Meet Jolie
Meet Jolie
We are pleased to introduce Jolie, one of our 2022 scholars. Jolie’s focus and drive led her to increase her SSAT score by 16 points, scoring in the 82nd percentile!
In school, Jolie is especially drawn to math. At her previous school, Jolie took math courses as part of the Gifted and Talented program. While she finds math to be the most rigorous subject, she’s fascinated by the challenge.
In her free time, Jolie likes to fence. She has been fencing with the Peter Westbrook Foundation for the last four years. Jolie is also a member of TEAK Fellowship, which organizes weekly events for students. Through TEAK, Jolie has tried rock-climbing, camping, and many other team-building activities.
Preparation
When Jolie first started preparing for the SSAT, it was difficult for her to find her rhythm. But after establishing a routine, Jolie found practicing to be more manageable. On the Test Innovators practice platform, Jolie took practice tests frequently, which allowed her to monitor her performance and focus on areas of weakness.
Jolie improved the most in the Verbal section. She spent a lot of time learning new words and their definitions. She found that learning prefixes was especially helpful for guessing the meaning of words she didn’t know. In addition to vocabulary, Jolie learned test-taking techniques from Test Innovators that improved her time management. For instance, on the Reading section, she learned to look at the questions first before reading the passage. This strategy improved her time management because she was able to read the passage with the questions in mind.
Advice for Students
Jolie’s words of advice are simple: “Hard work really pays off.” Although she acknowledges that schools consider more factors than test scores, Jolie believes that students should still give the SSAT their best. She wished that she had not stressed over the test when she began to study because this only increased her anxiety. She also suggested relaxing before test day in order to avoid overthinking.
Advice for Parents
Jolie’s father encourages both parents and students to be patient with the test preparation process. He advised students to take practice tests from Test Innovators because that is the best way to prepare for test day.
He explained that it’s important for students to stay focused and to set goals. He compared test practice to basketball: “Practice more and more…Just like Steph Curry, [who] practiced more in the gym and started shooting three [pointers] from the back.”
He finishes by stating: “Anybody could do it. There’s no dumb or stupid people. Anybody can put in their time, work hard, and they can achieve [success].”
New School
Jolie is a 9th grader at Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She first learned about Dana Hall after receiving a recommendation from TEAK to apply to the school. After doing some more research, Jolie learned that Dana Hall is an all-girls school, which fascinated her. Although she hadn’t considered an all-girls school before, she was really drawn to this unique opportunity. Jolie was also excited that she could continue practicing fencing with the school’s fencing club.
Test Innovators is Here to Help
Test Innovators is committed to helping students get into their top-choice schools. We help students prepare for the SSAT and ISEE, so that they can do their best on test day. Our online practice platform provides each student with a personalized experience, teaching them test-taking skills and helping them build confidence.
Test Innovators also helps students and families prepare for other aspects of the admissions process to independent and private schools. Our online Admissions Assist course includes interactive videos and exercises to help families through every step of the admissions process, from researching schools to navigating the waitlist and everything in between.
