An Easy Way to Practice Critical Reading: Newspapers

One of the cornerstones of a good education, whether in high school preparing for the SAT, in college, or after college, is the ability to read, comprehend, criticize, and discuss a variety of written material. As a tutor, English student, and self-proclaimed literature nerd, I am often asked for reading suggestions that will help students practice their critical reading skills without suffering through those boring SAT passages. Practicing SAT Critical Reading sections is useful for building endurance, testing comprehension, and providing examples of test questions, but the skills used in understanding those sections can be practiced using a variety of writing genres not found on the SAT. While the best practice is simply to read as much as possible from different sources and difficulties, today’s students usually don’t have the time for the 19th Century masterpieces of French, Russian, and British literature.

Luckily (while I do love a great novel) it is not as important what you practice reading as how you read it. What is essential is to use the same critical reading strategies used on the test: focusing on understanding rhetorical devices, comprehending argumentative strategies, discovering new words or new meanings for familiar words, and developing an ear for tone. Reading any text in this manner will reinforce the skills important to any humanities education or fulfilling life of reading.

That being said, certain types of reading material work especially well for practicing specific Critical Reading skills. Many high school students struggle with understanding the argumentation of passages on the SAT, often because students are more used to reading novels in their English classes and not this type of non-fiction. Many questions on the SAT rely on understanding why an argument is structured the way it is; questions often ask how a certain example adds to the passages main idea, how the author of a passage discusses an argument made by an outside source such as a previous study, authority, or hypothetical objection, or what would most undermine (or strengthen) one of the author’s arguments in the passage. To make things more difficult, the SAT expects students to recall these argumentative details clearly when they answer the questions. Without extra practice, students are likely to have difficulty with these types of passages. While any work can be read with an ear to argumentation (even novels are constantly putting forward a series of arguments), there is one type of writing which works particularly well for encouraging all of these skills: newspaper articles.

Now I know a lot of families no longer subscribe to physical papers, but there are many (often free) professional news sources online which provide great practice in understanding the workings of argumentation such as The Washington Post or The Guardian (UK). Articles are often the length of an SAT passage and written to express either a single viewpoint of the author or to summarize the opinions of various authorities, political figures, celebrities, or otherwise noteworthy people. In reading any news article, it is necessary to understand what main idea the author is trying to communicate to the reader and how the examples used convey that message or conflict with it. Many students struggle with types of questions which involve understanding how a passage’s main idea conflicts with an argument presented by a figure within the passage such as that of a scholar or social group. It is also important to think critically about the strength of the ideas expressed and question what information would be needed to strengthen or weaken the argument, much like on the SAT. Instead of having questions available to test information recall, each passage can be tested by attempting to summarize it afterwards without referring back to the article. Much like the Victory Step strategies strive for being able to read the passage once and not look back at it for all of the answers, each newspaper article is essentially written in a way that asks its reader to be able to remember and summarize the article to someone else if asked about it later. While this is difficult at first, as it is with students practicing their focus and recall on SAT passages, it becomes easier with practice. Lastly, each news article encourages its reader to compare its argument, examples, and findings with other articles about the same range of subjects, whether in the same paper over different days or in different papers. This mirrors the layout of the SAT’s two-passage questions where it is necessary to identify the main ideas of each argument and figure out the key points on which they differ.

Newspaper articles make great practicing material. Not only do they encourage the same type of critical thinking necessary for the SAT, but they are plentiful, quick, and constantly updated. Reading a few articles every few days provides an easy way to practice SAT skills without having to take out a practice test or having to worry about running out of reading material. Who knows, maybe those articles will be more memorable than the SAT passages and you’ll get to learn something new about the world while you’re at it.

Playing the Waiting Game: Exercising Patience While Looking for Admissions Decisions

Almost every prospective college student goes through this: You turned in your application materials, you paid your fees, you maybe even visited the campus once or twice. Now what? It’s time for you to play the waiting game, the most excruciating weeks and months of your life while you wait for an admissions committee in some far-off locale to decide the fate of your future. You must be asking yourself: Did I get in? Will Harvard take me? Maybe Stanford? What about Baylor? Or will they all just be rejections, like a big pile of collegial coal?

This time can be distracting for a student, especially with senioritis setting in by now. It’s tempting to spend all day waiting for the mailman, checking your inbox, or twiddling your thumbs as you stare intently at the phone. Surely the mailman could make two deliveries today, right? What about the website? Maybe it will update after their office closes. Maybe the email got lost in my spam folder.

But no matter how terminal a case of distracted senioritis you get or how frustrating the wait is, this is when you most need to knuckle-down, because no matter the admissions decision, you won’t be going anywhere if you fail your final high school classes. So how do you focus on the next four months of your life, when the next four years and beyond hang in the balance?

