General Education Advice

I sometimes laugh – more often with late academically blooming boys – about their “saving it up” for when it mattered. That’s the best spin we can put on the first part of their high school careers.   But I then tell them that they must work as hard as possible during junior year. If you are […]

Our SAT prep, both in class and in our seminars, differs in many ways from those run by franchises such as Kaplan and Princeton Review.  One of the bigger ways relates to the psychological shifting that occurs through my mini-lectures. Explaining the Growth versus the Fixed Mindset in the context of test prep has been one […]

My next book is on the college to career transition.  The thesis posits that many parents are the main career guides for their children (like it or not) and thus they need to be well versed in how the New World of Work operates. Moreover, they need to understand the college to career connection in […]

“He has a 96 average, nothing special.   It’s not like he’s over 100.”  That is word for word quote from a parent at one of our local Shoreline, CT schools.  It wasn’t too long ago that a 96 average would put someone squarely in the top 10% of a class and possibly on higher end […]

“I had her do the SAT problem of the day and she took the in-school class taught by her teachers.” a parent said about her daughter, a junior at Daniel Hand High School in Madison. “I’m really surprised that she did so poorly.” Let me clear: doing the SAT problem of the day is better […]

Talking about college with teen children is as much fun as talking about going to the dentist with young children.  “College” is the least favorite topic for many teens.  Parents, similarly, don’t enjoy discussing but know they must. And that’s true.  College is a turning point in life.  I tell parents: “Imagine if you knew […]

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 […]