Here are practice tests for the ISEE. Make sure that you select the right practice test for your grade level. Students entering 9th grade or above will be taking the ISEE Upper Level Test. Students entering 7th and 8th grade will be taking the ISEE Middle Level Test, and student entering 5th and 6th grade take the ISEE Lower level test.
Click here for the Lower Level ISEE
Click here for the Middle Level ISEE
Click here for the Upper Level ISEE`
Practice makes perfect and when studying for standardized tests, nothing beats practicing with actual questions from past exams. This year’s SHSAT test takers are in a bit of a more complicated situation than in the past because the Verbal section of the test was recently revised. The great news is that the confusing ordering paragraphs questions have been eliminated, as have the logical reasoning questions. The bad news is that studying without actual test questions is a dicey affair and only the 2018-2019 SHSAT handbook reflects the current Verbal section. However, the reading comprehension questions from past exams are still relevant and should be practiced, as should all of the Mathematics questions.
SHSAT Practice Tests
Below are links to SHSAT handbooks, which include actual exams. The SHSAT still consists of 2 sections: the Verbal and the Mathematics sections. Each section is 75 minutes, the Verbal section now consists of reading comprehension and revising/editing questions. The revising/editing questions are based on the standards set in the 7th grade Common Core ELA State Standards.
Click here for the 2014-2015 SHSAT Handbook.
Click here for the 2016-2017 SHSAT Handbook.
Click here for the 2017-2018 SHSAT Handbook.
Click here for the 2018-2019 SHSAT Handbook.
Below are the cutoff scores for each of the Specialized High Schools.
2018 (low score / high score) Stuyvesant 559 / 698 Bronx Science 518 / 637 Brooklyn Latin 482 / 555 Brooklyn Technical 493 / 668 HSMSE @ CCNY 516 / 616 HSAS @ Lehman 516 / 633 Queens Science @ York College 511 / 542 Staten Island Tech 519 / 660
2017 (low score / high score) Stuyvesant 555 / 704 Bronx Science 512 / 664 Brooklyn Latin 479 / 600 Brooklyn Technical 486 / 588 HSMSE @ CCNY 504 / 621 HSAS @ Lehman 516 / 645 Queens Science @ York College 507 / 607 Staten Island Tech 515 / 704
2016 (low score / high score) Stuyvesant 556 / 703 Bronx Science 510 / 703 Brooklyn Latin 477 / 552 Brooklyn Technical 483 / 689 HSMSE @ CCNY 503 / 633 HSAS @ Lehman 503 / 603 Queens Science @ York College 505 / 580 Staten Island Tech 508 / 703
2015 (low score / high score) Stuyvesant 556 / 703 Bronx Science 510 / 703 Brooklyn Latin 477 / 552 Brooklyn Technical 483 / 689 HSMSE @ CCNY 503 / 633 HSAS @ Lehman 503 / 603 Queens Science @ York College 505 / 580 Staten Island Tech 508 / 703
2014 (cutoff score / high score) Stuyvesant 559 / 697 Bronx Science 517 / 678 Brooklyn Latin 480 / 541 Brooklyn Technical 486 / 628 HSMSE @ CCNY 512 / 610 HSAS @ Lehman 506 / 646 Queens Science @ York College TBD / 612 Staten Island Tech 506 / 638
ABSTRACT:
In this four-part series on the college application essay, we consider how to select a topic, some common topic pitfalls, the elements of a great essay, and the writing process in order to help students navigate this under-emphasized portion of the college application process. This is part two: Topics to Avoid for the College Application Essay.
ARTICLE:
Working with students on college application essays, certain topics consistently appear. Students believe these topics will show them in a good light. Unfortunately, the topic is usually obvious, mundane, and will be covered by many, many other students. Rather than highlighting their individual qualities, it reinforces how average they are. What follows are some commonly selected topics that do not accomplish what they are perceived to showcase.
1. The “Try, Try Again” essay––In this essay, the student hopes to show how they have ambition and conviction. S/he tried out for the school team/band/play/club and was not accepted. After a year of practice and good effort, the student went to trials again and this time succeeded. Or, the student expected to ace a class, but then failed a major test, forcing a re-evaluation that led to eventual success (presumably an A). Many students have this experience. I have worked with a group of 20 students in an international workshop and had 4 of them wanting to write this essay, 2 of them about their experience with the soccer team. This essay does not show ambition as they hope; it shows limited experience since this mundane experience is one of the great events in their life. Most teenagers will have had to face failure. In the larger scheme of the world, this is hardly a great personal barrier to have to overcome.