1. Limit temptation. Set a time every day when you will check your school’s preferred method of communication, whether that is email, a website or snail mail. Limit yourself to that once daily check (or twice if the mailman came later than you thought he did), but no more after that. This takes a lot of self-discipline, and it might even require you limiting your computer time to make it easier, but it’s better than driving yourself crazy with obsessive checking.

2. Take care of business. You’re getting into one of the busier parts of the semester, with tests, papers and projects starting to come up in the next few weeks. Keep yourself distracted from waiting on admissions decisions by throwing yourself into your school work. If you’re one of the rare students that do not have anything due sometime soon, get a jump start on projects that will come up later in the semester, especially if you would otherwise procrastinate. That way, once you have your admissions decision in hand, you will have already done your projects and papers, and you can sit back and mellow into that lovely senioritis.

3. Develop a new hobby. Part of the college experience is trying a bunch of new things: hobbies, looks, interests, majors. Why not get a jump start on it by working on some new hobbies, or rediscovering old ones? This will distract you from that ever-tempting mailbox. It might also help you meet some new people once you get to college. So if you’ve never learned to cook before, now is the time, before you’re stuck eating ramen in the dorms!

4. Spend quality time with friends and loved ones. No matter how much you and your friends say that you will all go to the same school, that you will all hang out when you’re on break, that you will always be as close as two peas in a pod, college usually doesn’t work out that way. You’ll meet new people, develop new interests, and have different experiences, and that will change you. You may still spend time with your friends, but you’ll never be as close again as you are now, so make the most of the time you’ve got with them now. Similarly, your parents probably see you growing up before their eyes, leaving home, going away to college, getting a job, starting your own family… and so on. Taking some time to talk with Mom and Dad each day will help them cope with the fact that you’re not just leaving but that you’re growing up.

Simply by keeping yourself distracted from this all-important question, you’ll be able to focus much more on those things you have to deal with right now: school, chores, and life.

Managing Anxiety is Important for Success!

As students, tests always seem to be waiting for us on the horizon. Never does much time pass between tests for various classes; as soon as one is finished the studying for one, three, or five more has started. They are unavoidable in any class and help students and teachers assess both the understanding of materials for the class and a variety of skills relevant to higher education and the real world work environment. These skills include the abilities to prepare a schedule for studying, to balance studying for different classes, to manage time effectively during a test by assessing knowledge learned and questions best left skipped, and to control the anxiety that comes with important events and deadlines. With a test as important as the SAT, all of these skills are challenged even more as many students find themselves studying without the familiar classroom resources and as the importance of getting a great score increases test anxiety.

This anxiety over the SAT was the subject of a recent CNN Schools of Thought blog debating the merits and challenges of getting extended time to take the SAT. The option is certainly a necessity for some students, it is a valuable tool for students with documented physical and mental disabilities, but a small percentage of students suffering from test anxiety have also qualified for a 50% or 100% increase in time for the SAT. While test anxiety is a real problem for many students, additional time may not be the answer for students seeking to perform well in college.

Managing anxiety is as important for success in college as it is in high school and on the SAT. For many college courses, tests become even more central to grades as the importance of homework grades declines. Being able to perform well on these tests means learning and practicing how to deal with the anxiety that comes from high-pressure situations. Thankfully, that learning process is started early in any student’s education; by the time the SAT rolls around during junior or senior year, students have had ample opportunities to practice taking tests in their classes.

It is important to realize that these tests are not there only to cause unnecessary stress for students or to provide an endpoint for the material of a course, but exist as an integral part of the learning process. Tests do not exist purely to assess how well a student has mastered information, but to reinforce that information and the skills that accompany these stressful situations. Tests help students learn; they create organizational patterns of information and provide an opportunity to strengthen the neural pathways used in recalling information. Properly preparing for a test reinforces good study habits in addition to the material covered on the test, and trying to harness test anxiety into productive testing energy is a skill which every test provides a new opportunity to hone.

The best method for reducing or controlling test anxiety is not to rely on extended time, but to practice managing that anxiety while taking tests. This practice can occur throughout high school during tests or in a prep class for the SAT. Practicing specifically for the SAT (or any other standardized test) helps create reasonable expectations for performance on the test by providing opportunities to take the full test under ideal conditions, the results of which can be compared and used to predict the score on the actual test. In addition, they provide a chance to get used to the time constraints of the test. Being able to accurately predict performance and manage time on the SAT are the best ways of reducing the anxiety that comes with a test of this importance. The best way to reduce test anxiety is to bring to every test in high school the preparation, focus, and intensity which you would use on the real SAT.

