How to Score High on the PSAT

To improve your PSAT score, it is important to understand the format and content of the PSAT exam. Familiarizing yourself with the structure of the sections and the types of questions they contain is essential. Additionally, utilizing strategies to help you answer questions correctly and efficiently will also help boost your score.

This article provides helpful tips and strategies to help you reach your goal. Keep reading below.

ANSWER THE EASY ONES FIRST

For the PSAT, it is more beneficial to pass on the more complicated questions and focus on the ones that are easier and faster to answer. This is because all questions are worth the same amount, regardless of the difficulty. The only thing that matters is selecting the correct answer, no matter how you got there.

The PSAT does not require you to answer the questions in a specific order. Instead, you can use your knowledge and skills to get the most points. You may find it helpful to skip around and tackle the questions that you are most confident in first. With this strategy, you can maximize your score on the PSAT.

LEARN SMART GUESSING

The PSAT has four possible answers for each question, and you won’t be penalized for guessing. Even if you don’t know the answer, you still have a one-in-four shot of randomly choosing the right option. It’s worth taking a shot at the questions even if you don’t know the answer since you won’t lose any points for getting it wrong. The worst outcome is that you won’t earn any points on that question, so it’s worth a try!

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF

Take the time to care for yourself while studying for the test. Make sure you get enough sleep, eat nutritious meals, and avoid staying up all night before the exam. Reduce stress and fatigue, and don’t focus on negative thoughts. Prepare for the test with a positive outlook and view it as a chance to show off your knowledge.

WORK WITH PRACTICE TESTS

Taking practice tests before the exam is a great way to get ready for the exam. They help you familiarize yourself with the structure of the exam and also give you an idea of how well you are doing in terms of preparation. You can identify your weaker and stronger topics so that you can focus more on the weaker ones. Additionally, taking practice tests teaches you how to manage your time effectively, which is essential for any exam.

The key to successful PSAT preparation is focusing on the quantity and quality of questions you practice. Begin by taking practice tests or doing practice questions from official PSAT material. This will help you identify which areas you find difficult and need more practice with. After you complete the practice questions, try to determine what went wrong in any questions you got wrong, and work to understand how to avoid making the same mistakes again. This will help you become more confident and prepared for when you take the actual test.

BRUSH UP ON YOUR GRAMMAR

If you want to do well on the writing and language section of the exam, it’s essential to make sure that you are familiar with basic grammar rules. Pay attention to any errors that sound correct but are incorrect so that you don’t make the same mistake on the test. It’s good that there are not too many concepts tested in this section, so you don’t have to spend a lot of time studying to improve your score.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Researching, practicing, and reviewing the material is essential to achieving a satisfactory PSAT score. Several resources are available to help students prepare, including online practice tests, study guides, and test-taking strategies. Working with a tutor or taking a prep course can also provide extra guidance and support. With the right approach and dedication, students can feel confident and well-prepared for the PSAT.

Content provided by Kenny Tan Test Prep. If you are looking for a PSAT tutor, choose Kenny Tan Test Prep, which helps students get into the best public and private schools, including Ivy League and other top-tier universities. Schedule a free consultation.

The Best Ways You Can Overcome Test Anxiety Today

The Dirty Little Secret Other Parents Don’t Want You to Know…Until it’s Too Late!

On a beautiful hot summer day at an Ivy League university, some parents of incoming freshmen are at a garden reception to welcome them and their students to the school. There are cheese and crackers, freshly baked cookies and lemonade, and the parents are catching their breath after moving their kids into their dorms.

The topic of conversation between the parents soon become how many schools the kids applied to and how they were accepted to this top Ivy League school. It turned out that both students took advantage of admissions consulting services.

The dirty little secret of Ivy League parents is that many of them use admissions consultants, but they won’t let you know until their kids are already attending the school of their choice. When their kids are applying, they will not likely let you know for fear of competition. It is after their kids are attending the schools that they start trading notes. Ivy week came and went, and there were many tears from parents and kids who didn’t get in. What went wrong? You didn’t know what you were doing!

I recently received this mailing from Solomon Admissions showing the 2020-2021 average acceptance rates of students to top schools with and without Solomon’s consulting:

As you can see from the above, there is definitely an advantage to hiring a consultant. A consultant will guide the student throughout the admissions process. The schools are looking for passion and the consultant can help find that passion and make the student’s application be the best it can be.

