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Increased College Entrance Competition Means More Kids Apply To More Colleges, Earlier Than Ever

Tutoring Companies Report Major Upswing in SAT/ACT Prep Demand; Expert Offers Tips

The pressure is on. Today, more high school students are applying to more colleges, earlier than ever before. Students who once might have automatically been accepted to the college of their choice are now finding themselves out in the cold, and children who grew up expecting Ivy League educations are now battling for places in second- and third-tier universities. To assure that they find a place somewhere, students are applying to a longer list of schools. In addition, the number of early applications has increased dramatically, with some schools seeing double digit jumps.

Students are also turning in droves to tutoring companies, to help boost their chances on the all-important SAT/ACT college application tests, required by more than 90% of colleges for admission. According to the National Association for College Admission Counseling, 60.3% of college admissions staff surveyed said standardized test scores were "considerably important" in the admissions process.

"The SAT/ACT competition is so intense that more families than ever are requesting tutors to help them ace those entrance exams," said Dr. Richard E. Bavaria, Ph.D., vice president of education for Sylvan Learning Center, the leading provider of in-center and live, online tutoring at home to students of all ages and skill levels. "According to a 2006 survey by Sylvan, 54% of high school students are either taking or planning to take paid SAT/ACT prep courses." At Sylvan alone, demand for SAT/ACT prep courses has increased each year for the past five years.

Confidence Is Key

Twenty eight percent of students surveyed said that feeling more confident about the test was their main reason for enrolling in prep courses. "Increased college entrance competition means more anxiety on the part of students," added Dr. Bavaria. "The best way to alleviate that is to have confidence when going into the test."

"Students today know clearly what students in the past may not have known: systematically preparing for the SAT/ACT gives them confidence. They know how to budget their time, they know what the test looks and feels like, they know important strategies like when to guess at an answer. They go into the test practiced and confident. Knowing the content is, of course, the major part of success, and confidence is the icing on the cake."

The other reasons given for taking SAT prep courses were getting familiar with content (26%), learning test-taking strategies (24%), and practicing taking the test (15%).

Most students applying to competitive colleges now take the SAT/ACT more than once. Typically, the best time to take these tests is in the spring of junior year or fall of senior year, noted Dr. Bavaria. A student can take the SAT/ACT as many times as he likes, but probably should plan on taking it no more than two or three times.

Tips for Success

Dr. Bavaria offers students the following tips to help ease the pressure of SATs and achieve the best results:

• Don't try to cram for the SAT/ACT overnight. Proper preparation takes weeks, even months, of review.
• If you don't know a test answer and can't eliminate any bad answer choices, skip the question and only go back if time permits. For the ACT, remember to go back and take a guess on any unanswered questions, since there's no penalty for incorrect answers.
• Trust yourself. Rely on your instincts.
• Never leave an easy question blank. Easy questions have easy answers.
• Read, read, read. Read the questions and answers critically.
• Eliminate answers. If you can eliminate at least two incorrect answers, you generally increase the probability of guessing correctly.
• Save your time. Don't spend too much time on any single question. Make sure you have enough time to answer as many questions as possible, in order to rack up as many points as possible.
• Focus on what the question is really asking. If you don't fully understand the question, finding the correct answer is going to be tough.
• Rushing only hurts you. Work at a good pace and keep track of the time remaining for each section. Enter the exam with confidence. If you know the instructions for each section before you begin the test, you won't have to waste time reading them during the exam.
• End each section by reviewing. If time permits, revisit the questions you didn't answer.

"While there is no doubt that pressure to score high on the SAT/ACT tests is greater than ever," added Dr. Bavaria, "following these tips will help students have more confidence, which leads to less stress and better results."

About Sylvan Learning

Sylvan Learning is the leading provider of in-center and live, online tutoring at home to students of all ages, grades and skill levels. With approximately 30 years of experience and nearly 1,200 centers located throughout North America, Sylvan’s proven process and personalized methods have inspired more than 2 million students to discover the joy of learning. Sylvan’s trained and certified personal instructors provide individual instruction in reading, writing, mathematics, study skills and test-prep for college entrance and state exams. Sylvan helps transform unique kids into uniquely inspired learners with the skills to do better in school and the confidence to do better in everything else. For more information, call 1-800-31-SUCCESS or visit http://tutoring.sylvanlearning.com.

For more information, contact:
Jennifer Gaegler, Sylvan Learning Center
(410) 843-8928
jennifer.gaegler@educate.com