Brooke Higgins Uncategorized

SAT Score: Begin With the End in Mind

The first step towards SAT success has very little to do with the test itself. Before you do anything, you need to decide what score you want on the SAT.

Wait a second: decide your score before the test? Don’t you want to perform as well as possible?

Yes, you want to do as well as you can. However, unless you need a 2400 to get into Harvard, you only need to achieve a score that gets you into the school(s) of your choice. In other words, your end is the SAT score that will give you the best chance to get accepted by your selected college(s).

Chances are that you have never considered this kind of approach with a normal school test. Usually you want to score as close to a 100% as possible.

Not so on the SAT. Students can both pursue and achieve ends that are far from perfect and still get into their schools of choice. Consider the following: according to UCLA’s website, the average SAT score for “admitted incoming freshmen” is “between 1760 and 2140.” If the SAT were scored on a 100% scale, that means some students are getting into UCLA with as low as a 73% on the SAT (1760/2400=.7333). Get a 73% on a school test and you barely pass with a C. Get a 73% on the SAT and you can get into UCLA.

Crazy, right? A C represents an average score in school but a good score on the SAT. And while you may never strive for a C in school, it could very well be a good goal on the SAT.

So let’s get back to your end and, much like Steven Covey’s Habits of Highly Successful People, you should begin with the end in mind.   

To begin with the end in mind, first figure out your end. Your end is the college you would like to attend. Pick three schools: a dream school that might be out of your reach, a realistic school that is possible and a back up in case things go sideways. Now, figure out what SAT score you need to get into the three schools.

This SAT score is your goal that will get you to your end. 

Now, when you prepare for and take the test, you don’t need to answer every question correctly. You simply need to create the right combination of correct answers, incorrect answers and omitted answers in order to achieve your goal score. Pretty simple, right? It all starts with the end in mind.

Learn more about the SAT and ACT with private tutoring, One-Day Boot Camps or Summer Camps from CROSSWALK right here on the Monterey Peninsula. Contact us to learn more. 
Brooke Higgins Uncategorized

SAT Truth: It’s a Reading Test

Let’s face it: the SAT is reading test. While there are three sections (Math, Writing and Critical Reading), the truth is that the SAT primarily assesses your ability to read. 


Remember, the SAT is designed to predict your college performance. Most college classes require lots of reading, hence the focus of reading on the SAT.

Consider the following: there are 170 total questions on the SAT (not including the Essay question) of which there are 67 Critical Reading questions, 54 Math questions and 49 Writing questions. So which section has the most questions? Critical Reading! 

But let’s dig deeper: of the 67 questions on Critical Reading, 48 of them are Passage-Based Reading questions. In other words, 48 point-scoring opportunities out of 170 total opportunities assess your reading comprehension. Put differently, almost 30% of the entire test assesses your ability to read a passage and comprehend it. 

But wait, there’s more. Even the Math and Writing questions require you to both read and comprehend. In fact, many students fail to correctly answer certain questions correctly simply because they do not read and comprehend the question. 

For example, try this problem:

If x + 1 = 3, what is 2x? 

A) 2
B) 3
C) 4
D) 5
E) 6

This should be an easy problem for most students. Solving the equation for x gives you a result of 2. So A is the correct answer, right? Wrong! If you do not read the question entirely, you miss the fact that you need to find the answer to 2x, in other words, 4. Thus, C is the correct answer. 

So even SAT math problems require excellent reading comprehension. Same goes for the writing section. All told, the SAT is primarily a reading test. 
For this reason, the best way to improve your SAT score is to, you guessed it, READ! 

Learn more SAT and ACT tips from CROSSWALK, the Monterey Peninsula’s local resource for private tutoring, SAT or ACT Boot Camps and other test preparation. 
Brooke Higgins Uncategorized

Spring & Summer Boot Camps

CROSSWALK has recently added some new SAT and ACT Boot Camp dates for the spring and summer:

  • April 21: SAT Boot Camp (9:00am-3:00pm)
  • May 19: SAT Boot Camp (9:00am-3:00pm)
  • June 2: ACT Boot Camp (9:00am-3:00pm)
  • June 5 and 7: afternoon SAT Boot Camp (3-6:00pm both days)
  • June 12 and 14: afternoon ACT Boot Camp (3-6:00pm both days)
  • July 10 and 12: afternoon SAT Boot Camp (3-6:00pm both days
  • July 17 and 19: afternoon ACT Boot Camp (3-6:00pm both days)
If you are interested in signing up for an upcoming Boot Camp, contact CROSSWALK at 831-70-TUTOR (88867) or email us at mail@crosswalkeducation.com.
For future dates and information, be sure to check the calendar.
If you are interested in forming a group for your own Boot Camp, CROSSWALK offers some great money-saving ways to get you and your friends ready for test day. Contact CROSSWALK to learn more.
Also, for the latest events at CROSSWALK as well as educational insights delivered directly to your inbox, please subscribe to the CROSSWALK blog by inputting your email into the box on the right. Check out past blog posts right here.
For questions and more information, or to set up your FREE meet and greet with one of our tutors, contact CROSSWALK directly.
CROSSWALK is Monterey Peninsula’s local resource for SAT & ACT Boot Camps, Test Prep and Private Tutoring.
Brooke Higgins Uncategorized

Are Bilinguals More Prepared for College?

