With the introduction of our Online Proctor system (and online Answer Sheets), students can now take a mock test from anywhere with an Internet connection. Available now for all of our students, the Online Proctor can be accessed by logging into your ATS Account and clicking on the blue Online Proctor button.

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I just received an interesting article from my doctoral advisor, a memory researcher at GSU.

Some psychologists at Kent State are examining how testing affects memory and memory strategies.

Testing, as we know, is not just to gauge student progress or inform our sessions.  Testing is a powerful tool to enhance learning.  Testing has a significant impact on retention and encoding information into long-term memory.  Study alone is not as robust. This is why we insist that students take practice tests.

Why does testing (AKA taking mocks) impact retention in a way that review and study (practice problems) do not?

The KSU researchers found that students need a chance to fail (retrieval failures) in order to strengthen or replace their memorization strategies.  You don’t know you need a new strategy until the one you are relying upon comes up short.  And when a strategy for memorization (a mantra, a heuristic) was successful in a testing situation, the researchers proposed that this strategy was consequently enhanced in long term memory.  After failure, students in this study went back (the test-restudy condition) and modified their memory strategies to find more effective ways to remember the content.

So students clearly learn from their experiences of success and failure in testing experiences, and the act of taking a practice test is actually one of the best ways to encode information deeper into long-term memory.

You can listen to the podcast that discusses Mary A. Pyc and Katherine A. Rawson’s study, Why Testing Improves Memory: Mediator Effectiveness Hypothesis, which was originally published 15 October 2010 in Science Magazine.

In conjunction with the Boys and Girls Club of Metro Atlanta, we are helping 26 students prepare for the December ACT. These diligent students, over half of whom are seniors taking the last possible test for college admissions requirements, have been studying for the exam since the beginning of November. We are trying to give them every opportunity to maximize their potential and get the best scores they can. Unfortunately, we do not have enough graphing calculators to go around.

So, we are holding a Calculator Drive for our Boys and Girls Club scholarship students, hoping to give them the chance to score their best on the upcoming ACT. We are reaching out to our community, asking for any used graphing calculators for our students. If you have any graphing calculators approved by the ACT that you no longer use, we ask you to donate them to these motivated students. You may drop them off Monday through Friday, 9:30am to 5pm at our main office or mail them to:

ATTN: Randy Schultz
1768 Century Blvd NE
Suite B
Atlanta, GA 30345.

We offer our heartfelt thanks for your generosity.

ATS has three convenient new locations in north Fulton County.

Our 626 Holcomb Bridge location is a quick drive off of GA 400 (exit 7). It is a great meeting spot for students at Roswell, Blessed Trinity, Chattahoochee, Johns Creek and Centennial High Schools.

Our Alpharetta location is literally at the first intersection off of GA 400 (exit 11), across the street from the Marriott. roam café is convenient for students from Alpharetta, Milton, Northview, Lambert and South Forsyth High Schools.

For members of the JCC, you can tutor at the MJCCA Zaban Park location at 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody, GA 30338.

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The Associated Press reported yesterday that ACT, Inc. released a report indicating that across the country this year’s Spring ACT scores fell from those in 2009.  ”Last spring’s high-school seniors averaged a composite score of 21.0 on the test’s scale of 1 to 36, down slightly from 21.1 last year and the lowest score of the last five years. ”

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You can lead a horse to water, but how can you get it to study its SAT vocabulary? This is the challenge that test-prep coaches have dealt with for years. How do we motivate others? Specifically, how do we influence and motivate teenagers?

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The required PSAT score to be recognized as a National Merit Semifinalist varies from state to state every year.  This year, the states with the highest cutoff score of 221 were Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington, DC. The state with the lowest cutoff score was Wyoming with 201. Georgia’s cutoff score was 214.

The $2,500 the National Merit Scholarship Corporation awards National Merit scholars is no small amount of money. However, compared to the rising tuition, fees and book costs of  most colleges and universities, it can seem like a drop in the bucket. Yes, there are additional corporate sponsorships and even school scholarships National Merit scholars qualify for, but some of these are for less than $1000 and some are one-time only gifts. So the question becomes, should students study hard for what most people consider just a preliminary SAT?

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Almost all college-bound sophomores and juniors will take a PSAT. The PSAT is the test that qualifies students for a National Merit Scholarship, and it is also considered a preliminary SAT. Many students who take the PSAT do so to get an idea of what taking the SAT is like. And, since the SAT is a very popular test here on the East Coast, it makes sense to get as much practice in as you can. However, the ACT is gaining speed, and, more importantly EVERY college that requires admissions exams in the United States accepts either the SAT or the ACT. Equally. No difference. Love ‘em both. (read more…)

In June I had the privilege of participating in the summer conference of the Association for College Counselors of Independent Schools (ACCIS). College counselors from the top schools in the country including Harvard-Westlake, Middlesex, Deerfield, Sidwell Friends, Hotchkiss, Trinity, and many others were in attendance. The theme of the conference was testing, and I was invited to participate in a 3-member panel focusing on the ins and outs of the college assessments and test prep. What do the top college counselors in the country want to know about testing? I took some time and wrote up my responses.

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