Blog Spot
Plan ahead for math skills.
04/20/2008
When your student prepares for college, be aware that he or she
will be taking one of the college entrance exams - the SAT or ACT.
They both will test your student's math skills. And high scores
in math will go a long way in boosting your student's ability to
get into the college of his choosing.
Close on the heels of getting accepted is getting the scholarship
monies. High SAT and ACT scores are often the foot in the door to
those coveted scholarship competitions and the big money that follows.
As a result, it behooves us to plan ahead to get those math skills
ready for the big tests.
What math skills are required?
- an excellent understanding of Algebra
- ability to read charts and graphs
- problem solving in Geometry
- quick and accurate computational skills
- ability to use a graphing or scientific calculator
- ability to quickly eliminate obviously wrong answers
Preparing specifically for the SAT or ACT is very helpful. But
if your student has not yet learned the concepts of higher level
math before taking these tests, then any amount of honing up on
these concepts won't help. He's got to be taught them first.
Plan to get in as much math as possible before your student takes
these tests! Sitting for the tests usually takes place during the
student's junior year.
For specific planning in the high school years, be sure to examine
Scholarship Prep's Workshop C on Preparing Academic Merit. This
workshop details the many skills needed for scoring well on the
college entrance tests and how to get your student those skills
before he sits for the test.
Although our daughter (who did very well on these tests) did indeed
have most of the higher level math skills she needed, there were
still two problems she missed entirely simply because she hadn't
yet learned the concepts. In fact, in both cases she was introduced
to the concepts only days after taking the test! Quite a disappointment,
since the problems were simple and easy, once she received the proper
math instruction.
Exclusively for Members of Scholarship Prep:
What those two problems covered, and how to prepare your student
to sail through those specific questions on the ACT. (Log in and
look for Members' Eyes Only.)
Coming soon to this Blog:
Some additional study helps to prepare for the ACT and SAT.
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Recent BLOG Topics:
2008-04-20: What math skills are needed
for the ACT/SAT?
2008-04-06: Attend Harvard for free.
2008-03-23: Is your GPA a bit on the low
side?
2008-03-09: No competition for this scholarship
2008-02-24: College Scholarships for the
Regular Guy?
2008-02-10: Choosing a college? Take a
good look at its financial package!
2008-01-27: Even wealthy families can
get scholarship money.
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