4 Vocabulary Strategies for the Redesigned SAT

Posted from: http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-admissions-playbook/2015/10/26/4-vocabulary-strategies-for-the-redesigned-sat

By now, you are likely well aware that the SAT will change in 2016. These changes will not be cosmetic – the new exam prizes complex understanding rather than rote memorization.

At one time, teachers and tutors could reasonably recommend that a student study for the SAT by memorizing arcane vocabulary words. This is no longer a winning strategy. Instead, the redesigned SAT emphasizes the importance of words in context. Here are four prep strategies to help you prepare for this new challenge.

[See if you can separate SAT and ACT fact from fiction.]

1. Strengthen your understanding of the questions: Consider the sample vocabulary question that appears on pages two and three of this informational bulletin. The question, which concerns a topic that will one day be relevant to test-takers, asks readers to choose the best definition for "intense" given the context of the passage.

All four options are valid substitutes for "intense," but B is the correct answer.

Why is this example important? It demonstrates the redesigned SAT's commitment to using words that students will often encounter in college classrooms, and it emphasizes the use of context clues over memorization. Given the shift in structure, it is crucial to use up-to-date study materials. 

[Check out eight sample questions from the new SAT.]

2. Update your vocabulary lists: Words like "intense" are tier two words – that is, they are words that are commonly used by mature speakers and writers. Tier three words, which the College Board previously drew from for the SAT, are those that have limited or narrow applications.

There is insufficient space in this blog post to provide you with a set of tier two words to review prior to your exam date, but a brief Internet search will uncover a number of terms that can guide your studies. Once you compile a list, create flashcards that include all possible meanings for each word.

Next, write sentences that use each definition appropriately. Keep your list handy as you write papers for your classes, and try to incorporate these words into your assignments.

Writing can help you set the words in your mind, which may make them easier to recall under stress. As an added bonus, you will also have an impressive arsenal of vocabulary words to deploy if you register for the optional SAT essay.

3. Read often: The redesigned SAT did not just change its vocabulary terms. It also changed the kinds of texts that they appear in.

The texts will include literary works, as well as historical and scientific documents, some from the 19th and 20th centuries. Unless your high school is uncommonly rigorous, or you are preparing for AP exams in American history or literature, you may have limited exposure to such writings. 

[Focus on building analysis skills for success on the new SAT essay.]

The best way to prepare, then, is to simply increase your familiarity with these works. Choose a book from an earlier era, such as "The Great Gatsby," and mark any words that are unfamiliar to you.

Better still, mark any words that look familiar, but that do not quite fit the context. Look these words up in a dictionary, and write down the sentence in which you encountered the word. You can then use that sentence when studying.

4. Practice identifying context: As you complete various practice problems, keep context in mind. The redesigned SAT will not just ask for definitions, it will also ask you to select a portion of a passage that supports your answer. In other words, it is not sufficient to determine the meaning of a word – you also have to be able to justify your answer.

One way to approach this difficult project is to write justifications for the correct answers to sample problems, as well as arguments against the other answers. In the question cited above, for example, you could note that "emotional" is not correct since the passage is dispassionately discussing trends in employment.

Don't Ghostwrite College Application Essays

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rebecca-joseph/dont-ghostwrite-college-application-essays_b_8191866.html

Recently, I have traveled to schools, college fairs, libraries, and many homes to help kids with their college applications, including their college application essays and/or personal statements. While I brainstorm essay topics with them and provide some guiding questions for their drafts, I do not write or rewrite the essays for students. I view the brainstorming, drafting, and revising process as a part of essential self-awareness development for sixteen to eighteen year olds. This process truly works, and the non-ghostwritten essays that result are truly reflective of their capabilities as thinkers, writers, and ultimately successful college students.

All students, regardless of socioeconomic status, struggle with this process. It is not natural, and it is often the first time they have had to advocate for themselves in writing. For many students, rather than accept the necessity of the drafting process and their parents desire for the "perfect essay," they often turn to tutors, parents, or older siblings.

These essays stand out--but for the wrong reasons. They not only reveal language unnatural to today's teenagers but also indicate a thought process, writing structure, and self-awareness that come only with adulthood. These essays put admissions officers on alert, as they can immediately identify ghostwritten essays.

So here is my plea to those working with teenagers on college application essays.

1. Their discomfort in writing college application essays is a natural part of the application process. They have rarely if ever been asked in or out of school to write first person narratives advocating for themselves. This process is initially awkward for many kids, especially since they live in an increasingly superficial world, where they share every surface moment with pictures, videos, or group chats. We need to help them understand the application process is a way to explore their deep unique passions, accomplishments, and goals. Learning how to write these essays is challenging, yet powerful.

