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Private School Admission Is Challenging and Competitive for Parents and Children Alike

by admin on April 28, 2013 in Uncategorized

Private school admission is a strenuous, lengthy process across the globe. Parents are stressed, concerned about the best fit for their child and how to get their children admitted. As the following article states, parents work their hardest to ensure that their child will get the best possible education. Private school admission tests are required across the globe and tutoring in order to improve those scores will result in the highest rate of private school admission.

Parents Under Pressure Over Admission into Elite Middle School

(Shanghai Daily) While parents today have more options to send their children to a middle school, most of them instead end up complaining about their inability to get their kids into elite middle schools, a survey released yesterday by Shanghai Education Commission found.

More than 2,000 parents whose children go to primary and middle schools were surveyed last year. Among them, parents whose children are in the 10-12 years age group spent the most time worrying about admission into a higher grade school.

The survey said 55.4 percent parents, whose children are about to enter middle schools, were upset that their children face fierce competition to get admission into elite middle schools.

“During the survey, we learnt many parents did a lot of homework to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of all the schools they can choose from,” Bao said. “They tried every means to get the past test questions and forced their children to attend cram schools.

“You can admire what these parents do for their children. On the other hand, they end up exhausted,” Bao said.

Wang Fang, the mother of a fifth grade student in Changning District, said the first thing she does in the office is not to get down to work but browse through an online forum for parents who share their experiences about how to enter an elite middle school.

“After my daughter entered the fifth grade last year, I have no weekends but accompany my child to cram schools for all kinds of academic classes,” Wang said.

Wang works with a local travel agency. In the past, Wang would take her daughter on holiday during every summer and winter vacation. But now her daughter goes to a cram school to prepare for the admission test of a private middle school.

Wang said she preferred the private school because it had a very high enrollment rate than a public school in the district. “I need to think about the future exams in advance, otherwise it will be too late for the children to catch up with the others,” Wang said.

The survey found 29.5 percent of parents spend between 100 yuan (US$16) to 500 yuan on children every month. Roughly about 32.5 percent spent more than 1,000 yuan.

Some parents even bought houses to get admission in schools nearby as in some districts, students whose family owned property in the area can attend schools in the same district. Zhou Jing, a housing agent with Shanghai Shangfang Real Estate on Chifeng Road in Hongkou District, said many of her clients from Baoshan District bought second-hand apartments to send their children to schools in Hongkou District.

ISEE Tutoring in Boston

Thursday: Private School Admission Information Session

by admin on April 24, 2013 in Boston Exam Schools,Boston Latin,ERB Test,ISEE Essay,ISEE Test Prep,ISEE Tutoring,Private School Admission

Private School Admission Information Session

Boston Tutoring Services will be holding an info session to inform parents about the process of private school admission, including ISEE/SSAT tests and applying for financial aid/funding options.

A representative from 123College will be present to answer any of your questions about college funding!

Thursday, April 25, 2013
7:00pm until 8:30pm
Clarke Middle School
17 Stedman Rd
Lexington, MA 02421

ISEE Tutoring in Boston

Long-Term ISEE Test Preparation Leads to Higher Test Scores

by admin on April 20, 2013 in Boston Exam Schools,Boston Latin,ERB Test,ISEE Essay,ISEE Test Prep,ISEE Tutoring,Private School Admission

When it comes to private school admission tests such as the ISEE and SSAT, starting test preparation as early as possible yields the best results. The article below describes long-term preparation and compares it to short-term preparation. In the experience of Boston Tutoring Services, long-term preparation leads to higher scores, and a higher rate of private school admission.

Admissions Test Preparation: 2 Strategies

Admissions tests in private schools are supposed to measure your child’s aptitude and readiness for the work in a serious private prep school. They are merely one tool for assessing a child’s progress to date. Some children have learned their lessons well. Some children take tests well. Other children have deficiencies in certain skill areas. Still others do not test well.

Long-term Test Preparation

In a perfect world every child would master all the skills necessary to succeed academically. But children learn differently. Their teachers teach the same material differently. The school expects certain results in certain subject areas. That’s why a standardized admissions test is a critical part of most private school admissions requirements.

If you can take the long term approach to admissions test preparation, it certainly is the ideal. But you need to start a few years out from the actual admissions test itself. Here’s what to do: monitor your child’s progress carefully. Identify any deficiencies and remediate them. Hire tutors if necessary. Create and maintain a climate for academic success. Set expectations accordingly.

