General Education Advice

Some private colleges cost nearly $300,000 “all in”.   Even in our affluent Shoreline CT communities, that is a significant sum of money. Since we have offices in Old Saybrook and Madison, I have conversations with parents from each town socially as well as professionally. I have to remind them that financial aid is not likely […]

The Importance of the SAT The Truth About the SAT and ACT Myths abound about standardized tests, but the research is clear: They provide an invaluable measure of how students are likely to perform in college and beyond The above headline from the Wall St. Journal article tells sophisticated readers what they already know: people […]

I am careful not to insult other specific states – particularly because I am from New Jersey! – but I often tell students that once they drive through the country they will realize how well educated they are compared to their national peers.  As such, they should embrace the SAT as a great way to […]

During our SAT classes over the past few years, some large part of our success has come from lowering the anxiety of our students.  In addition to providing techniques to helping master the test (thereby lowering anxiety due to mastery) and providing techniques to lower test-taking anxiety (directly addressing the issue), the process of exposure […]

We are in March. For those high school students who were “saving their energy” for when it would matter, there is no other time to kick it into high gear.  This is it. There are barely any tomorrows that will matter for college admission after Junior year ends.  Do senior grades matter?  A little.   Certainly […]

I suffered over my wife’s suggestion that my college son get a part time job a few hours a week.  My protest: “he’s really busy and working hard to keep his grades up.” Over 20 years of providing educational services to parents of Connecticut high school students, I have gathered enough evidence to concur with most […]

I work with many students who have been identified with Executive Function deficits.  Executive Functions are the brain operations that keep us organized, on task, able to shift between demands and manage our emotions.  I have noticed a trend over the last several years that students are exhibiting these deficits, but the cause is technology […]

Of all the misinformation and partial truths that I hear passed around the soccer mom parent set about standardized tests, the myth that some students will do extraordinarily well on the ACT but terribly on the SAT is likely the biggest.  At least in Connecticut, there is no one who has more experience or expertise […]