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.

It's my goal!

Claire, a high school senior,  was brought to my office by her two parents. She was an outstanding student– 3.5 GPA, captain of the soccer team, a volunteer in public service activities– all the makings for a great college application. The issue was her SAT scores. “Not high enough,” said her Mom when we talked on the phone.

So Mom and Dad brought Claire in for a consult. My opening question was directed towards her. “So Claire, why are you here today?”  She looked at her Mom and then her Dad and then at me, “I’m here because my mother wants me to get higher SAT scores.”  There was an audible gasp from the…

parent gallery. Then Claire [not her real name] leaned in and looked directly at me and delivered the kicker, “And I don’t want to work for them.”

Claire and I worked together for the rest of the session. She was taking an SAT course (“I hate it”) and I gave her some exercises to practice (her weak “leg” was her ability to sustain her focus).  She seemed to enjoy the session and I liked her. She was bright, forthright and engaging.  She came back for the next session, sat down, looked right at me and said, “I didn’t do anything you told me to.”  ”OK, I said, that’s not so unusual. You don’t know me and you don’t like your SAT course, so I’m not surprised.”  We talked some more, I gave her a few more exercises to do at home while she practiced test items, and she came back for the third session and said, now rather defiantly, “I didn’t do anything you told me to.”

I smiled. “Claire,” I said, “I like you. You’re a bright kid and I would like to work with you. But I’m not into struggling with the people I work with. So this is our last session.” Clearly this surprised and rattled her. She certainly didn’t expect me to toss her out.  I asked her, “Do you know what college you want to go to?”  Of course she did– it was one that was hard to get into.  ”Do you know what SAT scores the college is looking for?” Of course she did. And at that moment the penny dropped. She wasn’t going after higher scores because her mother wanted. She, Claire, wanted them.  Suddenly she realized that it was her goal.

I’m telling this story because I want you to think about your goals. Unless you are motivated, it’s going to be very hard for you to put in the work to reach the goal.  What’s the point here? Own your goals; make them yours. Not what your parent wants, not what your teacher wants, but what you want. And if you’re a parent or a teacher reading this, make sure you’re not confusing your goals with your child’s or student’s.  Kobe Bryant doesn’t score because Phil Jackson wants him to. He scores because he wants to.

When I speak around the country I’m often asked to give some “quick tips.”  I’ve come to equate this term with “magic bullet”– in other words, “tell me something I can do right now to take away my anxiety,” “give me a pill, doc.”

There are two problems with that way of thinking: the first is that if you do something it’s just for “right now” and the second is the notion that something or someone can “take away” your anxiety.

i believe it’s better if you understand that your test anxiety is a habit– I want to say “just a habit”, but don’t want you think I’m minimizing it with “just”– but that’s what it is, a habit. In other words, you’ve built up a certain reaction to tests and that reaction is anxiety.  Every time you hear the word “test” or think about a “test” or take a “test”…. here comes the anxiety. Your body, mind and spirit are all conditioned, or habituated, to behave in a certain way around tests. So, along with “test” comes all this stuff of anxiety: rapid heart beat, self-doubt, distraction.

One of the great things about habits is that they are learned, and– here’s the really good news– one habit can be replaced by anotherl. (I don’t like to use “good” and “bad” with habits– I think some habits are helpful and some aren’t). In general anxiety is not a helpful habit — some blood pumping and energy boosting before and during tests is good and even helpful– but when it goes into the anxiety zone it’s not helpful.

If you want to reduce your test anxiety you need to put new habits in place– habits that help you calm down, feel more confident, and stay focused. That’s what the workbook is all about. Yes, it’s a book filled with “tips”– but they are really new habits to be practiced and learned. They don’t take away the anxiety, they replace it. with calm, confidence and focus.

Imagine yourself as you would like to be and work in that direction.

Send me your comments and questions and tell me about the habits that aren’t helping you and  that you would like to replace.

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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A month later I received the following email from the student:

“I just wanted to tell you, thank you so much for all your insight in your book, and for talking with me that day. I took my LSAT last Saturday, and the day before the test I decided to read your book. It was probably one of the most helpful things I did for myself all month! Even more so than studying countless hours of my test preparation books. I used your techniques before and during my test, and despite not knowing my score, I feel like the positive self talk and breathing helped me focus and be confident to answer all of the questions. So I just wanted to thank you so much for your work!”

I greatly appreciate hearing from someone who used the book and found it so helpful.   Notice that she opened it up the night before the test!  What does this tell me?   I’ve coached many candidates for the LSAT (as well as MCAT, DAT, GRE’s etc). What they say is the same as the student I’m quoting:  they study countless hours. They have put in self-effort, they have done so much to grasp the material. But when they get derailed with anxiety on such an important test (and many people do), their performance  suffers and they end up with sub-par scores. What’s going on here? Burning more midnight oil?

No.

You need to prepare your self—meaning you, the test-taker –  to be calm, confident and focused. In this case, it helped this student right before the test. She didn’t say this much in the email but my guess is she slept better and a rested body and mind help a lot during test. On the test itself she definitely recognized the tools helped her. Her experience makes the point: pay attention to the person taking the test—to yourself—it will  make a huge difference.