Then about eighteen months before the admissions test date purchase the test preparation materials which are so widely available. Read about the test your child will be taking. Understand what is required. Then have your child take at least 2 practice tests six months before the actual test date. That will give you enough time to tweak any parts of the test which require extra attention.

The Crash Course

Last minute cramming can pay off. Use this approach as a last resort. When do you use this approach? When you simply don’t have the time to use the Long-term Test Preparation approach outlined above.

Cramming requires intensive, serious study. As much study as you can cram into the time available to you. Typically it will be the approach to take if you decide in eighth grade that your child simply has to go to private school for 10th grade. She will have to sit the SSAT exam in December of her ninth grade year. You don’t have much time to waste. If you can, send her off to a good academic summer school, preferably at the private school you are thinking about sending her to. That accomplishes two things: makes her work hard and introduces her to the school. If she engratiates herself with the school’s teachers and staff, it won’t hurt her chances when she applies formally a few months later.

In addition to summer school, arrange extra help for the areas where she needs more work. Make sure that she works lots of practice tests so that she is not intimidated by the test experience itself. Good luck!

ISEE Tutoring in Boston

ISEE Test Prep is Essential for High Test Score

by admin on April 13, 2013 in Boston Exam Schools,Boston Latin,ERB Test,ISEE Essay,ISEE Test Prep,ISEE Tutoring,Private School Admission

Many parents believe that if their child is a strong student, this will be enough to carry them through the ISEE test and result in a high score. Unfortunately, their child is being compared with all of the brightest children in the country for a limited amount of spots, and the test proves to be far more challenging than most children expect. As the following article states, in order to truly understand the content and strategies on the ISEE test, hiring a private tutor is the best way to ensure success.

Effective Strategies For Isee Will Qualify You To Any Top Private Schools You Prefer

Preparing for the ISEE test in advance gives students an advantage, because they can learn the necessary skills and strategies to excel in the test. Because not all topics are understood by just reading the concept, just like for example in math, you need guidelines and further explanations. A tutor in this case is very helpful. Applying the different effective strategies learned will assure you do well on the ISEE and have a greater chance of attending any of the top private schools. Like many important tests, the ISEE, or Independent School Entrance Exam, creates anxiety in both students and their parents. This timed exam, a combination of multiple choice and essay questions, is used by private schools to help determine whether or not a student should be admitted. Today’s private schools are very competitive, and it is important that your student do as well as they can on the test. ISEE prep is essential to help increase your child’s score.

ISEE Tutoring in Boston

Private School Admission Information Session

by admin on April 2, 2013 in Uncategorized

Private School Admission Information Session

Boston Tutoring Services will be holding an info session to inform parents about the process of private school admission, including ISEE/SSAT tests and applying for financial aid/funding options.

A representative from 123College will be present to answer any of your questions about college funding!

Thursday, April 25, 2013
7:00pm until 8:30pm
Clarke Middle School
17 Stedman Rd
Lexington, MA 02421

ISEE Tutoring in Boston

The Importance of Test Preparation for the ISEE and SSAT Exams for Private and Independent School Admission

by admin on March 29, 2013 in ISEE Essay,ISEE Test Prep,ISEE Tutoring,Private School Admission

The Importance of Test Preparation for the ISEE and SSAT Exams for Private and Independent School Admission

When preparing students for the ISEE or SSAT exams, there is more pressure than ever. Most private and independent schools require that students take one of these exams, which are similar to college entrance exams in that they play a key role in admission and are highly challenging.

Admissions officers say that they prefer students not to prepare for these tests, because they want students to accurately portray their skill set when they apply to schools. But since the schools are getting more and more competitive, in order to gain admission, parents feel like they have no other choice. Moreover, the same admissions officers who say that they do not want students to prep admit that there is a test score cut-off required for admission. As such, preparing students for these private school admission tests is incredibly important and should not be put off.

I recommend starting test prep as early as possible, because there is so much material to cover and so many test-taking strategies to acquire. For one, there are thousands of vocabulary words that the student ought to learn, because the verbal section of the tests is incredibly demanding. Without advanced vocabulary, students typically receive scores only within the 10th to 25th percentile. There are prefixes and roots to learn as well, and this takes time. When students cram last-minute, they are not able to acquire very much new vocabulary at all, and it’s hard to see much score improvement.