One parent we interviewed paid over $10,000 to Solomon for their services. Was he happy with the results? Well, his kid didn’t get into Harvard (the student didn’t apply). However, the student did get into one of the Ivy League universities listed in Solomon’s mailing. The parent’s only regret is that Solomon did not get involved sooner. If Solomon had started guiding the student during her freshman year in high school, she would not have wasted time on less important things like science Olympiad, which she was not passionate about, and instead focused on her passion, which was sports and fitness. But to tell you the truth, how can normal teenagers be expected to know what their passion is? It’s all a crapshoot anyway. The college consultant just makes your student sound better than the rest. And that is the dirty truth no one wants you to know until their kids get into the top schools.

Ivy League Golf Courses

As an avid observer of business networking dynamics and tools, I have been trying to get my child to take golf lessons. Unfortunately, opportunities did not present themselves and in NYC, the best option is the driving range at Chelsea Piers. Expensive and too much work to get to when you do not live in Manhattan. Also, can the driving range and video simulations actually teach a child to play golf better than playing on a real golf course? I think not.

Imagine my excitement when I learned that Cornell has its own on-campus golf course. This is where our future masters of the universe can start to learn to network. Take a look at Google Maps and you will see that it is indeed close enough for your child to go on a regular basis. The golf course is accessible by bus.

If you are a Cornell student, you can take advantage of this great opportunity to learn the skills you need to succeed in the workplace. According to this New York Post article, after college, it is way harder to learn how to golf.

Upon further investigation, it seems the Cornell golf course has not been kept up to par. It is a shame that this beautiful course cannot be as glorious as it once was. However, as of this writing, Cornell is proposing to make renovations at its Robert Trent Jones Golf Course: installation of new stormwater drainage lines would be installed, and replacement of some sand bunkers with turf.

Yale University has a beautiful golf course that is featured in many Golf magazines. So, if you are lucky enough to be a Yale student, be sure to take golf lessons soon.

My Three-Year Old Learned to Read with Hooked on Phonics

We were stopped at a red light when my three-year old daughter said, “na-ka-ta”, reading the sign of a Japanese restaurant. I heard her and tears started to well in my eyes. For the past few months, I had been sitting with her at the kitchen table with the Hooked on Phonics book, teaching her phonics like cat, sat, nat.

Being an immigrant who did not learn English until age eight, I realized the importance of being able to read. I did not take it for granted or leave it up to the teachers. I wanted to show my daughter the possibilities after one learns to read.

Yes, a kid can start to read at age three. Why is this important? Your kid can get a head start on all the educational possibilities after learning to read. Your kid will always be above grade reading level, and be put in the better classes. This affects the education of your child more than you know. After teaching my child to read, I was able to make my child do workbooks for active learning. This allowed her to pass entrance exams to get into honors programs, top high schools and ace the SATs— and become an Ivy League university student.

I checked out the Hooked on Phonics website and they’ve provided a lot more material than was available to us 15 years ago, when I used the awesome tools for reading. I highly recommend that you check out some of the free samples and see what they can do to help your child learn to read.

Ask an Ivy League Mom

Dear ILM,

Will an SAT score of 1560 out of 1600 and a 4.0 Grade Point Average and excellent extracurriculars (tennis and president of the finance club) get me into an Ivy League university?

Answer:

There are no guarantees that a great SAT score and perfect grades will get you into the Ivy League. The schools reject plenty of students with flawless scores and grades; there are just too many applicants to allow everyone in. It’s all based on what your college is looking for that year. If you are great at tennis, and they happened to need a tennis player that year, that might help your application. If they need someone who is really interested in finance and have done unique things to demonstrate that interest and you fit the bill, that might help your application. You cannot predict your acceptance based on grades alone, because the colleges get a ton of students with perfect grades, most of whom they must reject. If your family can afford it, we suggest that you hire a college coach early to determine what you need to concentrate on to make your application stand out. One college coach we spoke to said to apply to the less competitive majors, such as art or labor relations instead of finance, then transfer later on if the school will allow. We suggest that you look into yourself and ask what are you passionate about that can help make the world a better place, and start something that would help your community. Something unique, something that few have done before. Perhaps help low-income kids learn tennis, or start a website to help people learn finance.

