ACT English: The Odd Man Out "trick"

"One of these things is not like the others. One of these things doesn't belong...."

This was a song on Sesame Street back in the late 1960's.  Sometime between then  and the 1990's someone decided that this was not a good educational activity and Sesame Street discontinued it.  When I sing it to today's teenagers they look at me funny.

(You can see a Sesame Street clip of that activity here.)

It tends to come up when I am coaching someone for the ACT English section.  The correct answer is frequently the "odd man out" - the one choice of the four that is grammatically different from the other three.

For example, in one question from The REAL ACT Prep Guide the answer choices were:

a.  NO CHANGE  (it was written as "straighten it" in the passage)

b.  straightened them

c.  straightened those

d.  straighten them

Choice "a" is the only one in which the pronoun is singular instead of plural, and choice "a" was, in fact, the correct answer.

I have noticed a number of trends about the frequency of correct answer choices on this section of the ACT, so I recently did an experiment.  I completed an ACT English section without reading the passages.  Instead I chose an answer based on a number of rules.  One of the rules was that if there were an identifiable "odd man out" I would choose it.  For each question I wrote my answer choice and then next to it the rule I had used to choose my answer.  I used the "odd man out" rule 20 times.  The choice was correct 11 times, or 55% of the time.

I know that the anti-test campaigners are routinely horrified by test strategies that allow one to answer a question without even reading the material, but I would like to point out that this particular strategy does require a knowledge of grammar.  One must recognize that one of the choices is different in a particular way.

I am rarely asked to coach for the ACT (the SAT is a bigger deal in my state,) but I will continue to put considerable emphasis on recognizing when "one of these things is not like the others."

Are colleges looking at your social media profiles?

If you are a high school student - or the parent of one - you may have seen warnings that suggest you should clean up your online profile before applying to college.  You may have been told to remove unflattering photos and posts that suggest you have been partying or participating in pranks or illegal activities.  Do colleges look at your online profile when considering you for admission?  It turns out they probably won't.

Consider this from Todd Weaver, Senior Associate at Strategies for College, Inc.  :

"Every admissions rep I've spoken to over the past few years has simply laughed when I ask if they have time to review a potential student's social media sites. They are so busy - typically spending 5-6 minutes reading an application - that they have no time to chase down Facebook, Twitter, or other social media sites that Teens might be on.

This is a "scare tactic" article that pops up every year. Admissions officers will not voluntarily chase this information down.

Granted, if a college has to go to it's waitlist and there are two similar candidates, then, and only then, might they possibly have time to look at a student's social media site."

And this from Christine VanDeVelde,  Author of College Admission: From Application to Acceptance, Step by Step:

"I agree with Todd. We have heard the same thing in talking with admission deans. The exceptions: 1. Scholarship students; 2. Athletes; and 3. When a student has made a claim that the school is seeking to verify by Googling the student."

Ms. VanDeVelde is referring to high profile scholarships (the ones with names), not the basic financial aid packages most students receive.  Furthermore, a college probably won't check to confirm that you were really the president of the German club, but will check if you make an unusual claim:  "I wrote a best-seller."  "I hold a patent." or "I was named ambassador to Andorra."

This is not to say that you shouldn't be careful about how you present yourself online. It's not too early to take basic precautions about what you post or tweet.  However, unless you fall into one of the categories mentioned above, you can scratch "clean up my profile" off your college application to-do list.

Study materials review: Up Your Score

Up Your Score:  The Underground Guide to the SAT has been around so long it is no longer "underground."  First published in the 1980's, each edition stays fresh by recruiting top-scoring students as co-authors.  The 2013-2014 edition is by Larry Burger, Michael Colton, Jaja Liao, Manek Mistry and Paul Rossi.

This guide is intended as a supplement to The Official SAT Study Guide.  Up Your Score does not include any practice exercises.  Compared to other supplementary guides, this book includes more advice on studying (how to concentrate, how to improve your memory, best time of day to memorize something, etc) stress reduction, and general test-taking strategies.  The section on guessing strategies is one of the most interesting of its type that I've read. There is even a section on bubbling technique.  Apparently some students take a ridiculously long time to color in the bubbles. Who knew? Most of the tips are of the type you see in every guide, but there are a few new ones here. This guide is more fun than most.

When it comes to content, there isn't much here.  One third of the book is devoted to vocabulary.  The book doesn't have a whole lot to say on the rest of the critical reading section.  There are 600 words in the vocabulary list.  The bad news:  they are arranged alphabetically instead of by meaning.  The good news:  after dozen words or so there is a silly alliterative story using those words designed to help you remember them.  Another thing this book does well is to distinguish between words you might need to know to answer the vocabulary questions at the beginning and literary terms you might need to know to answer the passage content questions.

The math section begins on such an elementary level that, honestly, if you don't know how to do that then you aren't the sort of person who can learn math from a book.  It then proceeds to brush lightly over far too much material without either giving an opportunity to practice or referring you to appropriate problems in The Official Guide.

The writing section is short and tries to cover both the multiple choice content and essay advice.

I picked up a copy at BJ's for under $10, so the price isn't all that bad.  However, if you've already read another guide, this one doesn't have enough new stuff to make it worth buying.  Check a copy out at your school or local library and then read just the useful bits.  If this will be your first guide it's worth the price, although if you find out that you need more intensive help in a particular section, this one won't cut it for you.

