senior year

Using the Summer to Gain a Competitive Edge

 tagged admissions process / freshmen / junior year / senior year / sophomores / vacation studying by

What are the best three things about the school year?  Duh.  June, July and August of course!  Camp, summer jobs, new friends and relationships, and, most importantly, NO SCHOOL! The long summer break is a double-edged sword, however: very few use the summer to advance their learning or to advance their chances in the college admissions game.  Given the increasingly competitive nature of the game, summertime represents a phenomenal opportunity for ambitious students not only to enhance their education (not to mention keeping up with the international competition, who are in school 10 or 11 months out of the year), […]

Seniors, Don’t Make This Classic Time-Management Mistake!

 tagged admissions / applications / senior year by

Time is a fall-term senior’s most precious commodity. Nevertheless, year after year we see seniors making the same time management mistake as they play the college admissions game: they put application work ahead of schoolwork and test prep. Oops! It’s a mistake that has two negative consequences: first, it prevents seniors from doing their best work and getting the best grades they can (remember: colleges care more about your grades than ANYTHING else), and second, it inevitably leads to greater stress for them and their families. And their #1 accomplice in this crime? Their well-intentioned parents who simply want them […]

Getting Your CommonApp (Almost) Done Over the Summer

 tagged applications / CommonApp / junior year / senior year / vacation studying by

Jeez, school just freakin’ ended and you’re hitting me with THIS? Take a chill, Mr. Intense—er, Dr. Intense—would you? Actually, I was going to offer YOU that very advice, especially if you have the type of parents who want your whole application done the day after your last final exam (hey, try to keep in mind how much they love you :-)). Rising seniors absolutely should take a chill for a while after surviving the year-long educational torture chamber we call junior year. Having said that, we also STRONGLY suggest that you get as much work done on your CommonApp […]

Preparation for Standardized Test Game Day

 tagged ACT / junior year / PSAT / SAT / senior year / sleep / stress management / test anxiety / test prep by

October marks the first big month of standardized testing for college bound juniors and seniors.  SATs, SAT Subject Tests, PSATs, and ACTs are all given this month.  Hopefully, you have been taking practice tests, going over every item you got wrong or left blank, and studying the material you need to learn.  If you haven’t been, stop what you’re doing and callCollegePrepExpress at 413-329-7540: do not pass go, do not collect $200, do not even finish this blog. No seriously, as your game day approaches, here are some valuable tips for squeezing out your maximum score on whatever exam you’re taking: […]

Standardized Test Planning, Grades 9-12

 tagged ACT / freshmen / junior year / PSAT / SAT / senior year / sophomores by

Don’t let the title of this week’s blog fool you: the most significant thing you can do in any grade for college admissions is to take the most rigorous classes available to you and earn the best grades you can in them.  Period. So as this year begins, keep your eye on the prize: A’s in school! Having said that, another important component in the college admissions game is, for better or worse, standardized test scores.  Consequently, it’s never too early to start to plan which ones you’re going to take, and when you’re going to take them.  Forewarned is forearmed, […]

Reducing Stress is Part of Our Mission

 tagged admissions process / junior year / senior year / stress management by

Did you catch the FRONT PAGE of last week’s Wall Street Journal? (click here for full article).  The press has made it clear that 2008 has been the most competitive year ever for college admissions, with 2009 promising to be even worse. Junior year has always been a notorious rite of passage: the hardest classes, most demanding teachers, grades counting the most, and, oh yeah, standardized tests.  In September everyone’s talking about how college admissions committees look most closely at junior year grades, PSATs come up fast in October, and the work and pressure keep mounting through SATs, ACTs, Subject Tests […]