What a year to be in the test prep business. In case you aren’t sure, the tone of that is about 30% enthusiasm and 70% exasperation. Why exasperation? Part of it is that our client families are facing a really tough decision when it comes to picking a test. Compounding that problem is that a whole lot of people are misinformed about the basic info about ACT and Redesigned SAT. Come to think of it, before I dig into what I REALLY want to say, let me hand out a little bit of wisdom to members of the class of 2017 and their families.
-You don’t HAVE to take more than one test. One is fine. Students in the classes before you got into college with just an SAT score, or just an ACT score. You will too.
-Every school in the country will admit a student with just an ACT score. Yep…every single school!
-The current SAT will go away after the January 23 exam. If you haven’t started studying for that test yet, let it go and get ready for either ACT or the Redesigned SAT.
OK. To the real point at hand: one of our big challenges is finding materials to use to help our students get ready for the Redesigned SAT. In the past, we’ve relied on two things: real exams from the test maker and our own Tutor Ted books. The problem is that the test makers have only released four exams so far (plus a PSAT). With so little material to work from, we don’t have enough info to create our own resources.
So we have to look elsewhere. Here’s where I do something weird: I endorse a book by Kaplan. Oh, I’ve used Kaplan books before, especially for the Math 2 and Literature SAT Subject Tests, but I’ve never loved them.
This book, the one I’m about to recommend, is the best I’ve seen from them. The reading level of the passages is in line with the test. The math content is 96% accurate to the test. The Writing/Language section is highly accurate. In a world sorely lacking in practice tests for the Redesigned SAT, this is a worthwhile resource.
There, I did it. Link to the Amazon listing here, because apparently I really can’t help myself.
