Sunday, March 17, 2024

How To Fail A Test With Dignity

Sometimes, you just can't win.

In that case, there's no harm or shame in surrender. So why not have a sense of humor about it?

These students tried and failed, but succeeded in turning loss into laughs.



























































































































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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Friday, March 01, 2024

dSAT Reading and Writing Topics

This is the companion piece to a post I wrote earlier on dSAT Math Topics.

Questions in the Reading/Writing sections of the dSAT cover four broad topic areas: Craft and Structure, Information and Ideas, Standard English Conventions, and Expression of Ideas.

The entire Reading/Writing section is 64 minutes long with 54 multiple-choice questions.

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Modules

Two Reading/Writing modules:

Each module is 32 minutes long, with 27 questions (1:11 per question)

Organized by question type, with similar skills grouped together

Questions within each group are presented in order of increasing difficulty

Each question has its own short passage or pair of passages

Passages are between 20–150 words

Wide range of topics, including literary excerpts and poetry

May contain informational tables and graphs 

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Information and Ideas

12-14 questions, 26% of the section

Use information stated or implied in the passage (may include tables and graphs) to evaluate ideas in the text and draw conclusions.

Tasks:

Determine main idea and central details

Interpret details supporting the main idea

Use evidence from the text, graphs, and tables to support or respond to a claim

Draw reasonable inferences based on the passage

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Craft and Structure

13-15 questions, 28% of the section

Focuses on vocabulary (words in context), text structure and purpose, and cross-text connections.

Tasks:

Determine the primary purpose of the text

Evaluate text structure rhetorically and how the author chose to organize information

Select the best word to complete the text (fill-in the blank)

Compare/contrast two related texts

Make supportable connections between two related texts

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Expression of Ideas

8-12 questions, 20% of the section

Focuses on improving effectiveness of written expression. Test takers are asked to scrutinize topic development, accuracy, logic, cohesion, transitions, and language to improve, refine, and enhance the effectiveness and impact of of a text and achieve specific rhetorical goals.

Tasks:

Analyze bullet points and choose the one that best combines information to achieve a certain goal

Identify the flow and structure of a passage

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Standard English Conventions

11-15 questions, 26% of the section

Use editing skills and knowledge to make texts conform to standard conventions of written English, word usage, sentence structure and form, grammar, and punctuation.

Tasks:

Identify correct punctuation to join and separate sentences and clauses 

Find the best way to complete a sentence so that it follows conventions of standard written English (e.g. proper agreement, verb tense, etc.)

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Thursday, February 01, 2024

dSAT Math Topics

After trying and failing to find a comprehensive online resource that thoroughly detailed math content covered on the dSAT, I finally decided to put together my own. I've also written a companion piece on dSAT Reading and Writing Topics.

Questions in the Math section of the dSAT cover four broad topic areas: Algebra, Advanced Math, Problem Solving and Data Analysis, and Geometry/Trigonometry.

The entire Math section is 70 minutes long with 44 multiple-choice questions.

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Modules

Two math modules:

Each module is 35 minutes long, with 22 questions (1:35 per question)

75% multiple choice (33 questions), 25% student produced response (11 questions)

30% in-context word problems (≤ 50 words)

Progressive difficulty (easiest first, hardest last)

Calculators are allowed – but don't use a handheld – learn to use Desmos, instead

Questions from each topic area appear in each module
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Algebra

35%: 13-15 questions total

Linear equations in one variable (analyze, solve, create)

Linear equations in two variables (analyze, test, solve, graph, create)

Linear inequalities in one variable (analyze, solve, create)

Linear inequalities in two variables (analyze, test, solve, graph, create)

Linear Functions (analyze, test, evaluate, graph, create)

2D Linear Systems (analyze, test, solve, create)

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Advanced Math

35%: 13-15 questions total

Equivalent expressions

Non-linear equations in one variable (analyze, solve, interpret, create): absolute value, quadratic, polynomial, exponential

Non-linear functions (analyze, solve): absolute value, quadratic, polynomial, exponential

