We've received a lot of emails lately asking what the PSAT national merit scholarship semi-finalist cutoff score would be for California this year. The results are in. The semi-finalist cutoff is 223. This is an increase of +1 from last year.
This places California among the toughest states in the country to qualify as a national merit scholarship semi-finalist. Due to that fact that semi-finalists are chosen on a state-by-state basis, it is generally much more difficult to qualify as a semi-finalist in states with large populations. In such states, more students take the PSAT exam, which tends to mean more high-scoring students, which pushes up the cut-off scores for said states.
If you just missed the cutoff this year (one of our students was in tears yesterday with her PSAT score of 222), try not to worry too much. Any score in the neighborhood of 222 is an incredible achievement. You might have missed the distinction of being a national merit scholar, but on the other hand, we can state with an extremely high level of confidence that you will score very high on your official SAT or ACT exams. Those high scores will undoubtedly open many doors for you in the college admissions process. So whether or not you can add "national merit scholar" to your resume, your future is extremely bright!
Is the ACT curved? Yes, but not the same way that a test in your geometry or history class might be. It works like this...
The ACT "curve" is designed to correct for minor fluctuations in the difficulty of the test. In essence, when an exam contains a few more difficult questions, students can actually miss a few more problems to achieve a certain score. Likewise, when an exam contains a few more easy questions, students need to answer more of them correctly to achieve the same score. In this way, there is no advantage to taking a test with easier questions (again, you'd have to answer more of them correctly), and no disadvantage to taking a test with harder questions (because you'd be able to miss a few questions).
Before we look at an example, let's define some terms. A "scaled score" is the one you're most likely familiar with. It's the score for each section that ranges from 1-36.
The scaled score is derived from your "raw score", which is the number of questions answered correctly.
Example: suppose that on the ACT math section, you answer 31 questions correctly out of the 60 total. With a raw score of 31, you might receive any one of three different scaled scores: 19, 20, or 21. The scaled score you receive would be determined by how difficult the exam was.
For instance, on the April administration of the ACT, you would have received a math score of 19 because the test was a little easier than average.
On the June ACT, you would have received a 20 because the June test was close to average.
On the December ACT, you would have received a 21 because the December test was harder than average.
Another way to look at it: in order to score a 20 in math, you would need a raw score of 31 on the easier test (April), 30 on the average test (June), and only 29 on the harder test (December).
Please note that the months used in the above example were picked at random. The difficulty of any month's exam is not released to the public ahead of time. A common myth about the ACT curve is that the average test taker should avoid a particular test month if a large group of strong students will be taking the ACT that month, and instead take the test when a large group of weaker students will take the test. The (mistaken) assumption here is that the curve will push down the average student's score in the first situation (large group of strong students) and pull it up in the second situation (large group of weak students). The reality is that the curve is set before the exam is administered because it is based on the difficulty of the questions, not the quality of students taking the test. So even if in a particular month, a large group of strong students all earned perfect 36s, your score would be the same as it would have been if they not taken the test at all. In the same way, a large group of weaker students taking the test will not affect your score.
Bottom line: Take the ACT when it best suits your schedule and you have ample time to concentrate on your preparation for the exam. Don't worry about other students. Their scores will not affect your scores or vice versa. Instead, focus on yourself and what you need to do to reach your scoring potential.
At Test Prep Gurus we teach students how to raise their ACT and SAT scores so they can reach their goals for college and beyond.
It all starts with 3 steps:
Complete mock ACT and SAT exams.
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to review your exam results.
Create a 1-on-1 test prep plan to reach your goals for college and beyond.
ACT and SAT have adjusted their concordance table (the chart used for translating scores between the two exams).
The biggest change affects scores on the higher end of the scale (1270 and up on the SAT, 28 and higher on the ACT).
In most instances, the change resulted in a slight downward movement for SAT scores. For example, 1360 on the SAT used to be considered equivalent to 29 on the ACT; on the new table, 1360 is equal to 30.
This is a special guest blog post by Marci Miller of the Miller Advocacy Group in Newport Beach, California.
by Marci Lerner Miller
Miller Advocacy Group
www.milleradvocacy.com
The PSAT/NMSQT, is a preliminary version of the SAT that can prepare students for the real event. Since 1955, high schools have been offering this test to juniors once a year, and the highest scoring students have been eligible to qualify for a National Merit Scholarship. There is good reason to prepare for this test early and prepare well – over $180 million dollars in scholarship funds are given out each year to some of the top 1% of the PSAT test-takers.
