SAT


Old Class, New Format, Still FREE! Mindfulness-Based Academic Stress & Test Anxiety Reduction Workshop

The format has morphed, but the class in hardly new. Resuming Wednesdays on Jan 5, 2022, Dr. Yo will present and help students practice well-researched and effective techniques to stay focused, in-the-moment, and in control of their thoughts!   Come to one, or come to one a week, always FREE.   Wednesdays nights 7-8pm ET.   Click for FREE Registration


Root & Synonym Clusters 10: Short-lived, Temporary

Nothing lasts forever, and the College Board knows it. Many fancy SAT words have the flavor, if not exact meaning of “short-lived” or “temporary,” and here they are: Follow Dr. Yo on Pinterest   temporary – adjective – lasting for only a limited period of time; not permanent: a temporary job. transient – adjective – lasting only for a short time; impermanent: a transient cold spell. noun – a person who is staying or working in a place for only a short time transitory – adjective – not permanent: transitory periods of medieval greatness. ephemeral – adjective – lasting for a very short time: fashions are ephemeral. evanescent – adjective – soon passing out of sight, memory, or existence; quickly fading ordisappearing: a shimmering evanescent bubble. fleeting – adjectivelasting for a very short time: hoping to get a fleeting glimpse of […]


College Admissions Secrets for Parents and Teens: Listen to Mom’s Advice

By Kate Cryan, mom If you’re looking for an entertaining, informative, and inexpensive evening for you and your college-bound teens, head to Hall High School at 7pm on Wednesday March 12th, where Dr. Michael J. Youmans (aka Dr. “Yo”) of CollegePrepExpress will present a 90-minute “soup to nuts” overview of the college admissions process. College admission is a daunting process for both student and parents, and it makes no difference to the parents’ stress levels whether it’s the first or fifth child going to college.  (As a parent with one child nearly finished at college, I can vouch that starting […]


Root & Synonym Clusters 8: ARROGANT

Don’t you hate it when you have to deal with people who think they’re better than you? People who make you feel like you’re not smart enough, classy enough, or just plain good enough to deserve their time and attention? Hey, EVERYONE is ignorant, just on a different set of subjects. But anyway, there are words that pop up frequently on the SAT for people who think they’re better than everyone else, and here they are: pompous – affectedly and irritatingly grand, solemn, or self-important: a pompous ass who pretends he knows everything. disdainful – showing contempt or lack of respect: with a last disdainful look, she turned toward the door. supercilious – behaving […]


Root & Synonym Clusters 9: STUBBORN

Here are a bunch of words all clustered around STUBBORN. Try using them on your hard-nosed friends–not to make them angry, but to learn the words!   adamant – refusing to be persuaded or to change one’s mind: he is adamant thathe is not going to resign. dogged – having or showing tenacity and grim persistence: success required dogged determination. obstinate – stubbornly refusing to change one’s opinion or chosen course of action, despite attempts to persuade one to do so. obdurate – stubbornly refusing to change one’s opinion or course of action. pertinacious – holding firmly to an opinion or a course of action: he worked with a pertinacious resistance to interruptions. unyielding – or structure) not giving way to pressure; hard or solid: the […]


Root & Synonym Clusters 7: To look Down On, aka “D” words

In our Root & Synonym Clusters 5: Laud Roots and to Praise Synonyms, we encountered words we use when we look up to people. In this new installment we consider their antonyms, words we use to “look down on.” For some crazy reason, many of them begin with the letter “D,” which you can use to your advantage as a mnemonic. Do you know that word, mnemonic?   decry – publicly denounce: they decried human rights abuses. denigrate – to speak damagingly of; criticize in a derogatory manner; sully; defame: to denigrate someone’s character defame – to attack the good name or reputation of, as by uttering or publishing maliciously or falsely anything injurious; calumniate: The newspaper editorial defamed the politician. deprecate – express disapproval of: he sniffed in a deprecating way. disparage – regard or represent as being of little worth: he never missed an opportunity to disparage his competitors. disdain […]