Defeating Cognitive Bias

Eric Rosenbaum is a blogger and instructor for Victory Step. Eric contact's information - rosenbaume88@gmail.com


Imagine that you are in a room with nothing but a wax candle, a box of thumbtacks, and a book of matches. How can you attach the candle to the wall and light it so that the wax doesn’t drip onto the floor?

When psychologist Karl Duncker asked subjects this question in the 1940s, only about 20% of them got it right. It’s not that the problem is hard; once you know the answer it seems obvious (the correct answer is at the bottom of this post). The problem seems hard because it exploits flaws in human reasoning known as cognitive biases.
SAT problems can sometimes be as tricky as the candle problem. You may think that you are immune to the SAT’s tricks (a bias known to psychologists as bias blind spot), but chances are, you are not: some tricky phrasing can have you wasting time on a wild goose chase, or getting the question wrong altogether.

Confirmation Bias, or, “A Looks like the Right Answer; It Must Be A”

Have you ever tried to remember a song title, certain that begins with the letter L, only to remember days later that it begins with B instead? Once you start thinking in terms of L, it’s very difficult to switch tracks to think about B. In other words, instead of really looking for the title of the song, you begin looking for confirmation that your first method was correct. This phenomenon is known as confirmation bias.
One great way to avoid confirmation bias on the SAT and ACT is to avoid looking at the answers beforehand. If you subconsciously pick A before you’ve completely worked through the problem, it will not be hard to justify your solution later, right or wrong.

Overconfidence Effect, or, “This Is Easy!”

A study done by psychologist Ulrich Hoffrage came up with some interesting, upsetting results: of the people who claimed to be 99% certain about their answer to a problem, 20% turned out to be incorrect. Most of these people weren’t too far away from the right answer, and they were justified in making the choices they did. The problem is that people tend to overestimate how certain their certainty is.
Sometimes the most dangerous questions are those that look easy. They probably are easy, but maybe not as easy as you think they are. It’s important to check your work on the easy problems as much as on the harder ones.

Incubation, or, I Can’t Move to the Next One Until I Solve This One


Incubation isn’t a bias. It’s a way to protect against biases. Think back to the song title example. When your brain was in L mode, what was it that finally made you see B? Putting the problem aside. When you come back to the problem after thinking of other things, it’s easier to cut through dangerous preconceptions.
Oftentimes when I am working on a difficult problem, the solution feels so close that I want to keep working until I find it. I don’t want to forget the progress I’ve made, even when the progress is in the wrong direction. If you get stuck on a tricky SAT problem, even if you think you almost have it, try taking a break: it may be much easier when you come back. Even if you think you have an answer correct, it is a good idea to check your work and look at your solutions with fresh eyes.

Cognitive biases are a fact of life, but their effect can be limited. It just takes practice and a little bit of self-awareness. The difference in your score could be astounding.




Solution to the Candle Problem

The key is in realizing that the “box of thumbtacks” is really two things: a box, and thumbtacks. First, thumbtack the box to the wall. Then, place the candle inside the box. The wax will drip on the cardboard, not the floor.

The Dangers Of Multitasking

Conan O’Brian used to be the only person who could motivate me to work late at night. That is, television shows like his. I would switch the TV on right after cross country practice, and it would stay on until I finished my work and went to bed. As I grew older, I decided that late night television was too distracting, and instead motivated myself by listening to music, chatting with friends, or periodically stopping to surf the internet.

Like a lot of people my age, I thought that distractions focused me, or at least did no harm. They kept me from getting bored, kept me awake, and allowed me to accomplish twice as much in the same amount of time.

It turns out that multitasking is not as harmless as I once thought. Psychologists have long understood that multitasking limits your ability to concentrate. Multitasking takes a bite out of your complex reasoning skills, as well as your long-term and short-term memory. It causes you to spend a large chunk of your study time switching your attention from one place to another. Plus, it uses up the time you would otherwise spend on actual relaxation, which your brain desperately needs.

How often have you looked up from your work to realize that you have no idea who that patient is on Gray’s Anatomy, or that the album you were listening to started over a few minutes ago? If you can’t think about television while you work, you definitely can’t think about work while you watch television. And how much raw time would you say you spend in limbo, in the act of switching your attention from one place to another? It’s a good estimate to say that your brain takes five to ten seconds to completely switch back into homework mode from relaxation mode. If you switch back and forth a few times every minute, those seconds add up.

Not that you can’t use distractions to your advantage sometimes. Here are a few tips, from my own experience:

· Work with friends. You and your friends can distract each other via text message, but it’s a lot harder to help each other that way. When you are physically in a room with people, it is easier to tell when someone is “in the zone” and when they are in the mood to talk. Plus, asking questions is a way of getting something done while taking a break.

· Take a real break. If you feel like you have to stop or else you’ll scream, then just stop. Get a snack. Watch a full TV show, from the couch. Then, when you’re relaxed, pick up where you left off.

