Greg Jones is in his 34th year in education. Currently, he’s in his 8th year as Director of Enrollment Management and Admissions at Epiphany School in Seattle. Prior to his current role, Greg was a middle school humanities teacher, department chair, and admissions committee member at The Northwest School.
In this conversation with Test Innovators’ CEO, Greg talks about his experience helping 8th graders find the best high school fit, and offers his advice for parents as they navigate the admissions process.
Why are practice tests such a critical piece of preparation?
The American Psychological Association defines the testing effect as the psychological finding that retention is better when taking a test compared to restudying the same material. The testing effect, also called retrieval practice, indicates that practice tests are a more effective...
We are excited to introduce Emillina, one of our 2020 scholars. Emillina’s hard work and self discipline allowed her to score in the 99th percentile overall.
Remember to take your practice exams in calm, non-distracting settings, get adequate sleep (especially the few nights before your test), and relax and breathe, both as your prepare and on test day.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more tests were moving to a computerized format, and now, at-home testing has become a feasible alternative. Some tests, such as the ISEE and SSAT, are available at home, but what is the alternative for the benchmark mock testing that is commonly administered...
Taking the ISEE or SSAT test is only one step in preparing to apply to private high schools. Making a list of schools to apply to can be nearly as daunting as taking a test. Here are three important questions to ask yourself as you get started.
The Middle and Upper Level SSAT exams include two separate Quantitative Reasoning sections. Both are 25 questions long and take 30 minutes to complete. The Elementary Level SSAT only includes one Quantitative Reasoning section, which is the first section of the test, takes 30 minutes to complete, and is 30...
You may know about the content differences between the ISEE and the SSAT from our previous post here. But there are also big geographic differences. Schools in Georgia, for example, never use the ISEE for admission, while schools in Texas never ask for SSAT scores.
The first section of the SSAT is a timed writing sample.
The prompts vary by test level, with Upper and Middle level students choosing between two differing prompts, and Elementary level students being asked to write a story based on a visual prompt. Upper and Middle level... Read More
The saying “practice as you’d like to perform” is applicable to so many things, especially test preparation. Practice tests are the foundation of preparation for this very reason. Practice tests help simulate test day and expose you to the content and structure of the test.
But taking a practice test is...
