Admissions Consulting Archives

The College Search: Getting Started

February 20, 2021 Brad Hoffman

For high school juniors, the fall term is the time to be researching and planning college visits, looking at requirements and applications, and seeing where you stand for the college application season next fall. Overwhelming? It can be, but it doesn’t have to be. There are thousands of colleges and universities in the United States, in addition to international programs, and many families don’t know where to begin when it comes to researching and applying to colleges.

To start your college search, narrow down the field by several key categories.

Distance

Some students want to stay close to home while others are looking for an out-of-state or really-out-of-state school. Start your search by deciding how far from home you’re willing to go. Going to school out of state or across the country can seem exciting, but it is a big decision that should be carefully considered.

Region

Rather than eliminating an entire state or region, narrow your search by considering the environment you’d like to live in. Are you looking for a busy city, quiet suburb or kitschy college town? A student spends a lot of time in the community surrounding his or her college, so it’s important to consider what environment you’re looking for.

Size

A school’s size should be a major factor when narrowing down your list of schools to research. Some students flourish at large universities, while others prefer a small campus community. There are also schools that are medium sized. Be sure to ask what the average class size is for each school you review.

Major

Your chosen major is obviously an important factor in narrowing your list of potential colleges. Find schools that offer your top major choices, or perhaps identify schools that allow you the flexibility to create your own major. Later in your search, you can score the schools on the rigor and offerings in your program of choice.

One last piece of advice: don’t just go on “brand name” when it comes to schools. You may be leaving out a school that is a perfect fit for you just because you’ve never heard of it. Keep an open mind and enjoy the excitement that comes with this phase in your life!

Work with one of our expert college admissions tutors to stay on track with your applications and choose your schools wisely!

Written by: Editorial Team, My Learning Springboard, Inc.

Using ISEE Preparation to Bolster Middle and High School Readiness

February 12, 2021 Brad Hoffman

The Independent School Entrance Exam, aka the ISEE, and the SSAT, are, perhaps, two of the most difficult standardized tests on the market right now. By design, the ISEE and SSAT assess a student’s skills well above grade level. Unfortunately, many families approach ISEE or SSAT testing as an event that happens during the fall season as part of the admissions process, thus beginning ISEE preparation or SSAT preparation with their children only a few months before the test, which generally leads to greater stress for everyone involved. Instead, it is best to approach the ISEE or SSAT from a different perspective.

We see the ISEE and SSAT as an opportunity to shine a spotlight on academic strengths and areas for growth. We thoughtfully plan instruction to target an individual student’s needs. Starting early allows us to leverage ISEE preparation or SSAT preparation as an authentic and motivating opportunity to help a student get in great shape for the transition into a rigorous independent day school or boarding school.

The ISEE is a product of the Educational Records Bureau (ERB), a global not-for-profit organization providing admissions and achievement assessment, as well as instructional services for preschool through 12th grade students. The ERB is also the publisher of the CTP-5 grade level achievement tests used by many independent schools. There are three versions of the ISEE test:

Primary Level 2 (PL2), Primary Level 3 (PL3), and Primary Level 4 (PL4) for students applying for admissions to grades 2, 3, or 4 respectively.
Lower Level (LL) for students applying for admissions to grades 5 and 6. The standards assessed on the Lower Level ISEE cover English and math instruction through grade 6 and into grade 7.
Middle Level (ML) for students applying for admissions to grades 7 and 8. The standards assessed on the Middle Level ISEE cover English and math instruction through grade 8 and into grade 9.
Upper level (UL) for students applying for admissions to grades 9 through 12. The standards assessed on the Upper Level cover English and math instruction through grade 11 and into grade 12.

The math content for all levels is based upon the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards. Included on the tests are: Numbers and Operations, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, Data Analysis, Probability, and Problem Solving. There is a Mathematics Achievement section comprised of multiple-choice skill-based questions and a Quantitative Reasoning section comprised of multiple-choice word problems. Calculators are not permitted.

