Most juniors will take the SAT in the late spring and perhaps again in the early fall. Here's what we will do to get you ready for the SAT:
The SAT Question of the Day is a part of daily routine. It gives you the opportunity to explore the different types of questions you will encounter on the SAT.
While you can't really study for the SAT, you can be prepared for it by becoming familiar with its various components. Here are the parts of the SAT that relate to English:
Click here explore the many resources (many of them "free") that will help you prepare for the SAT.
In addition to daily practice with the SAT Question of the Day, we will also take time each spring to explore the 25 minute timed essay in more depth.
A final word on all this testing...
Although standardized tests such as the NECAP, SAT and AP offer some small information about a student, they do not represent the whole picture.
Just as a thermometer reading can offer a doctor some information about a patient, a test score can offer a learning community (teacher/student/parent/school district/college admissions board) some information about a learner. The key word here is "some". No doctor would ever try to evaluate the health of a patient with only a thermometer reading as a guide. And no learning community should ever try to evaluate the aptitude of a learner, the skills of his teachers, or quality of his school district based upon a test score.
It would be wonderful if I could be assured of my good physical health by simply consulting a thermometer and it would be wonderful if I could be assured of a student's academic aptitude with a simple test score.
The reality is that evaluating, developing and improving the physical health of a patient is a complex process much in the same way evaluating, developing and improving the academic aptitude of a student is a complex task.
Evaluation of students and teachers can and should be done. Unfortunately, a standardized test fails in the attempt to do so. If you'd like to explore the research regarding the standardized testing of skills and knowledge in the context of the English language arts, click here. I also recommend exploring the NCTE's Position on the Teaching of English: Assumptions and Practices - "Best Practice" as defined by the National Council of Teachers of English.
