Debbie Stier's Blog, page 6

The Audiobook!

 

The audiobook (read by yours truly), is available to listen to (and pre-order) now!

There's also an exclusive interview with my son on the audio edition.

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If you'd like to know more about the book, click here, or, you can read an excerpt by clicking here.

You can see what other people are saying here and also on Goodreads.

And, you can  pre-order the book by clicking here!

 

Illustrations by Jennifer Orkin Lewis.

 

 

The post The Audiobook! appeared first on Perfect Score Project.

Compare Two Passages

I'm reviving a few of my old blog posts because they'll be new to most people reading this blog, and hopefully they'll be helpful.

I wrote the post below  in May of 2011, while in the midst of  taking 7 SATs as part of a year-long journey I took with my son.

Since then, I finished the project (and a book about the project), my son took the SAT  (twice), and got into his first choice school where he's  about to start his second semester. And now, I'm at it (i.e. the SAT) again with kid #2 -- an SAT re-do, as a mom.

The book about our journey is called The Perfect Score Project: Uncovering the Secrets of the SAT and will be in stores in about six weeks (yikes!) -- but you can pre-order the book now, if you'd like. You can also read an excerpt by clicking here -- and read a few blog posts where I posted excerpts: PSAT scores vs SAT scores and  Mother Love.

There Are Basically Four Types of Relationships 

(Originally posted in May 2011)

Continuing with the Compare 2 Passages conversation of yesterday, the reason I often find these so difficult is that their distinctions can be very subtle and hard to articulate.  It's not as if one is "pro" and the other is "con."  That would be way too easy for the SAT.

Erica Meltzer has a great post describing the four types of passage relationships.  She says that if you go into these passages knowing that they fall into predictable categories, they get easier:

Passage 1 and Passage 2 present opposing views of the same topic (the easiest for me)
Passage 1 and Passage 2 agree but have different focuses or stylistic differences (hard for me)
Passage 1 and Passage 2 discuss completely different aspects of the same event (e.g. P1 focuses on how an event was perceived by the press, P2 focuses on how it impacted women)
Passage 2 provides an example of an idea that Passage 1 describes (very hard for me!)

 

I *think* this is an example of a #2.

 

 

Illustrations by Jennifer Orkin Lewis

A Case For More Vocabulary

I'm still worked up over all the talk last summer about SAT vocabulary.

I don't want to say farewell to "arcane words" such as “compendious,” “membranous,” “mendacious,” “pugnacious,” “depreciatory,” “redolent,” “treacly” and “jettison" -- in favor of more common words like “synthesis,” “distill” and “transform!”

Having just finished Drunk Tank Pink: And Other Unexpected Forces that Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave by Adam Alter, I see more reason to protest getting rid of obscure words.

It's much harder to convey what's in front of you if you don't have words to describe it.  Young children illustrate this difficulty vividly as they acquire vocabulary -- once they learn to call one four-legged creature with a tail a "dog," every four-legged creature with a tail is a dog.  Until they learn otherwise, cats and ponies share the same features, so they seem as doggish as real dogs.

Not to mention, there is a lot of fun to be had to be had with words. Lest you doubt, check out The YUNiversity and try not to crack a smile.

Incidentally, I loved Drunk Tank Pink. "At its heart, this book is designed to show that your mind is the collective end point of a billion tiny butterfly effects."

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And on another note, I've just discovered the wonders of Goodreads.  LOVE!  I could spend days in there, fleshing out my shelves and talking books with everyone. How fun is that?!  And while I'm still not 100% sure about the Goodreads etiquette (i.e. please excuse all newbie blunders) -- I'm going put it out there: Let's be friends!  Come find me: Goodreads/debbiestier

Oh. Wait. I just had a thought: I wonder if I can make a shelf out of all of the books that went into my own book...

You can read an excerpt from my  book, The Perfect Score Project: Uncovering the Secrets of the SAT by clicking here, and if you're inclined to purchase the book, it's available for pre-order now.

 

Illustrations by Jennifer Orkin Lewis.

 

How Early is TOO Early to Start Test Prep?

