Friday, April 29, 2011

Giving Back to the Community and Getting into College

When college admissions committees examine students’ applications, they attempt to get a feel not only for the applicant as a student but as a whole person. For this reason, a large portion of any admissions decision – roughly 25 percent – is based on the applicant’s extracurricular activities, including club participation, sports and admissions essays. Most importantly, colleges give particular attention to volunteer service in considering the student as a whole.


Now, one might ask, why that is the case, as volunteer service often has little to do with one’s specific interests or academic abilities. Turns out, it tells the college a great deal about a student.


First, it shows that the student is willing and able to give his/her time to helping others for no real personal benefit. This demonstrates that an applicant who has performed some community service has a compassionate personality and recognizes the importance of giving unto others. An extension of this, volunteering to help one’s community shows the desire to improve the community in which he or she lives. Both of these show a person who would be willing to contribute to improving the school by participating in student government, organizing events, or even helping their fellow students through tutoring or similar services.


Thinking in the long term, a student who acts upon the impulse to help out the community in their teenage years will later go on to aid their community in greater ways as an adult. This includes getting involved in politics or otherwise contributing time and money to the community, both of which raise the prestige of their alma mater by extension. Also, in a more financial vein, these individuals are seen as more likely to donate to their colleges, giving back in a monetary way to the school that ‘raised’ them.


Additionally, students who perform community service show their prospective colleges a well-rounded person. A student is not merely the numbers and statistics printed on their transcripts. A student is an individual with their own personality, interests, dreams and aspirations, which will drive the student and, in a small way, the college in a specific direction. Because of this, admissions boards consider very carefully the aspects of the student as an individual as they are able from the application.


More importantly, schools realize that working for a community cause in sometimes challenging team dynamics helps foster teamwork, leadership skills, interpersonal skills and maturity in an individual. These are traits that go a long way in defining a person, and in determining success relative to ambitions.


So, if you are planning to take the SAT or the ACT in the near future, do pay a good deal of attention to selecting a meaningful volunteer activity. Not only will you beef-up your application, you will also grow personally and feel a great deal of satisfaction while improving the community around you! Its a win-win situation!

Victory Step

SAT/ACT and Academic Tutoring

www.victorysteponline.com

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Victory Step Question of the Day - 4/29/2011


Sentence completion questions account for about one quarter of the marks for the critical reading section of SAT I. Each question contains one or two blanks, and you have to find the best answer choice to make the sentence make complete sense. Be sure to study the sentence carefully so that you notice all the clues built into the sentence.

Victory Step Question of the Day - 4/28/2011


As if the SAT exam in itself isn't weird enough, the SAT tries to make it even weirder by adding some strange symbols (Ω, φ, @, etc.) into their problems. Unlike your high school exams, SAT is the only place where you will find these weird symbols. Don’t let this intimidate you. Weird symbol problems can also be seen as simple function problems. Here is one!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Victory Step Writing Problem #1



There are 49 grammar questions on the SAT writing section. Grammar accounts for over two thirds of the writing section. Questions are of 3 types:
Identification of sentence errors
Sentence correction (improving sentences)
Editing in context (improving paragraphs).

Here's an example -

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Victory Step SAT Geometry Problem #1


As hard as the problem looks, the solution is quite simple!
In order to find the area of the shaded region, we need to find the area of the whole triangle, and then subtract the area of the smaller non-shaded region.

So what does our formula look like:
Area of shaded region = Area of triangle ABC - Area of triangle EFD
Note: Area of triangle EFD = (1/4) Area of traingle ABC.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Practice, Practice, Practice!

Nowadays, for better or worse, most colleges require prospective students to submit standardized test scores as a part of their application. More often than not, this test is the SAT exam; however, some of the same strategies used to practice for the SAT can be applied to just about any other test you’ll ever take. The most important strategy, though, is always practice; but the question is, how should you practice?

