collegepreppodcast's podcast

College Board has made some significant changes to the SAT that will effect most rising juniors.

From longer math sections to massive reading requirements, tune in to hear Megan explaining the ins and outs.

Here are the 5 biggest changes that are being made, and how families can take action to ensure that it doesn’t effect their student’s scores:

* First, Megan explains exactly how the scores are changing. Action: Keep your ears open to hear how colleges are going to respond to these scores, and to ask at college visits about what their plans are.

* There will be more evidence-based reading passages, additional graphs, and longer sections. Action: Families can read non-fiction articles together, and practice proving points to each other using the text as evidence.

* The writing section is changing from single sentence editing to passage-based editing. Action: Keep on studying grammar rules!

* There will be harder math questions from Algebra II, a no calculator section, and denser reading in the world problems. Action: Consider the ACT for math, or if you’re a fast math learner, consider taking Algebra II as a sophomore.

* There is a new, expanded essay section that is 50-minutes instead of 25. Action: In the months leading up to the SAT, build up a tolerance for sitting for longer periods of time to answer questions.

Are you a teacher thinking about starting your own service? Or a parent who works with one or more freelance educators, like college consultants, tutors or academic life coaches?

Megan and Gretchen lay out what to expect about working as, or with, a self employed educator. Each of them describe:

* what their typical daily schedule is like

* how many hours they each work during the week

* the biggest differences between their former lives as teachers and their lives as entrepreneurs

* how they set boundaries and deal with communicating with their clients

* and more!

This episode will be especially relevant if you’re wondering whether it makes sense to ease out of teaching, OR if you’re a parent wanting to get the best experience from working with a self employed educator.

Do you suspect that there’s more to college rankings than meet the eye?

In a recent Forbes article, Megan was shocked to read about how simple things students write in their FAFSA and ACT applications can hurt their changes in getting into colleges.

In this episode, she breaks down for families how college ranking data, including that published by US News and World Report, can actually be harmful to families. Tune in to learn:

* What college rankings are

* The ways in which some colleges manipulate the numbers so that they have higher rankings

* How to decipher the info compiled by US News so that it is helpful (rather than harmful)

* The two ugly ways in which these rankings impact students, and

* Concrete action items you can take so that you’re not manipulated by the data

We highly suggest you tune in to hear the whole discussion, but if you just want the quick and dirty action items, here they are:

* Don’t respond to promises of “easy applications” from colleges

* When you fill out the FAFSA, list your colleges in alphabetical order, rather than in order of preference

* Be aware that colleges are acting out of their own self interest when they create marketing materials, and discern wisely (just as you would if you were buying a car).

Too much learning, not enough time!

Overwhelm is a common experience for students in school, and to some degree, it is part of the process of learning. We can’t always control whether or not we get overwhelmed in the first place, but we can control how we respond to it.

Tune in as Megan and Gretchen discuss the following tips, which can be summarized in these pithy phrases:

* The Tired/Hungry/Thirsty Solution

* The Pause Button

* Admit It’s Hard

* Adjust expectations

* Imperfect Action

* Get Out of the Future

* Break It Down

* When In Doubt, Reach Out

Also, the brain science video that Gretchen recommended is right here. Plus, you might want to try some of the activities that Bara Sapir leads in this video; they’re GREAT for managing anxiety and overwhelm.

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