Why is the SAT® so important? Isn't it enough to be a well-rounded student?
What does it take to get the best
SAT®
score?
How much time will a student need to commit
to this program?
How do you motivate students to do the work
and to succeed?
What is the cost for a complete
program?
What about a guarantee of success?
What are your average score increases?
How do I know if your philosophy and
approach are really best for me?
When should my student take the SAT®?
Some very important elements of
success
Why
is the SAT® so important?
Isn't it enough to be a well-rounded student?
To top
colleges, a "well-rounded student" is one who has done exceptionally
well in all areas: grades, a
standardized test (like the SAT®), and extra-curricular
pursuits. Since the SAT® (or
another standardized national test) is the only quantifiable standard common to
all applicants, these tests are often given significant weight when making
admissions or scholarship decisions.
Score ranges are published in college guides and are commonly used by
prospective students to select suitable college options and to eliminate
others, so there is intense pressure on selective colleges & universities
to maintain a high reported average SAT® score, making an SAT®
score one of the most important numbers on a college application. Even many “SAT® optional” colleges
use SAT® scores – for admissions, honors programs, scholarships, and
other important opportunities.
What does it
take to get the best SAT® score?
Facility with
high level academic skills combined with familiarity with the questions on the
test and a confident approach to answering them will result in top SAT®
scores. Through their work with us,
students shore up all underlying skills in reading, math, writing, and critical
thinking. Our students learn to change
the ways in which they approach the SAT® – to take control of the
test. We offer a comprehensive program,
covering high level academic skills, crucial formulas, test taking skills, and
a thorough review and familiarity with all of the material covered by the SAT®. We achieve familiarity by providing multiple
test simulations in a realistic proctored setting. Familiarity leads to comfort, to confidence,
and finally to success. When our
students sit for the SAT®, they are ready to succeed. Our methods have often resulted in
significant score increases of hundreds of points.
How much time will a student
need to commit to this program?
Our program is
goal driven and the goals are set by each individual client. Ambitious goals generally require more time
than do smaller goals. We do not have a
canned curriculum, but gear our lessons to the unique needs and goals of each
student. Some students come to us
needing to fill knowledge or performance gaps in a few areas, while some need
thorough reviews of most or all of the skills tested on the SAT®. Most students need help with subject matter
as well as test-taking skills. Almost
all of our students need help understanding how to take control of the SAT®,
practice sharpening their critical thinking skills, and confidence to reach
beyond their current levels of academic performance. Many, including high achieving students, need
help with reading comprehension and with building their vocabularies. Some students come, as is optimal, during
sophomore year in high school or near the beginning of their junior years; some
come only a few months before a fall of senior year test. We work with the student and parents to
establish individual goals and a realistic time budget. Most of our students study with us for at
least five months, some many more. They
finish their work with us when they have achieved their goal scores.
In order to
get the most out of each session, outside assignments are recommended and most
students do 1½ to 2 hours of homework for each two hours of tutoring. The nature and extent of the homework will
vary with the length of the program and the student's profile. We are a custom service and meet the exact
needs of each student. We are demanding
of the student, yet flexible, working around the times the student is
particularly tired or over committed.
How do you motivate students to do the
work and to succeed?
Our tutors and
students form dynamic personal relationships that energize and motivate; they
enjoy each other's company, and our one-on-one format keeps students
engaged. But probably the most
significant motivator is the feeling of empowerment our students gain, in dealing
with high level academic demands both in SAT work and in school. Our students feel great when they become
better readers and writers, when their math skills are finely honed, when their
critical thinking abilities greatly expanded, and when they understand how to
easily organize their ideas! Even though
students are working hard with us, they often report that their newfound skills
alleviate stress and time needed for school assignments. Students particularly appreciate that our
lessons are geared to the exact needs of the student, each and every week. An A POSITIVE
APTITUDE®
student
never does busy work, but always gets homework geared to exactly that which
will allow the student to grow. Because
students see value in our homework, they usually do it rather willingly,
sometimes eagerly. Each lesson provides
the opportunity for our tutors to help students eliminate obstacles, motivating
students to continue working toward ever greater milestones.
What is the
cost for a complete program?
Our programs
are customized to the individual, so we can estimate the time frame and
associated costs once we ascertain the needs and goals of the student. Our full time, professional instructors
charge a professional fee, highly competitive for the industry and locale. We are confident that you will find our
proven techniques and methods the best value for SAT®
preparation. We are an even greater
value because our students not only get outstanding SAT® score
results, but also gain proficiencies with high level academic skills which
serve them well in high school, university and beyond.
What about a guarantee of
success?
Even when some
tutoring services offer “guarantees,” they do not guarantee success. Rather, they say that if a modest goal has
not been achieved, the student may attend group classes to review materials
already covered. We look at things
differently. We motivate and monitor our
students, working with them to ensure their successes. Frequent test simulations help us map
students’ progress as we go. Students
see their results and gain confidence throughout the program. It is possible to stop at any time, but few
do. We spend very little on marketing as
most of our students come as referrals, often from other students.
What are your
average score increases?
You can expect
much greater score increases from our service than, generally, other SAT®
preparation services. We don’t talk in
averages because our students come to us with very different base scores, goals
and abilities. A student scoring a 1450
(using the old SAT® scoring system of 1600 points) may work for a
perfect or near perfect score (and we’ve had many such successes). In this case the score increase could be, at
most, 150 points. Another student may
come to us after achieving a far lower score, say 1100 (using the old SAT®
scoring system), with the goal of 1450 in order to have a shot at a certain
selective college, a 350 point increase (and we often get these kinds of
results for our students). On the new
SAT® score scale of 2400 total points, we’ve had students who’ve had
increases of many hundreds of points. We’ve
tutored students who have worked hard and long with us and have improved from
the 400’s into the 700’s in all three SAT subject areas.