2. The “Community Service” essay––This essay is often based on a church or community service trip to an impoverished nation, where the student discovered the heart-wrenching poverty in this world. Again, many students have this experience. One hopes that young people are aware of the poverty even within their own immediate geographical area. Unless the student can address some major initiative that s/he successfully launched upon return from this experience, which development and execution should be described in detail, this essay too often reads as a sigh of relief at not being poor like those others. If this trip has lead to a career focus, then the essay can be transformed into a detailed discussion of that life’s goal, telling the story of the trip in a sentence or two as a motivating experience.
3. The “I moved” essay––This has the same flaw as the two above in being too common to be inherently interesting. The difficulty of making friends, getting to know a new language or culture, the challenge in changing education systems, the discomfort of being a representative of one’s previous home are true of everyone who has ever moved. Can the student share something truly individual about that experience? Something that no one else could describe? That essay should then be about that experience, which just happened to occur because the student had moved.
4.a) The Death or Loss essay–– The problem with essays about a friend or a family member’s death or suicide, friend’s abuse of drugs or alcohol, or someone else’s eating disorder is their focus on someone other than the student. The first encounter with death, disease, or destruction is shocking, but recognizing the importance of friends and family does not make an adequate college application essay. In addition, this limited space must be devoted to the student’s own life story and personal traits, not the challenges of someone else. Can the student discuss significant new insights they have on the meaning of life, and how they are already implementing these realizations into their current life? If so, the student can write an essay about how s/he makes those values apparent, and mention in passing how this realization was brought forth by a friend or family’s addiction or death.
4.b) The Best Person Ever essay–– The student here usually sees much of their own character being altered by their relationship with this grandparent/teacher/priest/coach. That may be true, but usually the essay becomes entirely about the other person, rather than presenting important qualities about the student. This difficulty can be overcome by shifting the essay to find a story about something the student has accomplished, and narrating that story with reference to qualities that they try to emulate in this other person. This reveals more about the student by presenting how they overcome a difficult situation, showcases traits they admire in others and how they attempt to reproduce them within the context of their own life.
5.a) The “Parent’s Divorce/Remarriage/Affair” essay––Unfortunately, I have yet to read a student’s essay on a parent that has the necessary distance to avoid sounding plaintive. An application to college implies the student’s maturity to live away from the governing eye of parents. Even a student with the best intentions will likely appear to be caught in their kid-parent turmoil, in the adolescent blame game. I discourage students from writing about their parents. This is related to the other dangerous parent topic:
5.b) The “Parent is a Celebrity/Important Person” essay––This essay can be done well…if it focuses on the student. Otherwise, the student sounds like s/he expects to coast on the parent’s success, even if the student is complaining about how misunderstood s/he is because of the parent’s celebrity (in which case see item 5a above). The student can write a revealing essay about juggling the public and private of his or her own life, explain how difficult personal decisions get made because of the public, or share aspects of life in the shadows of someone’s celebrity. This remains focused on the student and presents the student as self-aware.
These problem topics highlight the difficulty in picking a good essay topic. How to do that is our next topic.
ABSTRACT:
In this four-part series on the college application essay, we consider how to select a topic, some common topic pitfalls, the elements of a great essay, and the writing process in order to help students navigate this under-emphasized portion of the college application process. This is part one: How to Select a College Application Essay Topic.
ARTICLE:
Selecting the topic for your college admission essay is a major hurdle in the writing process. Though the General Application does provide prompts, the five questions are broad, precisely to cover most high school students’ experiences. Selecting a topic is a matter of personal choice, but it must be done carefully since the essay is the one place, beside the interview, where a student can emerge as an individual from the bulk of high-achieving, athletically-talented, community-oriented student applications.
Picking a topic can not be done well simply by thinking about it. You have to start writing before you even know what to write about. A wise teacher once told me that there was no thinking outside of writing. This is true because writing takes the crystal clear thoughts inside your head and reveals how murky they are when shaped into concrete words.
One way to find a topic is to identify at least three answers to each prompt on the General Application. Try writing one sentence about each answer for each prompt. This is harder than it seems. Here are the 2015-16 General Application Essay Prompts:
PROMPT #1: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
PROMPT #2: The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success.Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
PROMPT #3: Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
PROMPT #4: Describe a problem you’ve solved or a problem you’d like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma-anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.
