Web Browswer--If you are reading this text through a Windows World Wide Web Browswer and would like to download it, click on "File" and "Save" or "Save As." (If you click on "Save As," you must enter the directory (folder) and file name you want to use. Title: How to Approach S.A.T. Prep Software Keywords: SAT SCHOLASTIC APTITUDE TEST PREPARATION SOFTWARE I would like to add a few comments to the SAT.TXT file observations on S.A.T. preparation programs. There are some basic things to keep in mind when purchasing or buying into any standardized test preparation program or study guide. There are three major flaws in most of the programs and study guides available. 1) The questions are not really much like those in the S.A.T. (or whatever test). There are certain patterns to the questions on these tests--and certain patterns not used. For example, the S.A.T. often has what they call "distractors." These are answers which are meant to distract the student from the correct answer. One S.A.T., for example, asked for the antonym of "BLUE," (in the sense of sad). Two of the answer choices were different colors (one was RED). Those distract many students from the right answer. That is typical S.A.T. It has to be--questions are arranged by difficulty and the "hard" ones must only be answered by 20% of those taking the test. Anyway, many books and programs have questions NOTHING like the real S.A.T. Some S.A.T. prep programs even have entire chapters of question types (SYNONYMS is a favorite) which the tests do not even ask! One "safe" way of avoiding this is by using resources which use actual S.A.T. questions (books such as 10 S.A.T.'S or CRACKING THE SYSTEM or programs such as VERBAL VANQUISH). 2) Many of the programs emphasize drill. You just keep answering questions until you supposedly get the hang of it. Drill may work for math tables and for sports, but studies have shown that drill alone does not help at all with the S.A.T. (The only advantage is that first-time takers get a feel for the test--provided the questions meet criterion #1 above). Drill does not work because 1) it's boring and 2) no one learns anything from it. The way to improve scores is by learning more--learning appropriate vocabulary, learning strategies, learning new math subjects which the test covers which you haven't studied in school yet. One computer program even comes with a picture of a gym coach on the box. It's a cute idea and I suppose it sells programs, but taking S.A.T. questions is not the same as doing pushups. It's not just a matter of doing them again and again to build something up--the brain is not a muscle! It is a matter of learning HOW to answer the questions and KNOWING WHAT they are asking that makes a difference. For S.A.T. strategies the classic now is CRACKING THE SYSTEM by Katzman and Robinson (book). It is excellent, though may be too sophisticated for some. UNDERSTANDING THE S.A.T. IN 10 EASY LESSONS by Raymond Karelitz is realistic. I believe the author is mistaken about reading the questions before the passage in the Reading Comprehension portions. I have spoken with him and he agrees that most of his students feel they spend too much time doing it that way. He no longer teaches it in his review courses. Other than that, it's a good book--and easy to use. The workbook A BETTER REASON by Alloway and Weisbrodt is good for Analogy questions. The program VERBAL VANQUISH emphasizes strategies. (I wrote it because I did not know of any program which did). 3) Many verbal study programs and books use words that NEVER appear on the S.A.T. Jim Chung of Edicom Systems tells me that the S.A.T. uses about 3,000 choice words. A lot of these words are academically-oriented, but they are words which any literate American should know. TIME Magazine is a good source of S.A.T. words. Some books and programs seem to pick words randomly from the dictionary. That's not the way to go. (Another hint-- the College Board is in New Jersey, not too from New York City. The test makers mostly read the NEW YORK TIMES. So do A LOT of college professors. That's a good source of words that people actually use.) Since 1979 when New York State passed its "truth in testing" law, published copies of all S.A.T.'s have been available. People have analyzed these and noted words which appear with some frequency. Computers have made the job easier. Probably the most famous list (updated every couple of years) is the Princeton Review HIT PARADE. It is a list of about 400 of the most commonly used words on the S.A.T. It is available free to any high school--if your high school English or Guidance department does not have it, they should. Other word lists or programs that have vocabulary elements which actually tie into the S.A.T. are UNDERSTANDING THE S.A.T. IN 10 EASY LESSONS by Raymond Karelitz, SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT VOCABULARY by J.R. Orgel, and CRACKING THE SYSTEM (books) and WORD-PART DICTIONARY, VERBAL VANQUISH, and VOCABMASTER (Programs). VOCABMASTER does not have questions like the S.A.T., but most of the words are S.A.T.