IvyWise Blog

It’s SAT and ACT season for college-bound students, and many will go into these tests with a calculator in-hand. Make sure you know how — and when — to use it.

Utilize Free Resoures To Supplement Your Test Prep

By Megan, IvyWise Tutoring Manager

Expanding your vocabulary is important in high school, especially when preparing for the SAT or ACT, as they both have sections that will test your reading skills and your knowledge of certain words and their definitions. There are a number of free apps that students can use to enhance their vocabulary and make the most of their test prep.

Junior year is a big testing year for college-bound students, and as they prepare for the SAT or ACT many students might not be taking the test for the first time. It’s not uncommon for students to take the SAT or ACT multiple times, but how many times is too many?

Here’s What Students Need to Know About the ACT English Section

By IvyWise Master Tutor

Are you preparing for the ACT this summer? Understanding the exam’s content, format, and strategies to maximize your performance on test day is important in order to make the most of your test prep and, in the end, reach your goal score.

Watch Some of the Newest Members of the Class of 2021 Learn of Their Acceptances

Admission decisions for the class of 2021 are in, and college bound students across the country are deciding where to spend the next four years. Students have had to wait a long time for their final admission decisions, and for those with good news, the moment was too good not to be captured on camera.

As high school seniors across the U.S., and the world, await college admission decisions for the class of 2021, it’s important to remember the focus of this process at the end of the day: the student. At IvyWise we have the honor of working with some amazing students, and we’d like to take the time to feature some of them.

Colleges Continue to Report Record-Low Admission Rates, Stanford Admits 4.69% of Applicants for the Class of 2020

It was another competitive admission season for the class of 2020, with admission rates for the incoming freshman class remaining low and even dropping  from the 2014-15 cycle.

It’s only natural for teens to feel pressure when navigating the college admissions process – it is, after all, one of the biggest decisions many teens will have made up until this point. In the January newsletter we covered how to manage test anxiety, which is common among many teens taking the ACT or SAT in hopes of getting into their dream school. While testing anxiety can be crippling, the college preparation process extends beyond one Saturday morning test. Many students can feel overwhelmed going into the process, and the stress can cause problems with grades, family, friends, health, and more.

As a parent it’s hard not to want to play a major part of your student’s college search and application process. While it’s important to be involved in the process, there are some boundaries that parents of college bound students need to observe.

The Common Application opens on August 1, and for many rising seniors this is the perfect opportunity to get a head start on their college applications before the start of the school year. However, before students dive into their college application essays, they need to know what’s true, and what’s false, about these common application essay myths.