· Stagger your work. Work may be less onerous if you switch from one task to another every once in a while. Instead of reading your 100 page reading assignment and then starting your 20 physics problems, alternate 20 pages and four problems. Make sure to finish with the assignment you find the easiest or most enjoyable.

· Choose your music carefully. If you have to listen to music, make it something you have heard a million times before. It is also better to pick music without words.

· It’s OK to do just one thing. One of the reasons I like to multitask is that I feel guilty doing one thing at a time. Why just read a book, if I can read and watch a lecture, or read and talk to friends at the same time? Just remember: not being able to multitask efficiently doesn’t make you a bad person. It just makes you a person.

--Eric Rosenbaum

SAT/ACT Instructor

Victory Step

Self-study vs. Test Prep

Let’s face it, as a high school student, you’re busy. After a long day of school, you have club meetings, practices, countless homework assignments and exams. Then, your junior year hits and suddenly, on top of everything, you have SATs, ACTs, and AP tests coming at you like a speeding bullet. You want to make your college application competitive and you need to make sure that your test scores fully reflect your academic potential. This is when the big question comes up – should you self-study or take a prep course for your standardized tests?

If you are considering self-study, it is important to first evaluate yourself as a student. Are you disciplined enough to put in the time required to prepare for your exam, regardless of how tired or overloaded with homework or extracurricular activities you are? Can you teach yourself all of the test-taking techniques found in your practice books and successfully be able to apply them to various types of problems? Will you be able to work through all the questions and test-taking strategies without any outside help? Only if you answered “yes” to all three of these questions is self-study an option for you; but that does not mean that you will not still benefit from a test prep course.

Test prep courses provide a classroom environment in which the instructor is able to help students pinpoint their weaknesses and work through them by learning new strategies and approaches. While standardized tests are designed to evaluate a student’s knowledge, they are also a test of the ability to break complex problems into quick and simple solutions.

Test prep courses provide a structured way of learning to keep students focused on their goals and allow students to complete their prep in a set amount of time before the exam. By spreading the course over 4-6 weeks, the student is able to fully absorb new tips and tricks, and practice in a realistic test environment, decreasing anxiety and nervousness of the actual exam. Soon, the test that once seemed like a foreign language will become second nature.

Victory Step strives to create a productive and fun atmosphere for students to complete their test prep. With average class sizes of 8-10 students, instructors are able to work closely with students to help them maximize their scores and test-taking abilities. Instructors are creative and inspiring and keep students interested and motivated in their test prep. With numerous practice tests, students are constantly exposed to realistic testing scenarios and are able to monitor their own progress throughout the course.

It is important to remember that standardized tests require time and practice. Victory Step helps students more efficiently put their time and energy into achieving a score that reflects their full potential and ability.

--

Saloni Kumar

SAT/ACT Test Prep

Victory Step

The Victory Step Advantage

At Victory Step, we believe that every student is unique with individual strengths and abilities. In our programs, through our instructors, curriculum, and strategies, we tap those strengths and build on them. At the same time, we identify and work on students' weaknesses to achieve maximum results. We reinforce fundamentals and bolster smart test-taking techniques and problem-solving skills in our students by using what we call the 'Victory Approach'- an intelligent approach towards learning. We do so by making our learning environment fun, stimulating, and rewarding. It is thus no surprise that we operate at a 96% customer satisfaction rate.

Cost:

Victory Step was built on the principle that quality education is something that every child deserves, and that high quality education should not come at exaggerated costs. Through innovative processes and cost-savings at Victory Step, we have been able to design and sustain high-quality programs that provide exceptional education to all students.

Program Features:

Our programs were designed with a vision to ensure student success. There are various features that help us stand out as a company that is dedicated to that purpose. Both our classroom programs as well as private tutoring programs start out with a world-class curriculum and teaching methodology. We offer scholarships and deep discounts to needy students, to make sure that we stand by our founding principles.

Results

Victory Step has been delivering consistent results since its inception. Our students have been scoring higher and better on their SAT and ACT tests, and with amazing improvements. Over 75% of our students that took the SAT in May ended up with higher than 150 point improvement, making us one of the most successful test prep companies in DFW.

Read more about the "Victory Step Advantage".

The Multiple Track Mind

I was recently driving to teach a class at Victory Step when I realized something unsettling. I was cruising along the toll way at seventy miles an hour, winding around tight curves, squished in the middle lane between a Porsche, a Subaru and a Toyota, when it hit me: I realized I hadn’t been paying attention at all for the past few miles. I had no recollection as to how I had come to where I was. I knew I must have driven north past 635, but my mind had been on autopilot. I was so lost in thought that an alien space ship could have swooped down and shown its tractor beam down and abducted the car in front of me and I wouldn’t have noticed.