Hi Debbie,

Your blog is really useful, while entertaining at the same time. I live in England and my 14-year-old daughter, whom I homeschool, is interested in elite universities and  needs to score well on the SAT, which is a whole new phenomena to us.

I am taking notes and keeping a good resources link together. Because we are in a different system, would you say it's too early for her to start test prep at age 15? Do you think it's a good idea to go straight to taking practice tests before becoming familiar with the test? Or will this be discouraging for her?  I am wondering if it's better to spend a while familiarising her with the content and then take a test and work on the areas that need improvement.

Thanks,

A Mom from Zimbabwe

Hi!

Here's what I would do: I'd work on shoring up her fundamentals now, and save the practice tests and "test prep" (as most people think of test prep) for the year before she will take the SAT.

There is legitimate potential for burnout if you "test prep" for longer than a year (not to mention, a shortage of official material -- and you must use official College Board material for test prep). Plus, there are plenty of exercises she can do to "prepare," without using the practice tests.

For example, she could read one story from a New York Times-equivalent publication every day, then go over the vocabulary from each article and discuss the main idea (usually in the first or last paragraph).

Also, carefully correct all of her grammar on papers.  The SAT tests very specific and limited grammar rules (e.g. subject/verb agreement, parallelism, etc.), and she can learn those by having her papers corrected.  When it comes time for "test prep," you want her to be polishing, rather than learning the fundamentals.

Erica Meltzer's SAT books for both the reading and writing sections are excellent; you may want to weave some of her exercises into your routine now too.

If your daughter has solid math skills (i.e. has done lots of practice and can work fast and accurately), SAT "test prep" should be a breeze.  I'd recommend PWN the SAT's Math Guide to learn the shortcuts for the test, when the time comes.

Good luck and please keep in touch!!

Debbie

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I had a really exciting discovery the other day:  There are total strangers on Goodreads talking about my book!  You can read an excerpt from the book here, and if you're inclined to buy the book, you can pre-order it now.

The book will be in stores on February 25.

Illustrations by Jennifer Orkin Lewis.

My Logline (Thank You Family Circle)

My screenwriting daughter commented, "That's a good logline."

How Do PSAT Scores Compare to SAT Scores?

PSAT scores are back -- just in time for the holidays!

I've had a few frantic phone calls from friends, wanting to know how much an SAT score can improve from the PSAT.

I'll start with this n-of-1 study:

My son's junior SAT score went up 590 points from his sophomore PSAT.

Hopefully that will make a lot of you feel better.  He beat the odds, many times over.

According to the College Board, the average PSAT score change from sophomore to junior year is 106 points. My son's score went up 400 points that year. He started studying in August (i.e. 2.5 months before his junior year PSAT).

The College Board also says that juniors taking the PSAT in October and the SAT the following spring (my son's plan) will score an average of 55 points higher on the SAT.  My son's score went up 190 points during that same period.

Below is an excerpt from my upcoming book that describes Ethan's path to SAT score improvement:

The SAT Hand

We blocked off every Saturday for full, timed practice tests, which Ethan took at the dining-room table while I worked in my basement office just below. At the five-minute breaks he’d bring down the sections he’d finished, and I would correct them while he worked on the next set.

Occasionally, I’d see patterns to his mistakes and I’d peek my head into the dining room.

“Ethan, stop the clock for a second.”

He’d look up attentively. He was serious; he wanted to reach his goal so he could put the test behind him and move on. “You’re rushing at the end of the sections,” I’d tell him. “Pay attention to the questions at the end.” Or: “Read every word in the answer choices.”

“Okay Mom,” he’d say, and go back to work, making a small adjustment here and there.

By April he wanted me to break out the charts I’d made of his scores, the ones he’d cracked jokes about just a few months before. Now he asked me to update the charts to see if he’d made any progress--and he had! We’d collected enough data to be able to see the line moving in the right direction, slowly but unmistakably. That line on the graph was definitely a motivator.

So was the girl who lived down the street. She and Ethan had known each other since they were little, and she was into it, taking those practice tests on the weekends, too. She was a better student than Ethan—in the way girls often tend to be (better organized and more focused)—and the two of them were neck and neck in their practice scores. She also happened to be a competitive tennis player and some of that fierce athletic energy went to the picture, which kept Ethan on his toes because he wanted to beat her.

