Adversity Score
May 22, 2019Get Smarter Prep

Adversity Score

The College Board is rolling out an adversity score calculating each students’ level of adversity based on a scale from 1 to 100. They named it the Environmental Context Dashboard.  The ECD is designed to provide admissions officers with information about where a student comes from, but is it an accurate tool?  In today’s blog post, we are going to break down how The College Board is rating adversity and what students and parents need to know moving forward.

Collecting Data

First, let’s look at how The College Board rates students on the 1 to 100 scale. The scale is broken down into two categories: Neighborhood measure and high school measure. Neighborhood measure is comprised of income, family structure, housing, educational attainment, and likelihood of being a victim of a crime. High school measure is comprised of income, family structure, housing, and educational attainment.

The collected data is taken from public data sources, including census data and The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data, as well as College Board’s own data, which presents a view of school and neighborhood context for a student. Based on the data pulled for each student’s categories the Dashboard then gives that student a rating from 1 corresponding to the least disadvantaged and 100 to the most disadvantaged.

Adversity Scale
A screenshot of the Dashboard

The thought process behind the adversity score is to show how a students’ SAT score compares to those of other students in their school and provide admissions officers with a better context about an applicant’s neighborhood and high school.

The ECD was piloted to 50 colleges. Among those colleges and universities were Yale, Florida State, Michigan, and Trinity. Ultimately, the hope was to “make it more likely that students who demonstrate strength and resourcefulness in overcoming challenges are more likely to be admitted to college.”

Adversity Score Algorithm

Exactly how is the algorithm calculated? That’s a good question. Only The College Board knows. They aren’t divulging how a student is specifically rated on the adversity scale. Why? Who knows? Maybe it’s because there are a number of flaws within their system?

Since this ECD was brought up to level the playing field of adversity, it would be ironic if everyone knew the rules of the ECD. What if wealthy parents started playing their own version of College Admissions Scandal to make sure their students are admitted to a certain college. If everyone knows the exact breakdown of the adversity scale, who’s to say what people would do to tip the scales. Would you move to a different neighborhood? Switch schools? The possibilities are endless.

In a perfect world, every single student would be able to study hard, have equal opportunity, overcome adversity, and get into the school they want. However, that’s simply not the case. We understand what The College Board is trying to do, but what we don’t understand is how they can generalize every student.  Each student is different and has a different background story. An algorithm isn’t going to calculate their history.

What we do know is that the ACT and SAT are both widely accepted in every region of the United States. There is no regional bias between one or another. It’s also safe to say the ACT hasn’t produced their own version of an adversity score.  So, if you’re wavering between the SAT and the ACT, but don’t want to get pinpointed with an adversity score, stick with the ACT.

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ACT Specific Watches
March 6, 2019Get Smarter Prep

ACT Specific Watches

At Get Smarter Prep, we’ve received a few questions lately about watches designed specifically for use on the ACT and other standardized tests. At first glance, these devices might seem useful. They’re intended to help you track how many minutes you have left in a section and which question or passage you should be on. They come pre-programmed with the number of minutes and questions for each section. As a bonus, they’re silent, and therefore “ACT-approved.”

As great as they seem on the surface, though, we can’t recommend them, for several reasons.

Accuracy over Speed

Accuracy is more important than speed on the ACT. Getting to your goal score is about much more than rushing to make your way to the end of a particular section within the allotted time. Nearly every student struggles with time on the ACT, and nearly every student can reach their goal without completing every question.

An important part of your preparation for the ACT should be working out which questions deserve your time and attention and which ones do not. There might be one Reading passage that consistently gives you trouble, and perhaps skipping it boosts your Reading score. There might be one type of English question that you find especially tricky or time-consuming, and perhaps skipping those types of questions and saving them for the end is your best approach. Most students benefit from cutting loose the last 10 (or 15, or 20) Math questions in favor of spending more time on the earlier questions.

These watches assume you’re going straight through the section, at a rapid, constant pace, and this simply isn’t the best approach for most students.

Each Question is Different

Some questions are harder than others.

The most obvious example of this is the Math section. Math question #47 will almost certainly take you longer than question #3 – that’s fine, as question #47 will likely be trickier and involve a bit more work.