I’m not a reckless driver. Far from it, I follow the speed limit, obey traffic laws, and am courteous and respectful to my fellow drivers. But, unbeknownst to me, I had let my mind wander and I wasn’t even paying attention to what was going on.

I thought about it and realized this is actually kind of a common phenomenon. You are sitting somewhere, a restaurant, an airport, and you suddenly become aware of the present moment. Aware of how lost in thought you were up until that moment. I’ve asked my students before and most of them have admitted that there have been times when they have been reading a paragraph and they suddenly realize that they have absolutely no idea what they just read. Of course you actually read it, but you couldn’t tell someone for the life of you what actually happened.

This phenomenon is one we address at Victory Step when preparing our students for the SAT. Think how dangerous it is to read through a whole passage on a test that measures reading comprehension and not remember one lick of it. And it happens easily too, especially when you’re two and a half hours in and you’re reading a passage from Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations and you have no bloody idea what every fifth word means. You know there’s some guy named Pip, and he’s in London, and he is trying to kill some guy named Magwitch (or was it the other way around?). A wandering mind comes easily, and at a great cost to your score.

This concept is taught as the “Multiple track mind.” And when the tracks aren’t lined up, like what happened to me on the highway, youre not really paying attention. Now, we have to come clean. The notion of the “Multiple track mind” was not created by Victory Step. It is a concept that has been expressed in different time periods in different ways. It is thousands of years old. The Buddha’s teachings concerned mindfulness, consciously paying attention to one’s thoughts. That there is the mind, and then consciousness of the mind. Two Tracks. Freud defined the mind as a complex entity comprised of ego, super-ego, and id, disparate parts of the mind that sometimes do not line up.

A simple way to think of this is that there is the thinking mind – or the intellect, and then there is the simple mind of awareness. Your day to day thoughts originate from the thinking mind. The thinking brain processes information, thinks about things, weighs your options and then executes them. Much of your self-identity comes from the intellect. The simple mind is different – subtler. It is more about awareness. It is less conceptual and more intuitive. It doesn’t think but it is aware. It was awareness I was lacking on the highway. My intellect was running a mile a minute but it wasn’t attuned to the present moment. It is very BAD when this happens on the SAT.

Learning and understanding this concept will help you on the SAT. I oft repeat that the SAT is not solely a measure of intelligence. Only fifty percent of the difficulty on the SAT stems from actual knowledge. The other fifty percent stems from the grueling and painstaking nature of taking a four hour long test. The SAT tests knowledge alongside mental endurance and focus. So, it is beneficial for a student to become accustomed to the patterns of her own mind. In this way she can use her mind in a more efficient way, and minimize time wasted in a mind where the multiple tracks are not aligned. She will feel when she starts becoming sleepy, she will tell when her mind starts to wander, when she needs to refocus, or when she needs a mini-break. She catches herself not comprehending the passage after one paragraph, not five. We train our students to become more aware of what they are reading. We have them unite the two tracks of their mind by asking themselves questions as they read through the passage. “What is going on in this passage? What is the author trying to convey? What are the main themes?” In this way the intellect becomes united with the simple mind, the literal words with their cerebral significance.

You can also become more aware of your mind in every second of the day. Stop and ask yourself: what am I feeling right now? How are my thoughts making me feel? What is objectively going on right now? Stop and take stock of your mind and your body. Were you lost in thought or engaged in the present moment? As you become more aware of your mind, it becomes a more potent tool. You become more familiar with its dimensions, with its strengths and weaknesses.

Ultimately, we at Victory Step cannot teach you everything you need to know on the SAT. We can’t fit a decade of basic academic ability (readin’, writin’, and rithmetic’, which are coincidentally the only things the SAT tests) into a 6 week class. What we can do though is to teach you strategies to become more effective at applying your academic abilities to the stressful and ungainly format that is the 4 hour Scholastic Aptitude Test. You will need the two tracks of your mind to work together. Every minute wasted is precious points you can lose. Bringing greater awareness to the workings of your mind and practicing reading with focus is a great way to work your mind out. It’s like dead lifts for the intellect.

--

Devan E.

SAT/ACT Instructor

Email: devane@victorysteponline.com

Victory Step

Victory Step Classroom Programs

Victory Step offers classroom instruction for the SAT and PSAT in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metropolitan Area! These classes are designed by experts who have broken down these tests into strategic sections, and prepared material targeted at high school students to maximize their scores. Our classes are then taught by master instructors that have aced these tests themselves, and have been trained to connect with students and reinforce fundamentals, teach strategies, and build motivation needed to score high.

To find out more about our classroom programs, please click here.

