Shows / Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
Welcome to THE college admissions industry podcast! Join Mike Bergin and Amy Seeley as they discuss the latest issues in testing, admissions, learning, and education with leading experts. Tests and the Rest is perfect for parents, students, counselors, educators, test prep professionals, college consultants, and just about anyone engaged in the college admissions process. You can subscribe to this podcast or stream it online via any podcast app, including iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify…
Episodes
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
56. Emerging Trends in SAT and ACT Content
Major revisions of the major standardized college entrance exams come few, far between, and with great fanfare. Don't take this to mean, however, that the SAT…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
55. Reducing Friction in the College Admissions Process
While qualifying for admission to a competitive college or university requires endless hours of study and commitment, applying to such a school should not. Is…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
54. What You Need To Know About Student Loans
While getting into college seems like a Herculean task requiring the collaboration and contributions of a team of experts, paying for college can--believe it…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
53. Gallup Alumni Survey and the Six College Experiences that Drive Success
Since 2014, Gallup has investigated some of the most important outcomes of higher education through a survey of college graduates. What valuable lessons can…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
52. Test Scores and the NCAA Clearinghouse
Many high school students dream about playing sports on the college level. However, entering the application and recruitment process with low grades and test…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
51. Helping Students Prepare For The Demands Of College
Too many students, parents, and professionals act as if high schoolers magically transform into independent, motivated, productive college students right after…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
50. Utilizing A Reflection Journal To Prepare For Your College Essay
The college essay provides teens their single best chance to speak from the heart and share something significant that does not come through the rest of the…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
49. Does Where You Go To College Matter?
Many families embark on the college search process with a magical "dream school" in mind. But what if the dream doesn't match the reality? Amy and Mike invited…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
48. How Test Prep And Sports Are Similar
We live in a society where most people hate tests with the same intensity they love sports. Would this stark dichotomy exist if the many parallels between the…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
47. Why Grade Inflation Is Harmful
Grade inflation often seems like a trivial offense, a somewhat victimless crime. However, evidence suggests the exact opposite, that the practice undermines…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
46. Attending A Community College
For many students, community college represents the path to academic and career success, while others only see a stop on a longer educational journey. County…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
45. Executive Functioning Skills And Test Prep
Success in tests, as in life, comes down to much more than just what you know. But where and how are students supposed to learn key skills like time…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
44. Pathway Planning For High Schoolers
While life after high school should be one of the most important considerations for teens and the adults that support them, too many kids choose default paths…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
43. Increased College Costs For Special Needs Students
Attending college as a student with special needs presents a wide variety of serious logistical challenges. Even more daunting, though, may be the extra burden…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
42. Helping Teens Get The Sleep They Need
Humans may spend about a third of their lives asleep, but the average time at slumber dips dramatically during the teen years. Yet, the physical, mental, and…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
41. Mental Techniques for Peak Test Performance
Techniques such as hypnosis and neuro-linguistic programming can be used to quell anxiety, sharpen focus, and boost performance. So why do so few educators…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
40. 2020 Changes in Admissions Rules
NACAC's Code of Ethics and Professional Practices (CEPP) establish guidelines for college admissions conduct that most colleges voluntarily observe. In 2019…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
39. What Does It Mean to Be A Bad Test Taker?
While we always expect standardized test scores to reflect general academic achievement, these metrics often diverge dramatically. When students underperform…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
38. How Test Prep Tutoring Should Work
In a perfect world, every student would commit to exactly the kind of test prep program he or she needs to confidently reach or exceed SAT & ACT score goals…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
37. Bringing Grit to Testing and Admissions
"Grit" is definitely one of this decade's biggest buzzwords in education. However, many people use this term without a clear sense of what grit really means or…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
36. What Motivates Students and How to Engage Them
Most high schoolers are highly motivated to attend and maybe even graduate college. If only they'd bring the same fervor to the steps needed to get to college!…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
35. Attending A Jesuit University
While you may be able to uncover hundreds of Catholic and Christian universities in your college searches, you'll only find a select number of Jesuit schools…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
34. How To Teach Students To Study Effectively
Isn't it funny how we expect students to study and understand really complex material while using really basic study skills? Educators should prepare their…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
33. PSAT and the National Merit Scholarship Process
Every October, approximately 3.5 million high schoolers take the PSAT/NMSQT, but a significantly smaller percentage of the population understands exactly why!…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
32. Making The Most Of College Visits
Everyone knows that school visits are an important and often enjoyable part of the college admissions process. Unfortunately, not everyone knows how to make…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
31. What College Board and ACT Are Getting Right
Despite their value, the SAT and ACT have always been the tests people love to hate. But do the test makers themselves--considering all the good works they…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
30. Attending A Large Public University
When people think of colleges, the names that come to mind are very often those of large public universities. But how many teens can handle attending schools…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
29. How Parents Can Best Support Students In Test Prep
Testing may be an individual endeavor, but test prep is very much a team sport. People often focus on the essential roles of educators, counselors, and other…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
28. The Reality of Grade Inflation
Earning straight A's once signified levels of academic excellence and diligence unattainable by most students. Do these grades still mean as much when 40% or…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
27. Common Myths About The SAT and ACT
For admissions exams as infamous as the SAT and ACT, these classic tests seem to inspire a lot of confusion. How much about prior versions of these tests still…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
26. All About the ROTC Scholarship
Few Americans know much about the Reserve Officer Training Corps program, and even fewer have insight into the ROTC scholarship. However, the evident and…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
25. When Gifted and Talented Students Struggle
To many, the gifted and talented designation seems to promise a future of effortless academic success. How, then, can the adults in their lives help when these…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
24. Choosing High School Math Courses Strategically
Of all the academic choices a student entering eighth grade or high school must make, math course selection exerts the most influence on future choices. What…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
23. Attending College in a Big City
The world's great cities offer some of the biggest, best, and broadest options in virtually any category you can think of, including colleges and universities…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