College Admissions 101 for Mom & Dad

Online Education Radio at Blog Talk Radio with CollegePrepExpress on BlogTalkRadio Recorded LIVE, 6:30-7:00PM ET on 2/27/14 …or listen to this or any other PrepTalk with CPE show on… Do you you really want to help your kid but you’re just not sure how?Parents! Is your high schooler going to college? Is this the first time since your own college days that you’ve dealt with the admissions process? Do you have so many questions you don’t know where to start? Then this show is for YOU! Join Dr. Yo, J.D. Rothman (aka, the Neurotic Parent’s Guide to College Admissions), and a panel […]


Why the ACT is just as important as the SAT

By Kate Cryan “There are several compelling reasons why students SHOULD TAKE BOTH tests.”  So said Dr. Yo in this 2008 post. You could say he was a good five years ahead of the curve: last year, the number of students taking the ACT was, for the first time, slightly higher than the number taking SAT, and 50% higher than the number taking ACT ten years ago. Why the sudden preference for ACT? It’s not sudden, and it’s not a preference, because SAT popularity hasn’t waned. The number of ACT takers has steadily increased each year until it finally surpassed […]


PARENTS: Get Your Kids’ Subject Test and AP Prep Books EARLY IN THE SCHOOL YEAR

The best prep for both Subject Tests (the one-hour, subject specific tests required by many top schools) and the more rigorous AP Exams (given in May, near the conclusion of each AP course) is a well-designed class and a good teacher. Sometimes students get lucky and need little extra prep because their class was so solid; MOST students, however, need to prepare for each Subject Test and AP Exam in much the same way they do for the SATs and ACTs, that is, by purchasing a book (or two or three) and learning material and taking practice tests. In the […]


Pep Talk for Standardized Test-Taking JUNIORS

“The truth can hurt you it’s just like the dark it’ll scare you witless but in time you see things clear and stark.” – Elvis Costello Everybody knows junior year is the hardest working year of high school. And, alas, the stark reality is the hardest part of it is the final stretch. Cumulative tests, big papers, final projects, and (gulp) final exams all conspire to make the last two to three months challenging to sleep, serenity, even sanity. Oh yeah, and then throw standardized testing—SATs ACTs, Subject Tests, and, in some cases, AP exams—into the already unmanageable mix. Thanks, adult world, […]


Parent Tip #17: Buy Your Kids’ Subject Test and/or AP Test Prep Books EARLY IN THE SCHOOL YEAR

The best prep for either a Subject Test (the one-hour, subject specific tests required by many top schools) and the more rigorous AP Exams (given in May, near the conclusion of each AP course) is a well-designed class and a good teacher. Sometimes students get lucky and need little extra prep because their class was so solid; MOST students, however, need to prepare for each Subject Test and AP Exam in much the same way they do for the SATs and ACTs, that is, by purchasing a book (or two or three) and learning material and taking practice tests.   […]


Root & Synonym Clusters 6: Lazy or Lacking Energy Synonyms

On these hot, humid, days, we all tend to feel a little lethargic, torpid, slothful.  And while being lazy never got anyone into top colleges, the CollegeBoard LOVES putting words that mean lazy or lacking energy on the SAT.  So here are a whole bunch of them to learn and associate together: apathetic – showing or feeling no interest, enthusiasm, or concern: lethargic –  sluggish and apathetic lackadaisical – lacking enthusiasm and determination; carelessly lazy indolent – wanting to avoid activity or exertion; lazy. slothful – lazy perfunctory – carried out with a minimum of effort or reflection torpid – […]


Root & Synonym Clusters 4: “Hard to Get Along With”

Do you know any, um, how shall we say, difficult people? Yeah, me, too. Here’s a great list of challenging SAT words that all mean, roughly, “hard to get along with.” The subtle differences in meaning, for the philologists out there, follow below. For most folks, especially SAT takers, just knowing that all these words describe people who are, for one reason or another, cranky, hostile, aggressive, difficult, and just plain hard to get along with. belligerent  (“belli” = “war,” as in antebellum) – hostile bellicose – warlike recalcitrant – stubborn and uncooperative intractable – stubborn and unruly truculent – […]