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 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

Customer Service at Victory Step

At Victory Step, we strive to provide our students and their parents with excellent customer service, besides superior test preparation. While that helps our customers remain thoroughly satisfied with our services, it gives our team great pride in knowing that we are continuously garnering great reviews.

In continuing with our customer-centric philosophy, we have recently obtained a toll-free number to provide around-the-clock service to existing and future clients. The number, correctly portraying our mantra for success, is 855-PREP-RIGHT, or 855-773-7744.

Light Humor

I came across this SAT Test cartoon the other night. "Concerned that their teenagers weren't studying for the SATs, the Moxleys hired an actor to panhandle on the street near their house."

Sign Says: "PLEASE HELP? ONLY GOT 310 Verbal, 340 Math on MY SAT's"

This would never happen to the students signed up with Victory Step!

Victory Step's SAT Test Prep has made a difference!

Victory Step’s SAT test preparation has made a difference in the lives of hundreds of students in the Dallas Metropolitan Area. Recently, Victory Step has expanded to include ACT preparation and Academic tutoring that students can take advantage of. This blog shares the impact of the Victory Step difference with some of its students, who benefitted from Victory Step’s innovative, affordable and personal instruction.

Mrs. Nguyen from Mansfield, TX wrote:

“My son took your private tutoring course this past August-September. He had scored a 1780 when he took the SAT test in May 2010. He took the SAT test this past October, and scored a 2090!!!!! He increased his score by 310 points!!! We are both so happy that your course was available to him. He really liked the instruction, and scored a 750 on the math portion.”

She also asked, “Will you be offering your course before this May’s SAT? My daughter will be taking that test, and I would like to sign her up for your class. Please let me know if there is a class available.”

I’m really excited to see her score go up by a few more points!

Mr. Kumar from Lewisville, TX:

“Many thanks to you for offering this private tutoring package. As a parent, I must tell you that this SAT preparation option made a huge difference for us, in view of our scheduling needs and transportation constraints. The timing of this program was precisely what we needed, as well. Kudos on a well planned, affordable service.”

Adam N, Student from Plano West High School wrote:

“I just wanted to say thank you for the SAT prep class. It really helped me a lot. Because of your help, I received a score of 1860 on my SAT. This is a lot higher than I expected on my first attempt at the SAT.”

With the addition of ACT preparation and Academic Tutoring, the impact of the Victory Step difference continues to grow!

Why does Victory Step private tutoring work for everyone?

96% of Victory Step's first time callers become our customers. Here is why:

1. It's Flexible

You tell us what schedule works for you, and we will make it work. Victory Step's programs are entirely tailored to fit your needs. Whether you want to learn once a week or twice a week, whether you prefer short sessions or long, Victory Step will make it work for you!

2. It's Customizable

Victory Step understands that each student is different. Our experienced instructors will sit with you for a free consultation, and guage your needs. Once we understand your strengths and weaknesses, we will design a program that addresses areas that you can target, to increase your scores dramatically!

3. It's Effective

Victory Step's instructors work with the students to maxmiize learning by stimualting them with fun-filled sessions. The programs are interesting, the concepts are unique, and the techniques used are eye-opening. It is no surprise that we have an excellent track record in score-improvement among our students.

4. It's Economical

Our rates are the lowest in the market, and we can guarantee that! All of our classes are taught by the best instructors, and we don't charge for "premium" instructors, unlike competition.

Call us today at 214 417 9406 or visit us online at http://www.victorysteponline.com to understand more about our private tutoring programs.

Picking the right major: Passion vs Conformity

You know you are an adult when you find yourself seriously considering what you are going to do with the rest of your life, and being a princess or a magician does not seem to cut it anymore.

People often say that one can live the happiest life possible when one is able to turn his/her passion into a career. This used to have about the same likelihood as winning the lottery. Luckily for you, it is much easier to create a career out of a passion in today’s society. Before anything else, however, it is important to discover what you are passionate about. This may have something to do with wanting to revive NSYNC again or being the most amazing fudge brownie maker, but finding a passion that is serious and something you are willing to devote yourself to is no easy task. However, we can take these two desires that may seem futile and turn them into a career in music direction or a career in the culinary arts. That does not sound like a shabby job, now does it?

It is a common misunderstanding that the major you choose when applying to colleges is going to define your next four years and set the guidelines for a future job. This may be true for those few lucky and decisive students, but more often than not, students change their majors several times and often only use their major as a starting point to branch off into other fields of study. Choosing a major is not always easy, but this is where passion once again plays a role. The biggest mistake a prospective college student can make (after forgetting to turn in the application on time of course) is choosing a major simply because it is popular or because it’s what their friends are doing. It is important to understand that the classes you take will revolve around your major, so choose wisely. A good idea is to branch off an important hobby, or a favorite school subject. For example, a high school football star may choose to major in a field such as Sports Medicine, and the science fair queen may want to choose Biology.