Some suggestions:

Apply early decision to your top choice school. There is less competition for early decision, and colleges will more likely to accept you to increase their yield of acceptances. Be aware, however, that you are committed to that school and agree to attend regardless of the financial aid package. Therefore, be sure you have plenty of money in your college fund or be prepared to borrow.
Concentrate on your essay. Top colleges will be reviewing your essay very carefully, so make sure you write a great essay that shows what you are all about.
Work on your community service. Do as much good for society as possible and put it on your application. Build websites for churches and charities. Volunteer. Raise money for the local food bank. Ask not what a school can do for you but what you can do for the school and society!

How to Afford a College Education

If you add a little to a little, and then do it again, soon that little shall be much.” —Hesoid

A very wise woman once told me that money provides freedom in life, and a college education is expensive at around $60,000 to $80,000 a year (with room and board) at the time of this writing in 2022. If you are extremely rich, you don’t have to worry about this part. However, for the rest of us, money for education is something we need to consider as soon as your kid is born. There are groups on Facebook about paying for college for high income families.

You have 18 years to come up with the money: how will you spend these 18 years? If you have a rich relative who is kind, perhaps you can get him or her to start a college fund for your child. Even if your kid has a college fund, keep on adding to it every year, because you just never know if you will need more money. What if your kid wants to attend graduate school after college? However, if the rich relative never appears, you need to start a college fund yourself as soon as possible. A 529 account is a tax-free account for college as long as the expenses are used for college. If you do not withdraw from the fund, your child can continue to keep the fund and use it for her child’s educational expenses.

Whatever you do, invest early and invest often. Invest as soon as the kid is born.

We used the Mass Mutual calculator to see how much one needs to save for a kid born today (2022):

When your first child goes to a private 4-year college in 2040, their total estimated tuition will be $517,293.

To fund your children’s education you need to save $1,251 per month until 2043.

In addition to your contributions of $320,346, your college savings could grow by $196,947 over 22 years.

Based on this calculator, you need to save $15,012 per year around 21 years. If you split the savings into months, it makes the amount a bit easier to stomach. One thing you need to watch out for is not to be too aggressive with your investment choices as your kid becomes closer to college-age. Yes, in 2021, the S&P 500 returned 26.89% but so far in March 2022, the S&P returned negative 12.17%. You can lose so much money in just a few months if you are not careful! If you are in a 529 account, make sure to stick to the age of the child recommendations in the fund. Look at what happened to the stock market between 2021 and 2022 before you get too confident that your money will keep on going up and your child is close to going to college (as in within a year or less).

There are Facebook pages about affording college. One of the more popular ones is called Paying for College for High-Income Families 101. It is good just to lurk and read posts by parents to learn how people are saving and trying to afford college.

Another thing to trick yourself to save if you are a parent is to increase the taxes that your employers take out of your paycheck so that you get a bigger refund at tax time. If you claim single and zero deductions, the employer will take out a lot more for taxes. Or, you can just ask them to take out more taxes. Then, you or your accountant can file your taxes using the formula for married filing jointly (if that is your situation) and you will get a huge tax refund especially if you have child tax credits and other tax deductions such as a mortgage.

Apply for as many scholarships as possible. You never know, maybe someone will give you some money for college. Your high school guidance counselor should be emailing opportunities for scholarships.

I have heard good things about work study, but if your child needs to concentrate on school, it is up to you whether this is a good thing for you. Of course, there are people who have no choice but to work, and this is fine too.

If you are a student who is reading this and your parents did not save any money for your education, should you take out loans? Often, this is the only way you can stay in school. Yes, you might owe a lot of money when you graduate, but you have a chance to make something of your life with this degree. With some hard work, ambition and smarts, you will never lose money with an Ivy League degree. An Ivy League education is the best investment you can make in yourself. You will gain access to a group of people who can help you in so many ways. Let me tell you about a girl who was offered an opportunity to go to law school. She was working in a retail store at the time, and she could not quit any faster. She left the store with a big bag of books that she purchased at the bookstore for her courses, and never looked back. She signed for the student loans and just concentrated on her school work. She did not know this, but the tuition they charged was a bargain because the tuition would increase tremendously year after year. When she got married, her husband’s family paid off her student loans. She worked as an attorney and became a self-made millionaire due to the blind faith that she would succeed one day. That is manifestation, ladies and gentlemen. Believe that it will happen and it will.