PROMPT #5: Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.
Go ahead. Do it. Try to identify at least three things, major or silly, that you could discuss in reply to these prompts.
From that list, a few will seem like viable topics, but keep this original list because there may be good ideas that need to be rediscovered later. Once you have narrowed the list to a few potential topics, the writing can begin. In ten concentrated minutes, try to write 300-500 words about each of the potential topics. You won’t know which ones have real potential until you see what you have to say about each one. Some seemingly great topics are summed in three sentences. Other less obvious ones will surprise with enormous detail and thought. At this point, there is usually one essay topic that glows with promise.
Take that essay topic and begin to write as much as possible. And, as your English teacher undoubtedly said at some point, show, don’t tell. Don’t tell us you were shocked, but describe the situation so that your reader will experience the shock. Don’t tell us you were excited, sad, that you matured, became a leader, found a friend, discovered your career choice, etc. Describe the event in enormous detail. Describe the colors, the sounds, the temperature, the season, contrast it to where you were coming from or where you went next. You need as much detail as possible here. You should go well over 1000 words. You will edit it later, but for now you need to identify what elements of your experience can be used to show the feelings and thoughts you had.
You may list them. You may select a few to discuss in greater detail. What you do with this information will become how you develop and organize your essay. If your topic is focused on one of these statements then you haven’t done the work yet of understanding why: 1) my religion/education/race/family/passion made me who I am; 2) I changed the way I thought; 3) I changed X because it was the right thing to do; 4) I’m going to do X because it needs to be fixed; 5) X changed me as a person.
The College Application Essay is a psychological experience. It asks you to ask why you are who you are, why you like what you do, why some memories and experiences have stayed with you and influenced you, while others haven’t. There are no easy answers. You can’t fall back on cultural or moral values. You need to identify and explain your own values. Your essay uses an experience as the starting point for addressing what you think is important, not because someone else told you it was important but because you are a self-reflective person who is mature enough to use your critical thinking skills to better understand your motivations, your fears, your aspirations…who you are.
That’s your topic.
AUTHOR BIO: Charlotte Kent, PhD. lives and works in New York City, where she helps people of all ages improve their writing.
We have been tutoring NYC students for more than twenty years. Call us! We would love to see if we can help.
ABSTRACT:
In this four-part series, we consider how to select a topic, some common topic pitfalls, the elements of a great essay, and the writing process in order to help students navigate this under-emphasized portion of the college application process. This is part three: What is Good About A Good Essay?
ARTICLE:
What makes a good essay? Some things we’ve been told our whole lives by every English teacher. Interesting syntax. Good grammar. A diversity of sentence styles. Just there, I made a stylistic decision to list noun phrases without a verb, thereby producing a string of incomplete sentences. I decided it would have greater impact on the reader to hear these oft-quoted elements of good writing independent of the supporting sentence structure. It was wrong, grammatically speaking, but to my ear, it was better. The ability to manage your content with intentionally designed sentences and choice words can help you keep your reader’s attention.
In the college essay writing process, keeping your reader’s attention is key.
The admissions folks are reading thousands of essays. They do this for days, for weeks, all day long, trying to answer emails, take phone calls, attend meetings, and manage their own lives too. Your essay either grabs them and holds them, or it slips away, forgotten into a pile as high as their desk.
So tell them a great story. Make them want to read about what you did, saw, thought next. Make them want to know you.
That means your story needs to be personal. It should be personally revealing, not exposing. Tell that truly individual story, but manage the details so that you are in control of what you present. The essay on one student’s stutter did not invoke pity or awkwardness, but revealed an incredibly talented young woman who is excited to discover much about the world, with interests in theater and photography. The stutter was just a catalyst for the rest of who she is.
Focusing on something small but specific can demonstrate what you value, your character, your thoughtfulness regarding your own life. A student wrote an essay that started off listing all the things he doesn’t like, because that was the best way to challenge the notion that he should know who he is and what he wants at the young age of 17. In doing so, he made insightful remarks about American youth culture. Another student had always known he wanted to be a doctor, but he wrote about fundraising for a children’s cancer fund, frustrated that he couldn’t do more. HIs life goal was implicit in everything he did and his essay made that apparent.