2. Application essays are part of a larger process. The essays alone will not get an applicant admitted to colleges and/or scholarships. They are part of a larger process that requires applicants to present a full picture of who they are and what they offer a college. These essays should complement their applications. They should share and reflect stories about their unique qualities and experiences that will help colleges learn even more reasons why they belong on their campuses. Any non-applicant who writes or re-writes an applicant's essays needs to realize that the essays must match their applicants' grades, activities, recommendations, other application essays, and yes, test scores.

3. Colleges want authentic essays or personal statements. Several times a year I present with college admissions officers on college application essays. Time after time, they share their desire for student-written pieces. They often share ineffective pieces -- the majority are adult written. Colleges have worded their prompts to help guide students. Many post sample essays and tips on their websites to help students and families understand what they are seeking. What you see is a plea for applicants to write their own essays that share unique stories.

4. Rather than write or re-write essays, spend your time with helping to prepare resumes and brainstorming. Students need more help with realizing what they have accomplished and the different kinds of stories they have to share. Every applicants needs a resume as they never know when someone will ask for one. Often preparing these resumes leads to great essay topics. In addition, conversations about their leadership and impact help students identify their own power and potential.

5. Great essays are specific, not general. As kids write the essays, they need to realize most prompts ask for specific stories and examples and then reflect on them. Please ask kids to make sure their essays are so specific that only they could have written it. Students need to include specific examples and to focus on the major implications--specific, recent, and positive.

6. Great essays take time and drafting. We need to allow the kids to learn how drafting is essential to great writing. Each draft, which I now term layers, helps them increase the clarity of their story and its implications.

7. These essays are not formal analytic essays. College application essays are personal narratives, not the typical analytic papers they write in high school. They need to explore this process and learn that application essays use specific visual examples to reveal universal themes about the applicants. While they should have a beginning, middle, and end, they do not need formal introductions or conclusions. Rather they often can start in the middle, and then work their way to bigger picture, in a process, I term: Into, Through, and Beyond. Students need to learn this writing form as they will be asked to write this way in college, often in freshman writing classes.

8. Use essays as an opportunity to teach students how to advocate for themselves. Essays and personal statements need to show specific ways college applicants have made a difference already in their lives and in their communities. Applicants need to "humble brag" about themselves. Often these essays are the only written texts an applicant may present to a college. They need to learn to advocate for themselves, and what better way through these essays.

Ghostwriting application essays devalues the entire process. College application essays offer a great process for seniors, especially those who are very busy, to learn more about themselves, what they offer colleges, and ultimately what colleges offer them. Let them draft and re-draft. Let them layer in key qualities and reflections. Then watch as great authentic essays emerge.

The One Big Danger of Applying to College Early

http://time.com/money/4037378/danger-college-early-decision/

It might make it easier to get in—but harder to pay the bill.

You know the adage about the early bird and the worm. It holds true in college admissions too.

Applying early can boost your odds of acceptance by up to 30 percentage points, roughly the same as scoring 100 points higher on the SAT, according to research by Harvard professor Christopher Avery, co-author of The Early Admissions Game.

But while an early application might make it easier to get into college, it could also make it harder to pay the bill.

There are two main ways to apply early: early decision (ED) and early action (EA). With ED, which is considered a binding contract if you’re accepted, you apply to just one college, usually in November. You’ll get a yes or no sometime in December, a couple of weeks before the regular admissions deadlines.

EA, which isn’t binding, lets you apply to multiple schools. You’ll hear back in January or February but don’t have to commit until later in the spring.

EA won’t have much impact on your acceptance or aid prospects, but it might make sense if you can’t bear the tension of waiting to hear. So the more important question is whether it makes sense to apply ED. Here are some guidelines.

Apply early if …

• You’re pretty sure you’ll qualify for ample financial aid. One problem with early decision is that your aid offer could come months after your acceptance letter. If the aid package doesn’t meet your needs, you can be released from the contract. But that could leave you scrambling to apply to other colleges.

For an estimate, use the net price calculator on the college’s website. Bear in mind that your actual aid could swing a couple of thousand dollars in either direction, says Kathy Ruby, director of financial aid at College Coach, an advising service.

If you know how much you can afford to pay, your dream school’s net price is in that range, and you aren’t concerned that another one might make you a better offer, applying early decision can make sense, says Robert Massa, vice president of enrollment and institutional planning at Drew Universityin New Jersey.