You may have noticed that the PSAT isn’t just for high school juniors anymore. After the ACT overtook the SAT as the most popular college admissions test, College Board reacted, in part, by offering a new “Suite of Assessments,” including a PSAT 10 for sophomores and a PSAT 8/9 for even younger students.
Given the high stakes of the SAT and the scholarship potential for those scoring well on the official PSAT, students should take every opportunity to practice, right?
Not so fast!! If you have a student with learning differences or disabilities who will be taking one of these early assessments, there are a few things you need to know first:
1. Make Sure Testing Accommodations Are Approved by College Board
BEFORE the PSAT 10
Even if your child has an IEP or a 504 Plan, do not assume that he or she will automatically have accommodations on the PSAT. This requires your school counselor to submit a request to College Board, and many high school counselors wait until students are in 11th grade to make these requests, because the high school counselors have not adjusted their timelines to reflect College Board’s changes.
You may hear from your school that there is no rush, because the PSAT 10 test “does not count.” For some students with disabilities, this is simply incorrect.
Although the PSAT 10 results are not reported to colleges or used for National Merit consideration, the results are still reported to College Board, and this can have some unintended and unfortunate implications for some students who have waited too long to secure their accommodations, or for those who do not yet know they need them.
To be eligible for accommodations, a student has to demonstrate a disability and ALSO a need for the requested accommodations. If your child takes the PSAT (or any College Board exam) without accommodations, and scores in the average or above average range, College Board may decide that your child’s disability does not impact his or her test-taking ability enough to allow accommodations on later testing.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (which applies to College Board), a student with a documented disability who has a history of academic success can still be entitled to testing accommodations. However, this is no guarantee that College Board will grant accommodations so that that your child’s SAT score matches his or her school performance or “potential” – depending on the circumstances, they may not.
To be safe, and to avoid what could have a serious impact on the college admissions process, make sure that your son or daughter’s school counselor has all College Board accommodations requests submitted and approved before any testing.
The good news… once accommodations are approved, they can be used on the PSAT, the SAT, the SAT Subject Tests, and AP Exams. There is no need to request accommodations again.
2. If you suspect a disability or learning issue, WAIT!
Often times, learning issues don’t present themselves until a student begins studying for standardized testing. Bright kids can compensate for ADHD, anxiety, even dyslexia all the way through high school by hard work and short cuts, but when faced with timed testing, their issues surface for the first time. While a determined kid can stay up all night to finish the work that other kids skate through, this same strategy does not work under timed conditions.
A skilled test tutor is often the first person to recognize learning issues and may refer a student for educational testing. For the same reasons stated above, wait until any assessments or evaluations have been completed, school accommodations have been put into place, and College Board approvals have been granted before having your child take the PSAT. After all, these students, in particular, are very bright and hard-working, and deserve the best possible opportunities.
3. Early Test Anxiety – Is it Worth it?
On the other end of the scale, your student may not perform as hoped, and this may introduce test anxiety to the picture long before it is necessary. More and more teenagers are suffering from anxiety, and it may not be a coincidence that these same teenagers have been subjected to earlier and more standardized testing than ever before. It is not uncommon for students who struggle with learning disorders and ADHD to also suffer from depression or anxiety. While the angst is expected in high school, maybe middle school is just too early for your child to begin the college admissions journey.
All students must eventually learn strategies to manage their test anxiety, but make sure that your child with learning issues is mature enough before taking the early PSAT, or when the real thing comes along, he or she may suffer more.
4. Work with The School Counselor for PSAT 8/9 Accommodations
If your child has school accommodations, he or she can use those accommodations on the PSAT 8/9 without requesting prior approval from College Board. However, you must confirm these accommodations in advance, and certain accommodations like large-type or Braille test books must be ordered by the school before the firm deadline.
5. Plenty of Other Opportunities to Practice the PSAT
For many students, becoming engaged in the testing process early will keep them on target for college and career readiness. However, for parents of students with disabilities or suspected learning differences, taking advantage of College Board’s early testing may not be worth the potential risks.
