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Community Corner

Rising High School Seniors…..Use Your Summer Well!

Even though you and your parents can hardly believe it, you will soon begin your last year of high school.  The way you use this summer will greatly impact the tone of your senior year – fun-filled, relaxed, and exhilarating or anxiety-ridden, frenzied and traumatic.  By using this summer to prepare for your crucial first semester, you can insure that all will go smoothly and you will maximize your chances of getting accepted by the colleges of choice with the maximum scholarship package!

First of all, decide if you reached your potential on the spring SAT exams, or if you will take the test again in October and/or November.  If you will be re-taking the test, it’s time to do some serious preparation.  Remember the words of Albert Einstein who defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The best way to prepare is to do practice tests issued by The College Board, since they write the actual tests.  Ten full-length exams are included in the book, “The Official SAT Study Guide,” published by The College Board.

Secondly, review your vocabulary, as one of the biggest frustrations of students taking the SAT is the abundance of unknown words. The truth is that the same unusual words appear over and over again on the SAT……words like “pragmatic,” “ephemeral,” and “loquacious.”  The easiest way to hone up on these words is to go to the website www.SATsmart.com and check out “300 Words Frequently Seen on the SAT.”   Learn five words a day and you’ll be an expert before the next SAT rolls around! 

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Lastly, get started on your college applications.  You should ideally have your applications complete when you return to school in September for your senior year.  Then you just ask two teachers for letters of recommendation, have your counselor fill out the counselor form and attach your transcript, and your applications can get sent – meeting all of the deadlines for priority consideration for admission, and for consideration for scholarship money before the funds are depleted!

So what are you waiting for?  Enjoy the summer, but do some serious preparation now so you and your parents can enjoy an anxiety-free senior year rather than stressing with each other throughout what is often the last year you will be living together!

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Susan Alaimo is the founder of SAT Smart and offers SAT prep courses (using College Board material) and College Application services throughout central New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. She is the author of, “SAT SMART: STRATEGIES and ANSWERS to the SAT.”  Visit www.SATsmart.com for more information.   

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