Mommies of teens, start your engines. The marathon training known as S.A.T. test preparation is on. Take heart, help is on the way.
We had a great kid who scored 2400 on KYNO radio today during the Alan Autry Show. (Jump in on the Web site, www.940kyno.com and click audio to hear it for yourself.) His name is Alan Hatfield, and he’s just a regular smart kid from Missouri who did well and now is headed to Princeton in the fall.
He and four other kids who aced the S.A.T. have written a strategy guide that has a lot of appeal. It’s got a fun tone and some great advice about slaying the Evil Testing Serpent. The book is called “Up Your Score: The Underground Guide to the SAT.” The subtitle is “How to Outsmart “The Test.”
This isn’t a teacher who’s writing this this; it’s kids. I like this. And they all got into the colleges of their choice.
OK — here are some of the simpler tips:
* Use a dull pencil to fill in the bubbles. Start at the inside of the circle and circle in. You can save six minutes just mastering this.
* To guess or not to guess? Guess. But guess with a plan in mind.
* Use flashcards and a recorder to study.
* Set goals and attack the test piece by piece.
* Go into the test with confidence.
* Practice yoga and meditation.
* Use your iPod to learn the basic 600 vocabulary words in a flash.
* Prepare your essay in advance.
These are fabulous tips and I love that it’s written by kids!
Gen, you will like the very kid-like chapter called “Don’t Let Your Parents Read This.” It tells teens how to weasel money out of Mom and Dad for saving money on SAT test prep. I guess this is the down side of having a kid who’s a smart little whip. What the kids aren’t figuring on, I guess, is that intelligence comes from someplace (hello science class and DNA) and parents are smart enough to outmaneuver their devious plans!
This sounds like a cool book. My own kids are doing the SAT prep thing right now, too. I purchased a collection of songs from iTunes called Flocabulary. These songs have SAT terms woven into intelligent rap songs that also include the definitions. Every little bit helps!
Gail, this is great advice. We’re definitely going to get this book…. AND I will read the parent’s only section.
sounds great…and perfect timing for me! I’m off to bn.com to see about it! I think I have a coupon too!!!!