A recent article in the New York Times touts the benefits of bilingualism. According to the article, children that grow up speaking two languages demonstrate improved cognitive skills as compared to children that grow up with just one language.


There are several studies cited in this article that illustrate the connection between bilingualism and increased cognitive function. One such study suggests that bilingualism can even slow the onset of dementia in the elderly .

All told, the case is pretty strong that bilinguals indeed can be smarter than monolinguals.

However, the bilingual advantage appears to be a disadvantage when it comes to standardized testing. Just last year, the College Board reported that SAT reading scores dropped to their lowest levels in decades. The reason? The College Board would have you believe that bilinguals, or more precisely English language learners (ELLs), are part of the reason why reading scores have dropped. The College Board reported that the 2011 SAT had the largest and most diverse group of test takers in history. In fact, 27% of all test takers in 2011 did “not speak exclusively English.”

So on one hand, if you speak more than one language, your brain will be more efficient and more effective than someone that speaks only one language. However, if you do not exclusively speak English, you may find that you are not as prepared for standardized tests as those that do.

The irony of all of this lies with those colleges that place significant weight on SAT scores in the admission process. These colleges may be missing out on lots of bilingual students that are cognitively more adept than their monolingual counterparts.
Brooke Higgins Uncategorized

SAT Test Optional?

Ah, the debate continues. Is the SAT a viable predictor of college performance?

One one hand, it is perhaps the only standardized measurement on a prospective student’s application. GPAs? Hardly standardized. A 4.0 at one school does not equate to a 4.0 at another school. So what can a college do? With so many college applicants, how do you separate the wheat from the chaff?

So goes the argument for the SAT: without anything else in place, it can serve as a predictor.

On the other hand, as more and more data is showing, the level of predictability is minimal. According to the latest from Joseph Soares, GPAs are indeed the best predictor of performance. Even if schools have varying standards, it seems that your GPA will determine how well you do in college. Not a standardized test.

Read more about Dr. Soares and his book, SAT Wars: The Case for Test-Optional Admissions (Teachers College Press) and see for yourself.

So where will the SAT go? Nowhere for now. But the long term future of standardized tests may be a question.

Brooke Higgins Uncategorized

Assess the Assessment

Assessments may be the most challenging job of any teacher. The purpose of any assessment is to measure learning in order to determine if a student successfully grasps the content. There are generally three assessments: formative, summative and standardized testing.

Consider formative assessments as an ongoing pulse check: a teacher may review the progress of an assignment, check in on the level of understanding with general questions or otherwise evaluate if the student is progressing during the course of study. Feedback from formative assessments is generally qualitative.

Summative assessments, on the other hand, happen at the conclusion of a particular unit or group of lessons. Students will recognize a summative assessment as a final exam, unit test or term paper. These assessments provide teachers and students with more quantitative feedback.

The other type of assessment is a standardized test, like the ACT or the SAT. The purpose of a standardized test is to compare student performance across a diverse population of test takers. Questions and answers are “standardized” so that one test can be used to compare and contrast many students. The feedback for these tests, for obvious reasons, is strictly quantitative.

Each assessment requires a unique method of preparation. As many SAT students learn, preparation for a standardized test is vastly different than preparation for a summative assessment. While most students, particularly at the secondary level, learn how to prepare for a summative assessment, few learn how to prepare for a standardized test.

Given the current trend of using standardized test scores more frequently to evaluate student and/or teacher performance, students and teachers alike may need to shift their assessment focus from summative to standardized. You may disagree that standardized tests are the best measure of student performance, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore standardized test preparation.

Brooke Higgins Uncategorized

When is it Too Early to Prepare for the S.A.T.?

When is it too early to prepare for the S.A.T.? Never.

It’s never too early to prepare for the S.A.T. Any preparation is better than no preparation with one significant caveat: do not create more stress.

Stress is the absolute enemy of successful S.A.T. test-taking. Stress punishes those that take just about any standardized test.

Sure, there is a small segment of the population that strives on stress. If you are one of those people then kudos to you.

