College Attacks!

Going into my junior year of high school, one word keeps invading my life: COLLEGE.

"Should we go on a college tour?"
"What colleges are you looking at?"
"I only did that so I could write it on my college app."
"I want to go to college really far from here."

With college two years away, why am I being bombarded with all of this stuff from parents, teachers, universities, and friends?

Well, it's unfortunately not that long from now that I will have to decide which colleges I want to apply to, take the ACT/SAT, write my college essay, go on college tours, and complete applications. The college admissions process is (not surprisingly) long and detailed, and as much as I don't want to start thinking about the "c" word, I can't afford to be in denial anymore.

College is supposed to be a great time in life, and I know that it will be a great time in my life. I also know that I will make friends and have a good experience no matter where I go. The issue is getting there.

It's pretty overwhelming to think about all the work that I have to do and the decisions that I have to make before getting there. But I'm confident that if I use my resources and do some serious research, I will get there.

In the meantime, I still feel like I have a million things to do and not enough time to do them. I feel like I have missed a ton of opportunities and already feel that I am coming too late in the game.

If you are finding yourself or your teen in a similar situation to mine, I have some good news for you! I have been doing a lot of research lately to make up for my previous lack of work, and I have found some great websites and tools to help us both out.

Here they are:

     http://www.cappex.com/ for help finding scholarships, organizing college trips, connecting with colleges, and so much more

    

http://www.kaptest.com/ for help with test prep (as horrible as it is, test scores are important)

http://www.collegeboard.org/ for help planning, getting information, and test prep (be sure to sign up to get one SAT question emailed to you everyday)

http://www.zinch.com/ for help finding scholarships and paying for college

http://www.eprep.com/ for test prep

http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/30/college-application-tips-lifestyle-education-admissions.html for an article about tips for applying to college


Of course, this is a very basic list of resources that I personally have found to be very helpful, and I hope that they will be of some use to you. Some of them are highly acclaimed websites, and I know that they will have more information than you will even want to read! Good luck with your college application process! I'm sure you will be hearing more about mine in the near future!


P.S. thanks to the following website for the image: http://www.google.com/imgres?q=books&start=216&um=1&hl=en&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4TSNA_enUS391US400&biw=1366&bih=613&addh=36&tbm=isch&tbnid=liI97SgU0INSWM:&imgrefurl=http://publishingcentral.com/blog/tag/childrens-books&docid=NrnSxYmyIOlMJM&imgurl=http://publishingcentral.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/books_l.jpg&w=300&h=267&ei=FzoMULLoFub30gHr2dHRAw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=322&vpy=288&dur=2457&hovh=212&hovw=238&tx=145&ty=148&sig=104007103313082174013&page=9&tbnh=132&tbnw=148&ndsp=30&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:216,i:129

Standardized Testing (part 2-what to do about them)

So, now that we've covered how awful standardized testing, let's look at what to do about it.

See if you can get this one right:

You can...
     a) study like crazy and learn everything in the world that you possibly can
     b) blow it off and not study at all
     c) put B for every answer since it's one of the most common answers and hope to get some right
     d) study smart and little by little

I sure hope that you said D (even though B is the most common answer choice)!

There are some really great books, classes, and websites that are really helpful when studying for the PSAT or SAT. And the best part is, you can find and use resources for free. Yes, you heard that correctly. One more time? For free!


Here are a couple of sites/books/etc that you might want to check out for your teen:

kaplan.com

eprep.com

test overview information

collegeboard.com

books

 And literally hundreds more...just google it!

Of course, most of these people will try to sell you something, but there are free options, just keep searching the site. Some of the websites have free practice tests and help sessions in an online chat room every so often. Or other free diagnostics are available.

This isn't exactly a fun process, but know that though these tests are unfair by my standards, there is a way to "crack the code" and do well. Once you learn the formula to doing well (notice I said formula, not information---it's not always about how knowledgeable you are; it's about how well you can take a test), it's no problem!


Good luck studying!

Standardized Testing (part 1--it standardizes us)

The other day was the PSAT, which stands for....practice standardized....ummm. Okay, I'm not exactly sure. But it is a standardized test that high school students take, and depending on how you score, you can be offered scholarships or win scholarship opportunities.

Anyway, to give you a little perspective, this is a three hour test. Yes you read that correctly. It starts at 8am and ends at 11am with only 2 five minute breaks. And no, you are not allowed to leave the room to go to the bathroom, so don't even think about it. If your phone vibrates or a watch beeps, the test proctor must "destroy" your answer sheet. You are not allowed to continue to the test (obviously).

Here's a sample math problem from collegeboard.com for you just to let you have a go at it (try it, it could be fun):

In the figure above, AD is a diameter of the circle with center O and AO = 5. What is the length of arc BCD ?

(A)

(B)

(C)

(D)

(E)

Or if you really hate math, try this question from the writing section:

Identify the error.

Yeah, you thought that was fun? Try 3 hours of it!

Anyway, after taking this, I started thinking about standardized testing in general. How is it fair? How can anyone make a test in which every student has an equal opportunity to do well on it? You can't! And how can the score that we get on this test represent us and identify us in the way that it does? It shouldn't!

Everyone learns, studies, and applies themselves differently. But yet, we are all put under the same conditions while taking it. Standardized testing standardizes us, essentially. It tells us that we are all the same, that we learn the same way, study, and apply ourselves in the same way, and that if Sam does better than Molly on the PSAT, then Sam is smarter. But that may not be true. Maybe Molly is brilliant at Math, but she needs scrap paper and highlighters to solve a problem. Does that make her any dumber? No! But that is precisely what standardized tests tell us--that Sam is smarter.

Now, unfortunately, I have not thought of an alternative to standardized tests...yet. But what I do know, is that we should be tested in a way that is as fair as possible and that tests us in a way that is most beneficial (i.e. not asking about things that we will never use the rest of our lives).

By the way, the answers from above are D and D. Now, when was the last time you needed to know any of that stuff, anyway?


More to come on what to do about standardized tests (cracking the code).