Non-linear systems in two variables (test, solve)

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Problem Solving and Data Analysis

15%: 5-7 questions total

Ratios, rates, proportions, units

Percentages

Analyze and interpret one-variable data: distributions and measures of center and spread (mean, median, mode, range, standard deviation)

Analyze and interpret two-variable data: models and scatter plots

Simple Probability

Conditional Probability

Inference from sample stats and margin of error

Evaluating statistical claims: observational studies and experiments

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Geometry and Trigonometry

15%: 5-7 questions total

Perimeter, area, volume

Lines, angles, triangles

Right triangles

Trigonometry (SOH CAH TOA)

Circles

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Most of this content was paraphrased from the following sources:

What Topics are on the Digital SAT?

What's on the digital SAT Math Test?

Educator's Guide to the Digital SAT

The New Digital SAT Format

(New) Digital SAT Test Format

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Monday, January 01, 2024

Desmos

The online Desmos graphing calculator is fast taking over from the venerable Ti-84 series of handheld calculators as the default calculator tool in secondary education. Now that Desmos is included as an integral part of the digital SAT, acquiring intermediate-level Desmos skills is fundamental to maximizing math scores on this important assessment.

[Familiarity with the Ti-84 Plus CE handheld graphing calculator is still crucial to optimizing math scores on the ACT.]

I'm not aware of any succinct, comprehensive exposition of Desmos skills required for use on the dSAT (I'm working on it).

At this point, the best one can do is to peruse the various official materials linked in the "Desmos First Steps" and "Desmos Graphing Calculator" sections below. 

Check out each link, read the information provided, and do the sample exercises until you've covered all topics presented (search Google for additional help with particular topics).

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Desmos First Steps

User Guide

Quick Start Guide

Getting Started: Desmos Graphing Calculator

Getting Started: Creating Your First Graph

Getting Started Articles

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Desmos Graphing Calculator

Graphing Calculator

Graphing Calculator: Essential Skills

Graphing

FAQ: Graph

FAQ: Student Graphing

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Desmos Geometry

Geometry

Geometry Tool

Transformations

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Other Desmos Calculators

Scientific Calculator

Matrix Calculator

3-D Calculator

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Desmos Miscellaneous

Tutorials

Desmos YouTube Channel

Keyboard Shortcuts

Help

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Friday, December 01, 2023

Look Inside the Digital SAT

The digital SAT has arrived, 

In the meantime, much has been written about all aspects of this latest incarnation of the SAT. All along, The College Board has offered limited information concerning what we who care should expect.

But the private analyses of those whose businesses and livelihoods hinge on gaining an early, accurate, and comprehensive view of this strange new beast are also well worth noting.

In addition to those featured on the SAT/dSAT resource page of my business site, below are several more such reports.

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, November 01, 2023

Bring a Mouse to the SAT

Most people find use of a mouse to be a time saver, especially if you’re accustomed to employing one. 

On the digital SAT, every second counts, and a mouse is one of your best friends on this important assessment.

The College Board allows use of a mouse on the digital SAT. Practice with your favorite mouse at home. Then bring the same usb mouse with you on test date, plug it in, and go.

This seems like a minor detail, but there’s almost no such thing when it comes to high-stakes testing.

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Sunday, October 01, 2023

The Official Digital SAT Study Guide

The Official Digital SAT Study Guide by The College Board has been the sine qua non of SAT work for decades. 

But with the SAT's switch to a new digital format, just how useful is this latest incarnation of the venerable test prep tome? Why buy a book printed on paper when the test is now taken on-screen?

These are good questions.

The new edition contains four non-adaptive paper versions of the digital SAT – the very same "linear" tests made available as free downloads to students everywhere – which are roughly 70% identical to the four official adaptive on-screen tests contained in the College Board's BlueBook app (the only official tests available in on-screen adaptive form).

So that's even less reason to buy the book, right?

Right. Except for one thing.

