New Summer ACT Test Date Offered. Summer is the Best time to Prep.

ACT will now be offering a July test date for the 2017-2018 school year.  The summer ACT is currently scheduled for July 14, 2018.  This is very interesting noting that College Board just recently announced their August 26th summer SAT.  Is this a coincidence?

According to Education Week, "ACT's Chief Commercial Officer, Suzana Delanghe, said in a statement that the additional test date was added in response to feedback from students, teachers, and colleges, who 'told us they would like to see an extra test date prior to early admission and application deadlines.' She also said the summer date would help students "focus on their coursework" during the school year without having to worry about preparing for a college-entrance exam." Education Week also stated that "Paul Weeks, ACT's senior vice president for client relations, said that in surveying students and families, the company found that all students—not just early-admissions college applicants—wanted a wider variety of testing opportunties."

At Think Tutoring, we have many students needing the summer time to prep.  School year demands such as homework, AP exams, extra curricular activities, sports, part-time jobs, and more can be too much for the typical junior.  Now, with both SAT and ACT offering summer exams, summer seems to an even be a BETTER time to prep.

Think Tutoring is offering Free SAT and ACT practice tests on July 10 and 11 along with summer specials.  Call Think Tutoring at 973-593-0050 for more information.  Better scores are just a phone call away.

Which College is Right for you? Tutoring and College Planning!

I see our Junior and Senior students struggling to keep up.  They are exhausted after an arduous day of school, sports, extracurricular activities, and tutoring.  However, our students come to Think Tutoring ready and willing to work.

Besides SAT and ACT test prep, we offer our parents and students guidance during the college search process. 

Our first step with any family is to establish SAT and ACT score goals.  In order to do that, we need to know which college is best for your child.

Five key points to figuring out which college is right for you:

1. Educate yourself on your school portfolio

-Make notes of your GPA, PSAT/SAT/ACT scores, extracurricular activities, sports, jobs, etc. (Pre-Planning for College Application)

-Meet with your guidance counselor to get this information if you do not have it

-Start thinking about which teachers should write your letters of recommendation

2. Search colleges online

-Search college preferences based on GPA, SAT scores, size, major, etc to get a list of schools

-Search here: https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search?clearSessionCriteria=true

3. Visit campuses

-Best time to visit colleges are during spring break and summer

-Plan to visit during your sophomore and junior year

-Make sure to call admissions for a tour. Tour guides can answer any questions that you have about the campus.

-Print out College Board’s checklist

-Make sure that the college offers all of the majors you are interested in

-Check out the career development center.  Make sure that the school offer internships within your major.

4. Apply Early Decision and/or Early Action

-This is a great idea if you are set on a given college!

5. Wait on Financial Aid Packages

-Financial Aid packages usually arrive in March after you have received your acceptance letter.  This may be the final decision maker.  Some schools offer no grants and scholarships.  Other colleges can offer you a full tuition grant.

Call Think Tutoring at 973-593-0050 for more information.  We can offer help and support for not just test preparation, but also college planning and guidance.

Needing PARCC to Graduate?

According to the Burlington County Times, “Beginning with the Class of 2020, the rules will require students to take the Partnership for Assessment and Readiness for College and Careers' language arts grade 10 exam and the algebra I exam to graduate. Beginning with the Class of 2021, students must take and pass grade 10 language arts and algebra I or go through a portfolio process.” Most parents consider the portfolio as a much better representation of their child’s academic career.

SAT/ACT/PARCCHowever, students are mandated to pass PARCC in order to graduate until 2021.  Some students have opted to submit SAT or ACT scores as a graduation requirement instead of participating in PARCC.

At Think Tutoring, we offer test preparation and core subject programs in order to prepare for PARCC, SAT or ACT.

Think Tutoring is offering a free SAT or ACT Practice Test on President’s Day, 2/20, at 10:30am.  Call 973-593-0050 or email us at info@thinktutoring.com to register.  We can help your child succeed.

Become a Math Major: Your College Degree Pays Off

It is time for juniors to register for the SAT and ACT tests! Juniors taking the SATs only have the March, May and June test dates and ACT students only have the February, April, and June dates left. 

Free SAT/ACT Test

Collegeboard recently released an article that states that higher education pays off.  To get into a good college, we recommend you boost your SAT and ACT scores.  Think Tutoring is offering a free SAT/ACT Assessment on January 15^th from 9am-12:30pm.  We will then be offering a free consultation to review your child’s scores, weakest areas of the test, and customized tutoring program.

Collegeboard also released a list of majors with the greatest earnings potential.  Math and sciences are key.  A Computer science major is listed at $54,000 starting salary. Economics, Finance, Accounting and Mathematics ranged from $42,000-$48,000 as median earnings of early career graduates.  Other majors such as Early Childhood Education ($30,000) do not come close.

At Think Tutoring, we recommend to master any gaps in mathematics.  Math is all about building blocks.  Your child cannot solve a multi-step equation if he is weak on basic math facts.  Think Tutoring offers math assessments to pinpoint exactly which math skills your child is weak on.  Call Think Tutoring at 973-593-0050 to register your child for a math assessment.

Calculator Dependence

When do we start introducing calculators into our math curriculums?  

As technology in schools continues to grow, the calculator has been a consistent tool used for solving mathematical computations at all levels.  However, the overreliance on this tool has proven to have detrimental effects on a student’s basic computational skills.  Mental math and pencil to paper operations dwindle as a student can simply reach for the calculator to perform any needed computation.

As students progress through their years of math, the concepts become more complicated involving more in depth calculation.  When students reach this level, the use of a calculator is more understandable for higher concepts and for saving time with long, tedious arithmetic.  However, the calculator does not replace a human brain.  The calculator’s performance is only as accurate as the student entering the information.  Therefore, learning how to properly use this tool is essential.

Here at Think Tutoring, we tend to restrict the use of calculators in our basic math programs and in certain aspects of our upper level math programs.  Maintaining mental sharpness is key when moving towards academic improvement, especially in math.  It is also a true benefit to our SAT students who have to face a non-calculator section on the SAT test.  Learning more complex skills tends to be easier when fundamentals are already mastered and maintained.