Another common misconception is that the Pre Professional students must major in something that directly has to do with their career choice. This may seem like the logical thing to do, and we are all about the logical choice here at Victory Step - SAT/ACT Test Prep. However, professional schools like to see variety so don’t think that a Pre Medicine student has to major in Biology or Chemistry. In fact, I just met a student attending Medical School at Stanford who majored in History and Literature. Here’s a bigger shocker: the founder and CEO of Victory Step - SAT/ACT Test Prep actually majored in electrical engineering at Virginia Tech. However, he later discovered that his biggest passion in life was to teach and work with students and he is now leading a career in education. How is that for variety?

So as the holidays come to a close, I would like to ask you: Got Passion?

"Studying? Networking? What do I do?"

Honestly, there’s no easy way out that allows choosing one or the other. Sorry to break it to you, but both studying and socializing with the right people are necessary to have a successful career.

With the popularity of Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, etc. it has become sort of known that even college dropouts can make it big in the world. Well, I’d like to ask you, how many Bill Gates do you know? I can almost guarantee that they can be counted on one hand. In fact, in today’s world, it is statistically proven that college graduates on average earn double what those with only a high school diploma can earn. Yes, that’s right, double. I know how badly you wanted to sit at home and invent the next Facebook but it seems that going to college may be the right option.

However, this isn’t to say that spending high school sitting in front of the books is sufficient. There’s more out there. Find out what it is. Getting to meet adults with fascinating careers, developing relationships with businessmen and doctors, or networking with anyone whose career may be in the slightest bit interesting could be beneficial. Not only can this be a great source of knowledge, but these are the people that can get to know you and write that marvelous letter of recommendation that can put you over the top to get into that dream university. Staying connected and doing things outside of your comfort zone are what make the difference between that 4.0 GPA student and the 4.0 GPA student that actually has the ability to make use of that knowledge.

While networking may seem like the easier choice to focus on, doing well academically is also not out of reach with a little hard work. The little detail that no one mentions is that by focusing on both, you will get the furthest in life. However, socializing with the right people is a much easier task once you get past high school and people start looking at you like an adult. While there are no classes and no instructors that can teach you how to “network”, Victory Step makes the academic portion much easier! Our personalized classes and unique plans make standardized testing a piece of cake. OK well, that’s an exaggeration but we get as close to cake as you’ll ever get with the SAT.

Message from the founder

Dear Students,

Your last SAT or ACT prep book may have been thicker than a regular phone book. That SAT/ACT prep class at your school is possibly being taught by someone who is completely boring and out of touch. Your friend's overpriced SAT/ACT tutor probably assigns him/her 300 practice problems each week.

Would you like to add hundreds of points to your SAT score in a few weeks, without doing thousands of practice problems? Would you like to make sure you get the SAT score you deserve, without risking thousands of dollars on a mundane SAT prep course? If you can add, subtract, multiply, or divide, if you have basic and general vocabulary, if you could use your "grammar ear" to answer basic grammar questions, then you already have the potential to quickly and easily boost your SAT score to levels you never dreamed possible.

I can confidently assure you that this whole process is much easier than you think. If you are anxious and nervous about getting a great SAT/ACT score, but are not willing to spend thousands of dollars or countless hours over mind numbingly boring questions, I have great news for you!

Victory Step was founded on the idea that there needs to be different, but better ways of doing things. There has to be a middle ground between expensive, boring test prep companies and self study. Victory Step's methods, strategy and program pricing are re-defining the test preparation industry in and around Dallas, TX. After spending years working with students in one-on-one and classroom settings, we've learned what works and what does not. If you are aware of the right SAT/ACT tricks and strategies, your score can skyrocket quickly and easily. We have also learned that each student is different, with unique personalities, needs, and strengths. Victory Step's instructors and tutors have been thoroughly trained to instill confidence and motivation into each one of you. We build upon your unique strengths and help you deal with weaker areas. Most importantly, we help you identify yourself. We want to take you through the path to high scores while you actually enjoy the journey. Our classes are fun-filed, lively and highly interactive, and we stimulate you into tackling standardized test problems with ease. We have innovative study material, advanced methods and informative progress tracking. We back our services with score guarantees and satisfaction promise. No wonder Victory Step is one of the fastest growing and best-rated test prep companies in town.

Victory Step is also on a social mission to assist each student in need, regardless of his or her financial background. I believe that you deserve the opportunity to go to college, and also the necessary tools to get there. Victory Step offers merit-based and need-based scholarships for all of our programs to anyone that meet our requirements. Victory Step also offers flexible payment plans to further assist you.

