Entrance Exam Preparation

Are You Worried Your Child Is Not Ready For The College Entrance Exam? 

Do you feel confident in your child’s intelligence and academic performance, but still worry about his or her test-taking abilities? Is your child confused about what to study for his or her entrance exam? Are you concerned your child will take a college entrance exam, such as the SAT or the ACT, too early or too late? Perhaps you do not know whether or not to urge your child to take the entrance exam more than once. Are you afraid that if your child does poorly on his or her entrance exams, he or she will not get into a good college or pursue opportunities for the future? Do you wish you could help your child methodically plan for his or her college entrance exam and earn his or her highest potential score?

High school students may have trouble planning for their entrance exams in many different ways. Your child may be busy with his or her college applications, schoolwork or extracurricular activities, making it difficult to organize his or her time to incorporate studying for the entrance exam. It’s possible that you have signed your child up for a test prep class, but the subject matter and the modest curriculum has not peaked your child’s interest, and you worry that you are wasting your time and money. Or, maybe you have gone one step further and hired a private tutor to help your child study for the exam. Even though private tutoring can personalize your child’s lessons, you still may be concerned about how much the tutor’s advice will pay off in the future. Finally, your child may be studying on his or her own with a helpful entrance exam book, but finds it difficult to organize his or her time well enough to feel confident going into the exam. You might be concerned that your child is not doing all he or she can to feel prepared, calm and ready to excel.

Worrying About The College Entrance Exam Is Very Common

It’s very common for high school students to get overwhelmed by the college preparation process. Not only is it difficult to organize your time well to study properly for the entrance exams, but it’s also stressful to strategize which tests to take, when to take them and how to study for them. Many people also worry that the exams will cover material that the student has not learned in school. Since the college entrance exam process is very complex, many high school students and their parents spend hours sifting through online sources to answer their questions.

The good news is that expert help is available for your child. With college entrance exam preparation sessions, your high school student can rely on one source to offer guidance so he or she can feel more confident and optimize his or her chances of getting great exam scores.

Take The Stress Out Of The College Entrance Exam

During educational and in-depth college entrance exam preparation sessions, your child and I can work together to understand his or her goals and requirements prior to taking exams, as well as develop and maintain an individualized plan for executing these goals.

I am not an SAT or ACT tutor. Instead, I focus on guiding students and families through the entrance exam preparation process as part of an overall approach to applying to colleges. The first phase of our sessions will cover the ins and outs of what may be required of your child, such as the tests he or she may need to take to get into a desired college. I will educate your child on all of his or her different options and identify which tests seem most suitable for his or her needs and interests, ranging from the standard SAT or ACT to SAT subject tests and AP/IB exams.

The second phase of entrance exam preparation sessions involves outlining a detailed plan and calendar to track your child’s progress throughout the college application process. This is a crucial step in setting your child up for success on the entrance exam. We may spend a fair amount of time outlining a timeline for studying for a standard test, as well as any extra tests he or she may opt to take. By taking this time to plan out the test schedule and determine the best tests to take, your child can feel more focused on studying, while not wasting any energy on worrying about taking multiple tests at once.

While your child studies for his or her college entrance exams, we will periodically meet to monitor his or her progress. If your child faces challenges along the way, I will work with him or her to manage and improve his or her plan. Also, as your child takes practice exams, I can help analyze his or her scores and determine which tests may offer the greatest chances of demonstrating his or her skills.

For added convenience, I also offer a comprehensive online platform with which your child can organize his or her schedule and to-do lists. To accommodate you and your child’s busy lifestyles, we can also meet via online video conferences or screencasting sessions.

For more than two decades, I have been deeply involved in the education field. In addition to earning a doctorate in education from UCLA, I have worked as a college admissions officer and as a private high school college counselor. I continue to be an active leader in the college admissions community by serving on boards and presenting at conferences nationwide. I also work as an adjunct faculty member at UC San Diego Extension where I train adults from around the world who endeavor to be college counselors in high schools or consultants in private practice.

Through my college entrance exam preparation sessions, your child can focus on what he or she has control over – developing a good plan and making his or her testing decisions earlier rather than later. When your child follows our plan, he or she can feel prepared, less stressed and more focused on studying for his or her exams. By setting your child up for success with thorough and thoughtful planning and decision-making, he or she can also build upon these important skills and apply them to future life goals.

I believe my child could benefit from college entrance exam preparation sessions, but I still have a few questions and concerns…

Will the cost of college entrance exam preparation sessions pay off? 

You may end up spending a lot of time and money on test prep courses, tutors or books and wonder why you should spend more on planning everything out. The truth is that if you do not help your child explore all of his or her options and develop a practical plan, you may be wasting both time and money. Also, the emotional toll the exam process can take on you and your child may become a burden, ultimately causing your child to lose focus on his or her goals. During my entrance exam preparation sessions, your child can work with an expert in the admissions field and, as a result, feel empowered, less stressed and confident going into his or her exams.

We will do exactly what we did with our other child – hire a tutor. 

While hiring a tutor may have helped your first child receive good entrance exam scores, the same may not be true for your current high schooler. Tutors can be very useful as they can help your child understand the content of the exams and specific strategies to help them earn higher scores. However, it’s likely that your tutor does not have the comprehensive background in college admission counseling that I do.

Unlike a tutor, I will check in with your child to monitor his or her schedule and ensure your child has planned for taking the best possible tests for his or her needs and interests. Even though I will not tutor your child on the content of his or her entrance exam, I can foster an organized, informed and thoughtful space for your child to successfully construct and execute a study plan.

We are working with a test prep company. Does my child still need planning advice?

Test prep companies will often try to sell you preparation packages without considering your child’s overall college application goals. When you work with a test prep company, they will narrowly focus on subject content and test logistics, overlooking the big picture of your child’s educational goals.

I am not selling a test preparation service. Instead, I offer highly individualized expert advice so your child can prepare and allocate time in the best way possible in order to truly demonstrate his or her academic strengths and skills.

Help Your Child Feel Confident Throughout The Entrance Exam Process

If you are ready to help your child optimize his or her college entrance exam strategy, I invite you to call me for a free 30-minute phone consultation to discuss your family’s needs and how I can provide guidance during this important milestone.