How do I know if your
philosophy and approach are really best for me?
The SAT®
is, first and foremost, a reading comprehension and critical thinking test,
combining technical skills in math and in writing. This is the kind of intelligence/skills mix
that can be taught and this is exactly what we do best, unlike most other SAT
tutors who concentrate on test taking techniques with limited or no elevation
of the student’s fundamental competencies.
In our experience, even many top students have significant gaps in
knowledge and skills needed for the SAT®. Most need to understand and to practice
taking control of the SAT® rather than letting the test questions
push them around. Many need some help
sharpening critical thinking skills and fine tuning approaches. Most need a good, basic grammar review, to
understand how to organize their thoughts, and to develop a thesis. Most students need refreshers on underlying
mathematical skills. We fill in the
gaps. We address every issue needed to
succeed on the SAT® while we ready our students for excellence in
the high places of academia.
•
If you want a real shot at significant
SAT® score increases, greater than many believe are realistic, and
are willing to work consistently to achieve great results, you want us as your
partner.
•
If you value the opportunity to hone
your high level academic skills so that you are a better reader, writer, better
with math, better at organizing your ideas, a better critical thinker at the
same time as you prepare for outstanding SAT success, you’ll feel great working
with us.
•
If you are not willing to settle for a
“one size fits most” group approach, our custom one-on-one tutoring is for you.
•
If you want more than a general
overview and some test taking tricks you’ll want to learn with us, learning
every question type and the best approach to get quick and accurate answers.
•
If you want the services of full-time
professionals using a proven approach, we're for you.
•
If you have test anxiety, learning or
processing challenges, lack confidence, or have multiple issues impeding your
success, you want a tutor dedicated to overcoming your challenges and to
uncovering your full potentials.
•
If
one-on-one meetings with your personal tutor will help motivate you, we are
exactly what you need.
When should my student take the
SAT®?
The great news about studying with A POSITIVE APTITUDE® is that you know exactly when to take the SAT®: when you have demonstrated that you will get your goal score – the score which will allow you be the driver’s seat with college admissions, scholarships, honors programs and the like. Many of our students report that they feel pressured and receive conflicting messages about timing of official SATs from guidance counselors, friends, the media and other sources. Our students do not need to approach the taking of the official SAT®s in the same manner as do those who are not studying with us. Our students do not need multiple official SAT® scores. They have abundant opportunities, as part of their work with us, to take practice tests. Our students take an official SAT® not at some arbitrary date, and not in some arbitrary number, but when they have achieved their goal scores on one or more of our SAT® simulations.
Some very
important elements of success with A POSITIVE APTITUDE®
Self Confidence and Envisioning
Success—Confidence in the steps one will take toward
the final goal is gained through multiple experiences in our students’ work
with A
POSITIVE
APTITUDE®, especially in the simulations near the end of their
preparations. But demonstrating that the
student’s goal is achievable, and envisioning the success for him/herself are not necessarily one and the same. We work with students, throughout our
process, to substantiate, in many ways, successes which, when they ultimately
come together at the end of the SAT® preparations, normally and
rather predictably result in big SAT® score gains. We also repeatedly give our students our
realistic appraisals of their outcomes, even though these predictions often
seem, to the students at the time, overly ambitious or even unattainable. We have a big job to do helping students to
see themselves at significantly higher levels of academic competencies and SAT®
scores than they are currently able to produce.
We’re great at helping to build self confidence in our students and it
is a very important element of our students’ successes.
The Importance of Planning in Heading
off Final Stage Fatigue or Complacency—We publish,
prior to every semester, a list of upcoming simulation dates. We send reminders of these dates with each
individual invitation to a simulation.
To ensure success, students need to put simulations on their calendars,
planning in advance, approximately one simulation every three to four weeks
(extended timed students about half as often). By planning ahead for the next
several months, students ensure that they will have the time set aside to take
least five, and preferably more, simulations over the course of their work with
A POSITIVE APTITUDE®. When students
schedule simulations at reasonable intervals, scheduling official SATs only
after achieving their goal scores on these simulations, our students succeed.
Success and Fear of Success—Our students undertake a complex series of tasks with multiple
and aggressive goals, goals which many people often view as overly
optimistic. But we reach these great
goals with our students all the time.
Our tutors know how to help maintain optimism in our students, helping
our students to reach for realistic but aggressive goals, and to maintain high
energy work throughout the process, especially in the final stages.
Our
work is ambitious and requires that a complex series of skills and approaches
come together in a timed setting, in the right ways to produce our big
results. In the final stages of our
students’ preparations we work with our students, and elicit the help of
parents, to maintain momentum right up to the “finish line”.
Overworked Students—Many students come to us feeling worn out by the hard work
and by the volume of work they’ve been doing in school and in other
commitments, and wondering how they will find the time and energy to do what
needs to been done in their SAT® preparations But once our students experience our
approaches and how they enable our students to be immediately able to do SAT problems
which previously eluded them, and how the skills we teach also help our
students to do higher level school work, often in less time, students relax and
buy-in.
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| CALL US: 919-844-7987 |
| Copyright ©2009, A POSITIVE APTITUDE™ |