The English content on each assessment is informed by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) standards. The Verbal Reasoning section is comprised of synonyms, single word response items, and phrase response (or paired response) items. The Reading Comprehension section is comprised of items targeting Main Idea, Supporting Ideas, Inferential Comprehension, Vocabulary, Organization/Logic, and Tone/Style/Figurative Language. For students applying to grades 5 through 11, there is also a 30-minute, on-the-spot essay based on a given prompt. It’s expected that students will write a thoughtful, well-constructed 5-paragraph essay that includes a strong hook to lure the reader into the essay, a compelling thesis statement, solid topic sentences at the beginning of each body paragraph, and a terrific conclusion.

The SSAT, published by The Enrollment Management Association, is similarly leveled and informed by NCTM standards. The elementary level test is used for admissions to grades 4 and 5. The middle level test is used for admissions to grades 6-8. And the upper level test is used for admissions to grades 9-12.

Unlike most other standardized tests for which our students prepare–New York State testing, the CTPs, Stanford Achievement Tests, the SAT or the ACT–the ISEE, like the SSAT, is specifically designed as an above-grade level measure. While other assessments measure grade level achievement, the ISEE and SSAT require students to demonstrate proficiency beyond what they have learned in the classroom.

Therefore, our most successful students prepare anywhere from 45 to 90 hours for this test, depending on their baseline scores and specific needs. ISEE preparation or SSAT preparation is best planned as a slow and steady effort. We typically get started almost a full year ahead of when students will officially test, which means we’re usually starting in January or February with an eye toward November, December, or January testing. The demands of the math sections are particularly intense, so we recommend starting with accelerated math instruction as early as 3rd grade if a family is considering a fifth grade or middle school transition. We then transition into more formal preparation by January of the 4th grade school year with an eye toward December testing as a 5th grader. For public school students, this windup often includes preparation for 3rd and 4th grade state testing since mastery of these grade level standards is a prerequisite for successful performance on the ISEE or SSAT. Test-taking strategies are explicitly instructed, but there is no shortcut for the sheer volume of content that needs to be taught to get students to perform above grade level.

There are many variables to consider regarding the overall admissions strategy for any student applying to a competitive independent or boarding school. Whichever route you take, test preparation is an important part despite the test-optional shifts we’ve seen, so it’s best to develop a plan early and to include your children directly in the process so that they can take ownership for it. When we partner with families, we discuss the value of SSAT or ISEE preparation as an investment in a successful start to middle or high school. This perspective creates a more meaningful experience and helps students, parents, and teachers better measure the impact of test preparation. The more comfortable and confident the student is going in to the test, the more successful the results tend to be.

By Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed.
Board Certified Educational Planner and Learning Specialist
My Learning Springboard

Vocabulary Development for Secondary Aged Students

February 3, 2021 Brad Hoffman

Intentional vocabulary development for secondary aged students contributes to school success and establishes the foundation for the best possible future. The emphasis on reading proficiency by fourth grade often means that students who still need support get little attention thereafter. Sometimes students who did fine with elementary reading begin to show strain as reading expectations increase at the secondary level. Fun activities, using online software programs, can help grow vocabulary. The best way to help students become good readers isn’t to focus exclusively on academic reading. In addition, expanding reading to cover the multiple areas of interest in their lives increases their funds of knowledge and reveals the real contribution that reading can make to a full life.

Students who struggle with reading may give excuses like noisy surroundings, task difficulty, unfair teachers, or various forms of interference. These stem from a fear of lacking expected skills. They may avoid reading, by forgetting the books they need, claiming other work is more important, or simply procrastinating. Knowing words help readers appreciate narratives and that often helps reintroduce the pleasure of reading. Reading support grows confidence so students are better able to ask for help when they need it.

Ongoing vocabulary development ensures that students have support as reading assignments change: Quizlet allows students to develop their own vocabulary lists (Wordly Wise 3000 has a variety of activities and partners with Quizlet to help reinforce learning); Membean provides focused word building with an algorithm that recognizes when to repeat a word so that it sticks in memory. These vocabulary development activities are easy additions to a student’s educational routine.