In the end she beat him, but not by much, and he exceeded his goal by thirty points.

Good enough for Ethan to call it a day and feel good about moving on.

I, on the other hand, wanted him to take another crack at the test because there had been three eleventh-hour snafus, only two of which I can write about, that had to have depressed his scores, I thought.

The first, just a few days before the test, was Ethan’s hand. His left hand, the SAT hand. (Ethan’s a lefty.) He broke his hand horsing around on a soccer field and came home from school needing a cast. I’ve never had a broken bone in my life, and this was probably Ethan’s fifth fracture, and he was only sixteen years old. Only sixteen and taking his second SAT. With a broken hand.

Needless to say, we’d never factored broken SAT hand into our test prep, and although Ethan could move his fingers I was nervous he wouldn’t be able to bubble properly. Meanwhile Ethan was insisting that he take the test as planned, cast and all.

“Let me see you bubble,” I’d say, and he would practice, but I could hear little whimpers of pain as he colored in the circles. He didn’t care. He’d had his standardized test strategy all mapped out for months in advance—the SAT, the AP exam, the SAT Subject Tests—and as far as he was concerned, there was no room in his spring-of-junior year schedule to make any last-minute test-date adjustments. He could have postponed the test till the fall, which is what the College Board told me when I called and tried to persuade them to give my son a personal bubbler as a “special circumstance accommodation.” They said no. The College Board won’t get involved with the medical issues of juniors because the kids can still take the SAT fall of senior year.

The night before the test, I spotted Ethan playing Halo, which I took to be a good sign. I figured if he could work a video game controller, he could bubble.

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You can read more from the book by downloading this adorable little Perfect Score Project excerpt booklet.

And if you are inclined to purchase the book, it would a great help if you could pre-order it now.  Everyone tells me how important "pre-orders" are to the success of a book!

Thank you, and please write to me if you have any questions!

 

Illustrations by Jennifer Orkin Lewis.

 

 

Mother Love

With my son now safely ensconced in college, I'm homeschooling my second child (which is not to say I'm teaching everything myself. I'm not.  She has a variety of teachers, including the indefatigable Lance, for math).

After working through the fundamentals of algebra and geometry for a few months, they've now moved onto the "SAT math," and as we left yesterday, he said her homework for the weekend was to practice functions, exponents and "in terms of" problems.

Well, you can imagine how excited mama bear over here was to hear about this.  I am so ready.

First thing this morning, I started pulling together my worksheets and making the little "SAT packets," when suddenly it dawned on me: it's SAT Groundhog Day. I get a re-do with kid #2.

Below is an excerpt from from "Take 1."

It’s a Wonderful Life

I love arts and crafts.

The day my new Blue Book arrived, I was moved by the creative spirit to change the book just a little. Given that I’d already ruined my chance to use the book the way it was intended, I thought, “Why not be whimsical and make the Blue Book a little more ‘me’?”

So I cut up all the pages and pieced them back together the way I liked them: by category. Linear function problems, all in one place. Right triangle problems, all in one place. Misplaced modifier questions, all in one place.

Then I digitally scanned my newly organized book so I could print off sheets of like problems: all right triangle problems, for instance, or just the dangling modifiers, and so on. There were resources to help me categorize—PWN the SAT Math Guide and The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar—to name two. And when I was done, I printed out my brand-new Blue Book, by category.

It was months before the true fruits of my labor were realized. Ethan was in the thick of it, studying for his SAT, when we had a Hallmark moment. He was in the dining room correcting his practice test from the day before and was frustrated by all the mistakes he’d made on the function problems (who isn’t, right?).

And just then, a lightbulb went off and I remembered my Blue Book project of a few months earlier. I searched my computer for “Functions,” and the most coherent, logical, and useful document I’d ever seen ap- peared at my fingertips—function problems of every sort, from tables and graphs to nested functions and word problems. It was magnificent, if you’re into this kind of thing, which I was, and Ethan now was, too, apparently.