For the rest of us, stress creates major mental blockages that results in poor test performance. I’ve seen it too often to not believe in its devastating effects.

The best way to avoid stress is to prepare in advance. The more time you have to prepare, the better you will perform. Only you know how much time you need. Some students can prepare in a week, others may need a year and yet others may need several years.

The bottom line is that it is never too early. Get going on a study guide, check out www.collegeboard.com to register for the question of the day, or invest in another study tool like vocabulary flash cards or something similar.

I usually recommend at least six months of preparation. Take two or three months to prepare and take a practice test (or sit for a real test, but call it practice just to get yourself a benchmark score). After the practice test, take another two to three months to hone your skills and then take the test for real. If you’re still not achieving your desired score, try again one more time but keep in mind that after the third time your score will not move very much. All things being equal, you will see the biggest increase from the first to the second time you take the test. After that, only small improvements are most common.

So it’s never too early to start preparing. Just don’t cram the night before. Cramming creates stress and stress will punish you.

If you want the best score possible, start early and often. Start with ten minutes a day, then increase to 30 minutes a day and soon you’ll be primed for the 4 hour marathon that is the S.A.T.

Brooke Higgins Uncategorized

Two Secrets to a Better Essay

Back to School time means essay writing time. My guess is that most students, regardless of level, will be assigned some essay topic about your summer in the next coming weeks. For primary grades it might be a short paragraph about your summer. For secondary grades it might be about summer reading.

Regardless, start your school year with the two secrets to a better essay:

1) Make Your Point Clear: next time you are faced with an essay, think about who will read your essay. Put yourselves in their shoes and ask, “what number one point do I want the reader to understand?” Also known as your thesis, your main point should be very clear from the first sentence to the last. The worst type of essay is the one where the reader asks herself, “what did I just read?” Ouch! Ensure that your reader will walk away from your essay understanding your point very clearly. If you are writing about your summer vacation, make it clear how you spent your vacation. Was it fun? Boring? Short? Long? Whatever it was, make your point as clear as day. If you are writing on deeper subjects, like your summer reading, make sure your main point is the most obvious argument or statement in the essay. It never hurts to repeat your main point several times in a given piece.

2) Use Concrete Examples: I wrote about how a good essay is a “C” in a previous post. In this example, C was for concrete. The more concrete your essay, the more powerful the message. Trying to communicate that your summer was boring? Well, it’s one thing to say it was boring. It’s another thing to describe how your mind endlessly idled in a holding pattern while channel surfing through Judge Judy reruns on afternoon television programming. Or if you need to argue a point from a summer reading book, make sure you pull actual evidence from your story to paint a concrete picture of your point. For example, if you want to argue that Animal Farm is an allegory for the Russian Revolution, then use excerpts from the book to specifically connect actions and descriptions of Napoleon the pig to similar actions and descriptions of Stalin.

If you make your point clear and use concrete examples, your essay writing will drastically improve. Sure there are other things you can work on–like grammar, structure and vocabulary–but if you start with a clear point supported with concrete examples, your Back to School essays might cause your teacher to think you spent all summer studying!

Brooke Higgins Uncategorized

The Secret to Reading Comprehension

It’s no wonder that so much emphasis is placed on reading comprehension in school. Comprehending a passage is crucial to academic, professional and personal success.

For this reason, standardized tests place great weight on reading comprehension. In the SAT alone, the Passage-Based Reading questions account for almost 30% of the entire test, including Math! There are 48 Passage-Based Reading questions out of 171 total SAT questions.

So, how do you improve your reading comprehension?

Two words: read actively.

Reading actively means asking yourself questions while you are reading. The most important question to ask is, what’s the point? In other words, what is the primary purpose of this article/passage/book?

The more you ask yourself this question as you read the more you will force yourself to comprehend what you are reading. In doing so you should be able to determine if you are reading something informational or something persuasive or perhaps even expository.

It’s not complicated. You just need to apply a little diligence to your reading by asking (and answering) some key questions.

In addition to the question about the purpose, consider answering these questions:

>> What is the tone/attitude of the author?
>> How does the author’s choice of style help the article/passage/book?
>> What action, if any, does the author want the reader to take?

Another way to read actively is to underline key parts of a passage. I generally stay away from highlighters because a pen or pencil gives you much more freedom to underline, circle, write notes in the margin and more. For example, I usually draw a box around any new vocabulary words so I can look them up and write their definitions in the margin. This can be hard to do with a highlighter alone. The process takes a little extra time, but the more you do it the more words you learn and the more your comprehension will improve.

Parents, you too can help your kids read actively. Ask them the same questions as above or check their reading for good notes in the margins.

Reading comprehension is key to success on many levels. So start reading actively today!