You are not a robot who can be counted upon to spend exactly one minute per Math question, or exactly 8 minutes and 45 seconds per Reading passage. Some questions and passages will take you more time, and some will take you less. If you’re constantly glancing at your wrist, though, comparing yourself to an inflexible standard, you’ll likely only grow frustrated and distracted from what’s most important – getting points.

Each Student is Different

The ACT is a predictable, standardized exam that behaves in predictable ways. Knowing how the ACT is set up allows students and tutors to plan and strategize. However, even though the test is standardized, students are not! Each student is going to have a slightly different path to their best test performance. It is important to be open to making those adjustments as you prepare, instead of trying to base your strategy on the watch. The ACT is stubborn and inflexible enough for all of us – we need to adjust and adapt in order to be successful.

Technology Sometimes Fails

If your test performance hinges too much on the watch at your wrist, what happens if it fails? If the battery dies, or some other mundane mechanical problem arises? Your best insulation against the timing restrictions of the ACT is practice and strategy. Having a plan, practicing the plan, and following the plan is much more reliable than counting on a piece of technology that may or may not reliably get you through the exam.

Proctors Might Object

All these products advertise that they are allowed on the ACT, but a glance at their Amazon reviews shows that there have been instances where proctors don’t allow the watch into the room. If you practice with it and come to depend on it, and then the proctor doesn’t allow it into the testing room, you may become frustrated, anxious, or discouraged. That’s not a recipe for success on test day!

 

We want to see you get the best score you can on the ACT, and we don’t think these watches are the best way to accomplish that. Practice and preparation are key, even if they are more work than picking up a new watch.

 

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Running Out of Time
February 20, 2019Get Smarter Prep

Running Out of Time

It’s a common occurrence when taking the ACT. If you’re like most students, you struggle to finish different sections of the ACT or maybe even struggle to finish every section! You’re not alone.  There are a lot of questions and this is a timed test, so time management is key to finishing each section.

Let’s take a quick look at the breakdown of questions and the allotted amount of time per section.

 
Questions
Time
English
 75 60 Minutes
Math
 60 60 Minutes
Reading 
 40 35 Minutes
Science
 40 35 Minutes

English:

We like to say that the English section is one of the easiest sections to pick up points. Think about…within this section you are reviewing idioms, punctuation, pronouns, verbs, rhetoric content, and rhetoric style. Those are all things you’ve most likely learned about in the eighth grade. A solid review of all of those categories will pick up lost time within this section and leave you feeling ready for the math section, where students typically feel rushed.

Math:

The math portion of the ACT can be tricky for some students. There are 60 questions and 60 minutes to complete the section. Within this section, the questions become progressively harder. The second half of the test will generally have the questions that take the longest amount of time to solve and will involve more geometry and trigonometry than algebra. Do you struggle with geometry? Do you need help with trig? Defining what areas you struggle with and spending more time brushing up on those skills will be a huge help with the math section. Try not to rush.  Answer each question to the best of your ability and if you feel pressed for time, bubble in the last questions with the same letter. Read about our Letter of the Day Strategy here.

Reading:

Most students have a hard time completing the reading section since there are four different passages (humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, literary fiction) to skim through as well as forty questions to accompany the passages.  You have less than a minute to answer each question! Don’t freak out.  There are different strategies to use within the reading section. Each passage has ten questions. Skim through the passage, then attack the questions. There are different categories within the passage such as line reference  (e.g., “In lines 16-20”). Line reference is literally directing you straight to the lines within the passage!  Other categories include lead word, comparing passages, vocabulary in context, the main point/big picture, and tone.

Science:

Here’s a shocker…there is no physical science in the science section of the ACT! It’s mainly charts and graphs. As you study for this section, make sure you know how to accurately read graphs and charts since the answers for all of the questions are right in front of you. For the questions that you can’t answer with the visuals, you can usually figure them out by reading the passage. Save time by skipping the instructions and head straight to the questions. Then go back to review the passage and the answer will most likely be within the passage.

 

Every student is different, but the common occurrence among all students is time management within the ACT.  One way we like to prepare students is by giving them a Pretest, Midterm, and Final. Then we compare each test to see how far each student has improved. Not only does this get students ready for the test by practicing strategies, but it also helps practice their time management skills.  

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