Thank you for taking the time to visit our website. I invite you to explore what we have to offer and see if it fits your needs. I am confident that we can meet and even exceed your expectations, if given the chance. Call us with any questions you have, or if you need any clarification. Avail our special holiday rates on private tutoring and classroom training. Compare us with other offerings available in the area and read our reviews on Yahoo, Google and more, to learn about what I call the Victory Step Advantage. You can even schedule a free, no obligation consultation with one of our talented instructors. At Victory Step, we are committed to going above and beyond for one purpose- to get you into the college of your dreams.

For more information, please click here.

Sincerely,

CEO & President

Victory Step LLC

Ph: 2144179406

Web: http://www.victorysteponline.com

The day of the exam!

After weeks of preparation and months of stress, it all comes down to one Saturday morning. Just those few hours. It can be so easy to let the nervousness get rid of all the preparation and fill the mind with anxiety. For that reason, it is important to take the few days before the SAT exam slow and to keep the mind healthy and relaxed.

There is nothing more tempting than to try and soak up as much vocabulary and as many strategies as possible the night before the test. It makes me feel like I've accomplished something. Instead, this only helps to stress out the mind, making it difficult to recall information that was once safely stored away in the brain. Rather than stressing out the night before the SAT, it can be more beneficial to take a nice bath, watch a funny movie, and go to bed at a decent hour. I can say from unfortunate experience, there is no need to go to bed at an oddly early hour because then you’ll just end up laying in bed, and stress yourself out needlessly.

The SAT exam can be an enormous event. So much planning goes into it. So much thought, so much effort. Then, it can be over before you even realize it. The satisfaction that can come from a good SAT score is unbelievable. Every hour spent planning, every practice test taken, every vocabulary term memorized...it all seems to be worth it. Therefore, it is crucial not to let a little anxiety take this away.

The stress of the SAT exam for some can make it difficult to even take a bite of breakfast. Trust me, you will need all the energy you can get. A healthy breakfast keeps the mind working at a good pace and allows you to make it through all the sections with ease. Also, the SAT is almost like a workout for the brain, so it can be helpful to bring a snack for one of the breaks. Go easy on the water before and during the exam though, for obvious reasons.

Most importantly, you must bring along a little bit of confidence. It is the secret ingredient that takes the score up a considerable amount. Confidence is an important strategy that could really make the difference.

The SAT Day Checklist

1. Plenty of #2 pencils and erasers

2. Appropriate calculator with extra batteries

3. Photo ID/Admission ticket

4. Directions to testing site

5. Water bottle/snacks

6. A jacket (wear layers depending on the temperature of the room)

7. A watch

8. CONFIDENCE!

Victory Step realizes how stressful and dreadful taking a 4 hour long exam can be, and this is why we provide SAT and ACT Prep classes to help you relieve the stress. Visit our website today!

Early Action vs Decision

Deciding Early

When applying to college, there are several options in regards to turning in the application. First of all, the majority of applications are now turned in online. Come on people, this is the 21st century. Secondly, and more importantly, students often wonder when is the best time to turn in an application.

Well, I've said it before, and I’ll say it again, the early bird really does get the worm. Most colleges now have options for Early Decision or Early Action. These methods allow the applicant to turn in the application in November and receive the decision earlier than the regular notices that arrive in late spring. Yes, it is true that applying early can give the prospective student a better chance of getting into the school, but the student must be sure of his or her decision before choosing one of these options.

Applying Early Action has absolutely no harm to it whatsoever. The student applies in November, hears back from the school earlier, has a better chance of getting in, and is not bound to attend the university in case he or she changes his or her mind. Sounds perfect, right? Well it sort of is. If possible to get the application completed early, there is no reason not to turn it in Early Action. However, not all and not many schools have this option available. Rather, they either accept regular applications or applications for Early Decision.

Early Decision. Sounds scary. How scary? Well, it depends on how much the student wants to attend the university. Okay, I’m kidding, it’s not scary, but very decisive. Applying Early Decision is for those students who have had a dream to attend a particular university ever since they can remember. Or those students who think their only chance of getting in is through Early Decision. Both of these options aren't intimidating, but the important thing is that this method is binding. This means that the student and the parents must be sure that they can afford the tuition before applying as there is no turning back. If an applicant is uncertain about attending the university, doesn't know if the family will be able to afford it, or has other options in mind, DO NOT APPLY EARLY DECISION.

Of course it isn't easy to get in applications early enough to qualify for one of the above methods as the student must take the SAT and/or ACT earlier, complete essays in a shorter time and get more work done, in less time. But no fear, regular admission is here!

Victory Step is an educational test prep company based in Dallas-Ft. Worth. We are here to help you with the college process; SAT prep, ACT Prep, PSAT Prep, College Consulting, etc. Give us a call today at 214 417 9406 or visit us online at http://www.victorysteponline.com