Currently, there's a severe scarcity of official SAT practice materials (this happens each time the College Board decides to overhaul the test). Every new official SAT question made available to the public for practice gives valuable clues as to what to expect on the test, and is therefore worth gold.

As it happens, the new College Board Official Guide to the SAT contains 192 printed practice questions different from those provided anywhere else. That's nearly the equivalent of two additional full-length digital SAT tests.

So yes, at this point, you should buy the new edition – if only to gain additional practice with those 192 precious questions.

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Friday, September 01, 2023

Commercial Test Prep

Needless to say, when I graduated high school in 1975, it was an entirely different world.

With plenty of well-paying blue collar jobs available in the U.S., a college education was seen as an optional luxury, not at all a requirement to live a good middle-class life. I remember befriending a Golden Gate Bridge worker in the late-1980’s who was paid an annual salary of nearly $60,000 – $150,000 today – taking tolls!

Not many students used any kind of prep, though. I took the PSAT in high school, cold, no prep or pre-test studying at all, as a lark (and hit 98th percentile). But I never told the SAT (didn’t feel like wasting a Saturday morning). Most of my friends acted similarly. College just wasn’t a must-do, at the time.

Stanley Kaplan invented the modern test prep industry in 1939, and between 1940 and 1980 his company’s courses and books were essentially the only ones available to help interested students maximize scores on the standardized tests like the SAT.

Then along came the Princeton Review in the mid-1980’s, upending the entire educational testing scene. Despite protestations from the College Board and others, PR showed everyone just how easy it was to game these tests and quickly raise scores without doing much to improve nominal academic ability.

When I began tutoring professionally in the late 1970’s, test coaching wasn’t yet a thing. Following the huge success of PR, the test prep industry as we know it today was born. 

The test prep universe is vast. Companies old and new seem infinite in number. With the advent of distance learning on a mass scale during the Covid epidemic, this number has grown further.

It’s not easy to make a choice, nowadays, given the multitude of options. To aid in your search, listed below are my current favorites, based on my own long experience and most recent research on the subject:


Tuesday, August 01, 2023

Mock dSAT Practice Tests

It’s always the same.

Whenever the College Board trots out a new version of the SAT, years elapse before we have enough official practice material to adequately prepare students for the test.

True to form, to date, the College Board has only made released four official computer-based adaptive SAT tests to the public. To do a good job preparing for the SAT, students need 3-4 times that number.

As always, we’re left to evaluate the various mock SAT practice test offerings currently available. Luckily, most companies offer a free sample test.

In fact, you could pay nothing (or almost nothing) for multiple mock dSAT practice tests simply by signing up for free trials from the list of providers below.

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Princeton Review

Saturday, July 01, 2023

Cracking BlueBook Second Modules

With only six available official digital adaptive SATs and PSATs, it’s critical that students get access to all questions contained in the “second modules” of each section of each test in the BlueBook app. 

There’s no way to do so directly, but an easy workaround gets the job done: 

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1. After completing your practice test, save the answer page.  

2. Retake the same practice test. 

3. To access the harder second module, enter only correct answers when you retake the test; to access the easier module, enter only incorrect answers. 



screenshot shows what this looks like.
 
You may also want to screenshot important questions as you practice (hardest problems, any you’ve answered wrongly, etc.) and keep these in a folder for further study.

These few official tests are best used sparingly to assess progress in your prep work or as “dress rehearsals” before test dates.

They're the only ones you’ve got. Don’t waste them!

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Thursday, June 01, 2023

Assorted Quotes I Can't Add

Unfortunately, Google doesn't seem to be updating the Blogger platform.
Apparently, the "Text" gadget is broken.

I've tried hard, to find a work around for this particular problem. Without any luck, I'm afraid.

I'd intended to add several quotes to that section of this blog's sidebar, but it appears I won't be able to do so.

Rather than let the quotes languish outside the blog, I've decided to write a post listing them. This is that post.

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Bertrand Russell 

No nation was ever so virtuous as each believes itself, and none was ever so wicked as each believes the other.

Righteousness cannot be born until self-righteousness is dead.