This should not stop you from making sure your child is just as prepared for the PSAT and SAT when the time arrives! There are other ways to practice for the PSAT and SAT, and other college entrance exams. Test prep companies (such as Test Prep Gurus) regularly administer practice tests. The College Board also offers free sample tests through its website.
People with a "fixed mindset" think that intelligence is static—that they have a certain amount of it which cannot really be changed. Other people have a "growth mindset." They think intelligence is malleable—that it can be developed and increased through hard work.
Students who have a growth mindset tend to do better in school (especially when they encounter academic difficulties) as well as on the SAT and ACT. However, cultivating a growth mindset in students is actually much more challenging than it might seem.
Below, are four lessons we have learned about how to cultivate a growth mindset in teenagers.
Do NOT tell students to have a growth mindset
The first rule of growth mindset is that you do not talk about growth mindset. Teenage students often have a negative reaction to being told how to think. They respond much more positively to being shown that something works with objective evidence.
Do not tell students to "just try harder"
Most students, especially those who are struggling, have heard "just try harder." This is rarely ever helpful to students. Instead of that old line, explain to students why they should put in extra effort (again, use objective evidence to back all claims) and specifically how to deploy that effort. Sometimes a better strategy is more useful than simply increasing effort.
Celebrate mistakes!
Most students fear making mistakes. They often think mistakes are an indication of a lack of intelligence. But research shows that mistakes are a critical part of learning. Having to work through a difficult problem and try different strategies is the optimum method for learning to improve on standardized exams (and in other areas of life). Encourage your student to embrace mistakes and show them how to learn from them. As one of our students once told us: "Fail...fail better...fail better...succeed."
Praise the process, not the person
Our first impulse is often to praise students for being smart. This sends the wrong message. When students later encounter a setback they conclude: "If my past success meant I was smart, my current struggle means I'm not smart." Instead, praise students for their effort and hard work. This implies that you value hard work and that effort is the root cause of success.
Speaking of growing, the next step is to start the process of growing your ACT or SAT scores.
At Test Prep Gurus we teach students how to raise their ACT and SAT scores so they can reach their goals for college and beyond.
It all starts with 3 steps:
Complete mock ACT and SAT exams.
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to review your exam results.
Create a 1-on-1 test prep plan to reach your goals for college and beyond.
Want to score higher on SAT and ACT math sections? Memorize these formulas before you begin prepping.
1. Average or mean = Sum of values / Number of values
Ex: (10 + 12 + 14 + 16) / 4 = 13
2. Probability = Target outcomes / Total outcomes
Used to calculate the chances of something occurring from a set of possible outcomes.
Ex: A jar contains five blue marbles, five red marbles, and ten white marbles. What is the probability of picking a red marble at random?
5 / 20 = .25 or 25%
3. Quadratic Formula: x = −b ± √b²-4ac/2a
Used for determining the x-intercepts of a quadratic (parabolic) equation.
Ex: A = 1, B = -4, C = 4
x = -4 ± √4² – 4 (1)(4) / 2(1)
x = -4 ± √ 16 – 4(4) / 2
x = -4 ± √16 – 16 / 2
x = -4 ± √ 0 / 2
x = -4 / 2
x = -2
4. Distance Formula: d=√(x₁ – x₂)² + (y₁ – y₂)²
Ex. Find the distance between points (6, 6) and (2, 3)
d=√(6 – 2)² + (6 – 3)²
d=√(4)² + (3)²
d=√16 + 3
d=√25
d = 5
5. Slope Formula: Slope = y₂ – y₁ / x₂ – x₁
Calculate the slope (angle) of a line that connects two points on a plane.
Ex: Coordinates = (-2, -1) (4, 3)
s = 3 – (-1) / 4 – (-2)
s = 4 / 6
s = 2 / 3
6. Slope Intercept: y=mx+b
Formula the defines a line on a plane, given a known slope and y-intercept.
Ex: Slope = 2, Intercept point (0,3)
y = 2x+3
7. Midpoint Formula: (x₁+x₂) / 2, (y₁+y₂) / 2
Calculates the midpoint between to points on a plane.
Ex: Find the midpoint between (-1, 2) and (3, -6)
(-1 + 3) / 2, (2 + -6) / 2
2 / 2, -4 / 2
Midpoint (1, -2)
8. Area of Triangle: area = (1/2) (base) (height)
Calculate the total area within a triangle based on the lengths of the sides.
