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April 15th, 2010Does the SAT Matter?
April 13th, 2010
Emily Holleman is a Content Developer at Knewton, where she helps students with their SAT Prep.
You’ve heard the rumors. The SAT is going out of style.
More than 830 four-year colleges don’t require SAT or ACT scores at all. That number is growing, and now includes top-notch liberal arts institutions like Middlebury, Bowdoin, and Bates. College admissions officers (at these schools, and others) swear up, down, and sideways that they care more about an applicant’s grades, recommendations, essays, extracurricular activities, and pet fish Murray than they do about his or her test scores.
So, it’s not surprising that you might be starting to wonder: Does my SAT preparation even matter? Heck, do I even need to take the test?
Sadly for all those high school students eager to bypass one step of the long college process, the answer is: Yes.
What the iPad Does– and Doesn't– Mean for Education
April 9th, 2010
Alex Sarlin is Lead Verbal Developer for Graduate Programs at Knewton, specializing in GMAT prep.
The iPad is certainly one of the more polarizing issues in the technology world. Many, like the folks at Wired Magazine, are hailing the iPad as the second coming, a revelatory device that will usher in a completely new era of computing. In this reading, of course, Apple CEO Steve Jobs becomes our savior although others compare Jobs to Moses. After all, how often do people really bring tablets down from the mountains (of Northern California)?
There are countless other metaphors: Is Jobs the biblical serpent (who, of course, inspired the moniker Apple in the first place), asking his customers to leave their computers in their “dens” but take the “e” around with them? Or is he a false prophet, like the Big Brother-esque leader behind Apple’s most famous ad campaign, a figure of cult status boasting his way into a 30% cut off… well, everything?
All this hullabaloo is a natural reaction to any new technology, especially something being actively promoted as paradigm-shifting and “revolutionary.” Technology always giveth while it taketh away. The transportation revolution (trains, planes, and automobiles) created pollution and urban sprawl. The industrial revolution led to Dickensian chaos and Marxist unrest. Given a few minutes, we could probably come up with a few negative aspects of the creation of television or, say, nuclear weapons.
Knewton SAT Prep Tip: When to take the big test
April 8th, 2010
Meghan Daniels is the Associate Editor at Knewton, where she helps students with their SAT preparation.
There are many mountains to climb on the road to collegiate freedom and bliss. The SAT is one of the most dreaded.
The first step on your SAT journey? Coming to terms with the fact that you’re actually going to have to take the test. Fair warning: Your proctor will speak in a monotone; the girl next to you will blow her nose every three minutes; your desk will be grimy; the high school auditorium will be too hot or too cold (never in-between).
Resigned yet? Good. In that case, we can move on to step two: Figuring out when to take the test. (The third step is studying for the dang thing, and the fourth is taking it–but let’s not worry too much about either of those right now). There are certain helpful guidelines to keep in mind to make your SAT test-taking experience as productive, cost-effective, and fun (well, maybe just the first two) as possible.
Got GMAT Questions? Get them answered for FREE on April 13 at 8pm EDT – Knewton Webinar
April 7th, 2010SAT Test Day: Fight for Your Rights!
April 6th, 2010
Alex Sarlin is the Lead Verbal Developer at Knewton, where he helps students with their SAT prep.
Taking the SAT this May or June? Know your rights!
Measuring the distance between your chair and the person next to you will probably be the last thing on your mind on test day, but if you find your test environment to be cramped or enormously distracting, or the proctor to be unfairly harsh, you may want to declare your rights as a test-taker.
• If a section runs more than five minutes over, students won’t receive a score, and a makeup is required. If a section runs more than five minutes short, a makeup is offered but not required. Once the offer is accepted, the original score is canceled.
• You are allowed to bring snacks and drinks, but you must keep them out of sight. You can reach for them only during breaks, which are given hourly.
• Desks must have at least 12 by 15 inches of writing surface.
• Chairs must be four feet apart; no partitions or study carrels allowed.
• If there’s a problem with your desk or seating, say something as soon as you get in the room. If a problem emerges while taking the test, ask the proctor kindly to make it stop.
• Once notified of a problem, a proctor is required to send a report to the Educational Testing Service. If you feel your score was affected, send a complaint by the Wednesday after the test day to testcenter@info.collegeboard.org. But the score won’t be changed. The best you can hope for is a refund or free retake.
For more horror stories about bad proctors on SAT test day, and what to do about them check out this article from the New York Times.
The Joys of Teaching Online
April 4th, 2010Dave is the Faculty Manager @ Knewton, and our top teacher in GMAT, LSAT, and SAT prep.
As I recall, there were four categories of hand-raisers in my high school:
1. The Eager Beaver: “I’ve never met a question that I’m not totally psyched to answer!”
2. The Kool Kat: “I’m smart, but please don’t tell that to my friends. I’d lose all my street kred.”
3. The Anti-Brita: “They call me tap water, because I’ve got no filter. Save the lectures for grad school; high school is for discussing and participating.”
4. Shy LeBeouf: “If I say something wrong, everyone will point and laugh, so I’ll just sit here and people will assume I know everything. Or, I have crippling glossophobia.”
Knewton @ Google
April 2nd, 2010
This post comes from Amy McDowell.
Last week, I was invited to participate at Google’s 2nd Annual Spring Training summit as a guest panelist for Knewton. Knewton must be doing something right—as our VP of Online Marketing, I was asked to provide insight and commentary on the changing digital marketing landscape.
So, what is this Google Spring Training summit, you ask? Fortunately for this endomorphic marketer, there was no physical exertion or hand-eye coordination involved. Rather, it was Google’s attempt to get their business clients back into the swing of things (no pun intended). Back in March 2009, during the depths of the economic recession, Google had the foresight to develop a conference with one objective – rally their clients to come out of hiding (aka “Spend more with Google!”) and arm them with tools and information to battle challenging business environment.
MAGNA’s latest research indicates that the first quarter of 2010 represents the last quarter of decline for the US advertising economy. Businesses are now finally coming out the woodwork (knock on wood!). As per this year’s Spring Training’s theme — “Hit it Home” — the agenda focused on results. With that goal in mind, the Google team presented a cleverly-themed seminar that redefined the traditional P’s of marketing to a crowd of hopeful but battle-scarred (scared?) industry veterans…
- Pulse: The internet is full of tools (such as Google Insights for Search) to understand the interests of consumers. Not knowing what is happening as it is happening is not an excuse.
- Pace: Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist for Google states “The greatest gift you can be given from the Internet is to be proven wrong fast”—the ability to quickly make changes to your business strategy and direction based on real-time feedback from is what differentiates the online innovators from the off-line followers.
- Precision: Be relevant and targeted– customers are individuals, not cohorts or segments. Treat them as such through products and information that adds value to their lives and interests.
- Performance: Google used verbs such as “Measure. Tinker. Quantify. Unite.” The underlying theme is constant iteration and optimization. Best summed by the Japanese word Kaizen, which refers to a philosophy or a set of practices that focus upon continuous improvement.
- Participation: This is a huge part of why “social media” has been the industry buzzword for the past year. Consumers are friends—treat them like it with communication that is engaging and interactive. Read the rest of this entry »
