Test Prep

Standardized tests are a bane for some and a boon for others. Regardless of how you feel about them, they are a key component of merit-based scholarships. Depending on the college or private high school you want to attend, they may also be an important part of admissions.

One of the pathways to graduation given to high school students in Ohio includes getting “remediation-free” scores in each of the three subscore areas, two in English language arts and one in mathematics.

In mathematics the ACT score must be 22 or higher in order for a student to attain a remediation free score. If a student decides to use the SAT instead, the mathematics score must be 530 or higher. For more information on the state standards, check out the Ohio Department of Education’s website.

ISEE & SSAT

The Independent School Entrance Examination (ISEE) and the Secondary School Admission Test (SSAT), are used for private middle and high school admissions. The first step in deciding which test your student should take is checking with the school they want to attend. If either test is fine, consider the strengths and weaknesses of your student.

Does your daughter or son excel at verbal work, or quantitative work? Does she/he struggle with test anxiety? If your student does better with verbal consider going with the SSAT. It includes more advanced vocabulary. There are also analogies, which require strong reasoning skills, and there are both fiction and non-fiction passages. The ISEE only tests non-fiction comprehension and uses sentence completion to test vocabulary. When it comes to math, the ISEE has a more challenging math section than the SSAT. Regardless of which test you decide to pursue, I can help you attain success.

SAT & ACT

There are tips and tricks to helping students do better on the American College Test (ACT), & the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT). However, it’s important for students to understand the core material. Taking a practice test and gauging his or her weaknesses is the first step. Then focusing on the material the student needs to master is crucial for success. Students need to be committed to doing their work outside of session to bring up their score. Both the ACT and the SAT pull from Algebra 1 & 2, Geometry and Trigonometry. So the more math courses a student has completed the better.