Ex: Base = 5, Height = 8
a = 1/2 (5)(8)
a = 1/2 (40)
a = 20
9. Pythagorean Theorem: a²+b²=c²
Used to calculate the length of an unknown side of a right triangle, given two sides are known.
Ex: a = 3, b = 4
c² = 3² + 4²
c² = 9 + 16
c² = 25
c = √25
c = 5
10. Area of Rectangle: area = length x width
Calculates the total area within a rectangle shape.
Ex: length = 5, width = 2
a = 5 x 2
a = 10
11. Area of Parallelogram: area = base x height
Calculates the total area within a parallelogram.
Ex: base = 6, height = 12
a = 6 x 12
a = 72
12. Area of Circle: π * r²
Calculates the total area within a circle.
Ex: radius = 4
a = π x 4²
a = π x 16
a = 50.24
13. Circumference of Circle: circumference = 2π * r
Calculate the length of the outline of a circle.
Ex: radius = 7
c = 2π x 7
c = 43.98
14. Sine (SOH): Sine = opposite / hypotenuse
A trigonometric identity that represents the relative sizes of the sides of a triangle and can be used to calculate unknown sides or angles of the triangle.
Ex: opposite = 2.8, hypotenuse = 4.9
s = 2.8 / 4.9
s = 0.57
15. Cosine (CAH): Cosine = adjacent / hypotenuse
A trigonometric identity that represents the relative sizes of the sides of a triangle and can be used to calculate unknown sides or angles of the triangle.
Ex: adjacent = 11, hypotenuse = 13
c = 11 / 13
c = 0.85
16. Tangent (TOA): Tangent = opposite / adjacent
A trigonometric identity represents the relative sizes of the sides of a triangle and can be used to calculate unknown sides or angles of the triangle.
Ex: opposite = 15, adjacent = 8
t = 15 / 8
t = 1.87
At Test Prep Gurus we teach students how to raise their ACT and SAT scores so they can reach their goals for college and beyond.
It all starts with 3 steps:
Complete mock ACT and SAT exams.
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to review your exam results.
Create a 1-on-1 test prep plan to reach your goals for college and beyond.
No, they don't. Students with excellent grades are more likely to score higher on the SAT and ACT. But many students with high GPAs do not score as high on standardized exams as they presumed they would.
It may surprise you to know that the material on the SAT and ACT exams often does not align with what students learn in school (for example, students are rarely asked to write, edit, and submit an entire essay in under forty minutes). ACT and College Board work quite hard to align their assessments with what is taught in high school. But as you might imagine, it is extraordinarily difficult to create one standardized exam that assesses what millions of students across the country (and the world) learn in high school.
The key is that students should not fear the disconnect between the material they learn in school and the questions they'll face on the ACT and SAT. Instead, they should recognize the exams for what they are -- stepping stones on the path to their goals for the future.The SAT and ACT reward students' hard work and dedication. With the right instructors, the right system, and a little bit of elbow grease, students can improve their scores dramatically.
Viewed in this context, the SAT and ACT are no longer assessments -- they are opportunities.
At Test Prep Gurus we teach students how to raise their ACT and SAT scores so they can reach their goals for college and beyond.
It all starts with 3 steps:
Complete mock ACT and SAT exams.
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to review your exam results.
Create a 1-on-1 test prep plan to reach your goals for college and beyond.
We are often asked why 1-on-1 instruction for the SAT or ACT is superior to classroom instruction. Here are just few of the reasons:
1. Students will have the full attention of their instructors to maximize specific strengths and address areas of improvement,
2. Instructors take time to articulate and understand the student’s short and long term goals and personalize instruction to reach those goals,
3. The instruction is customized to the student’s particular character, personality, strengths, weaknesses, needs, and goals,
4. Students are paired with instructors based on their particular needs and personalities,
5. Students work more efficiently and effectively at their own pace,
6. The test prep schedule can be tailored to students’ busy lives,
7. Students receive mental and emotional support to ameliorate testing anxiety and stress,
8. By monitoring a student’s progress every step of the way, the instructors are able to help students achieve unparalleled success.
