Leanne Dodge Tutoring

Many who signed up for the March SAT found out that their test today was canceled due to COVID-19. Some of you may have a rescheduled date; many of you don’t know if or when your test will be rescheduled. Others of you are signed up for the April ACT, and are waiting to see what the next few weeks will bring.

First thing to remember, if you are a junior, is that you are in good company. It is certainly disappointing not to be able to take the test when scheduled, and it’s worth acknowledging this, in the middle of all of the changes you may be experiencing at present. At the same time, many people are in a similar position, and colleges will realize that next year. You can also look ahead to May/June test dates, and think about what those look like in your schedule.

It has recently come to light that the College Board misgraded one question in the math section on the May SAT. Check out the question and a discussion of what happened here.

The most troubling part to me? The only way this came to light is because this test was released to test takers through the Question and Answer service. That is, we only know that the College Board made a mistake with grading because this is one of the handful of tests each year for which the questions and answers are released afterwards to students who pay an extra sum to the College Board. An error like this on the June test, in contrast, would be undetectable.

The College Board (like the ACT) administers many test forms that remain unreleased. Both companies also tend to reuse these unreleased tests, often a year or two after an initial administration. Most likely, then, students had previously taken this particular form and had their misgraded scores submitted to colleges. For any of these tests, there’s a lack of transparency. Students are left to trust the SAT and ACT to administer a fair test and grade it correctly.

A topic that frequently comes up in the spring is subject tests. Here are some factors to consider:

If you are a junior:

1. Do you actually need subject tests for the schools you’re considering? Check out the testing requirements and recommendations for the schools on your current list.

2. Which subjects are your strongest? You can try practice questions on the College Board website to think about which tests might be a good fit and match your strengths. If you tend to focus on the sciences, you might consider math and science. If you are more of a humanities person, you might look more at history, languages, or literature.

3. Are there any subject tests that overlap with content you’ve been studying? If so (e.g., US history or a science), prioritize those tests while the material is fresh. Generally, May or June of junior year is when I recommend taking subject tests. That way, you won’t be stuck spending the summer reviewing content you’ve been working on all year.

4. Brush up on any content that you know you need to work on, and then do a practice test from the official College Board book. That will let you confirm which tests are the best fits and set a study plan from there.

If you are a freshman or sophomore:

1. Do you have any subjects that are strengths and for which the subject test material overlaps with what you’ve been doing in school? If you’ve taken a biology or world history course, for instance, you may be ready to take the subject test if you’ve done well in the course and feel that the subject is one of your strengths. For math, languages, and literature, you may be better off waiting another year or two since those subjects are cumulative.

if you are signed up to take the ACT in April, it’s worth signing up for the Test Information Release. The TIR will give you back a copy of the test questions, correct answers, and--most importantly--answers that you put on test day.

If you end up needing to retake, the TIR is an extremely valuable resource for studying, since you then know what you bubbled in on test day!

Note that the TIR does take several weeks to arrive once scores are posted. That means you may or may not receive it in time to study for the June date. Ordering now (versus waiting until scores are out) gives you a better chance of receiving it in time for the next test, though you can also order the TIR for up to six months after your test date.

On the math section, you can sometimes avoid traps by plugging in your answer choices instead of solving the questions the way you would in school. Here’s an example:

√ X + 1 = X -  5 (that is, the square root of (X + 1) equals X - 5)

In math class, you’d square both sides, collect like terms, and factor. You’d end up with 0 = (X - 3)(X - 8), which gives two possible solutions, X = 3 and X = 8. You’re done, right? Not yet. Since you squared both sides, you have to plug both solutions back into your original equation to check for extraneous solutions. In this case, X = 8 is the only one that works (3 = 3).

If you took the October 13 PSAT, you may have been surprised (as I was!) by what is missing on your score report. In past years, the College Board has released questions and answers from the standard PSAT dates. This is in keeping with one of the most important roles of the PSAT--helping students assess what they need to work on and set a testing plan for junior year.

However, the College Board’s report on PSAT scores has this to say about the Oct. 13 test date: “NOTE: For schools participating in the test administration study or research group in fall 2018, correct answers will not be provided. Correct answers will also not be provided for the Saturday, Oct. 13, test form.”

Why is the College Board not releasing questions/answers for this test date? Are they hoping to reuse some of these questions or this particular test (something that past scandals have demonstrated is unfair)?

Failing to release questions/answers is also unfair for students who took the Oct. 13 PSAT and hoped to review their questions. The questions and answers for the Oct. 10 and Oct. 24 test dates are available--why not for the 13th?

PSAT scores are out this week! And, if you took the December SAT or ACT, you can be expecting your scores soon as well. That means this is a perfect time for juniors to set up a plan for spring testing!

