The Perfect Score Project: Uncovering the Secrets of the SAT - Hardcover

Stier, Debbie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0307956679 ISBN 13: 9780307956675

Verlag: CROWN ARCHETYPE, 2014

Inhaltsangabe

The Perfect Score Project is an indispensable guide to acing the SAT – as well as the affecting story of a single mom’s quest to light a fire under her teenage son.

It all began as an attempt by Debbie Stier to help her high-school age son, Ethan, who would shortly be studying for the SAT. Aware that Ethan was a typical teenager (i.e., completely uninterested in any test) and that a mind-boggling menu of test-prep options existed, she decided – on his behalf -- to sample as many as she could to create the perfect SAT test-prep recipe.

Debbie’s quest turned out to be an exercise in both hilarity and heartbreak as she took the SAT seven times in one year and in-between “went to school” on standardized testing. Here, she reveals why the SAT has become so important, the cottage industries it has spawned, what really works in preparing for the test and what is a waste of time.

Both a toolbox of fresh tips and an amusing snapshot of parental love and wisdom colliding with teenage apathy,The Perfect Score Project rivets. In the book Debbie does it all: wrestles with Kaplan and Princeton Review, enrolls in Kumon, navigates khanacademy.org, meets regularly with a premier grammar coach, takes a battery of intelligence tests, and even cadges free lessons from the world’s most prestigious (and expensive) test prep company.

Along the way she answers the questions that plague every test-prep rookie, including: “When do I start?”...”Do the brand-name test prep services really deliver?”...”Which should I go with: a tutor, an SAT class, or self study?”...”Does test location really matter?” … “How do I find the right tutor?”… “How do SAT scores affect merit aid?”... and “What’s the one thing I need to know?”

The Perfect Score Project’s combination of charm, authority, and unexpected poignancy makes it one of the most compulsively readable guides to SAT test prep ever –and a book that will make you think hard about what really matters.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Debbie Stier is a single mother of two teenagers. Her book publishing career has spanned two decades, most of it spent in PR where she was responsible for publicizing dozens of iconic books ranging fromThe Notebook to Marley and Me. Frequently covered by the media, includingMediaBistro, New York Observor and New York Magazine, Debbie regularly speaks on topic pertaining to social media and technology as well as, most recently, standardized testing. She lives with her son and daughter in New York City, but you can find her at theperfectscoreproject.com.

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1

The Perfect Do-Over

How It All Began

I’m a forty-eight-year-old mother of two teenagers, and this whole crazy “perfect score project” started out as a scheme to rescue my kid from . . . sliding by. I thought maybe I could motivate Ethan to care about the SAT, just a little, if I climbed into the trenches myself.

Initially, though, the number of test-prep options left me agog (over a million on Google). My original idea was to try out twelve different methods of test prep the year before Ethan would be taking his first SAT. But as I saw how vast and complicated the realm of SAT prep appeared to be, I kept adding layers to the idea. What was at first simply the notion of taking an official SAT at school with the kids mushroomed into a vow to take the test every time it was offered in 2011 (seven times in all). And I’d try out different locations for each test, which turned out to be a total of five. (I didn’t anticipate the issue of test centers booking up early and ended up having to repeat a few). I wanted to see if the location played any role in the test experience, so I chose schools ranging from an elite private school in the suburbs to an urban public school in the Bronx.

My journey would start with the first SAT of 2011, on January 22, and Ethan would take his first SAT exactly one year after me--in January of 2012. We’d overlap in our preparation about halfway through the year because (a) juniors take the PSAT in the fall (October of 2011 for Ethan; SAT No. 5 for me), so he’d need to study; and (b) I know my son well enough to realize he does better with some spare runway to build momentum.

In spite of the escalating nature of the project, I was excited about the “study together” part and assumed that by halfway through the year, with four SAT experiences under my belt, I’d have my bearings and be able to adroitly show my son “the SAT ropes.”

Let’s clarify something from the start, though: I did not expect Ethan to pull off a perfect SAT score (though I wouldn’t have discouraged him from trying had he wanted to do so of his own accord). I found that by putting the pressure on myself, not on him, I was able to hold the bar reasonably high without having to nag or push (too much). I was “modeling” the behavior that I was hoping to cultivate in my son. In the end Ethan came up with his own number, which we both agreed was the right one.