We’re all familiar with the adage that “money can’t buy happiness.” However, research suggests that some purchases yield more happiness than others – namely, experiences make us happier than material possessions.[1] [2]
We can apply this same idea to the college admissions process. Families often pursue admission to a highly ranked university as though such prestige is a commodity that can be possessed. However, we would encourage families to view the college admissions process as an experience of self-exploration; an opportunity to identify long term goals and search for a suitable environment to help achieve said goals. Like the research regarding discretionary spending reveals, adopting this approach helps families to enjoy the overall admissions process and enables them to be more successful at choosing a college that is the right fit for each student's individual aims and aspirations.
The same idea applies to standardized test preparation. We tend to treat our desired test score on the ACT or SAT as though it were a possession. However, a standardized score has little inherent value by itself. ACT and SAT scores often help students gain admission to selective colleges or earn merit-based scholarships, but even those ends are only valuable insofar as they lead to the life experiences from which students can learn from, grow, and enjoy. Moreover, the reality is that a standardized score is never evaluated in a vacuum. Rather, it is assessed among our other achievements such as grades, extracurricular activities, and leadership roles. Thus, when students view the process of preparing for the SAT and ACT exams as an experience of growth rather than as a pursuit of a commodity, they transform the process into an opportunity to learn valuable skills including, but not limited to, growth-mindset, learned optimism, resiliency in the face of setbacks, overcoming anxiety in high-pressure situations, and successfully achieving long-term goals.
To sum up, treating college admissions and test prep as experiences for growth rather than possessions to be obtained will achieve two ends: it will benefit students’ and parents’ overall well-being and life satisfaction, and it will help them to be more effective in their pursuit higher ACT and SAT test scores and admittance to selective colleges.
[1] Van Boven and Gilovich, “To Do or to Have? That Is the Question” (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Dec. 2003)
[2] Gilovich et al., “A Wonderful Life” (Journal of Consumer Psychology, Jan. 2015)
At Test Prep Gurus we teach students how to raise their ACT and SAT scores so they can reach their goals for college and beyond.
It all starts with 3 steps:
Complete mock ACT and SAT exams.
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to review your exam results.
Create a 1-on-1 test prep plan to reach your goals for college and beyond.
This thought-provoking article from the New York Times, How Colleges Can Admit Better Students was published by the New York Times on 18 March 2017.
Among other interesting observations, the researchers conclude that:
ACT composite scores do correlate with a student’s success in college, but Math and English section scores are much better predictors of success.
Students whose overall G.P.A. is a result of better grades during their junior and senior years are much more likely to succeed in college than students with the same overall G.P.A. who did better during their freshman and sophomore years.
How Colleges Can Admit Better Students
By DEVIN G. POPE MARCH 18, 2017
As colleges nationwide prepare to announce this month which applicants they have decided to accept, it’s worth asking why so many admissions offices pass up easy opportunities to admit higher-quality students.
Nearly all colleges, for example, make use of two metrics to gauge student quality: cumulative high school grade point average and composite score on the ACT (the most widely taken college admissions exam). But research has shown that these metrics are imperfect: They are less predictive of student success than alternative measures that are equally simple to calculate and whose use would lead to a better incoming class.
Consider grade point average. Students whose overall G.P.A. is a result of doing better later in high school (say, junior and senior years) are much more likely to succeed in college than students with the same overall G.P.A. who did better early in high school (say, freshman and sophomore years).
A paper in The Journal of Public Economics by the economist George Bulman provides evidence for this claim, using data from Florida. He shows that an additional G.P.A. point in 11th grade makes a student 16 percentage points more likely to graduate from college, whereas an additional G.P.A. point in ninth grade makes a student only five percentage points more likely to graduate from college. Later high school G.P.A. is approximately five times more predictive of whether a student drops out of college within two years, and two times more predictive of eventual labor market earnings.
Something similar is true of ACT composite scores. These are the rounded average of scores on four individual sections of the ACT (math, English, reading and science). By using the ACT composite score, college admissions offices are giving equal weight to each of the four subtests. But in a 2013 paper I wrote with the education researchers Eric Bettinger and Brent Evans, using data from public college students in Ohio, we provide evidence that the math and English subject tests are far more predictive of college success than the reading and science tests.
For example, a student who achieves an ACT composite score of 24 by getting a 26 on the reading and science tests and a 22 on the math and English tests is 10.4 percentage points more likely to drop out of college by the third year than a student who achieved a composite score of 24 in the opposite manner.
Don’t get me wrong: Cumulative high school G.P.A. and ACT composite scores do correlate with a student’s success in college; there is no great harm in having admissions offices use them when considering student applications. But there is also no point in using them when these better metrics are just as easily available.