Adolescent literacy requires more than fluent-sounding reading and context-based vocabulary explanations. At the secondary level, students need to develop the reading skills to recognize inflections of meaning. Sentence style and tone comes from the author’s vocabulary choices as well as word order. Recognizing such details helps students grasp the underlying meanings of a passage. The subtle distinctions among synonyms also contribute to text analysis.

Reading assignments at the secondary level are longer and more demanding. Textbooks may subdivide sections and provide key word boxes to help students learn new terms, but they do not show how to apply those words or understand their use them in other contexts. Guiding readers through the major vocabulary, however, shows them crucial concepts, develops stronger understanding, and eventually allows them to compare learning topics. This last skill is crucial to success on SAT subject tests and reading portions of standardized tests.

Literature readings shift away from chapter books to dive into texts from historical periods, global cultures, and an assortment of genres, each with their own formal vocabulary. Even contemporary short stories may prove difficult as postmodern plots and various devices create unusual narratives. Students often skip words they don’t know in an attempt to manage the length and density of the assignment. Unfortunately, that avoidance tactic increases confusion. As adolescent years are full of social anxiety, students typically avoid asking vocabulary questions in class where they are in front of their peers.

For a student missing a word in each paragraph, important information gets lost. With each passing page, they lose background context. Such students then struggle to make the kinds of inferences that are expected at the secondary level. Vocabulary development activities like membean or Quizlet provide an immediate response for this situation, but more is necessary. Guided support in how and when to apply background information or call upon a personal response to a passage, among other interpretation strategies, helps students regain confidence and become the independent readers that they need to be as they prepare for college.

Secondary level students who struggle with reading need reading motivation. This is where working with texts and topics that interest them is crucial. Here, they expand the vocabulary relevant to the area that already engages them. They learn how to read with concentration for an extended period of time. They discover when personal responses are appropriate or distract from a focus on the text. They adopt positions from which to argue or defend an interpretation. They recognize the value of research or background knowledge in discussing the topic. Through conversations based on the reading, they begin to produce more convincing arguments by learning how to present information in an orderly fashion.

Vocabulary development for secondary aged students helps them become engaged and proficient readers by cultivating motivation, decoding skills, language comprehension, and personal transactions with the text. Most importantly, it ensures they have the skills for success at school and for the rest of their lives.

By Charlotte Kent, Ph.D. and Private Tutor, and Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed. and Learning Specialist

AP Exams and SAT Subject Tests

January 25, 2021 Brad Hoffman

While SAT and ACT scores demonstrate comparisons of a student’s skills in reading comprehension, English language, and math, the AP exams and, previously, the SAT subject tests, allow applicants to shine by testing subjects they love and often plan to pursue in college.

SAT Subject tests — which the College Board abruptly “retired” in January 2021 — were an important part of the admissions process, especially for the most competitive colleges. Now, students need to leverage the College Board’s AP exams to demonstrate subject mastery. However, AP exams can only be taken once annually in May and are administered at schools. Particularly over the past decade, many private day schools and boarding schools stopped offering AP classes because their faculty didn’t want to be boxed into a curriculum scope and sequence designed by College Board and argued by many secondary educators to be “a mile wide and an inch deep.” Instead, many rigorous independent schools have argued in favor of leveraging their advanced or honors classes for this testing, but that often leaves both content gaps and lacking test-taking skills that need to be supplemented with outside preparation. Moreover, many of these schools stopped coordinating and hosting these AP tests, and it’s not so easy to find another host school, which is an obstacle we’ll face this school year and next school year as educators navigate this testing change.

The TOP 6 AP Exams in 2020 were:

English Language and Composition

US History

English Literature and Composition

World History

US Government and Politics

Calculus AB

The TOP 3 SAT Subject Tests from 2018-2020 were:
Mathematics 2

Biology E/M

US History

Ideally, students initiate their planning and preparation for an AP exam at least 6 months before their anticipated exam date. The good news is that all of these tests are highly coachable, and there are scads of success stories among our tutors and students–the key is to start your test preparation early enough, and work with a specialist who is intimately familiar with the test(s). The best results come from a careful and strategic approach.