-type vocabulary. Anyway, if the program or book does not contain those three flaws then it might work for you. It's kind of like buying a used car. Not every model is for everyone, but if the compression checks, there are no leaks, and the transmission works, you have a chance of taking off. Let me quote from a well-documented book ABOUT the S.A.T. It is not a study guide, but a journalistic research work which describes the S.A.T., the College Board, the Educational Testing Service. The author even tells you which two dictionaries they use to get their definitions. Few people probably know as much ABOUT the S.A.T. as David Owen, and this is what he writes about a few of the programs mentioned in the SAT.TXT file: "Computerized coaching courses are becoming quite popular. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich sells one for $79.95, COMPUTER S.A.T. It consists of copy of the Selubs' book , a "User's Manual," and two computer diskettes. [Elsewhere Owen writes of the book by Morton and Doris Selub on which the program is based, "One of the worst coaching books...Many of the Selubs' test items bear no resemblance whatsoever to items on a real S.A.T." (p. 115)] Students are supposed to read test questions from the book, then enter their answers on the computer. The computer tallies the mistakes and keeps track of the time but doesn't do much else. The SAT is a paper and pencil test; what anyone could gain from practicing it on a computer I can't imagine. Barron's sells a similar system, for the same price, based on its own execrable study guides. "The worst (and most expensive, at $299.95) computer SAT course I've tried is KRELL'S COLLEGE BOARD S.A.T. PREPARATION SERIES. Relatively few of Krell's SAT items are anything at all like ETS's [Educational Testing Service]. A great many of Krell's analogies are based on misspellings and anagrams (LOOP:POOL); ETS's never are. And I mean NEVER. Krell students also have to draw their own math diagrams, which is both an absurd waste of time and a terrible way to learn about the SAT. "The most expensive I know of is Borg-Warner's MICROSYSTEM 80 COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMINATION PREPARATION, at $1450. I haven't actually tried this package, but I know that it includes a synonym section [something none of the Board tests have had]." David Owen, NONE OF THE ABOVE: BEHIND THE MYTH OF SCHOLASTIC APTITUDE, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1985) 118, 119. So let the buyer beware! Two or three additional observations about the SAT.TXT file: 1. The guarantee mentioned by one company is nice, but not impressive considering the cost of the program to begin with and what Owen says about it. The College Board considers any score change of over 35 points per test to be significant. That means that the guarantee of an improvement of 70 points (35 + 35 per test) is not itself especially significant. It also means that a college may not be swayed by an improvement of 70 points. To them it would just show them your "range." If you were a borderline case, those 70 points could make a difference, but it's a calculated risk on the part of the program publisher. 2. When reviewing one program, the SAT.TXT writer asked if tougher questions made the program better. The "toughness" of the questions on S.A.T. programs is a factor which may help some students. The tests are organized according to difficulty. That is how they are scored and nationally normed. The easiest questions will be answered correctly by over 95% of the takers; the hardest, around 20% (the "random guessing" outcome). If learning how to answer more difficult questions raises your score because your "difficulty level threshold" was raised, then the program works for you. However, much more important than the difficulty itself is whether the questions are LIKE the S.A.T. questions. Are they difficult in the same way that the harder S.A.T. questions are difficult? (See Owen's review for what he says about the kind of questions on that particular program.) 3. The Edforum comment about the program which uses the "unique features of the computer" is revealing. I can understand where he is coming from. Drill IS boring. Why not have some bells and whistles? But more important is whether or not the program WORKS. What the program does with the computer may be fun and pretty--but does it work for the S.A.T.? Do you want a pretty face or something that raises scores? Keep in mind also that using a pencil and paper in a pressurized test situation is different from using a computer at home. This is another reason why some people do not feel drill-based programs help much. In VERBAL VANQUISH, I recommend that if people want to practice to see their potential scores, they should just get a copy of the 10 SAT'S book. "Ain't nothing like the real thing, baby." (Of course, it takes a couple of minutes to hand-score the tests...we all like the computer to figure the scores instantly for us.) I hope this provides an update for the SAT.TXT file and a perspective on the programs. James Bair 70730,3001 English Plus 11 Bartholomew Ave. Ansonia CT 06401