So why are colleges sticking to the old approach?
Admissions officers may be worried that reweighting high school G.P.A.s or ACT scores will affect the diversity of the student body they admit. Both the papers discussed above, however, find reweighting does not adversely affect minority students (if anything, it helps them).
Colleges may also be reluctant to adopt these more predictive metrics because popular college rankings, such as those produced by U.S. News & World Report, use the old metrics in their calculations. While it is possible that schools using the more predictive metrics would see a small initial drop in rank (because of the mistaken appearance of admitting a student body of lower quality), most schools would more than make up for this drop by improving their graduation rate four years later. (Ideally, U.S. News & World Report and others would adjust their methodology to reflect the most recent research on what predicts student success.)
Admissions officers may also lack the proper incentives or feedback necessary for change. Whether or not a student does well in college is not something you can typically determine until a few years after the admissions decision, and thus admissions officers may not feel that they are blamed or rewarded for student success. University officials need to actively encourage admissions offices to take a long-term perspective.
The two examples above — G.P.A. and ACT — provide just a glimpse into the growing field of data and analysis relating to college admissions. Some colleges, such as West Virginia University and Houston Baptist University, are already using sophisticated statistical methods to predict which students are most likely, if accepted, to matriculate and, therefore, where recruiting efforts should be focused. Other colleges, such as Georgia State University and the University of Arizona, are trying to predict which of their current students are most at risk of dropping out, and how best to help these students with additional support.
But most colleges have yet to take advantage of even simple improvements that a more data-driven process suggests. These schools are missing out.
Devin G. Pope is a professor of behavioral science at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.
This article was published by the New York Times on 18 March 2017
Hi Nick,
I have a PSAT/SAT question and I am sure you have a very logical answer!
So from my understanding, the PSAT is out of 1520. If that is true, then why does it say that if a student took the SAT on that same day, they would receive the same score? How can that be, if the PSAT is out of 1520 and the SAT is out of 1600?
Hope you are well!
-From a concerned parent whose named has been removed for privacy reasons
Hi concerned parent whose named has been removed for privacy reasons,
That is a great question as this is confusing to a lot of people (and the PSAT 8/9 only goes up to 1440, just to complicate things further!)
But the answer is pretty straight forward...
A student's score on the PSAT is estimated to be what they would score on the actual SAT. So, a 900 on the PSAT is estimated to be a 900 on the SAT... 1150 is 1150...1350 is 1350...and so on, all the way up to 1510.
The exception is with students who get every question on the PSAT correct. These kids are capped at 1520. The PSAT does not contain the highest level difficulty questions that are found on the SAT. The College Board caps these students at 1520 because they don't know if these students would answer the highest difficulty level questions correctly or not.
So to recap, the PSAT and SAT are on the same scale for all scores...students just can't score higher than 1520.
Best,
Nick
At Test Prep Gurus we teach students how to raise their ACT and SAT scores so they can reach their goals for college and beyond.
It all starts with 3 steps:
Complete mock ACT and SAT exams.
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to review your exam results.
Create a 1-on-1 test prep plan to reach your goals for college and beyond.
(MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, Mass., Nov. 24, 2016)—Learning by taking practice tests, a strategy known as retrieval practice, can protect memory against the negative effects of stress, report scientists from Tufts University in a new study published in Science on Nov. 25.
In experiments involving 120 student participants, individuals who learned a series of words and images by retrieval practice showed no impairment in memory after experiencing acute stress. Participants who used study practice, the conventional method of re-reading material to memorize it, remembered fewer items overall, particularly after stress.
Ayanna Thomas, PhD, associate professor of psychology, “Typically, people under stress are less effective at retrieving information from memory. We now show for the first time that the right learning strategy, in this case retrieval practice or taking practice tests, results in such strong memory representations that even under high levels of stress, subjects are still able to access their memories,” said senior study author Ayanna Thomas, Ph.D., associate professor and director of the graduate program in psychology at Tufts.
“Our results suggest that it is not necessarily a matter of how much or how long someone studies, but how they study,” said Amy Smith, graduate student in psychology at Tufts and corresponding author on the study.
The research team asked participants to learn a set of 30 words and 30 images. These were introduced through a computer program, which displayed one item at a time for a few seconds each. To simulate note taking, participants were given 10 seconds to type a sentence using the item immediately after seeing it.