It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly.

The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it.

The scientific attitude of mind involves a sweeping away of all other desires in the interests of the desire to know.

People seem good while they are oppressed, but they only wish to become oppressors in their turn: life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim.

The infliction of cruelty with a good conscience is a delight to moralists. That is why they invented Hell.  


Ralph Waldo Emerson 

The imitator dooms himself to hopeless mediocrity.

Poetry teaches the enormous force of a few words, and, in proportion to the inspiration, checks loquacity.

Every man I meet is in some way my superior; and in that I can learn of him.

To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven.

You shall have joy, or you shall have power, said God; you shall not have both.

I have been writing & speaking what were once called novelties, for twenty five or thirty years, & have not now one disciple. Why? Not that what I said was not true; not that it has not found intelligent receivers but because it did not go from any wish in me to bring men to me, but to themselves.

Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact. 


Albert Einstein 

The mass of a body is a measure of its energy content.

The state of mind which enables a man to do work of this kind is akin to that of the religious worshiper or the lover; the daily effort comes from no deliberate intention or program, but straight from the heart.

The supreme task of the physicist is to arrive at those universal elementary laws from which the cosmos can be built up by pure deduction. There is no logical path to these laws; only intuition, resting on sympathetic understanding of experience, can reach them.

If A is success in life, then A = x + y + z. Work is x, play is y and z is keeping your mouth shut.

I believe in intuitions and inspirations. I sometimes feel that I am right. I do not know that I am.

Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.

I am not an Atheist. I do not know if I can define myself as a Pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. The human mind, no matter how highly trained, cannot grasp the universe. We are in the position of a little child, entering a huge library whose walls are covered to the ceiling with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written those books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books, a mysterious order, which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of the human mind, even the greatest and most cultured, toward God. 


George PĆ³lya 

The teacher should not discourage his students from using trial and error – on the contrary, he should encourage the intelligent use of the fundamental method of successive approximations. Yet he should convincingly show that, for many situations, straightforward algebra is more efficient than successive approximations.

We wish to see the typical attitude of the scientist who uses mathematics to understand the world around us. In the solution of a problem there are typically three phases. The first phase is entirely or almost entirely a matter of physics; the third, a matter of mathematics; and the intermediate phase, a transition from physics to mathematics. The first phase is the formulation of the physical hypothesis or conjecture; the second, its translation into equations; the third, the solution of the equations. Each phase calls for a different kind of work and demands a different attitude.

In plausible reasoning the principal thing is to distinguish a more reasonable guess from a less reasonable guess. The efficient use of plausible reasoning is a practical skill … and it is learned by imitation and practice. What I can offer are only examples for imitation and opportunity for practice.

Even if without the Scott's proverbial thrift, the difficulty of solving differential equations is an incentive to using them parsimoniously.

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Monday, May 01, 2023

The Magic Of Khan

Khan Academy is the apotheosis of distance learning and one of the chief miracles of the information age.

Nowhere can one find a larger variety of excellent educational offerings, from Pre-K curricula and grade school standards to AP Art History, APUSH, Differential Equations, and Organic Chemistry.

Khan's educational offerings, available in 42 languages, are used in diverse ways in public, private, and homeschool classrooms all over the world. Total views are in the billions, and growing.

And no wonder. The courses are rigorous, well-organized, and expertly taught, and a pleasure to use. Founder Sal Kahn is a genius, a visionary, and probably the world’s best private tutor.

There’s no excuse for boredom.

Click here.

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Saturday, June 01, 2019

Cosmic Eye

This epic science video takes viewers from the realm of everyday human experience to macrocosm, microcosm, and back, by the power and magic of exponential growth. 

It's a brief 2:29 excursion that could make your day.

Powers of 10 was one of the first such "logarithmic zooming" films, released in 1977 by ground breaking mid-century designers Charles and Ray Eames (see Wiki article here). Orders of Magnitude is an excellent recent variation on the same theme.

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, May 01, 2019

Perspective



You are a ghost driving a meat-covered skeleton made from stardust riding a rock floating through space.

