Category: Blog Posts

I have three words for you when it comes to UC essays: content, content, content.  If you read my blog entry from a couple of weeks ago about the Common App essay, you will see a lot of differences between UC and Common App essays.  For Common App, I told…

Are supplemental essays overwhelming you?  Are you applying to a million schools and each prompt asks you to write something different?  Are you unsure of where to start? Here are my top three tips for writing supplemental essays. Look at the college’s website!  I know this one may sound simple,…

“Demonstrating interest” is a tool that many schools - typically smaller, and usually private, schools - implement in order to gauge how interested a student is in attending that particular school. There are many ways in which a student might demonstrate interest in a school, and these should all show…

Maybe you’ve heard that students can self-report their SAT score. Great, you’re thinking. Self-report a 1600 and stop worrying about this test! Unfortunately, that’s not how self-reporting works. So, what does it actually mean? Let’s take a look at the process and see what schools accept self-reported scores. Self-reporting means…

The next SAT test is October 6th, and the next ACT test date is October 27th, but your scores may not be available early enough for some schools that have a 11/1 early action application deadline. Even if the College Board says that scores will be available to schools October…

A flurry of social media postings have claimed that the August 25th SAT test was the same test that was administered in China and South Korea in October 2017. The 2017 test and answers were leaked and were being used as practice tests. Students who had taken the official 2017…

Your instinctive approach to Common App might be to address your accomplishments and what you’re proud of. Although UC essays want to see “resume” content in their essays, Common App doesn’t want this at all. The Common App is a place to showcase your personality and softer skills to colleges.…

Recently, as more and more schools are dropping the SAT essay requirement, it’s hard to keep up with who still requires it and who doesn’t. Even some articles written as recently as this spring already include outdated information. So, first and foremost, check each school you are applying to and…

University of Chicago just became the first top-10 research university to make SAT and ACT test scores optional! While some smaller universities and liberal arts schools had already made test scores optional, UChicago’s decision had a big impact on the world of college admissions. Why did they make this decision?…

The SAT is composed of three main sections: the Critical Reading, Mathematics and Writing sections. The Critical Reading section of this test is further broken down into two important components, that of sentence completion and analysis of reading passages. Encouraging a love of reading is crucial for instilling important analytical…

By Caleb Zimmerman As a nearly full-time test preparation instructor, I am often frustrated by a lack of correlation between practical intelligence and high test scores. The reality facing tutors of even the most committed students is that, regardless of how well such students might perform in the classroom or…

Students dread studying for standardized tests, and oftentimes it is because they just don’t know where to begin. Half the battle is creating an effective plan, but with the numbers of students applying to college ever increasing, and SAT and ACT average test scores rising too, it can seem tougher…

Last year, NPR ran an April Fools’ story on so-called “Porsafillo Preschool Academy,” a fictional school taking drastic measures to ensure the “quality” of the students they admitted. What was so interesting about the piece, entitled, “N.Y. Preschool Starts DNA Testing for Admission,” was that it resembled a real NPR…

No one needs to be told that the past 20 years have seen college admissions becoming alarmingly selective. Where admissions were conducted largely on the basis of grades and test scores, a flawless transcript and and near perfect test scores are now necessary but not sufficient components of admission to…

A few of my students have begun to receive so-called “fast track” or “distinguished applicant” applications, and they’re more than a little confused. These apps, often pre-populated and sans essays or application fees, are typically used by smaller, regional schools hoping to bump up their national profiles. Schools such as…