One group of participants then studied using retrieval practice, and took timed practice tests in which they freely recalled as many items as they could remember. The other group used study practice. For these participants, items were re-displayed on the computer screen, one at a time, for a few seconds each. Participants were given multiple timed periods to study.
After a 24-hour break, half of each group was placed into a stress-inducing scenario. These participants were required to give an unexpected, impromptu speech and solve math problems in front of two judges, three peers and a video camera. Participants took two memory tests, in which they recalled the words or images they studied the previous day. These tests were taken during the stress scenario and twenty minutes after, to examine memory under immediate and delayed stress responses. The remaining study participants took their memory tests during and after a time-matched, non-stressful task.
Stressed individuals who learned through retrieval practice remembered an average of around 11 items out of each set of 30 words and images, compared to 10 items for their non-stressed counterparts. Participants who learned through study practice remembered fewer words overall, with an average of 7 items for stressed individuals and an average of a little under 9 items for those who were not stressed.
Amy Smith, graduate student in psychology“Even though previous research has shown that retrieval practice is one of the best learning strategies available, we were still surprised at how effective it was for individuals under stress. It was as if stress had no effect on their memory,” Smith said. “Learning by taking tests and being forced to retrieve information over and over has a strong effect on long-term memory retention, and appears to continue to have great benefits in high-stakes, stressful situations.”
While a robust body of evidence has previously shown that stress impairs memory, few studies have examined whether this relationship can be affected by different learning strategies. The current results now suggest that learning information in an effective manner, such as through retrieval practice, can protect memory against the adverse effects of stress.
Although the research team used an experimentally verified stress-inducing scenario (Trier Social Stress Test) and measured participant stress responses through heart-rate monitors and standardized self-reported questionnaires, they note that stress effects are variable between individuals and additional work is needed to expand on their results. The team is now engaged in studies to replicate and extend their findings, including whether retrieval practice can benefit complex situations such as learning a foreign language or stressful scenarios outside of a testing environment.
“Our one study is certainly not the final say on how retrieval practice influences memory under stress, but I can see this being applicable to any individual who has to retrieve complex information under high stakes,” said Thomas, who is also director of Tufts Cognitive Aging and Memory Lab. “Especially for educators, where big exams can put a great deal of pressure on students, I really encourage employing more frequent more low-stakes testing in context of their instruction.”
Article Originally posted: http://now.tufts.edu/news-releases/practice-testing-protects-memory-against-stress
Use this chart to compare SAT and ACT scores. If your scores are similar, and you can't which exam is right for you, consult our guide, Who Should Take the New SAT?
The college acceptance season is officially under way, as schools have released early admission numbers for the class of 2021. Here is a refresher on early admission, which is offered by about 450 US colleges.
At colleges that offer “early decision,” admitted students are committed to attending that school. They may not apply to more than one college through early decision.
Other colleges offer “early action,” which is nonbinding, and students may apply to multiple colleges.
Deadlines for both are in the fall. Deadlines for regular admission typically fall between Jan. 1 and Feb. 1.
What are the advantages of applying early?
Better admissions odds, for one. Guidance counselors recommend it for students who have done their homework to realistically narrow their options. From the colleges’ perspective, it lets them know students are serious about attending.
Are there disadvantages?
Students accepted through early decision (binding) generally receive a take-it-or-leave-it financial aid offer from that one school and may miss out on a better offer from another college.
Critics of the process say it feeds the college-admission frenzy and tends to benefit wealthy students who know how to work the system.
The Ivy League is seeing a surge in early applications. A sampling of the numbers released this month:
■ Harvard early action (nonbinding) applications rose 5 percent, to 6,473. The acceptance rate fell slightly this year to 14.5 percent, or 938 students.
■ Yale welcomed its largest group of early-action admits in several years, accepting 871 students, or 17.1 percent, from a pool of 5,086.
■ Princeton University saw an 18.5 percent increase in early applications. It offered admission to 770 students, or 15.4 percent, from a pool of 5,003.
■ The University of Pennsylvania had a record-breaking 6,147 applicants and accepted 22 percent.
Source: The Boston Globe, December 28, 2016
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It's called power posing. It can be used to prepare your body for success on test day. To learn more, take a look at the excellent Ted Talk below on power poses --
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