Besides vocabulary, the math is incredibly challenging. When I work with young students in fifth and sixth grade, this is the place where they struggle the most, because they are being asked to learn completely new content in order to perform well on this test. I’ve had to introduce, from scratch, the concepts of algebra, statistics, probability, and high-level problems on percentages, ratios, and geometry. The content on this test is not the content that students are used to learning in school. It is often many grades above their current level, and it takes time to acquire so much new material.

Fortunately, my students learn so many new skills that they often end up far ahead of their math class in school, and a lot of students have ended up being moved into advanced levels because they are so far ahead now. I always tell them that they don’t have to worry about learning algebra again many years later, because they are already experts.

Most importantly, it takes time to learn the test-taking strategies. The ISEE does not take off points for wrong answers, so you never want to leave a problem blank. However, you don’t want to actually spend time focusing your energy on every single problem, because unlike tests at school, this test is not designed so that you can actually finish it in time. You are expected to perform the best you can, knowing that you have less than one minute to answer each question.

Test preparation allows students to learn which problems they should focus the most energy on and which ones to just glance at, because it’s not possible to actually attempt to solve every problem on the test.

The SSAT does take a quarter of a point off for every wrong answer, so the strategy in this case is to know which problems to leave blank, so that you don’t lose many points by attempting problems you shouldn’t. This also gives you more time to focus on the problems that you should be solving. I always say that is much better to answer less problems, and get all those problems correct, than rushing through and trying to answer every single problem, making careless mistakes along the way and inevitably getting a much lower score as a result.

In my experience, students are able to perform very well on this test once they have enough preparation. They can learn vocabulary, prefixes and roots, reading comprehension skills, essay writing skills, and a massive amount of new mathematical knowledge. They can acquire test-taking strategies that will give them the confidence to plow through the test with focus. It all takes time, and work, but in the end, not only does it gain you entrance to the top private and independent schools, but it teaches you skills and knowledge that you will be able to use for the rest of your education.

ISEE Tutoring in Boston

Writing Sample for Private School Admission

by admin on March 22, 2013 in Boston Exam Schools,Boston Latin,ISEE Essay,ISEE Test Prep,ISEE Tutoring,Private School Admission

Your child’s writing sample for private school admission needs to express what makes your child the ideal candidate for each school to which they are applying. The essay needs to let the child’s own personality shine, and should not be overshadowed by the goals of the parent. The best essays are personalized, and show insight into the child’s true character, while still promoting the child’s skills and interests so that the school will want your child to be a member of its community.

The Private School Admission Writing Sample

At some point in the admissions’ process, your child is going to have to write an essay otherwise known as The Writing Sample. Don’t be unduly fazed by this requirement. It is simply one more piece of the admissions’ puzzle.

What is the Purpose of the Writing Sample?
Very simple really. All the school wants to do is determine how well your child can express herself in her writing. Many schools will split this part of the application up into a series of questions. On The Madeira School application, for example, she is asked to answer five questions in Part 2. By the way, Part 2 of Madeira’s application is to be completed by the candidate. This is very important. The school wants to hear what your child has to say. Not what her uncle or father has to say. The school wants to hear what your child thinks, it wants to see how she writes and all in her own words, not somebody else’s.

Practice Makes Perfect
The secret to writing effortlessly is to practice as much as you can. Encourage your child to keep a journal. Show her how to write a blog. Get her to write. Every day ideally. Show her how to model her writing after the best examples. Yes, that means that she needs to read great literature. As in books. Don’t just watch the movie version. Get in the habit of setting aside time for reading. Make it an enjoyable experience with no distractions such as your iPod or TV on in the background. If you haven’t bought a Kindle for her, do so. She’ll take it everywhere with her and begin to read voraciously.

Tips for Writing
She’s going to be nervous. Tell her not to fuss about grammar and syntax. If she has those skills, then she needs to use them. It’s more important for her to express herself. The school wants to see and feel the real her, not some persona which she think they want to see. She is unique. Let that uniqueness shine.

Remember: the writing sample or essay is merely one more piece in the admissions puzzle. But it is an important part of that puzzle. Give it some thought and preparation and your child will be fine.

ISEE Tutoring in Boston

High Score on ISEE Test Required for Private School Admission

by admin on March 19, 2013 in ERB Test,ISEE Essay,ISEE Test Prep,ISEE Tutoring,Private School Admission

Preparing for the ISEE is a lengthy process that should not be put off until the last minute. Private school admission offices admit that there is a baseline score required for admittance. The ISEE test needs to be strong enough, or no other aspect of the application matters. As the following article states, a high score on the ISEE test is crucial for private school admission.