Find the essay that reveals something special about yourself. A favorite word/color/book/artwork can explain more about who you are then describing your family, a trip you took, or how you always succeed. One young woman was writing a pretty standard essay about her nice upbringing, when she realized that even though she wasn’t a musician, music was important to her. She had music to study, and to wake up in the morning. She listened to music to calm herself, as well as to have fun. She shared it with friends and her family. In discussing the role certain songs played in her life, she presented a well-rounded, emotionally stable, pleasant young woman that would be a delightful contribution to the college community. The college admissions officer had only to look at her school transcript to confirm she was an excellent student and good athlete, too.
Students have often received good advice on strengths they can address in their essay, but every once in a while a student is advised by those who are well-meaning, but overly protective. Going to college means leaving home. Writing an essay that is true to who you are is the first step in establishing your own ground. You must do it well, if you want your new independence to succeed. I worked with a young woman from Beirut whose essay was able to convince her family that she should be allowed to go to fashion school in Paris rather than become a dental hygienist and stay home. The urgency with which she wrote about her passion was palpable. She had been through political uprisings but, as she acknowledged, so had many others around the world. Her consummate love of fashion on the other hand was its own revolution. She took a risk in writing that essay, but her clarity of purpose made every word ring.
The challenge in explaining what makes a good college essay is that the rules will change for every person. The best college essays are personal and insightful. They express core qualities of the applicant. How they do so will depend on the person. Take your time. Keep a journal. Write, write more, write things that make you question and squirm. Struggle to be honest. Once you find the element or story that is deeply important to who you are, to how others should understand you, then you can shape it into the perfect college essay.
ABSTRACT: In this four-part series on the college application essay, we consider how to select a topic, some common topic pitfalls, the elements of a great essay, and the writing process in order to help students navigate this under-emphasized portion of the college application process. This is part four: Shaping the College Application Essay.
ARTICLE:
I know that editing is a rushed process for most people– a quick read-thru to make sure there are no glaring spelling errors and voila! Done!
No one likes to hear that a good essay takes six or more drafts.
In this section, I will explain the ten steps and introduce the questions that a writer can ask to help focus the editing process.
By the way, in this process, save every draft, every sheet of free-writing, every note you take. Do not save over documents, but save each draft as a new document. I still use the numbering system from the publishing company where I worked, so that I can always find that sentence from an earlier draft that I deleted and now need again (Gen App Essay-d1, Gen App Essay-d2, etc.). This will save you much frustration later on when you want that perfectly phrased thought from a month ago.
Step 1. Your original list of potential topics, as addressed in the first part of this series.
Step 2. Your expansion of the selected topic in great detail.
Step 3. Begin to organize your essay. Select which details about the topic are important; decide their order so that they lead to the conclusion of what you want to present about yourself; cut and paste information until it is ordered as you wish; write a sentence for things that are missing, that you have not described yet, so that you know what you need to include later. (This is usually my -d1.)
Step 4. Draft. Based on your plan, start writing all the information that is missing. Try to describe everything that you state. Later, you can make stylistic choices about when to punctuate descriptions with statements of realization, of growing awareness, etc. For now, describe, describe, describe. There is nothing you cannot describe, only things you have never tried to describe before. At the end of this process, most find that they have somewhere between 1200 and 1800 words.
Step 5. Refine. At least 72 hours after you’ve written the first draft, return to it and highlight only those phrases (not full sentences) that ensure the story is coherent. Do not highlight full sentences, because too many sentences are long and include superfluous information. Identify elements that you think add key characteristics about who you are in bold. These may be one sentence, but not a series of sentences. Copy (not cut) and paste these highlighted and bold items into a new document by themselves. Yes, they will be incomplete sentences, and disjointed elements. This allows you to see the skeleton of your essay. What is missing? Are elements missing because you have not described them or because you are vague in your descriptions? What minimal elements can you incorporate from the full draft in order to get the full panoply of the experience you are discussing? You may need to rephrase elements that took a whole paragraph in your previous draft. You can shorten or eliminate back story. How important are descriptions of secondary figures? Can their role be simplified, alluded to, or eliminated? Use a thesaurus to find words that can replace wordy phrases.