Even though the College Board says there is no way to really “study” for the SAT, practice, as with everything else in life, really does make perfect. In this case, practice begins by learning the material in school, in your math and English classes. Even though the SAT tests your critical thinking skills, you’ll still need to start learning those skills from your school work.

If you understand the concepts behind the SAT math and have honed your critical reading and writing abilities, you have developed the strong basis needed to ace a test of critical thinking. These are all skills that you need for the SAT, for college and for the rest of your life, but you can only acquire proficiency over them with years of practice at school.

No matter how good you are at school, though, the SAT can trip you up if you don’t know how to find the real answer, or some shortcuts or strategies to move through questions more quickly. After all, the SAT is a timed test, and high scores inevitably rely on how fast and accurate you are. Much of this is based on really understanding the ways the test is designed to confuse you. At Victory Step, we help prepare you for this reality of taking the SAT by teaching you to avoid common pitfalls, such as not answering the real question, and by showing you ways to save yourself time answering each question. In doing this, even if you’re not always sure of how a problem works or what a word means, you can figure it out on the spot and earn that all-important point. We also provide you with intelligently created homework and practice problems that will help you hone your skills.

Finally, there is nothing that can prepare you for the SAT as well as taking the SAT itself. That is why most students take the test two or three times before they are finally pleased with their scores, or before they realize their true potential. Even taking practice tests at home cannot really simulate the experience of taking a test in a crowded classroom on a Saturday morning for four hours. You need to prepare yourself for the conditions of the exam- like the noise from other test-takers and the hunger that inevitably sets in by section 8.

Because we at Victory Step recognize this, our program offers you the opportunity to take four practice SAT exams, giving you a feel for not just the material tested, but also the conditions you will face when you really take the test. This removes morning-of jitters, prepares you for the less-than-ideal conditions of the actual exam, and helps you learn to work against the clock.

As you can see, a lot goes into making yourself ready for the SAT, but most importantly, it’s practice, practice, practice!

Toni Whalen
SAT/ACT Instructor
Victory Step
toniwhalen@victorysteponline.com

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Victory Step is pleased to announce our new location in Irving!


In keeping with our company’s goal of helping every student reach their full academic potential, we here at Victory Step are pleased to announce our new location in Irving! We hope this new location will help us reach out to college-bound students in Irving, Coppell, and other areas of the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex.

The new location will offer the same excellent services as our Dallas office, with private instruction and group classes available from our highly qualified, caring instructors, at the same affordable prices. We plan to open our doors at the end of April 2011, so contact us now to register early for classes!

For those interested, our new office is located in Building 3 at 400 E. Royal Lane. This office is near the intersection of Royal Lane and Riverside Drive, with easy access to Highway 114, Highway 161, I-635 and Northwest Highway. Macarthur High School, Ranchview High School, and a number of private and charter schools lie within convenient driving distance. We hope this location will allow students previously prohibited by the drive into Dallas to take advantage of our test prep programs.

As always, we encourage our clients to share their experiences and success stories with friends and family, and to take advantage of our Refer ‘n’ Win program. With the opening of our new location, more students than ever before can improve their standardized test scores!

Take a step toward your bright future today!

--
Toni Whalen
SAT/ACT Instructor
Email: toniwhalen@victorysteponline.com

Monday, April 4, 2011

There is a reason why Victory Step can get you results!


There are three main qualities that Victory Step values in an instructor.

1) Investment in Students’ Success: By the end of our first tutoring or classroom session, Victory Step instructors know their students’ names, their personalities, their strengths, and their weaknesses. Our students are able to achieve because Victory Step's instructors are able to show their students that they believe in their success.

2) Energy and Charisma: Regardless of how intelligent our instructors are, how high we can score on the SAT, or how well we understand the material, we are able to convey the knowledge to students of all skill levels in an exciting, interesting, and effective way that captivates a class of high school students during any of our sessions.

3) Knowledge of the Subject: Victory Step offers the best SAT course available in Dallas! Our instructors demonstrate complete knowledge of the subject they are teaching. After all, we basically call ourselves the SAT gurus. Okay, not really. But, you get the point!