As a person who has experienced the admissions process year after year, I find that students who are interested in a particular subject, such as Physics, Chemistry, US History, or French, tend to score very well on AP tests, or, previously, SAT Subject tests because they study something they already like more deeply.

By Brad Hoffman, Board Certified Educational Planner, and Grant Bergland, Private Tutor

College Admissions Test Preparation | ACT or SAT

January 22, 2021 Brad Hoffman

Did you know that more students took the ACT than the SAT for the first time in 2012, ending the SAT’s reign as America’s most popular college-entrance standardized test? Since then, the ACT’s popularity has only continued to grow. Why is this? And which test is right for you? Is there an advantage for college admissions test preparation? And what are the implications with increasing test-optional policies?

This shift toward the ACT was at least partially the result of students often preferring the ACT’s more content-based style of questioning. Many students wanted to avoid the SAT’s more reasoning-based style of questioning that felt quite different from what they typically encountered in the classroom. However, in March 2016, The College Board released a completely revamped SAT, designed to be more similar to the ACT, and further complicating decision-making for college admissions test preparation.

As you consider taking the the ACT versus the SAT, think about the following:

Timing. Does it work for you or against you?

The most significant difference between the tests is that the ACT is faster paced and benefits students who push through questions quickly. The new SAT provides a less intense pacing experience.

The ACT Math section consists of 60 questions in 60 minutes (60 seconds per question) whereas the SAT Math sections spread 58 questions over 2 sections for a total of 80 minutes (83 seconds per question).
The ACT English and Reading sections pose 115 questions over 80 minutes (42 seconds per question) while the SAT Language and Reading sections contain 96 questions in 100 minutes (63 seconds per question).
If you have extended time accommodations, the pacing issue is largely mitigated.

How do you feel about Science?

The ACT has a Science section while the new SAT intersperses such questions throughout the test. In both cases, students are often surprised to learn that these question types are more skill-based than fact-based (e.g.interpreting graphs and charts) and don’t require outside scientific knowledge. With structured practice, students can greatly improve from their initial diagnostic ACT Science section score. However, for students who really do not like the ACT’s Science section, the new SAT may be a more appealing choice.

Are you confident without your calculator?

While the ACT allows a calculator on all math questions, the new SAT contains twenty “no calculator” math problems. While putting your calculator aside for about a third of the SAT’s math questions may initially sound intimidating, these questions do not require complicated arithmetic. Most students do not find the lack of calculator to be an issue. If anything, a calculator would probably slow students down on the “no calculator” question type.

How do you feel about writing a persuasive essay? The ACT provides three stances and asks students to choose one to justify, thus eliminating the challenge of developing a unique thesis statement. It’s a very manageable writing task. As of June 2021, the SAT is “retiring” their optional essay section, which asked students to evaluate somebody else’s argument. While optional, our students have always taken advantage of this opportunity to exceed admissions requirements, and the preparation for this optional essay provides an authentic vehicle for enhancing critical writing skills in a timed classroom setting. Students choosing the ACT will still have this opportunity.

Additionally, because the latest iteration of the SAT is still so new, far fewer practice tests and other preparation materials exist for it. This alone is often a disadvantage and cause for students to choose the ACT until more SAT data and materials exist. For now, there is still limited data in terms of concordance charts and interpreting SAT results. Moreover, the SAT was designed based on Common Core State Standards, which is a politically charged initiative and may not stand the test of time.

So, which test is the better choice?

It is a myth that one test is markedly easier than the other. Most students perform similarly on both tests. Making a decision between ACT or SAT for college admissions test preparation depends mostly on your personal preferences as a test taker. Therefore, it’s worthwhile to find out early if you have a clear preference for either test. Switching back and forth between tests or trying to prepare for both simultaneously is not an efficient use of precious test preparation time.

In addition, colleges and universities do not prefer one test over the other. Preparing for the ACT or SAT both require hours of dedicated practice and sustained hard work to master the relevant content and internalize the necessary test-taking strategies. A strong score on either test provides admission officers with the same information since the content and format of the tests are similar. And don’t forget, your standardized test scores are just one part of your college application!

By Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed. and Educational Consultant