Optimum does not guarantee test results.

Many families would like to have a guarantee of results, but unfortunately actual timed and scored results are nearly impossible to guarantee. Some prep providers offer misleading “guarantees” that allow students to repeat the same failed gimmicky curriculum that didn’t work the first time, which often takes a mental and emotional toll on kids, while burning up valuable time that could be better spent on effective and quality preparation.

Many impressively well-marketed programs provide such cookie cutter automated solutions that their only real ongoing costs are marketing and data streaming, past the fixed costs of posting their course online.  Some programs simply hire inexpensive and low skilled teachers to teach out of a manual, and the companies reduce their overhead so much they can simply afford to give back the money as the cost of doing business (even though this is very rarely done either).  They simply manage marketing and their operations cost, and regard the few that ultimately demand a refund as just part of their business model.  The problem is kids suffer, and failing to learn underlying readiness skills, they not only don’t get the scores they want, but aren’t any more prepared for college and have wasted their time pursuing ineffective prep.

How to get the best possible score

The most one can reasonably do to get the maximum score is procure the best possible preparation from a skilled professional who uses the most effective strategies and materials, and connects with the teen in a way that inspires them to own the process. Every student has their own issues that they work through to get to a point where they can comfortably and predictably show up on test day and perform at the highest level.

Prepping for mastery

Our preparation includes two phases: 1) learning proven strategies and 2) personal integration. For most students, the bulk of time in phase 1 is spent receiving instruction of strategies, usually over the course of testing on and comprehensively reviewing two full real published exams. However, teens normally spend more time in phase 2, integrating what they have learned, first untimed, and then timed. Apart from the score, some process indications that a student is integrating the material are:

• More correctly answered questions
• Questions missed are able to be understood without additional explanation
• Test completion speeds up, which generally happens naturally when students practice with enough time to fully engage in the integration process
• Time needed to interactively review an entire exam decreases, sometimes to as short as 15 minutes when full mastery is achieved

Some students manage to integrate the information fairly quickly over the course of 1-3 additional exams, and the time it takes to review with Daniel drops off quickly. Others students just need more time, practice, and mentoring. It’s very individual.

Why results are hard to predict

There are many reasons for the variation of results but they can involve an array of personal issues, including, but not limited to

• Failure to take the prep process seriously or resistance to the prep process
• Lack of sufficient time to put the work in to integrate testing
• Lack of sufficient time, due to lack of advance planning and failure to make test prep a priority
• Schedule conflicts and excessive time commitments
• Inadequate day-to-day and long term time management skills
• A cramming mindset
• Inadequate study skills
• Poor judgment
• Emotional issues around test taking
• Bad attitude or a tendency to think the test is stupid or unnecessary
• Lack of clarity about motivation for taking the test and reasons for going to college
• Stress from parents, other family members, peers, and school–stated or unstated
• Lack of commitment from the teen or the family
• Anxiety about college
• Tendency to overanalyze and waste time
• Sleep deprivation
• Social media and gaming addictions
• Learning disabilities
• Test center conditions (weird proctoring, loud testing environment, unfamiliar location, distracting student behavior, social issues, and so on)
• Blood sugar issues
• Failure to bring proper materials (Ex: proof of registration, ID, pencils, calculator, and fruit for breaks)

Why early prep helps

As a general rule, starting earlier is better. Most kids Daniel typically works with begin in Spring of 10th grade, over the summer, or in the Fall of 11th grade. Several years ago he helped a student get a perfect score of 1600 on the SAT in 8th grade–so it’s really almost never too early.  Students that start early find that the SAT and ACT tests just make sense, and the connections between the tests and normal academics become much more intuitive. In other words, kids that start early find that school is easier too, and the whole college admissions process far less stressful. They also usually find that the transition to college is exciting, rather than stressful.

Attempts to go around the test

There have been over 65 documented ways that various parties have attempted to cheat the test. Recently there have been a spate of high profile scandals involving parents who attempted to buy their children’s way into top colleges by either paying off staff at school, manipulating testing conditions, manipulating score results, or even paying others to take the exam. These parties have not just jeopardized their children’s college admissions and long term reputations, but have also faced fines and even jail time.

There are no shortage of well marketed but gimmicky prep programs out there. The reality is that they are largely ineffective. One College Board student pamphlet states that conventional prep programs “improve scores an average of 15 to 20 points on verbal and 20 to 30 points on math.” These modest gains don’t make a significant difference to most teens in regards to college admissions.

There are many legitimate ways to gain advantage in the college admissions process, but when it comes to test prep, it really is a matter of making these tests priorities, as early as possible, and securing the best prep possible. Not all test prep providers are created equal, and if there’s one place where it’s worth going the extra distance in the college admissions process it’s in test prep.