I printed out the document and handed him the first sheets, which consisted of about eight function problems. He looked up when he saw them, wide-eyed and incredulous, so I ran back to the printer and got more—maybe twenty in the next batch—and brought those over, too. He’d already started to work on the first ones, and dare I say, I saw a glimmer of delight in his eye.

When I laid that second batch on the table, he looked up and smiled with such love and tenderness, becoming, for an instant, the same little boy who’d first looked up at me and said “Mama” so many years before, and right then he uttered the magic words without so much as realizing what he was saying. He raised his head and said, “You’re the best SAT mom in the whole world”—just like that, in slow motion.

We both realized in that one instant what I’d done.

Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees, but at that moment we both did. Some moms show their love through food. Ethan always says, “Castalucci’s mom makes the best meatballs I’ve ever had” (translation: they’re made with such love. Can you do that?). And Carolyn, his friend Philip’s mom, “makes the best salads,” and grills steak like he’s “never tasted before” (translation: can you at least try to do that?). And Sam’s mom “brings peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to every single game—for the whole team.” (Some moms go to every single game.)

My love showed differently. My love was delivered in the form of test prep for the SAT—function problems specifically, on that day. And I had triangles, and dangling modifiers, and faulty parallelism, too—you name it, I had it. I could serve it up fast, like a short-order cook.

In that moment, Ethan and I both realized that my homemade worksheets were the meatballs in our house that year. Mother love gets expressed in all kinds of strange ways.

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You can read more from the book by downloading this adorable little Perfect Score Project excerpt booklet.

And if you are inclined to purchase the book, it would be more than great (actually, it would be really helpful to me) if you could pre-order it now (which I realize seems crazy, given that the book doesn't go on sale until February, but apparently,  "pre-orders" are "very important" to the success of a book).

Thank you thank you!

And as always, write to me if you have questions. And if you took the SAT today -- eat a Clifford the Big Red Dog-sized bowl of spaghetti. It helps!

 

Illustrations by Jennifer Orkin Lewis.

Avoiding Careless Errors on the SAT

The final SAT of 2013 is next Saturday. If you'll be taking the test -- good luck!

Here are a few, final test day tips:

Always use the calculator, even for the easy questions. (Or maybe especially for the easy questions. Some test takers report making more “dumb mistakes” on the easy problems than on the hard ones.)


Don’t get stuck on a question.  Always be aware of the time.


Be on the lookout for special right triangles. They’re everywhere.


“Not drawn to scale” means “not drawn to scale.”


Read every single word of the questions and answers. Don’t make a “one-word” mistake.


There are no new questions. (This one's my favorite!)

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I wrote a book about the SAT journey I took with my son that will go on sale on February 25, 2014: The Perfect Score Project: Uncovering the Secrets of the SAT. 

If you'd like to receive a print copy (or many print copies) of this adorable Perfect Score Project excerpt booklet, please email me: debbie@perfectscoreproject.com

And if you are inclined to purchase the book, it would be really helpful to me if you could pre-order it now (which I realize seems absurdly early, given that the book doesn't go on sale until February, but I'm told that "pre-orders" are very important).

 

Illustrations by Jennifer Orkin Lewis.

A Recipe for Success on the SAT Essay

 

For some reason, the most popular blog post I've written is about the essay:  I Am Dying For A 12.

Personally, I thought my December essay was better. They both scored 10's (out of 12).

I take solace from the following two facts:

1) My friend Catherine scored a 10 when she took the SAT. Catherine has a Ph.D. and teaches college freshman composition; she grades five-paragraph essays for a living. The College Board has used passages from her books in the critical reading section. She wrote her SAT essay on law and economics in South America, citing Hernando De Soto’s book The Mystery of Capitalism -- and she scored a 10!

2) My son scored an 11 --  i.e. the son with chicken scratch handwriting, who couldn’t fill two pages to save his life -- scored higher than yours truly, the supposed writer in the family who happened to care much more deeply about the essay than he did.

I’ve heard dozens of theories about how to get a good essay score: use an esoteric poem…try three examples…historical and literary examples are better than personal ones…be passionate…etc. Based on all of the essays I've read (many), the only pattern I've been able to find in those scoring 11’s and 12’s is that they're laden with “the trimmings" (i.e. sophisticated vocabulary, varied punctuation, metaphors, etc.). I read one essay with the word "ergo" used twice -- in one essay -- and it got an 11!

