texts and tests

[sistawendy]

I've been texted awake for work in the wee hours of the morning every night but one for a week now. I'm getting a bit toasty, as they say in Antarctica.

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I attended a college admissions test prep session with m'boy last night. I'll leave aside for the moment how disorienting it feels to be doing things to get my son ready for college. (None of us can possibly be that old, can we?)

The test prep class addressed the perennial question, "ACT or SAT"? The SAT favors the mathematically inclined because it weights the math section more heavily in the scoring. It also favors native English speakers because of tricky wording and vocabulary. (Can you say "preppy detection"?) The administrators of the SAT are also less generous with accommodations for learning disabilities. All of this argues for m'boy taking the ACT.

The Wendling's combined score or Princeton Review's practice test was in the 48th percentile. Mind you, that may have been PR's way of drumming up business, but still. His biggest problem on the test? Time management, which is the hardest part of the ACT. True to form, he says that everyone should be given more time to do the test.

Comments

[tylik.livejournal.com]

But do you know if he's eligible for asking for additional time? I seem to recall it's one of the standard accommodations.

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

I don't know that for sure, but given that he's on an IEP I think the chances are pretty good.

[eeyorerin]

He's eligible but you have to get the documentation in super-early. The College Board and the ACT company are pretty scrupulous about providing accommodations but you have to follow their rules for getting documentation in and giving them what they want in order to get it. If he needs extra time and a quiet environment they have to get proctors to cover that -- they will, but they need notice.

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

Good to know! Thanks!

[tereshkova2001.livejournal.com]

Princeton Review's practice material is generally harder than the actual exam. This is so that you're overprepared for the test and so you do better than you expect. (And probably yes, to get business.) Kaplan's practice material is easier than the actual exam.

(were that trade secrets? whoops.)

[gement.livejournal.com]

I don't know about anyone else (I test well), but taking four practice tests really whacked the chaff off my test time. I didn't do any of the tutoring places (see again, I test well), just got a book of them.

It's boring, but that can actually be good in this context. Any anxiety, confusion, or distraction based in unfamiliarity falls away once you see your fifth "find the volume of this shape" problem in exactly the same format. It also made my mistake patterns glaringly obvious, so I knew what to practice.

Get thee to the accommodations request form!

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

Noted! I'll pass that along to m'boy.

Get thee to the accommodations request form!

I brought this up to Aspiring Ex last night, and she said she'd already gotten the ball rolling with Dr. Kidshrink, the school, et al.

[gement.livejournal.com]

Oh, I forgot to say, the other thing about taking practice tests is building stamina for the long haul. The tests are in chunks, so the first time you maybe take longer breaks between chunks, or do half and come back the next day fresh.

Then it's less "WALL OF TEST OH GOD", it's the math segment. Given the bits I know of how overload fatigue works, fore-familiared is forearmed.