22. What Is ACT Science All About?
No feature of the ACT distinguishes that test more from its College Board rival than the Science section. How can a test feature as enduring and prominent as…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
21. Implications of an Environmental Context Dashboard
The public rarely receives any College Board initiative warmly, but the general response to announcement of the Environmental Context Dashboard exceeded most…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
20. Therapeutic Schools and Teens in Crisis
While every teen endures some level of emotional or behavioral turmoil, some reach such a crisis point that they require immersive therapy in specialized…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
19. College Price Transparency
When is a price not a price? When the stated retail cost of a year at any college diverges dramatically from what students actually cost, you can't effectively…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
18. Using Mindfulness for Test and School Success
How can we succeed in the moment when we're so burdened by thoughts of the past and anxious over fears of the future? The practice and application of…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
17. Differences Between SAT and ACT Grammar
The multiple-choice grammar sections of the SAT and ACT have never been more similar. Nonetheless, important distinctions between the ACT English and SAT…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
16. How The SAT Is Actually Scored
Many test takers find the basic scaling of the SAT confusing, but the finer points of how this highly influential yet massively misunderstood test is graded…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
15. Finishing A Four Year Degree On Time
About 66% of American students FAIL to earn their bachelor's degrees in four years. Yet, those extra years of college come at a tremendous cost. Amy and Mike…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
14. Mathematical Maturity & Test Success
Far too often, we evaluate math ability in high schoolers solely on the basis of grades and level of math learned. A more accurate assessment of a student's…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
13. The Rampant Cost Of College
Most of us involved even tangentially in college admissions understand that, while earning a college degree is expensive, the investment is well worth it on a…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
12. How School and Private College Counselors Can Work Together
Why is it so difficult sometimes for professionals with overlapping competencies to collaborate or communicate even when they seek the same outcomes. Amy and…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
11. Teen Anxiety and Socioeconomic Status
While all teenagers are alike in certain ways, those at the very top and very bottom of the socioeconomic spectrum share some disconcerting similarities. How…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
10. Deciding Between the SAT and ACT
The SAT and ACT have both been around for decades, but the two tests have never been more alike or universally accepted. How is a college-bound teen to choose?…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
9. College Advising for Underserved Populations
Comprehensive college advising sets the foundation for college success, but not all students receive this guidance in equal measure. What kind of specific…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
8. Bringing Critical Balance to High Schoolers' Lives
Many of today's high school students somehow appear to cram 30 hours of academic, extracurricular, work, and social commitments into each of their 24-hour…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
7. The State of the Test Prep Industry in 2019
Test preparation might be the least understood or explored multibillion dollar industry in the world. How has test prep--particularly in the realm of college…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
6. How to Make the Most of Online Test Prep
Students have never had access to more or better digital SAT and ACT prep tools than they do right now. So why aren't everyone's scores skyrocketing? Amy and…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
5. Need Blind and Need Aware Admissions
Is any aspect of college admissions more mystifying than the determination of financial aid? The concept of "need" and how different schools consider need in…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
4. The Role of Libraries in Testing and Admissions
In communities across the United States, libraries deliver critical services to students and families on the road to college. Why do so few people recognize…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
3. ACT Score Review & Validation
Security at testing centers is almost as tight as screening at American airports. Yet, some test takers still find ways to cheat on the ACT or at least raise…
- Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast
2. Past, Present, and Future of Testing
As long as institutions have required admissions tests, applicants have sought out more efficient and effective ways to prepare for them. Amy and Mike took…
Tests and the Rest: College Admissions Podcast1. SAT & ACT Testing and Timelines
The SAT and ACT are now offered throughout all four seasons, with tests available nearly every month of the year. That doesn't mean, however, that every test…