ADHD / Anxiety Archives

Should 9th Graders Study For College Entrance Exams?

January 29, 2019 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Worrying about college entrance exams — the ACT and SAT — seems to start earlier and earlier, which can unnecessarily derail important resources during the 9th grade year. It’s important to remember that many of the skills and concepts that you learn throughout high school — starting day one — will help develop the skills needed to succeed when testing time comes.

Freshmen year is an important foundation year to learn lessons that underpin the rest of your high school journey. It’s also when you should establish or continue good study patterns and organizational habits for the years to come. These habits will help when you cultivate test taking strategies and start officially preparing for college entrance exams in January or February of 10th grade. During freshman year of high school, it’s best to focus on a successful transition to high school both academically and socially.

Classroom Instruction and College Entrance Exams

One of the most important ways that students can prepare for college entrance exams is by recognizing that daily classroom lessons are already preparing you! You will encounter terms, concepts, and ideas every day that will serve you in the test taking to come.

Keep in mind that the “boring” basics are vital to your future success. Building vocabulary is key. Look up words as they appear in texts to minimize drilling later. Learn grammar now. English teachers will provide sentence level corrections on essays at this stage so that subsequent teachers focus more on organization, concept development, and higher order writing skills. This is the moment to establish and retain grammar rules because you will have so much more to study later. Math and language classes are strictly sequenced so mastering those foundation skills will ensure you succeed in and enjoy future classes.

The PSAT

Most schools organize a PSAT date during the Sophomore year. Many students worry about and even compete for high PSAT scores, but studying for the PSAT isn’t really necessary unless you aspire to earn a National Merit Scholarship. For most students, the purpose of the PSAT is to provide a concrete experience with college entrance exams and to show what knowledge areas you need to enrich and what types of questions are hardest for you.

The PSAT simply provides an initial baseline from which to judge your strengths and areas that require additional attention. It’s an abridged multiple-choice test, thus stamina and attention factors aren’t pushed to the same limits as full length SAT or ACT test, and it does not include a writing section, so this testing yields only limited information for planning purposes. Therefore, don’t take time away from your school work to study for the PSAT.

Test Taking Strategies

One of the challenges with college entrance exams are their structure, and that’s where learning the format of the test and developing some basic test taking strategies really helps. However, strategies must be taught in conjunction with content. Like tools in a toolbox, students need to know when to choose a particular strategy, or they’ll end up trying to hammer a nail with a screwdriver. As content is mastered, strategies help with efficient pacing and approach.

As a means of demonstrating subject matter mastery and building test taking skills, many students are in a position to take at least one SAT subject test at the end of 9th grade. If a SAT subject test aligns with a 9th grade course that is also a subject area of strength for you, then we strongly recommend taking it. Popular 9th grade choices are biology or foreign language, particularly if the student is a native speaker. Math 2 and physics are usually too difficult to take until junior or senior year. Subject tests related to chemistry, history, English, and literature are often managed during 10th and/or 11th grades. For students enrolled in AP courses, these exams are typically layered in during grades 10, 11 and 12. Students enrolled in IB programs have other specific planning to manage that can be leveraged for SAT subject tests or AP exams.

Regardless of school environment, it’s often the case that a school course isn’t completely aligned to any particular standardized test, or the course pacing isn’t on target to cover all necessary content. In January of 9th grade, we recommend you take a baseline assessment as a benchmarking opportunity so that any supplemental private tutoring needs and/or independent study can be strategically managed.

Timing For College Entrance Exams

Ninth graders don’t need to be thinking too much about college entrance exams, but they should be thinking about developing their intellectual engagement with the world in order to be prepared for those final high school years when tests and applications dominate. Ninth graders should also be thinking about their extracurricular activities and exploring new interests and hobbies, or deepening existing ones. Ideally school breaks and vacations allow students to discover their own pleasure reading, take fun workshops or courses in areas of interest, and/or manage a part-time job. They are, however, also an opportunity to create and launch a study plan for college entrance exams as well as SAT Subject tests, AP tests, or challenging subjects in school.