Do My SSAT or ISEE Scores Really Matter?

Standardized admissions tests are part of the drill in most private school admissions offices. Why is that? Because the school needs to know what you know and don’t know academically.

The SSAT and ISEE are the two most commonly used admissions tests. They measure your language and math skills. How do the admissions offices use the test scores which the testing organizations send them? Largely for comparison purposes. For example, if a school has an applicant pool with an average verbal score of 600 and yours is 700, you will be at the top of the list in that one aspect of all the factors the school looks at. Conversely, if your quantative score is 550 and the pool average is 750, you will be at or near the bottom of the list in that comparison.

Bear in mind that the admissions office looks at many things when it reviews your application. If teacher recommendations corroborate the test score results, that is a very strong plus or minus for you. For example, if you scored well in the verbal section of the SSAT and your teacher writes glowing comments about your language arts skills, that will improve your chances significantly. The reverse is also true. A poor quantitative score combined with a weak or vague reference from your math teacher (“Johnny has challenges with his math lessons.”) won’t help your case.

Many factors come into play when it comes to standardized tests. The most important advice any teacher will give you is to start well in advance – like a year or so – assessing your strengths and weaknesses. Then remediate those weaknesses. After that take as many practice tests as you can before the real thing. Remember: your nerves and health play a role too. If you have never taken a standardized admissions test and haven’t a clue what’s expected of you, how can you possibly relax and do your best? Add to that the inevitable upset tummy or cold and you will not do your best.

ISEE Tutoring in Boston

Begin ISEE Test Prep Early–Practice Makes Perfect

by admin on March 14, 2013 in Boston Latin,ERB Test,ISEE Test Prep,ISEE Tutoring,Private School Admission

Preparing for the ISEE test takes time, and only through repeated practice of the testing materials can students achieve a high test score. Working with a private tutor allows your child to learn which areas to focus the most energy, and to learn the test-taking strategies necessary for success. As the following article states, ISEE test prep should not be put off to the last minute.

Preparing for Admissions Tests

Preparing for the SSAT and ISEE which most private schools use as part of their admissions procedures requires some advance planning. You can’t cram for these standardized admissions tests. Why? Because you are being tested on your knowledge of subject materials which have been learned over many years. On the other hand there are certain things you can do to make sure you test as well as you possibly can.

1. Be familiar with the test format. This requires your actually taking several practice tests. Being familiar with a test format means that you will not waste time trying to understand the test instructions. Every minute is precious in a timed test. The more tests you work the more you will relax and be confident the day of the actual test.

2. Purchase a test preparation book. You can only boost your confidence by consistent practice using these test preparation materials. Will these materials improve your scores? Only understanding the test format and the material being tested will produce good results.

3. Understand the scoring. Regular test practice will help you understand how this works.

4. Take a practice test monthly. Try to simulate test conditions as much as possible. Choose a quiet location in which to take the test. Time yourself according to the time limits imposed by the test. By the time you take the real thing you will have done three practice tests. Your confidence level will be high because you know what to expect.

5. Identify deficiencies as soon as possible. Take a practice test a year before the actual test. Review the scores with your teachers. Then get any extra help you need in order to correct whatever deficiencies you have. Hire a tutor if necessary. Too much is at stake.

As you can see, getting a head start on admissions testing will pay huge dividends when you actually take the test. Don’t leave test preparation to the last minute.

ISEE Tutoring in Boston

All Levels of Student Benefit from ISEE Test Prep

by admin on February 26, 2013 in ISEE Test Prep,ISEE Tutoring,Private School Admission

Even if you feel that your child is a good student, every student needs some preparation for the ISEE test. Practicing real ISEE test questions along with the guidance of a one-on-one tutor can greatly improve a student’s test score. As the following article describes, learning test-taking strategies is vital to achieving a high score on the test.

Learn The Secrets To Pass The ISEE

For most people who have ever taken an exam, one of the most main reasons they passed was because they prepared. However, for anyone who wants to master the ISEE test preparation process now to save time, listen up. If you need to pass any exam it may be wise if you practice using former exam questions or questions that are comparable to those on the real exam. It can not be emphasized enough how very important it is to use ISEE test questions while preparing to pass the test. If you are getting ready to take an ISEE exam you need to ask yourself an important question: do you already have a core comprehension of the information, or do you first need to learn the material? If you do not have an in-depth understanding, you will need a more in-depth plan to learn the material. If you comprehend the base information, you still need to learn some test-taking skills in order to pass the test.

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