Colleges get multiple looks at you as a student through test scores, grades and teacher recommendations, but little sense of you as a person. The college application essay is often the only means that admissions officers get to know the person behind the scores. And this is often the difference between getting into the college you’ve dreamed of versus settling for your “safe” school.
The essay is also the best way to differentiate yourself from the crowd. Have solid SAT and ACT scores? Great GPA? Active in athletics and a number of clubs? Studied abroad in France? So have thousands of other students across the country, many of whom share a resume that looks exactly like your own. The essay is the only part of the application where students present themselves as real people who hold sincere values and vulnerabilities, with distinct personalities and problems to overcome.
At Test Preps, Inc., we tutor hundreds of students each year who put many hours into studying SAT vocabulary and pacing themselves on ACT tests only to dash off an essay with little guidance. Parents and students need to know that an essay alone cannot make up for a poor academic record, but admissions officers admit that you can write yourself into a school. To do so, however, students need to know the essentials of a successful college application essay and the pitfalls to avoid, which will be the topic of our next blog.
January 23rd, 2012
The boot-camp format for SAT and ACT prep is booming not just in Western New York, but across the country. There are a few good reasons.
First, teenagers’ schedules make President Obama’s look lackadaisical. In early for a club meeting, after- school practice, tournaments on weekends, room for another commitment simply doesn’t exist. And even when a few hours can be carved out of the schedule, there is no regularity to them, so a weekly prep class isn’t feasible. Test Preps’ Boot Camps are held over school breaks. We target the calm spot in the school schedule so kids can focus on improving their scores, getting into the colleges of their choice and earning more scholarship money. What’s more, boot camp attendees are taught the same tactics and strategies that they’d learn if they signed up for our traditional SAT or ACT class, they receive the same interactive instruction, the same personalized attention.
Another benefit of boot camps is their intensity. No lectures, no tedious note taking. Teens are active right from the get go internalizing strategies, perfecting pacing, and taking tests. Much like the no-nonsense test day itself, our boot camps are single minded about improving teens SAT and ACT scores.
July 29th, 2011
Colleges have many ways to evaluate your teen academically: transcripts, college application, recommendations, test scores. They only get to see the person behind the scores in the college application essay. And with so many academically strong students to choose from in Western New York alone, schools want to know who will adjust smoothly to college life and how prospective students will contribute to the campus community. As the head admissions counselor at the University of North Carolina expressed, schools do not want well-rounded students, they want students with a passion who will help create a well-rounded campus. The college application essay is the only place where the character of the applicant is revealed, and thus the essay has become the single best way to distinguish oneself in the application process.
Help your teen stand out fr
om the college application crowd! Sign them up for TestPreps’ Essay Workshop for the College Application, now offered for a second successful year. Upon completion of our course, your teens will have written a polished essay that reveals their character, communicates how they will positively contribute to the campus community, and gives them the edge in an increasingly competitive admissions process.
April 14th, 2011
You know E
VERY college will accept an ACT score in lieu of an SAT, you know there’s no vocabulary component, you know that scores are averaged, and you have a basic idea of what each section looks like. Still hesitant to register?
There’s no substitute for experience.
Have your teens take the ACT for a test run and see for themselves why it may be the test to get them the scores they’re hoping for. Test Preps is sponsoring an ACT PREVIEW DAY, Saturday, April 30th from 8:00 – 12:00 noon at the Boys and Girls Club of Orchard Park.
The cost is only $20 and includes test-taking tips from experienced instructors and results emailed to you within 3 days! Register online or call Ray Mangione at 474-8053 for additional information.
Find out if the ACT is the test to get your teen into the college of her choice.
March 18th, 2011
Is your hectic high school schedule making it difficult to find time to prepare for the SATs?
School sports have you busy all season?
Test Preps SAT Boot Camp, the less expensive alternative to traditional prep, is for you! Held every day over the April break, our innovative course will have you prepared and confident for the May 7th SAT. With 1 teacher for every 12 students, our experienced instructors will teach you strategy-based tactics in an interactive setting. Practice for every section of the SAT is built into our class time. Test Preps binder and SAT preparation book is included. Attendance at every class is mandatory as no make-up classes willl be offered.
Dates: Monday, April 18 – Friday, April 22 9:00am-12:30pm and Tuesday, May 3rd: 7:00-9:00pm (Follow-up session)
Cost: $550
Click here to sign up!
February 26th, 2011
Test Preps is excited to announce that we have partnered with Alden Community Education to offer SAT and ACT Courses! Classes are scheduled on Monday and Wednesday evenings starting April 25th and will be held at Alden High School.
For more information: click here