The Question of the Day

Daunted by the million hits on Google, I started with the College Board Question of the Day. My friend Catherine told me to sign up. She was a year ahead of me with her son Chris and was studying for the SAT alongside him, and I thought it looked like fun. You could say Catherine was my first SAT mentor.

The first week I tried answering the Question of the Day I got most of the questions wrong, which was unnerving. Now, granted, I was trying to answer on the fly from a BlackBerry while cooking breakfast and getting kids out the door--but still, it was upsetting. The second week I decided to focus and see if I could answer the questions if I paid attention. I did better, though I still missed the few math questions. I was encouraged, though.

By week three, I was so into it that I gave myself permission to take the later train to work if I needed a few extra minutes to get the question right. I’d become hooked on these questions. What began as a little fun with the Question of the Day had developed into a full-blown habit. My fourth week, I hit the jackpot: all seven questions right. I was over the moon. I told my children, friends, and family, made an announcement on Facebook and Twitter--even went so far as to write a blog post, declaring to the world: I’m going to get a perfect SAT score!

There was no turning back.



The Wrath of Perfectionism

From the beginning, that word “perfect” had people riled up--so much so that I started to feel self-conscious. I’d backpedal if I sensed someone was going to take issue with the word, and I’d lean on the “project” part, to ease people’s anxiety about “perfect.”

“What? Do you think the person who wrote The Happiness Project is happy?” I’d ask. “It’s a project,” I’d say. “It’s about the journey.”

I almost caved and called it “The Higher Score Project.” One night, during dinner, I received a call from the marketing expert for the group that was designing my website. She told me that “the team” wanted me to know they all hated the word “perfect” and were in agreement that I should switch “perfect” to “higher”: The Higher Score Project. I said okay, though it didn’t feel right, and immediately logged on to GoDaddy, where I purchased every conceivable variation of HigherScore.com. Then I returned to the dinner table, where I told my kids the new name.

“You just lowered the bar--a lot,” said my daughter, Daisy. Ethan nodded in agreement.

After word of the project got out in my very small town, I began to feel as though people were seeing me as “the mom who pushes her kids too hard.” I was sure I could feel people staring when I’d walk into local shops and could practically hear what they were thinking. “There’s that lady who’s pressuring her son about the SAT.” I’d try to convince myself it had to be my imagination, but then something would happen that would substantiate my fears. One time, I walked into a restaurant and a “friend” I hardly knew sidled up to me, a few glasses of wine into her evening, and whispered, “Don’t worry, I don’t believe what they say.”

A few months after I’d finished my seventh and final SAT, I was waiting in line with some other moms to meet with the guidance counselor assigned to the juniors. It was parent-teacher conference night at Ethan’s school, and the guidance line seemed longer than it had in prior years. I knew the woman sitting next to me a little better than the others because our sons were friends.

“So what’s this SAT thing I hear you’re doing?” she asked.

I didn’t want the other parents within earshot to hear. They’d think I was insane.

“I took the test seven times last year,” I whispered, “to see if I could motivate Ethan.”

The woman looked perplexed, so I continued. “I was overwhelmed,” I said. “I didn’t know which prep class to sign him up for”--as if that explained why a middle-aged woman would subject herself, willingly, to seven SATs.

She still looked confused, so I went on digging my hole.

“It started with that Question of the Day from the College Board,” I said, “and I don’t know exactly how it happened, but before I knew what hit me, I was into it--like, really into it.”

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed one mom lean in a little and another tuck her hair behind her ear, subtly. I could feel what they were all thinking: “Does this woman know something about the SAT?”

Right then, the guidance counselor opened his office door and a mother walked out confidently, her “what’s next” checklist restocked. She was infused with a little more clarity than the rest of us, who were all waiting patiently for a turn with the college gatekeeper. The mother with whom I’d been whispering was called in next. She walked into the office, but before closing the door she turned around and asked--from clear across the room--“What’s the one thing I need to...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: CROWN ARCHETYPE
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2014
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0307956679
• ISBN 13: 9780307956675
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 296
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar