Newspaper App Teaches SAT Vocab In 5 Minutes A Day

Studying for the SAT/ACT or just looking to improve your vocabulary? From July 1 to Aug. 31, philly.com features fun articles about movies, sports, entertainment, and more, all using lots of great vocabulary words. If you don't know a word, just click on it to see its definition.

Powered by ProfessorWord, a Philly-based startup, the technology is featured in a free philly.com Reading Challenge that sends one article a day to students.

Learning new words in context is the most effective way to improve vocabulary. This new technology can define any word and can even be set to automatically highlight all the pertinent SAT/ACT vocabulary words used on any website. 

 Learn more and sign up at philly.com/vocabulary.

Key Academics Is Voted Best Of Montco Tutoring

It’s official! Montgomery County residents have selected Key Academics as 2015’s Best Tutoring Service.

            The annual Readers Choice Awards are conducted by Montgomery Newspapers, publishers of the Norristown Times Herald, Lansdale Reporter, Amber Gazette, Colonial News, Glenside News and several other media.

            Key Academics provides one-to-one, in-home and online tutoring in academic subjects, study skills and reading for students from kindergarten through college. We also provide preparation for admissions tests such as SAT, ACT, SSAT, ISEE, GRE, GMAT and LSAT.                                   

To celebrate this prestigious award, Key Academics is pleased to extend a 15 percent discount to new test prep clients who mention the “Best Of Montco” award. (this discount applies to new students, and cannot be combined with other offers.)

Call 610-940-1625 today and learn what makes Key Academics the best  one-to-one academic tutoring and test prep service in the Delaware Valley.

Key Academics Wins Best of Plymouth Meeting Tutoring Award

Key Academics recently received the 2015 Best of Plymouth Meeting Award in the category of Tutoring Instructors.

            The annual award honors local businesses that use best practices to generate long-term value. The program works with local business owners, professional associations, and other business groups to gather the information and data used to choose the winners in each category.

College Board Loses Points With SAT Mistake

After a misprint in test booklets regarding the time allotted for taking part of the SAT on June 6, the College Board said that it would not score two sections of the exam, and would waive its fees for students who wanted to take the test again in October. 

The June 6 test booklets said students would have 25 minutes to complete the last of three reading sections. Proctors, however, were given instructions that students would have only 20 minutes for that section. While some proctors noticed the error and informed students in advance, others did not discover it until alerted by test takers. The confusion distracted some students during the exam.

Although the misprint appeared only in the final reading section, some students may have been taking their final math section in the same room as other students completing the reading section and been affected by any confusion, so the board said it would not score either section.

The board apologized for the error and it would still be able to provide reliable scores for all students because the SAT is designed to collect enough information to provide valid and reliable scores even with an unscored section.

If only that were true! Timing confusion during the test surely had a negative impact on some students' performance. And what if a student found an eliminated reading passage or math section easier than the ones preceding it? It’s a well-known fact in test theory and analysis that fewer items lead to less reliable scores. It’s easy to see how a 660 reading or math score, for example, could turn into a 630.

Also, scheduling a free test for October conflicts with Subject Tests at college application crunch time. The College Board should score the June 6 test both with the affected sections and without them, letting students and their parents decide which score to report. If neither one is satisfactory, students should have the option of taking a free retest in September. 

Printing glitch zeroes out a section of SAT

There was a printing error in the  test books Educational Testing Service provided to U.S. students taking the SAT on Saturday, June 6. In an update on Monday, June 8, at 5:30 p.m. EDT, the College Board and ETS said the affected sections will not be scored. They said they will still be able to provide reliable scores, within the usual timeframe, for all students who took the test. This kind of error is really unacceptable. The confusion during the test no doubt had a negative impact on some students' performance. Eliminating a Math or Critical Reading section is also a big deal. What if a student found a reading passage, or math section, easier than the one being dropped? 
https://lp.collegeboard.org/information-regarding-the-saturday-june-6-sat-administration

Need Assistance With A College Application Essay?

The summer months are a great opportunity for rising seniors to begin working on their college application essays. 

Colleges want to know how well students write and whether they can address a given topic. They also hope to find out who you are and what’s important to you. When the admissions staff has finished your essay, they should have a vivid sense of your personality.

That’s why you want to reflect on a significant personal experience. Include specific details that make you sound like a real person. Be reflective, insightful and proud of your achievements, but don't brag.

Use language that is sophisticated and conversational. Read aloud a short, powerful passage from literature or serious reporting and figure out how it works sonically. Alliteration? Parallel construction? Varied sentence length? Then read your own work aloud for the same.

High school students may lack the writing experience needed to show how they can enrich a campus. To speak with a professional editor who can help with brainstorming, drafting, and revising this important part of the college application process, please call Key Academics at 610-940-1625 or contact us online.

2015 And 2016 SAT Test Dates

If you're looking for the SAT test dates after June 6, 2015, you won't find them on the College Board website. In fact, you won't find them on the web, period. But now you can find out the dates, thanks to Key Academics. And how did we find this valuable information, you may ask? Truth be told, simply by calling the College Board and speaking with a helpful representative, who explained that the dates have just been released and are unofficial but generally very reliable at this point. 

So without further ado, here are the SAT Test Dates: Oct. 3, 2015; Nov. 7, 2015; Dec. 5, 2015; Jan. 23, 2016: March 5, 2016 (no Subject tests); May 7, 2016; and June 4, 2016. The new SAT debuts with the March 5, 2016 test. 

Schools can administer the PSAT on Oct. 14 or Oct. 17. 

Here, as well, are the upcoming ACT test dates: June 13, 2015; Sept. 12, 2015; Oct. 24, 2015; Dec. 12, 2015; Feb. 6, 2016; April 9, 2016; and June 11, 2016.