Step 6. Find fresh eyes. At this point, you will be sick of your essay. You will be confused about what you are saying now, versus what you said in a previous draft. This is normal and how all writers feel about their work. For that reason, you probably want someone with fresh eyes to take a look. You do not want to find someone sympathetic. You need someone who will give you a lot of harsh truths about how the work is organized, whether it is actually saying anything interesting about you, and make suggestions for how to improve. Many, many people get angry and depressed at this stage. Especially if it seems like they might need to start all over again with a new topic; this is more common than people like to think. Be aware of common defensive reactions, as these will only keep you from necessary improvement:
1. “My work is autobiographical. This event really happened this way.”
2. “It’s supposed to be vague.” or “You’re not supposed to get it.”
3. “I don’t believe in revision. My writing comes out right the first time.”
Ideally, at this point, you are still a month away from the due date. When you get the critical feedback, try to get it in writing, or make sure the person is willing to have the conversation recorded. If you are like most people, you will be so frustrated that you decide to take a week (or more) away from the essay to recover. You won’t remember everything when you return, so you need to have the information available for your review when you do.
Step 7. Revise your draft. Reorganize, change the focus, bring new details into the essay. This is another writing stage and the essay can start to seem long again. That’s okay, you will edit later. Nevertheless, try to write simply and succinctly. This stage takes focused attention because you have a clear directive. This step can result in two new drafts as you try something out, then try it out in a different way. As always, keep every major change you make as a new draft.
Step 8. Edit again. Read your new essay aloud and restate anything that is awkward. You may wish to have the person who reviewed your essay before take another look and give you some pointers. Consider the organization and make sure that the introduction captures what you will address and engages the reader to keep reading. Does every point lead to the next? Is your ending abrupt or too long? All this, and aim for your essay to be around 500 words.
Step 9. A week later, edit for grammar and style. Revisit the introduction. This might be all they read. Does it make them want to read more? Edit, edit, edit. You should have a really good reason why your essay is over 600 words.
Step 10. Edit again at least 48 hours later, to try to catch any last typos or missed punctuation marks. If you are lucky, you have enough time to edit one last time, another 48 hours later.
Notice that I did not mention the introduction until the end. Who knows what your introduction will be when you start? You haven’t written anything yet to introduce! Some find it easier to start by writing the conclusion and then backtrack because that can help them focus on including elements that lead to the conclusion. No matter what, I have consistently found that just about everything changes from the beginning to the last draft. That’s how the writing improves. You became clearer about who you are, what you want to say, and how you will say it. Good luck!
AUTHOR BIO: Charlotte Kent, PhD. lives and works in New York City, where she helps people of all ages improve their writing.
The NY Times did a great piece on the New SAT today. Here it is:
Everything You Need to Know About the New SAT
Here is the relevant material from the College Board as well, publishers of the SAT:
The New SAT From the College Board
Visiting the Museum With Your Child: Thoughts From An Art Writer
As a child, I accompanied my parents and their friends to museums, galleries, festivals and street fairs where they looked at art. The mysteries of that adult world mingled with their elusive conversations on the topic. Though I remember some amount of boredom, it eventually became curiosity. And that curiosity turned to love. Last year, I finished my dissertation on experimental writings of the art-world, from museum verbiage to art criticism- today I teach at The School For Visual Arts – but there is no greater teacher than the art itself.
Some of that boredom came from my father’s insistence at viewing every single artwork in every single room. It was exhausting. I do not recommend this approach to museums when accompanied with kids. My mother was a little more haphazard and I learned a similarly selfish approach to art, which I highly encourage. You should look at what you want. With enough time, you’ll become curious about what you didn’t think you wanted to see.
The winter months make going anywhere a bit of a chore. It’s cold, so everyone needs multiple layers, and often by the time you are ready, you are too tired to go. That doesn’t mean that once there, you should stay for the whole day. Two hours is enough. Don’t overdo it. Let it be a taste of the museum. There’s so much to see and you can return. If kids don’t associate a museum with a long, drawn out, quasi-educational endeavor, they will be more likely to enjoy returning.
I also recommend taking breaks from looking at art. We all know the exhaustion of a long day spent at a museum because this was the only chance to see the show or the museum. Likewise, the young eye is not accustomed to this extended duration of looking and needs to refresh. Unlike the moving image from a tele-visual service, which constantly provides new visual input, the motionless art in a museum is pouring an accumulation of details about the same thing. The eye keeps seeing more about the same one thing and that depth of experience is tiring. For children under six, I recommend taking a break every 15 minutes or so by going to the bathroom, getting a drink of water, looking at the other visitors in one of the hallways or landings. Older kids usually start getting antsy between 20-30 minutes, that is until they are hooked.
At any age, you can identify artists and learn about the history, but don’t make that the exclusive point of a museum trip for them or for you. If you can help them appreciate art, they will want to learn more. In my own teaching, I often have students read poems and short stories about art and I have found they often then want to see it. An interesting fact about the artist or period planted before going to the museum can help generate interest. Let interest be enough. Curiosity will guide them to find out more.
Up to 4 –– Museums can be fun with little ones. One friend regularly took his one and two year old daughter to the Museum of Modern Art during the weekday afternoons, where she enjoyed the Abstract Expressionists the most. She decided to look at the art by lying down on the floor. From then on, they often looked at art from different angles, from the floor, the far side of the canvas, and so on. The guards didn’t ever mind!
Ages 5-9 –– Here you want to give them some freedom to express themselves, but also help them cultivate their observations. Let their imaginations be free within the confines of the art.
Ages 9-12 –– This age is practicing their independence. If they are not already accustomed to going to museums, an introduction now must be based around their interests.
Ages 12-15 –– This age is independent. If they are not already accustomed to going to museums, an introduction now can be challenging without a really good, personalized hook.
Ages 16+ –– Give them freedom to wander on their own, but hold them accountable. Request that they describe an artwork and explain their interest in it when you reconnect. I usually suggest one art work for every thirty minutes.
Many of these suggestions can work across the age groups indicated, depending on the interest, cultural experience and background, and mood of the children you are with.
Overall, try to make museum attendance a regular part of your family activities. Going to 2-3 museum or gallery exhibits every six months makes seeing art a normal thing to do, an activity without pressure. Every little while, you can find what exhibits are on display and pick one to attend. The most important thing I can share is:
Don’t make people take art seriously.
If they enjoy art, they will begin to take it seriously on their own. They will want to read the captions or wall text. They will want to see more.
Charlotte Kent, PhD. lives and works in New York City, where she helps people of all ages improve their writing.
Test Anxiety – it is a huge cause of students’ poor performances, and it is the number one issue parents come to me with when I begin the tutoring process with their children. Adolescence and pre-adolescence is a difficult time, with social struggles and academic pressures, and then add in a giant final, a key standardized test like the SAT or a high school entrance test, with the understanding that this one test will govern their future academic careers, and students become overwhelmed – it’s just too much for some student’s nerves.
When I work with student’s I stress a range of things kids can forget under the pressure. It is important to remember that this is only one exam. It might be an exam that many of us have built our careers hoping to master, but it is an isolated test. It does not govern the intellectual capacity of a student, nor his or her ability to succeed and thrive in life.
There is a common misconception that the results of a student’s SAT, ACT, SHSAT, ISEE, etc reflect his or her potential to excel in specific schools, which is why said schools use these tests to garner admissions, but the truth of the matter is that schools need a structured barometer that other like schools use in order to organize their admissions process, and these tests act as said barometer. They are not, in fact, reflective of kid’s potential or intellectual ability. They are reflective of how well students are able to master THIS test.
Great teachers believe in students as individuals. We love helping students to understand the tricks of the test, the patterns and the techniques for solving academic challenges, but we (as you should) understand that any test is just that: patterns, tricks and techniques. These tests are not focused on individual student’s strengths and unique abilities.
Children, and teens, are incredible. They are teeming with raw energy, and passion, and individual abilities that often get squashed by the time they are adults. Sometimes this happens because of society, or social pressures and expectations, but often this happens because of a kid’s anxiety in being different, in not performing in the way they think they are supposed to be able to, or in focusing on non-traditional passions. By the time these kids get to the standardized exam they have to take, they feel less than (because their brains don’t work in the particular way that the exam requires, because their friends are performing better than they are, and the list goes on…)
I like to teach my students about Howard Gardner’s work at Harvard School of Education. His theory of multiple intelligences is a theory of intelligence that differentiates mental ability into specific (primarily sensory) “modalities”, rather than seeing intelligence as dominated by a single general ability. Gardner chose eight abilities that he held to meet these criteria: musical–rhythmic, visual–spatial,verbal–linguistic, logical–mathematical, bodily–kinesthetic, interpersonal, intra-personal, and naturalistic. He later suggested that existential and moral intelligence may also be worthy of inclusion. Although the distinction between intelligences has been set out in great detail, Gardner opposes the idea of labeling learners to a specific intelligence. Each individual possesses a unique blend of all the intelligences. Gardner firmly maintains that his theory of multiple intelligences should “empower learners”, not restrict them to one modality of learning. According to Gardner, an intelligence is “a bio-psychological potential to process information that can be activated in a cultural setting to solve problems or create products that are of value in a culture.” (Gardner 1999, p. 33-4) In other words, everyone’s brain has developed to be a prime responder, the very best responder it can be – but for it’s unique, particular life history.
I currently have students who are incredible visual artists, but are insecure about their mathematical abilities; kids who are great poets, a little girl who dances hip hop in a troupe with the skill of an adult (or better than most adults), and the list goes on from there. These pre-teens and teens are extraordinary, yet they are letting their fears and insecurities over one test govern their perceptions of themselves.
Sometimes, it’s super helpful to remind kids of their greatest passions, the areas in which they thrive, and to translate the test into that world.
I like to use metaphors with these kids when studying for these exams. I had one student who was a composer. He composed a four part musical score for his school band of a White Stripes song, yet he felt the math on his standardized exam eluded him. When tackling math word problems, I told him to use that part of his brain to differentiate parts of the word problems. Originally he was overwhelmed with the different steps that went into each problem, and he would get frustrated, convinced he would never figure it out, and throw up his hands. Once it became a challenge likened to something he loved to do: something he “got” and was passionate about, it became less about achieving a score, and more about figuring out a curious conundrum, much like having to put together a four part score for his band. This student ended up acing his exam, but it took months of re-programming his brain to think of the test as a fun challenge, like his composing, as opposed to an additional pressure in his life to score high on a an exam that would govern his future.
It is so important for us to boost up our student’s confidence levels (both in terms of their personal growth, and in terms of helping them to score higher on this exam). A higher level of confidence helps alleviate anxiety, but also assists in making clear to our students that this one exam does not make or break their entire futures.
If students can understand the importance of understanding and preparing for a big test, while still feeling as if it will not make or break them because they are bright, and strong and smart, their levels of anxiety on test day will substantially decrease. A focused confidence in their abilities and a lack of anxiety are key in preparing students to do the very best they can on standardized exams, and (most importantly) in helping them to succeed in life.
I hope my thoughts have been helpful in your effort to do that.
-Emily Tuckman
English Teacher and Standardized Test Prep Tutor
Central Park Tutors
Let me cut to the chase. I have ADD. And… I am compulsively organized. Some people, when they learn that I have ADD, suddenly discount my organizational tendencies. It’s compulsive, they joke. It’s because of the pharmaceuticals, they say. So that’s why you are always bouncing off the walls, they laugh. All these years later, I remain astonished at the frequency of these attitudes. The most difficult part of ADD is managing what other people think about it. The best thing that ever happened was the day I stopped caring.
My first advice to students with ADD is to own it. It’s not some weird behavioral thing, any more than having diabetes. It’s no more fundamental to who you are than red hair, blue eyes, being well-endowed or over six feet. Society has lots of ideas about those things, but the person with that attribute remains a complex person with a lot more going on than that. Having ADD is only a part of who you are. It’s also a great thing once you learn why and how.
Medication for ADD is like sneakers. It means you can run, but not that you know how to train for a marathon. People expect that an ADD diagnosis and medication will make someone focus. It won’t unless they learn how to train their minds overall.
Of course, all studying tips start by recommending focus. Great! But…How? What follows are suggestions that helped me from high school through my PhD, and that I developed working with others. Part of the process of learning how to learn is learning who you are, how you think, what you like. It takes time.
Fortunately, I have found that students who learn how to manage their ADD in school often become tremendously successful at work, because they know how to approach whatever work they are given better than others who never thought about work at all, who simply did what they were told. Students with ADD become creative, managerial, and entrepreneurial. They see how to connect what others don’t. They observe opportunities where others aren’t looking. It all starts with some extra time on a school day afternoon, doing homework.