Most students should plan on taking college entrance exams officially for the first time in the late fall, winter, and/or spring terms of their Junior year. We recommend completing diagnostic testing in January or February of 10th grade in order to make an informed and strategic choice between the ACT or SAT. It’s absolutely not necessary to manage both tests.

Targeted instruction, structured practice, and accountability are all critical to your success with college entrance exams. Baseline ACT or SAT testing will reveal strengths and areas for growth. The summer between 10th and 11th grade is a great time to work more intensively. If a private tutor hasn’t already been established, now is the time to find one that will help address the specific areas of competency that need improvement. Taking the test 2-3 times during Junior year ensures that you have completed one of the major components of the college application process. With college entrance exams completed, you can spend the summer between 11th and 12th grades focusing on college visits and developing the Common Application essay as well as supplemental essays.

For a college planning overview from grades 7 through 12, please click here.

To further discuss high school and college planning as well as private tutoring, please contact our office.

By Brad Hoffman, MS.Ed., and Faya Hoffman, MA, and Charlotte Kent, Ph.D.

Understanding ACT Scores

January 7, 2019 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

“So what did you get on the ACT?” As soon as two weeks have passed since your child’s test date, they will start logging onto the website several times a day, reloading and reloading, until the answer to that question finally appears: a single two-digit number. Students are often so focused on that number, and the handful of subscores below it, that they overlook a statement that appears in small print above their score: “ACT will notify you by email when your score report is ready.” Unfortunately, many students and parents never look at the full score report and, therefore, don’t fully understand ACT scores. It’s really a missed opportunity because fully understanding ACT scores helps students and families make informed decisions about their next steps.

Sample Score Report

For ease of reading this article, we recommend downloading a sample ACT score report.

Composite Scores

Upon opening the report, you’ll notice a two-digit number, labeled “composite,” on the upper lefthand corner of the first page. ACT intentionally places this number in the first place our eyes would look — the composite is seen as both the first and the last word on how well the student performed. This number is the reason your child kept refreshing their phone’s web browser. This number is what colleges use to discuss the ACT scores of the students they admit. For instance, the middle 50 percent of students starting at the University of Michigan this fall scored 31 to 34, and the middle range starting at Fordham scored 28 to 32. Calculated on a scale from 1 to 36, the composite is the average of your child’s performance on the multiple choice sections of the test. (For reference, the national average ACT composite is about 21.)

STEM and ELA Scores

The next step in understanding ACT scores is to look at the numbers extending to the right of the composite, all of which are scored on the same 36-point scale as the composite. First are the scores for the Math and Science sections, followed by a STEM subscore that represents the average of those two numbers. Next come the scores for the English (proofreading) and Reading sections. If your child took the essay section — which is officially optional but highly recommended — the next score in the line will be labeled “Writing”. Writing is scored differently, on a scale of 1 to 12. But the ACT uses a formula to incorporate the Writing score along with the English and Reading scores into the last score in the column, a subscore labeled ELA for English Language Arts. A graph that extends below each of the scores gives a visual representation of the tester’s score on the 36-point scale, as well as that number’s distance above or below the score that ACT considers a demonstration of college readiness in that subject area.

It is worth noting that the STEM and ELA subscores are arguably of limited utility. First, they don’t match the way that students conceptualize the test, as four or five distinct sections. Second, the STEM subscore is complicated in that the Science section does not rely on scientific content knowledge — instead, it behaves like a critical reading section about scientific topics that incorporates charts and graphic representations. However, the two graphs below the section scores and subscores graph are definitely useful in understanding ACT scores. The left graph measures the tester’s performance on each section relative to other ACT testers in the state, and the right graph measures performance relative to all ACT testers in the nation. Instead of the 36-point scale, these graphs are scaled as percentiles, a measurement many students and parents find easier to understand.

