June Registration Deadline

You must register by midnight TODAY for the June test, or else face the $25.00 late registration penalty. The late deadline is the 22nd. Call or text me if you have any questions or problems getting registered!

Click here for the website to register. 

Tutoring Tonight 4/16

Here's who I have signed up for tutoring tonight (4/16): 

6:00-7:30

Emily

D'nae

Bilal

7:30-9:00

Anthony C

Ivelysse

Beatrice

Winston

Tiyan

Dan

Bilal

Apologies if I left anyone off. As usual, feel free to join us if you'd like, though I request that anyone who wants to sign up last minute come at 6:00 instead of 7:30 if possible

Tutoring Tuesday 4/09

Here's who I have signed up for tutoring tomorrow night (4/9):

6:00-7:30
Bilal
Olivia
Elyss
Dan
Sabrina

7:30-9:00
Tiyan
Beatrice
Jeffrey
Anthony C
D'nae
Winston

If you have to make a change, don't hesitate to text or call!

Homework Due 4/20

Great class today, you guys! We're coming into the home stretch, so keep up the great work.

Remember: no class next Saturday, 4/13. This homework is due Saturday, 4/20.

1. Study the fifth (and final!) vocabulary unit and write your last essay (story, poem, etc). Details and the list of words can be found here.  
2. You have three more units in the Writing workbook. Parallel Structure p. 42 (#11-20), Run-Ons p. 54 (#1-10), Missing Subject p. 78 (#1-10).
3. Complete each section in the May 2011 test packet beginning to end. Time yourself (time listed at the top of each section) and write your answers on a separate sheet of paper. Write an essay from the prompt on page 3. (I will be e-mailing you comments on the essay you turned in this week in the next day or two to help you keep making progress.) If you can find time to do this practice test all in one sitting, that would be ideal, though you can break it up if you need to. 
4. Also, use this time to catch up on any homework and assignments you may have fallen behind on. If you have questions, come to tutoring this week and/or next to get help. 

The full test assignment is super important. I will be scoring this practice test and that score will be very useful information for you to have as you approach your real test date. 

The late registration deadline for the May test is April 19th. You must register before the 19th if you want to take the May test. Don't delay! 

Tutoring Tuesday 4/02

Here's who I have signed up for tutoring tonight:

6:00-7:30
D'nae
Emily
Beatrice
Elyss
Sabrina
Kerianne

7:30-9:00
Anthony L
Kelly
Winston
Ivelysse

If you need to make a change, please text or e-mail me to let me know.

Remember that tutoring is in the Ivin's House, located in the front of the church parking lot. Please bring all your materials to tutoring.

Homework Due 4/07

Hi, class! Sorry for the delay in getting this posted. 

1. Register for the May SAT, following the instructions posted here. The deadline is this Friday, April 5th. 
2. Study the fourth vocabulary unit and write another vocabulary essay (or story or poem or etc.). More details and a link to the document with the list of words is here if you need it. 
3. In the Math Workbook, complete #4, 5, 8, 9, 15, 20, 23, and 26 in the Counting section, beginning on p. 103. 
4. You have three more sections in the Writing Workbook. Subject/Verb Split (p. 10 #1-10), Subject/Verb Reversal (p. 14 #1-10), and Verb Tense (p. 68 #1-10). Feel free to refer back to your notes and the grammar packet. 
5. Complete sections 5, 6, 8 & 9 in the October 2010 test packet. This is one writing section, two math sections, and one reading section. Time yourself (the first two are 25 minutes, the second two are 20 minutes), and write your answers on a separate sheet of paper. In the math, focus on getting as many correct as possible, not necessarily finishing out the section. 
6. Write an essay from the prompt on page 4 in the October 2010 test packet. Time yourself (25 minutes) and try to adjust your strategy based on the comments I gave you on your first essay. 

As always, let me know if you have questions or concerns. If you have problems getting registered for the test, we can meet before tutoring on Tuesday, but please let me know ASAP if you'll need to do that. 

Homework Due 3/30

1. Register for the May SAT. Please do this before class next week, following the instructions posted here.
2. Study the third vocabulary unit and write another vocabulary essay (or story or poem or etc.). More details and a link to the document with the list of words is here if you need it. 
3. In the Math Workbook, complete #1-20 in the Draw/Formula section. Feel free to consult your notes from today and the table of geometry formulas found at the beginning of any math section in the October 2010 test. 
4. Complete sections 2 and 7 in the October 2010 test packet. This is one reading section and one math section. Time yourself (25 minutes each), and write your answers on a separate sheet of paper. In the math, focus on getting as many correct as possible, not necessarily finishing out the section. 
5. You have three sections to complete in the Writing Workbook. Noun Agreement (p. 32 #1-11), Pronoun Reference (p. 18 #1-16), and Improper Comparison (p. 88 #1-19). Here, too, feel free to refer back to your notes and the grammar packet. 

