An Inspiration To All of Us

A student of mine just improved her SAT score 200 points and scored a 10 on her essay. Impressive, but this is not the whole story. Six years ago she was not even living in the United States and did not speak English. This fall she will be attending the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Co.

Her mother called to thank me. I told her mother, “Don’t thank me, it’s your daughter that put in the work and took the test.” Moral of the story–Everyone should own their effort. A tutor is only a conduit of knowledge and test taking advice. How the student uses this knowledge will ultimately determine success or failure.

Moral of the story–you can achieve any goal which you deem important enough to put in the appropriate time and effort.

The Importance of Vocabulary

Vocabulary is an essential component of the SAT. Sure, mastery of definitions is important for sentence completions. However, a great vocabulary is also an asset for success on the entire test. For example, many times there will be a keyword in the sentence itself. How can we complete a sentence we don’t fully understand?

Often, difficult words will show up as the answers to passage based reading questions. At other times, difficult words will be in the passage itself. I have even noticed that such words like “respectively” will sometimes show up in a long winded math word problem. Of course, almost immediately, my students will ask me, “What does respectively mean?”

Even in the writing section, a sentence error might contain the improper use of a word

Our 2011 SAT Summer Study Guide is Out

If you are a High School student who intends to prepare for the SAT/PSAT in the Fall of 2011, please ask us for our FREE Summer Study Guide.  This is a 30 page action plan which walks the student through–what books to buy; what to study each day this summer; how to improve your critical reading skills and vocabulary; how to approach complicated math problems; the formula for the ultimate SAT essay’ the 13 rules of grammar and much, much more.

How do you obtain this free Study Guide?  Visit our website www. testniques.com, go to the Contact Us page and email Steve.  He will send you the study guide ASAP

Hello world!

Hello.   We have a new website and a new blog!  Your comments are most welcome.  Please feel free to contact us with any ideas for topics for this blog.  We will be using this forum for the exchange of ideas relating to SAT Prep, ACT Prep and College Planning.  Thanks for stopping by.