Detailed Results

The percentiles allow testers and parents to conceptualize the strength of the tester’s performance, and the bottom of the page, labeled “Detailed Results,” offers a path forward for improvement. For each multiple choice section, the report lists a few major categories of skills. Next to each category is the raw number of questions answered correctly out of the total number of questions in that skill, plus the score translated into a percentage. Above the bar that serves as a visual representation of the percentage is a marker for what ACT calls the “Readiness Range,” the percentage correct that testers would need to earn in order to meet the test’s standards of college readiness. Categories that have reached college readiness will have a checkmark next to them.

So how does your child know whether to test again? Use your newfound skills with understanding ACT scores to decide, starting with the composite. Has it fallen comfortably into the range for their target colleges? Conversely, should they adjust their college list to more comfortably fit their composite? What about the section scores — are any of them lower than you’d like? If your child decides to test again — and many students end up testing two to three times (score choice or super scoring may also apply to your child’s college list) — the “Detailed Results” page lets them know which skills need the most development. A skillful tutor can help your child identify the most useful practice materials and help them find strategies to let their skills shine.

College and Career Planning

Standardized tests are an important element of the college application process, and students should spend ample time preparing for them; as a parent, though, you want to make sure that your child is not feeling unduly anxious or concerned about their scores. One section of the ACT score report that might inadvertently cause stress is the section labeled “College and Career Planning,” which draws inferences about their future careers based on the tester’s results. While this section is well-intentioned, we contend that the ACT simply does not cover a broad enough range of material or skills to predict, for instance, whether a high-school junior could eventually become a good engineer. Your child is very much at the beginning of their college and career journey, and their future holds all sorts of possibilities. Ideally, the feeling that their test results will bring is one of pride and empowerment.

To learn more about understanding SAT Scores, click here.

Please contact our office to discuss your child’s test preparation and college planning needs.

By Elizabeth Walters, Private Tutor and Writing Coach, and Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed. and College Counselor

Understanding SAT Scores

November 27, 2018 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Your child has spent months studying. A few weeks ago, they took the SAT. This morning, they woke up to an email saying their scores were ready to view. They log on to the portal and finds one number in large print — and lots of little numbers. While the test is known for that single large number, fully understanding SAT scores and how to read the reports will help you and your child figure out the next steps in their college application process.

Sample Score Report

For ease of reading this article, we recommend downloading a sample SAT score report.

Your Total Score

As readers do with a newspaper, students reading their SAT score report should start with the biggest headline — their total score, the number listed in large print. Considered the “bottom line” evaluation of the student’s performance, it can range from 400 to 1600. The next thing to read, immediately below the total score, are the scores for Math and Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (most people call it the “English” score). These scores range from 200 to 800, and together, they make up the composite. It’s important for students to know their total, English, and Math scores because these are the scores that college admissions offices publish for their admitted classes. For instance, Columbia University’s website reveals that the middle 50 percent of students admitted to the class of 2025 earned between 1510 and 1560 for their total score.

Section Scores

The total, English, and Math scores also are the numbers that members of the general public are likely to use in terms of understanding SAT scores — in other words, they’re the scores that allow testers to talk with regular people about their SAT performance. The thirty-year-old alumnus who interviews your child for their dream college might not know what the subscores mean, but they’ll know what they’re talking about when they discuss the total, Math, and English scores. Another set of numbers that put a student’s performance in real-world perspective appears beneath each of these big scores. On a scale of 100, these numbers reveal the percentile where the score falls among what the College Board (the company that publishes the SAT) defines as “typical U.S. students,” along with the percentile where the score falls among typical SAT testers. Because not all U.S. students plan to pursue higher education but SAT testers do, the SAT tester percentile is the more useful in terms of understanding how a tester’s scores compare with the scores of their college-bound peers.

