There are certain facts that everyone just knows: the earth orbits the sun. Yellow and blue make green. America was founded in 1776. An adjective modifies a noun or pronoun. A group of birds is called a flock. Unfortunately, what you know has no place on the ACT and SAT Reading sections; the questions assess […]
Paying for College 101: When Financial Aid is Not Enough
One of the most stressful parts of college admissions is figuring out how to pay for the next four years. The process alone is daunting: you must fill out pages of forms and applications, complete the FAFSA and CSS PROFILE, submit tax returns for both you and your parents, and get everything sent off and […]
ACT English and SAT Writing Tips: Diction Errors
Mark Twain once quipped, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” I doubt that he was thinking about standardized English and Writing tests when he uttered those words, but they are conveniently applicable to ACT and SAT diction errors. Failing to catch diction […]
ACT and SAT Math Tips: Similar Triangles, the Mini-me of the Math World
Similar triangles occur frequently on both the ACT and the SAT. If you think of them as the Mini-Me of the standardized testing math world, you’ll never fail to recognize them when they appear on your test. Let’s review their properties and then look how they may try to sneak onto the ACT and the […]
ACT and SAT Reading Tips: Questions About the Author’s Attitude
“Don’t give me that attitude, young lady!” my mom used to yell when I rolled my eyes at something she said. The something she said was usually a jab aimed at my hair. She hated my bangs even though they added a full five inches to my height. It was the late 80s, and big bangs […]
5 Recommendations for Your College Application Essays
After your SAT and ACT scores and your GPA, your essays are the most important part of your college application. Why? Because they are the only part of your whole file that encompasses you and your personality entirely. Your essays let schools see how you think, what you find important, how you write, and how […]
NCAA Basketball Bracket: The Most Affordable College
Oh, man, the flu has hit my family. As a result, I didn’t get to bed last night until 4 am. I missed work today. But I couldn’t miss out on this. I am so tired, though, that I didn’t even have the energy to put commas in the dollar figures for each of these […]
NCAA Basketball Bracket: Largest Number of Undergrads
After my Spartans were forced yesterday to recognize Duke as national champion once again (in a bracket of head-to-head ACT and SAT scores), I wondered if there was a way to compare colleges and have MSU come out on top–or at least advance farther than Duke. Surely Michigan State has more undergraduate students than Duke, […]
NCAA Basketball Bracket: The Winners by ACT and SAT Scores
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! No, not the holidays. Nor spring. And no, not even St. Patrick’s Day, the only day of the year that non-Spartans are likely to yell “Go Green!” back at me. It’s better than all of those combined. IT’S MARCH MADNESS, BABY! Said in my best Dickie V. voice, […]
ACT and SAT Tips: Ten Minute Test Prep
If you’re like most high school students, there isn’t a lot of downtime in your day, let alone time to study for something other than your normal homework. Yet the ACT and SAT loom in your future, and you keep hearing about how you need to start studying for them months—maybe even years—in advance. How […]