I always suggest comparing PSAT (or SAT) scores with ACT scores. That way, you can focus on whichever test you’re likely to do better on. If you don’t have an ACT score to work with, you can print and do an official practice test from the ACT website.

Then, compare your ACT and PSAT scores. Here’s a great concordance table.

You probably will want to focus on whichever test you have a higher score on. If your scores are similar, or if you’re unsure which test you want to focus on, a tutor can help you determine which test is likely to be a better fit so you can make the most of your study time.

Previously, students who lived in New York have had to go to a different state if they wanted to take the February ACT, due to state test disclosure laws (the SAT had an exemption allowing them to offer more tests in the state). This has finally changed. Beginning this coming February, test sites in New York will now be able to offer the ACT, thanks to Senate Bill 8639.

In the grammar section of the SAT and ACT, sometimes two of the answer choices will function similarly in a sentence. Since only one answer choice can be correct, two choices that work exactly the same way thus must both be incorrect. Most frequently, if a sentence works with a period, it will also work with a semicolon (and conversely, if a sentence does not work with a period, it will not work with a semicolon). If you get both options as answer choices, neither can be correct. For example:

After my cat looked at me and meowed. He jumped onto the windowsill.

After my cat looked at me and meowed; he jumped onto the windowsill.

For math and science questions, sometimes you can use units to figure out how to set up a question.

If someone is running at 6 mi/hr and you need to calculate how far that person has gone in 20 minutes, you can use the mi/hr units to help set up a ratio (6 mi / 60 min = x mi / 20 min). Note that we had to convert time units to the same thing; we could also have done 6 mi / 1 hr = x mi / (1/3) hr. Cross multiply, solve for x, and you’re done.

Here’s a great explanation of what happened with scoring for the June 2018 SAT.

My thoughts about what this means going forward:

- If you are aiming for a high score, hunt for any patterns to what you think of as “careless mistakes.” If the curve is unforgiving, then thinking that 2+2 = 5 could cost you thirty points on your math score. You won’t know on test day what the curve could be like, so plan carefully with your studying.

- Don’t get too bogged down on any one question if you are in danger of not finishing the section. This time, four questions were not scored. It’s entirely possible that those questions were straightforward for many students on test day, but it’s also likely that at least some students ended up losing time on them. You don’t want to take several minutes on a question that is later thrown out at the cost of questions you didn’t get to that you might have been able to answer correctly. Keep an eye on the time.

You’ve just finished all four multiple choice portions ... are you done testing or are you ready to tackle the essay?

Until recently, the answer has most likely been that you would be getting ready to write. Why? If you wanted to apply to a college that required the essay and you didn’t take it when you took the ACT or SAT, you’d need to take the test again--something pretty much no one wants to have to do!

This year, however, more and more schools have been dropping the essay requirement. Indeed, according to TPR, only 25 schools now require the SAT essay (27 require the ACT essay). Most recently, Yale and the University of San Diego have followed in the footsteps of Dartmouth, Harvard, and many other schools that have dropped the essay requirement over the past couple of years.

Beginning with the September 2018 test, the ACT is changing the way that National Extended Time exams (basically 1.5 time) will be administered. Instead of self-pacing through 5 hours of testing, testers will be timed per section.

You can read more details at the FAQ here and the press release here.

Again, changes will not take effect until the September test date. June and July National Extended Time exams will remain self-paced with 5 hours for the multiple choice sections.

If you have a snow day tomorrow and are prepping for the ACT/SAT, here are a couple of ideas:

1. Take advantage of a free day to do a full-length practice test. You can print out an official test from either the College Board or ACT website (or, if you’ve done the one on the ACT website, here is a link with several others). Make sure to print out a bubble sheet to use, and time yourself accurately. Block out 3.5 hours for the test. You’ll have more energy than you would if you tried to fit in a practice test after school, and your scores will be a better reflection of where you are if you do the test in one sitting!

2. If you know you need to do some more skills work, today is a great day to crank through review sheets or workbooks. Maybe you need to brush up on math formulas, do some focused work on reading comprehension, or review your punctuation rules.

If you were scheduled to take the School Day SAT tomorrow, check with your school to see when it is rescheduled for. You may have to wait until April to take the test. If that’s the case, and if it affects your overall testing plans, tomorrow is a great day to sort this out.

There’s a new ACT date in July this year--July 14. However, note that there are no test centers in New York or California for that date. If you are thinking you might take the July ACT, my strong recommendation is to register early (especially if you are in NY and are planning to go to a nearby state to take the test--you won’t be the only person doing this!).

Both the SAT and ACT include one paired passage in the reading section (where you have two short but related passages, questions about each passage individually, and questions about both passages together).

Make sure to do the questions for the first passage before even reading the second passage. That way, the content will be fresh in your mind and you won’t be tempted by everything that came up in the second passage. Once you finish questions that pertain to only the first passage, read the second passage and deal with questions relating only to that passage.