The Cost of Calculators

Before calculators, if we spotted a zero as one of the multipliers, we thought something along the lines of: “Woohoo! Less work for me!”  With today’s students a multiplier of zero barely registers. I swear I have had this exact conversation with multiple students:

Student:  (busily using a calculator to multiply a long string of numbers)

Me:  Sweetie, STOP.

Student:  (looks up)

Me:  There’s a zero in there.

Student:  Huh?

Me:  All of those numbers you are multiplying.  One of them is a zero.

Student:  Ok.  (goes back to multiplying)

Me:  STOP.

Student:  (looks up)

Me:  If you multiply something by zero what do you get?

Student:  (long pause)  Zero?

Me:  Exactly!

Student (gives me a look that says plainly, “And that applies to my life, how?”)

Me:  So you are going to multiply along and get some number. You are going to multiply that number by this zero. You will get zero.  You will multiply that zero by this number and get zero, and so on.  What will you have at the end?

Student:  Zero?

Me:  So write it down, and MOVE ON!

Vocabulary is a stumbling block in reading comprehension

A limited vocabulary is frequently a stumbling block for my students when it comes to reading comprehension.

Both the SAT the ACT include "vocabulary in context" questions:  "In the context of this passage, what does fill-in-the-word mean?" These questions often stump my students.  However, even questions that are not explicitly about vocabulary can present problems.  Consider one question which had as possible answers:  a.  stunned amazement,  b.  silent contempt,  c.  mild concern, and d.  feigned interest.   Imagine trying to answer the question without knowing the meanings of "contempt" or "feigned."  Worse, a student will occasionally miss the entire point of a passage because such a large percentage of the words are unfamiliar that he or she can't work out the gist of the article through the context.

Am I just being a curmudgeon, or have student vocabularies really declined since I was young?  According to an article in today's Huffington Post, it's the latter.  Exam scores recently released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress reveal that the students at the top - those most likely to apply to college - are performing less well than their predecessors.  Furthermore, vocabulary was (as predicted) closely linked to reading comprehension.

If you are the parent of a young child, you will want to take note.  There are vast differences in the rate at which young children are exposed to language.  These differences are usually described as existing between higher and lower socioeconomic groups, but if you are looking at child-care or preschool options, you should pay close attention to the language proficiency of teachers and child-care providers.  Differences in language acquisition in early childhood persist into adulthood.

If you are the parent of a slightly older child, you should continue reading to your child, even if he or she has already learned to read.  Your child should read on his or her own, of course, but by reading aloud, you can introduce your child to literature that is on a more challenging level.  Don't put your child in a position of trying to make up for years of neglect by attempting to learn 2,000 vocabulary words in the month before the college entrance exam.

Study Materials Review: The Critical Reader

I’ve been skimming an advance copy of The Critical Reader by Erica Meltzer, and I have concluded that if you want an 800 on the critical reading section of the SAT, this is the book to buy.  It is intended to be a companion volume to The Official SAT Study Guide.  Given that, and the purchase price, it may be the most expensive option out there. 

The book isn’t a quick read, either; it’s 334 dense pages of material and exercises.  You won’t work your way through this book in a week. It will lead you through hours of intense study.

Now, if you’ve read some of my previous blog posts, you might have noticed that I have recommended against spending hundreds of hours preparing for one test.  Have I changed my mind?  Not at all!  Here’s the difference:  while some study guides focus on the test itself with tunnel vision, this book is designed to help you raise your test scores by becoming a more critical reader. The author recognizes that your motivation is to do better on a test; however, she takes the time to explain why the skills measured on the test are important skills for a college student.  Then she teaches you those skills.  Once you have worked your way through this book, you can reap the benefits of being a better reader for the rest of your life! Isn’t that worth a good bit of your time?

If you plan to go to college, get this book.  You will want to work through it before your college entrance exam, so if you are planning to take the test during the next school year, buy the book now and work through it over the summer. This book is also a must-have for test prep coaches.

A note to the high school sophomores

The junior class is currently about 2/3 of the way through the spring testing season and they are STRESSED.  Spring is a crazy time of year:  AP exams are looming and teachers are assigning projects. Then there are rehearsals for the spring musical, practices for spring sports, and, oh yeah: prom. Most of this is all packed into April and May.  Add in an April ACT exam or a May SAT and something's not going to get the full attention it needs.

This year I had hardly any March SAT students*; everyone signed up for the May SAT instead. I'm juggling 20+ students and so far most of them have had to cancel at least one session, and only two are consistently completing their test prep "homework." Now I'm not one of those companies that makes you pay for your sessions whether they happen or not, and if you don't do your homework, there  are no repercussions.  However, most of these students will not do as well as they were hoping to do on the next SAT.  Instead of being finished with testing in spring of junior year, many of them will elect to take an August or fall test as well.

Often this can be avoided with a little bit of planning, so sophomores, listen up!  When you are a junior take the January SAT at the latest. If you have already completed precalculus, then a junior year fall test is even better. Your scores will come back by the first half of February.  If you will need to retest, sign up for the March test.  I know it feels like you will have more time to prepare if you push the test out until May, but that is an illusion.  Not only will April be too busy to devote the time to test prep, but you will be distracted by other things and you won't study as efficiently.

As for the ACT, a lot depends on when (or even whether) you take precalculus.  North Carolina juniors  in public school will take an ACT in February or March.  If you decide to retest, you will need to consider whether to take the June or July test or wait until September.

*This year sleet and freezing rain pushed the January SAT to February 16. Scores didn't come back in time for students to take the March test.  "The best laid plans..." It was a good reminder that postponing all testing until senior year is dangerous because you never know when some outside event will come along to wreck your plans.