Essay, Cross-Test Scores, and Subscores:

Beyond the main scores and the contextual percentiles, other numbers helpful for understanding SAT scores and score reports are the Essay (if the student took essay section, which we strongly recommend while it’s available through June 2021), Math, Reading, and Writing and Language test scores. These range from 10 to 40 and correlate with a helpful free resource, the Skills Insight for the SAT guide. This booklet breaks down these scores by ranges (for example, Reading Score Range 20-24) and makes recommendations for what students in each range should do to improve. It’s a set of study objectives that students can approach on their own, with their parents, or with a tutor. The subscores on the bottom of the page are also helpful in determining what to study. You can use the College Board website to see which skills fall under which subscore.

A word of advice: don’t get bogged down worrying about the exact formulas for these scores. Yes, it’s confusing to have a scaled score from 200 to 800 that correlates with a test score from 10 to 20 that correlates with your performance on a Reading section with 52 questions. But more important for understanding SAT scores is knowing what a given score means. Read the right way, the numbers on a SAT score report show where a student is and where they need to go to build the skills that will serve them in college.

To learn more about understanding ACT Scores, click here.

Please contact our office to discuss your child’s test preparation and college planning needs.

By Elizabeth Walters, Private Tutor and Writing Coach, and Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed. and College Counselor

Yet: A Small But Powerful Word To Change Mental Habits

October 17, 2018 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Anxiety arises at the most inopportune moments. When it does, its message debilitates with a long list of negatives about our own potential. Mental habits need to be eased into new directions. Using the word “yet” offers a little crack in that storm. Adding that simple word at the end of your sentence can help you start to believe in what you don’t know how to do…yet.

For a long time in school, I would freeze with worries. I would get frustrated with all that I did not know and could not accomplish. One day, during a study session, a friend noticed and made a simple suggestion. Just add the word yet at the end of the sentence. My mental habits wouldn’t change overnight. That was too difficult, given my situation and state of mind. But, introducing “yet” could allow that some moment in the future might be less poignant, thus some relief from the pressure I felt.

I don’t know anything…yet.

I can’t…yet.

I won’t…yet.

I haven’t ever and can’t imagine…yet.

Over the next few months, I started including yet at the end of my sentences. Not aloud, but in my head. That little word opened a new expanse for me and can for you. Mental habits change one word at a time.

In the years since my own discovery of the word yet, I have recommended it to many as a simple but effective and powerful mental shift. I’ve seen it change how people approach homework, standardized test practice, graduate school prep, and even career development.

The word yet allows possibility, when ready. The pressure to know now, immediately, easily, without effort no longer applies. The moment will come. It will happen. Mental habits will shift and those new ways of thinking will transform what you believe you can do. The word “yet” reminds us that developing new mental habits takes continuous practice, slow advancement, and constant return to the place of struggle in order to get to that final place of success.

Fear of failure or success, past or current academic challenges, and personal stressors all contribute to anxiety. One of the great difficulties of dealing with anxiety is the way it does not respond to rational arguments. Some mental habits slime our emotional and intellectual space. Spreading across all parts of our lives, they becomes the lens through which we see the world. Anxiety often feels permanent, but that’s why “yet” helps.

“Yet” doesn’t try to fight anxiety. It acknowledges the immediate moment full with feelings of fear and failure. Rather than argue against them, “yet” gently suggests that this moment isn’t forever. There is a future in which things can be different. Your mental habits can also help you manage anxiety. To get there will take showing up here, where there is effort to be made, fears to face and, with that practice, success to be found. The mental habit of including “yet” at the end of the sentence is a simple contribution to managing anxiety.

I like that the word “yet” is “of obscure origin” according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Obscure origins somehow permit potentialities to flow into the obscure future. “Yet” allows us to look forward when all we want to do is look down. “Yet” encourages us to consider how to get to what we know nothing about, yet.

By Charlotte Kent, Private Tutor and Executive Function Coach

Evaluations and Related Services

June 4, 2018

My Learning Springboard professionals believe in working collaboratively with related service experts across many fields, as appropriate, to support an individual student. Collaboration may include working with psychologists, social workers, psychiatrists, pediatricians, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, special education attorneys, or a variety of other specialists.