FEAR NOTHING.

[My daughter's photo of a sign stuck in the ground at Outside Lands, circa 2013.]

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Monday, April 01, 2019

What’s Going On in this Graph?

Reading – i.e. the ability to understand and derive meaning from textual information – will always an essential academic skill.

But today we live in the age of data, and basic numeric and statistical proficiency are also likely to be de regueur throughout the 21st century.

Academic goals and curricula are already changing to reflect this trend. Among the most pressing of these new number-based skills is the ability to understand charts and graphs, to wean pertinent information and draw relevant conclusions from visual information (e.g. ACT science scores depend on this skill).

In partnership with the American Statistical Association, the New York Times is aiming to make its own contribution to the data literacy of America’s collective student body by presenting a new feature throughout the 2018-19 academic year:

What’s Going On in This Graph?

Each week, a new professional-grade NYT infographic will be presented with questions to aid in analyzing, understanding, and questioning the information it illustrates. The stated purpose of the educational project is to “teach students how to read, interpret and question graphs, maps and charts,” and is intended to support math and stats teachers across the country.

Information presented graphically is going to become more and more a part of daily life as time marches on. Data visualization, and visual communication generally, are on the rise as essential academic and life skills.

This effort by the NYT and ASA is to be applauded. I look forward to checking out the featured infographics each week, and hope you will do so, as well.

Click here for the latest graph in the series.

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Friday, March 01, 2019

White House Fails English

The recent experience of retired English teacher Yvonne Mason echoes the exasperation felt by many of us who spent the first two years of high school English doing nothing but arcane grammar exercises out of a workbook.

It may be too much to ask in this age in which English teachers no longer feel the need to teach grammar (and English majors aren't even required to study it), but shouldn't we expect better than this from the office of the highest governmental official in the land?

Argh. [Facepalm.]

I might suggest these English language resources.

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Friday, February 01, 2019

ratemyprofessors.com

Until you declare a major, take highly-rated professors, not classes!

Think of ratemyprofessors.com as Yelp for college professors. Search for your school (or prospective schools), and get reviews and ratings by real students of instructors in all departments. Use the site to find life-changing teachers and avoid duds.

Some reviews are more helpful than others, and as is the case with other review sites, ratemyprofessors.com doesn’t tell the whole story. But with quantified measures like "Overall Quality" and "Level of Difficulty" (among other indicators) it’s a whole lot better than having no idea at all as to which teachers are likely to be golden and which should probably be avoided like the plague.

Most/all established professors at are listed at each institution, and university-wide averages give you some idea as to the quality and collective personality of various faculties.

Schools are rated by students according to other important factors, as well (e.g. reputation, happiness, food, facilities, location, social life, etc.), providing useful comparative data.

As an example, click here to see data for Wesleyan University.

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, January 01, 2019

Math-as-Art Blog



I had planned to store the overflow from the "Math as Art" project in a single post on this blog, but it quickly became apparent that the project would require a site of its own.

Here it is:

Math-as-Art.

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Saturday, December 01, 2018

101 Things to Do Before You Graduate

Life Coach Julian Gordon has published an indispensable book for college freshman:

101 Things to Do Before You Graduate.

Listing 101 truly useful and important academic and personal goals to fulfill as an undergrad, Gordon gives callow freshmen a roadmap to follow to make the most of their college years.

Those four undergraduate years will be over before you know it, and with them will disappear once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Don’t waste some of the most important and potentially profitable and enjoyable years of your life! 

This book makes a great gift. Should be required reading for every college-bound high school senior. Slightly out-of-date, but still a fantastic font of fabulous ideas for undergrads. 

UPDATE: Great TED talk given by Jullien on the 4.0 GPA That Really Matters.

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Thursday, November 01, 2018

Mandlemap



Everything you wanted to know about the Mandelbrot Fractal. A great gift for the math nerd in your life.

Posters are 24 x 36 inches or 54 x 36 inches.

Buy one here.

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.