Some colleges will provide more definitive estimates for students considering ED, says Chris Hooker-Harris, dean of admissions and financial aid at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania. So it’s worth asking. About half of potential ED applicants at Muhlenberg decide to go through with it after getting this “early read” on their aid, Hooker-Harris adds.

• Money is no object. If you can afford your dream school regardless of aid, go for it. Early decision might improve your chances, although probably not by 30 percentage points except at certain elite private colleges. At most schools, the difference is closer to 10 percentage points. To get an idea of the potential advantage, ask about the school’s early acceptance rate and how much of its freshman class is filled that way.

But wait if…

• You’d be happy at any of several schools. Applying ED means you’ll lose the opportunity to compare aid offers from different schools or to use an offer from one as a bargaining chip with the others. “If the primary driver of the decision is ‘Who is going to make me the best deal?’, then early decision may not be the best route,” Hooker-Harris says.

• You want more merit money. If you’re hoping for merit aid, you could be better off waiting. Every school hands out its non-need based aid differently. Some colleges hold back a portion of their merit aid until spring to use as an extra incentive for students who are still undecided.

College Admissions: 5 Majors You Need to Choose Before You Apply

http://www.golocalprov.com/lifestyle/college-admissions-5-majors-you-need-to-choose-before-you-apply

Cristiana Quinn, GoLocalProv College Admissions Expert

If you want to major in the Health Sciences, you would be smart to make that decision before you begin applying to college. Photo: Emory University

While many students will apply to colleges with a major designation of “undecided”, there are pitfalls to doing that. In larger universities, it can be VERY difficult to switch from the colleges of arts and sciences into the business or engineering college. Other times, a major like nursing or physical therapy may be filled and not have openings after freshman year. Occasionally, students will not even think when they are applying to a college that the school does not offer some of the majors that they may want to pursue. For instance, very few colleges have architecture at the undergraduate level. Thinking all of this through is critical before you finalize your college selections and fill out your apps. Here are some of the majors that usually require you to apply as a freshman or you will miss out.

Engineering

Engineering is usually found at full service universities as opposed to liberal arts colleges, so targeting the right schools is important. Most universities have a specific college of engineering to which you must apply as a freshman. Many will allow students to enter as an undecided engineering major and then determine an exact discipline after taking the introduction to engineering class.  So, while you usually don’t need to know if you want to specialize in civil, mechanical, electrical, biomedical or industrial when you  apply, you do need to know that you want to be an engineer. Math SAT scores and GPA are very important in the engineering admissions process. Most programs are also looking for students with calculus and strong biology, chemistry and physics grades. Some programs also require SAT II Subject Tests.

Architecture

Undergraduate architecture programs are few and far between. So, if you think you may want to pursue architecture, your college list needs to be focused on those colleges. Many of the programs require a studio art portfolio and prefer high school calculus and high SAT Math scores. Sitting for the AIA exam does require a Master’s degree today, and some universities offer a 5-year streamlined program.

Health Sciences

If you have aspirations to become a nurse, physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech pathologist or pharmacist, you usually need to decide that before you apply to college. While you may be able to pursue these professions later at a Master’s level, most undergraduate programs require that you apply as a freshman. It is usually very hard to transfer into one of these majors once you have matriculated at a large university. Most programs in these areas are highly selective and look for strong math scores on your SAT. Some require a math and/or science SAT II Subject Test. Keep in mind, that many of these professions (with the exception of nursing) require a Master’s degree, and some universities offer combined programs which can shorten the total number of years you spend in school. Check with each college before you apply to understand the duration of the program, the degree you will receive and your total costs.

BFA Programs

If you want to major in studio art, music, theatre or dance, there are two options, a BA or BFA program. A Bachelor of Fine Arts degree is considered a terminal degree whereas a Bachelor of Arts degree is often followed by an MFA (Master of Fine Arts). BFA programs are very rigorous and are typically more selective than BA programs. They usually require an audition or portfolio review for acceptance. Students audition or submit portfolios during the admissions process, and the exact requirements vary from college to college. This means that students need to hone their craft for several years before applying, create an artistic resume of their accomplishments, and spend the summer after 11th grade putting together audition or portfolio materials.

Business

Larger universities usually have a college of business. While some allow students to transfer in after freshman year, others have very few spots open sophomore or junior year. That means that your best chance to pursue a business degree is by acceptance to that major as a freshman. Keep in mind that many business colleges within a large university are more selective than the college of liberal arts.  Admission committees are usually looking for a higher GPA, high school calculus and strong SAT scores.

Cristiana Quinn, M.Ed. is the founder of College Admission Advisors, LLC which provides strategic, college counseling and athletic recruiting services for students.www.collegeadvisorsonline.com.