I've posted a few "SAT Recipes" in the past that should earn you a 10 (with practice), but I'm going to throw one more into the hopper, in honor of those taking the SAT this coming Saturday.

First: it’s not necessary to read the “excerpt” -- just head straight to the prompt and quickly jot down your thoughts for a few minutes. Then, pretend you’re on the debate team and try to convince the grader of your point of view. Don't waffle or attempt to be nuanced, and be specific and explicit with your examples. Answer the question directly and circle back to your thesis in every paragraph.

Recipe for Success on the Essay

Paragraph 1:

*Line 1: Answer the question directly, yes or no. Basically, repeat back the prompt as a brief, declarative response.

*Line 2: Why do you believe line 1.

*Line 3: Why do you believe line 1 (give second reason).

*Line 4: End paragraph with general examples that you will elaborate on in the body of the essay, e.g., “Compelling examples of this proposition can be found in Renaissance Art and European literature.”

Paragraph 2:

*Line 1: Specific example that exemplifies your thesis.

*Lines 2-5: Describe example in detail. Be specific; don’t generalize; circle back to the thesis (Line 1/Paragraph 1)

Paragraph 3:

*Line 1: Similarly, (2nd example) illustrates (Line 1/Paragraph 1).

*Lines 2-5: Same formula as paragraph 2.

Paragraph 4:

*Conclusion: “While some might argue (counter argument), this argument loses force when one considers (examples from your essay).”

*Recap Line 1

*Expand Line 1 (if possible)

 

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I wrote a book about the SAT journey I took with my son: The Perfect Score Project: Uncovering the Secrets of the SAT. The book includes everything I learned about the SAT, test prep, motivating a teenager, and more.

If you are inclined to buy the book, it would super-duper helpful if you could pre-order it now (which I realize seems crazy, given that the book doesn't go on sale until February, but I'm told that "pre-orders" are really important for a book to be successful, in this day and age).

Thank you!!!

Good luck if you are taking the test this Saturday. Here are a few blog posts with "Test Day Advice," and email me if you have any questions! debbie@perfectscoreproject.com

 

Illustrations by Jennifer Orkin Lewis.

 

So, How Do You Feel About Functions on the SAT?

 

Me: Love/Hate

Do they destroy you? They nearly killed me -- until the bitter end.

I did eventually learn how to do them (thank you Philip Keller and PWNtheSAT) -- just not as fast as I would have liked -- under "timed conditions."  (Thankfully, this lack of mastery over functions hasn't impaired my real life.)

Apparently, I'm not alone (see Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree video above), and there is help, for those of you in the "function challenged" boat.

The New Math SAT Game Plan: The Strategic Way to Score Higher by Philip Keller explains functions so well ... you'll be teaching them to your teacher's teacher by the time you're done.

I could recommend his book for a whole lot of reasons, but I'll cut to the chase: Keller very clearly lays out the SAT math strategy that all the SAT cognoscenti agree on (they just package it up a little differently).

Keller's SAT Math Strategy In A Nutshell:

The SAT gives one point for each right answer, and deducts ¼ point for each wrong answer. There’s no deduction for questions you skip. Keller explains why the quarter-point deduction means that most test takers should deliberately work too slowly to finish the test. Your score will be higher if you leave the hard problems blank and get 100% of the problems you can do right—you can score well above a 700 (about 740, on average) intentionally skipping one question per section if you get everything else right.

*Choose a target score 100 points higher than you achieved on your most recent test.

*Decide which questions to skip based on your target score. Math questions appear in order of difficulty, and Keller tells you exactly which questions to answer (Answer Zone) and which to skip (Skip Zone) according to their sequence on the test.

*Only answer questions in your Answer Zone. Any questions not in your Answer Zone are in your Skip Zone, and that’s what you do. Skip them.

*Only guess if you’re in your “Answer Zone.” No guessing on Skip-Zone problems.

 

The rest of the book is filled with shortcuts for solving SAT math problems faster than you can solve them using traditional methods.