Focus- No one can focus for four hours straight. Most can’t even do an hour. Any attempt at extended work is why people pretend they aren’t taking breaks by checking their phone/social media/news/etc. Depending on the kind of homework, I suggest picking a 20-minute or a 45-minute block of time. Set a timer. When it rings, write a sentence on a scrap piece of paper about the most recent thought as a reminder for when you return. Take a 5-10 minute break. Move away from the desk, walk around, lounge on the sofa, go to the bathroom. When the break timer rings, return to focusing. Repeat. Most teachers break up class time into different types of activities for this reason. Other thoughts- While focused, ADD students may nevertheless think about other assignments, what someone said earlier, or how to reply later, a form that must be signed, the change in the sports schedule, etc. This is why post-it notes exist. Jot down every thought, then get back to work. Complete sentences are not necessary, but putting a word or two down will be a reminder for later, and allow your mind to release it. Then keep doing the task at hand. This is also true of becoming fixated on a thought. Write it down. Move on. Write it down again. Move on again. The activity of writing it down releases its hold on the busy brain. Not liking it- Subjects you don’t like are a challenge for the easily distracted mind. Fact 1- it will be over sooner if you don’t postpone. Fact 2- doing things you don’t like will never end. Fact 3- there are usually dire repercussions for avoiding unpleasant tasks (failing exam or class, not getting into college, embarrassment when everyone else knows what you don’t, being removed from a sports team, being grounded, etc). List them. Keep them in eyesight while doing unpleasant activities as motivation. It might even make you laugh. Work time- Any distraction is the enemy. It’s true. I wish it weren’t. More so than for other people, the chime of a text, a web page open to email, a news update on the computer, a younger sibling playing, or anything else will rupture focus for those with ADD. Homework takes much less time if is the only activity. Classroom disruptions, despite every teacher, are all too frequent. Use the post-its to manage them. The book makes no sense- Sometimes, this is true. Most of the time, the book makes sense if you are willing to think more like the book. In that case, learning to read (link here) or getting a tutor can make a huge difference. Students with ADD are more likely to struggle with awkwardly written or organized textbooks because they are already struggling to understand how to think like others and it simply does not make sense to try to think like a disorganized text. The teacher makes no sense- When the teacher isn’t super clear and compartmentalized, students with ADD are baffled. Rightly so, too. Most teachers try to start class by writing on the board the plan of events; if they don’t, this can be a helpful suggestion during a parent-teacher conference. Just as with PPT audiences, students focus better when they know where they are in the presentation of information. Being given an outline of what to expect at the beginning helps separate and connect the information. Taking notes- The one problem with computers is their verbal and linear approach. Notes need to flow. Arrows, connections, columns and pictures can help information make more sense. Writing notes by hand is key to students with ADD who often need to lay out information in ways that aren’t suited to a computer or even a lined page. Tools, like digital pens, make transferring handwritten information into a computer file much easier. I recommend these for all ADD students so that they have their paper notes, and the back-up as well. Holding on to information- Somehow, while reading or studying, the information made sense, but it disappeared later. This is true of most students but worse for students with ADD. Start every work assignment by jotting down an answer to the question: what do I think I am supposed to learn by doing this and how does it connect to what I already know? Conclude with, what did I learn and what questions remain? Do the last part without revisiting any notes. This alone will highlight what is known and what is not. Writing down the answers to these questions is necessary because it also provides a ready answer when a teacher wants to review the material. Sometimes students with ADD blurt out answers that weren’t exactly what they had intended, and others never speak because it is too difficult to organize the information. Writing down what the work seems to be about helps overcome that hurdle. Organization- Everyone I know with ADD has multiple organization systems for keeping track of work and activities. These systems are maddening to others. These are the people who have computer calendars and paper diaries, whose computer files defy explanation, and who have reminders set on their phone, written on color-coded notes, and a string tied around their finger. The burden of tracking all these systems means, initially, students don’t. Over time the person with ADD learns how. A few minutes every morning or night to gather everything for the next day is truly important. Very few people remember everything when scrambling. Eventually students learn to do this before leaving school, too. Check lists can help. In the meantime: patience. The right combination of tools will develop. Rewards- Everyone deserves rewards. Figuring out a rewards system, even one that varies by task or over time, helps motivate the inevitable challenges of learning how to cope with a world that doesn’t think like someone with ADD. And the main thing to remember. Own your ADD. Discover it. Figure your own way through it. Figuring out your own way to make everything work will help you for your entire lifetime. The fact that you are thinking about this now means you are already more focussed on crucial life skills than the whole crowd of folks who haven’t begun to think about it, but will have to someday as well.
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