As always, let me know if you have questions or concerns. If you have problems getting registered for the test, we can meet before class next week to get things straightened out. 

Registering for the SAT

To take the SAT, you have to register online through the College Board: http://sat.collegeboard.org/home. Go to the website and click the blue square that says "Register Now" in the upper right. Then, follow the instructions to create an account and start filling out the forms. The registration process requires you to fill in quite a bit of information (about your school, your coursework, your college interests, etc.) the first time, but any time you sign up after that it will be quicker. 

The test costs $50 each time you take it. You may be eligible for a fee waiver. Click this link to find out more about fee waivers. 

Each test has an important registration deadline you should NOT miss. You can register late, but it costs an extra $25. 

• May 4th Test - Registration Deadline April 5th
• June 1st Test - Registration Deadline May 7th

You should try to get registered for the May test this week or next. If you have trouble, I can stay after or meet you early before class on the 30th and we can try to walk through it together.

Do not wait until the last minute to register. If you run into a problem, technical or otherwise, you want to have time to ask for help. If you need help registering, just let me know!

Homework Due 3/23

Great class again today, you guys! Here are your assignments for next week:

1. Study the second vocabulary unit and write another vocabulary essay (or story or poem or etc.). More details and the list of words is here if you need it. Remember you can e-mail me this assignment any time during the week if you want. 
2. Come up with five potential essay topics. Your list of topics should include one book or movie or TV show, one historical event or figure or current events topics, and one personal experience. The other two are your choice, whatever you feel most comfortable writing about. Do a little research on Wikipedia or SparkNotes or take some notes on the topics you choose. 
3. Then you should write one essay using the prompt on page 6 in the October 2010 test packet I gave you today. Time yourself; you have 25 minutes to write the essay. 
4. Also complete section 3 in the October 2010 test packet. This is a reading section; you don't have to time yourself, but you should continue to practice using the outlining method on the long passage. Also, please write your answers on a separate sheet again. (Sorry if I didn't say that in class.)
5. Then you have two sets of problems in the math workbook: Algebra Word Problems on p. 54 #3-15 and Translation on p. 341 #1-16.

Of course let me know if you have questions or problems. Have a great week! 

Scores Colleges Want

I made a list of the score ranges for many of the colleges you guys expressed interest in. Click here to check out the list. The score ranges listed represent the middle 50% of scores of accepted students at these schools. That means 25% of students had lower scores, while 25% had higher scores than these ranges. You should aim to be somewhere near the middle or upper end of these ranges to be a competitive candidate. 

If you want to find out the score ranges for schools not on the list, you can do that research at https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/. To find the score ranges for a particular school, search the school's name in the grey search bar in the upper right. Then click on the school's name in the search results. To find the scores, click "Applying," then scroll down to the bar that says "What's Important" in pink and click "SAT & ACT Scores." There you can find all the reported score info for that school.

There's a ton of other information about almost every school listed on that site, too. Those of you who are juniors should start getting pretty serious about your college search this spring. Poke around the Big Future site to start looking at your options. There's a cool custom search feature that lets you find schools based on your preferences for various categories -- location, cost, majors, extra-curriculars, etc.

Let me know if you need help researching schools or have any other questions.

Homework Due 3/16

Great class today, you guys! I hope you are enjoying the beautiful weather!

For next week, you need to do the following:

1. Study the first vocabulary unit and write a vocabulary essay (or story or poem or etc.). More details and the list of words is here if you need it.
2. In the math workbook (the thicker white workbook), do #1-15 in both the "plug-in" section starting on p. 255 and the "backsolve" section starting on p. 69. Try to use the strategies we went over in class. Consult your notes/math packet if you need to review how to do that. 
3. In the blue book, read the passage and answer the questions on pp. 522-524. Take as much time as you need, but use the "outlining" method we covered in class to read the passage. Write your answers on a separate sheet to hand in to me next week. 

As always, feel free to e-mail, text, or call me if you have questions or problems. 

Vocabulary Assignment

As we discussed in class today, one of your assignments each week will be to study twenty vocabulary words. Each week you will need to write a short essay or story or poem (or any other piece of writing you like) that incorporates at least fifteen of those words. The meaning of the words you use must be clear from their use in context. You can turn these essays in to me in class or via e-mail. You can access the vocabulary lists for each week here or consult the hand-out I gave you today.

As a reminder, this week's words are the following:

ambivalent

audacious

belittle

capricious

craven

digress

eclectic

euphonious

indolent

intractable

irascible

jocund

loquacious

maudlin

narcissism

neophyte

ominous

profane

surreptitious

sycophant

Welcome!

I'll be using this class blog as a place to post your weekly assignments as well as any class documents and resources. Check back soon for more to look at!

In the column on the right, I will post any hand-outs I give in class under "Class Documents." Under "Other SAT Resources," I've posted some links to additional tools you can use to study.

I'll also always post the homework assignments for each week in a new post. Check the "Homework" label to keep track of those posts.