Psychologists, Social Workers, Pediatricians, and Psychiatrists

Depending on the need, we refer parents to appropriate specialists with the following expertise:

Therapy for children, adolescents, young adults, and adults, which may include play therapy, psychotherapy, CBT, DBT, ACT, or other modalities
Assessment of Overall Intellectual Functioning
Neuropsychological and Psychoeducational Testing
Learning Disability, ADHD, Autism Spectrum Evaluations
Psychological and/or Personality Assessment
Psychiatric evaluations
Medication management

Learn more about the most common formal assessments for educational evaluations.
Read about the value of a neuropsychological evaluation.

TRUSTED COLLEAGUES INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:

Child Mind Institute (mental health services) – New York, NY
Milestones Psychology (mental health services) – New York, NY
Heights Psychology Collective – Brooklyn, NY
The Yellin Center (pediatric and mental health services) – New York, NY
Dr. Jennifer Cohen (psychologist) – New York, NY
Dr. Concetta DeCaria (clinical neuropsychologist) – New York, NY
Soho Parenting (social workers and parent coaching) – New York, NY
Dr. Jennifer Cross (developmental pediatrician) – New York, NY
Dr. Maria Zimmitti (psychologist) – Washington, DC and Bethesda, MD
Rebecca Resnik and Associates (psychologists) – Bethesda, MD
Dr. Judith Ramos-Aronson (developmental pediatrician) – Coconut Creek, FL

Speech & Language

We refer parents to specialists who offer diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of communication and cognitive delays and disorders including:

Delays in development of language, speech, play, and learning skills in young children as young as 17 months.
Word retrieval and language organizational issues impacting communication, writing and learning skills in school age children and adolescents.
Auditory processing disorders impacting communication, learning, reading and other academic skills in children and adolescents.
Language processing and comprehension disorders impacting communication, learning, reading and other academic skills.
Oral–motor issues impacting development of clarity of speech and language.
Dysfluency disorders, including stuttering and cluttering (irregularities in organization, rate, and articulation of speech) impacting communication and emotional functioning and development in children, adolescents and adults.
Social language and communication issues impacting relations with others.

TRUSTED COLLEAGUES INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:

Dr. Lois Heymann – New York, NY
Dr. Pia Wikstrom – New York, NY
The Center for Hearing and Communication – New York, NY
The SMILE Center – New York, NY

Occupational Therapy

We refer parents to specialists who offer diagnosis and treatment in the following areas:

Fine and gross motor development.
Treating self-regulation and sensory-motor processing issues.
Expanding visual and perceptual motor skills.

TRUSTED COLLEAGUES INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:

The SMILE Center – New York, NY
Sensational Kids Therapy – Washington, DC

Special Education Attorneys

We refer parents to special education attorneys for the following support:

IEP or 504 planning.
Special education advocacy and support with due process.
Non public school placement and associated tuition reimbursement.

TRUSTED COLLEAGUES INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:

Regina Skyer and Associates – New York, NY
Diana M. Savit – Bethesda, MD

Please contact Brad Hoffman or Faya Hoffman to discuss your family’s needs in more detail.

Should 9th Graders Study For College Entrance Exams?

Classroom Instruction and College Entrance Exams

The PSAT

Test Taking Strategies

Timing For College Entrance Exams

Understanding ACT Scores

Sample Score Report

Composite Scores

STEM and ELA Scores

Detailed Results

College and Career Planning

Understanding SAT Scores

Sample Score Report

Your Total Score

Section Scores

Essay, Cross-Test Scores, and Subscores:

Yet: A Small But Powerful Word To Change Mental Habits

Evaluations and Related Services

Psychologists, Social Workers, Pediatricians, and Psychiatrists

Speech & Language

Occupational Therapy

Special Education Attorneys

Company Overview

School Planning

Private Tutoring

Test Preparation