Follow your coach's direction

I’m in NY for a conference organized by the NY Times on “Schools for Tomorrow.” I met yesterday with Alexandra Zabriskie, a top-notch NY tutor for the SAT and ACT (and school subjects too).  Alex talked about coaching her students to take practice tests under the practice conditions, in other words, when it’s possible, to take at least one practice test at the place you’ll take the actual exam.  ”I tell them how important this is, they say they’ll do it,” Alexandra says, sighing, “But they don’t follow through.”

If you are working with a coach it’s important for two reasons that you follow through. The first is that your coach is not your mother, not your father, not your teacher, but your coach. Your coach knows what you need to do to succeed on the test, just like the coach of an athletic team knows how you should practice to succeed.  Imagine what would happen if you were on a team and you didn’t follow your coach’s direction.

The second reason that this particular coaching — take a practice test at the test site — is important is that you need to simulate the conditions of the exam itself.  Taking the practice test at the site is vastly different than sitting on your bed at home and practicing there. Why? Because at home there are a zillion distractions: texts from your friends, snacks in the fridge, comfy pillow where you’ll just take a rest for “a minute.”   Zzzzzzzzzzzz.  Try doing any of these in the exam room (well, don’t try, actually).

Follow your coach’s direction. Chinese say, left ear in, right ear out. Don’t do that. Hearing what your coach says and go, yeah, yeah, yeah, doesn’t raise test scores. Doing the right things and practicing in the right way does. After all, if you don’t listen to the coach, why do you go to him/her in the first place? doesn’t make sense.

A special shout out to Alexandra Zabriskie in NY. She was an early follower of my work and she does a terrific job of understanding her students’ needs and tailoring her tutoring to them. Check out her website:  http://atoztutor.com. (That’s Alex, on the left, in the picture above.)

The right answer? Strengthen yourself.

The Silicon Valley Mercury News today published an article today about the SAT and ACT. Author Purvy Mody starts off by saying “The words SAT and ACT can conjure anxiety for even the most academically confident student. Standardized testing has become so talked about and so prepared for that I have heard of fifth-graders enrolling in SAT prep classes — something I am highly against.”

5th graders prepping for the SAT?  AYK?  (are you kidding?)

Mody ends the article with this: “Take a class if you need the structure, or get the official books and practice on your own. Whatever method you use, the most important thing is that you do the work. The test will not take itself.” True enough, but columnist Mody is probably thinking “the work” means opening an SAT or ACT book and doing that work. In my coaching experience, learning the content is necessary but not the totality of test prep. The work is not just learning the content– the kinds of items, the subjects, and doing practice questions over and over again. It must include, and be thoroughly integrated with, the work you do on yourself.  Meaning, specifically, learning how to stay calm, confident and focused through the study and practice phases and then when you take the test itself.

You want a good, sturdy platform for your SAT or ACT performance. The platform for test success is the 3-legged stool: body, mind and spirit– being calm, confident and focused. Do that work and you’re well on the road to success.

Would you like to improve your test performance on the SAT or ACT?  If yes, let us know. We’re about to launch a training program that will give you the tools you really need to succeed. Send an email to us at testsuccess@sparkavenue.com.

Let prepping for SAT or ACT be an opportunity to cultivate and strengthen your calm, confidence and focus.

Excellent reading. This book helped me to focus not only on academic tests, but also in various situations of my life. It is amazing how a simple tip such as “don’t forget to breathe” could make all the difference in my performance. Dr. B hits the nail on the head when describing all the rollercoaster of emotions that a GMAT, GRE, LSAT and other standardized tests can cause in a student.  I particularly enjoyed the exercises and recommend this book for anyone.

I’m particularly glad the reader picked up on how the book applies to a whole host of tests as well as life situations. Isn’t the “rollercoaster of emotions” she references something we all experience, at some point, every day?

Life is full of tests, some big, some small. To know that THE WORKBOOK is truly helping someone is very gratifying indeed.

Please send in your thoughts, comments and questions about the tests you are facing. I look forward to responding to them.

For the Google Books review see:

http://books.google.com/books?id=HOZwPgAACAAJ&dq=Test+Success+Ben+Bernstein&ei=331FS_7mNanUkgSJ7JztDQ&client=firefox-a&cd=1

For the Amazon reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/Workbook-Test-Success-Confident-Focused/product-reviews/098199590X/ref=sr_1_1_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

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