Secret Backdoors to the Ivy League

A secret we learned from a college admissions counselor who charges tens of thousands of dollars is that you should always try to apply to the less popular majors, so you have less competition. Everyone wants to go to Wharten for finance, so apply to Penn for art, and you will have a higher chance of getting in. Our Ivy League Moms Club also have reported the following secret backdoors into Penn:

Penn Liberal and Professional Studies (LPS)—Lower admission standards but you graduate with a Bachelor’s degree from Penn

Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) combination degree with Penn —If your child is into fine arts, then the PAFA/Upenn joint degree is perfect. PAFA is a top fine arts college and you go there for three years and apply to Penn to complete your Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree at Upenn. Acceptance into Penn is not guaranteed (they have criteria you need to meet), but it is a way in if you want to major in art. What can you do with a BFA? Lots of careers: Curator of a museum, garllerist, architect, designer, animator, etc.

The Columbia School of General Studies—for students who have been out of school for a year or so, who would like to go back to school

Columbia University School of General Studies (GS) is the only college of its kind created to meet the needs of returning and nontraditional students seeking a rigorous, traditional, Ivy League undergraduate degree full or part time.

When you join us, you’ll become a fully integrated member of the global Columbia undergraduate community and learn from world-renowned faculty. You’ll be guided by dedicated academic advisors experienced in supporting nontraditional students and have access to extensive research-backed support programs.
Columbia School of General Studies website

The Yale University Whitney Program

The Yale Admissions website states:

Students are eligible to apply to the Eli Whitney Students Program if they do not already hold bachelor’s degrees and:

they have taken at least a five-year break from their education at some point in their educational careers
Or they will have been out of high school for five or more years by the time of their proposed Yale matriculation.

The Harvard Extension School

You can get a certificate at Harvard by taking courses, and then stacking the certificate into a degree if you take enough courses.

Sports for Future Ivy Leaguers

What sports should a potential Ivy Leaguer pursue to gain admission into the Ivy League? The Ivy League is a collegiate athletic conference consisting of eight private universities in the Northeast United States. The term Ivy League became official after the formation of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I athletic conference in 1954. There are sixteen men’s and sixteen women’s sports in the Ivy League championships:

Women’s Ivy League Sports

Basketball
Cross-country
Fencing
Field Hockey
Golf
Ice hockey
Lacrosse
Rowing
Soccer
Softball
Squash
Swimming and diving
Tennis
Track and field (indoor)
Track and field (outdoor)
Volleyball

Men’s Ivy League Sports

Baseball
Basketball
Cross-country
Fencing
Football
Golf
Ice hockey
Lacrosse
Rowing
Soccer
Squash
Swimming and diving
Tennis
Track and field (indoor)
Track and field (outdoor)
Wrestling

If you are a parent of a small child, and you were to choose a sport for the main purpose of getting your child into an Ivy, which sport should you choose? Well, the experts would tell you to choose a sport that your child would enjoy first. However, the word on the street is that squash and rowing would make your child stand out. However, if you want to give your child a leg up on networking in the business world, perhaps golf and tennis would be good choices, as those are sports that executives play at the country club.

Why is Getting a Child Admitted to the Ivy League so Important to Some Parents?

Hint: Money- It is Like Winning the Lottery

Why am I passionate about my child attending an Ivy League college? Because I have seen the access, privileges and things that Ivy Leaguers can get. And as a parent, it is my job to get the best for my child. The Ivy League is a private club that few can get in, but once you are in, you can have access to better jobs, make more money, network with a certain group of people (other Ivy Leaguers who have gotten these benefits and are now powerful), get wined and dined by companies just looking to recruit Ivy League students. One reader sent in this story:

When I was a law student, I got into a program that assigned me to a prestigious internship with a federal judge. I personally did not attend a top law school, but the judge assigned to me was an alumnus of Ivy League schools and only hired clerks who attended prestigious schools. This is the case with most Federal judges; they all want the best. I was lucky that I was part of the program, so I was vouched by the program organizers. While in chambers, I was able to see that these Ivy League clerks had it all: federal clerkships, large bonuses as a result of the clerkship in the guaranteed jobs in large law firms eager to hire them. I did not have access to any of these perks because I was not part of the club. The other interns chosen by the judge who attended top law schools talked about the wining and dining by law firms. They attended several recruiting events a month. It is really a different world for Ivy Leaguers.
Lower-Tier Law Mom

Connections-Friendship and Beyond

Ivy Leaguers wish to connect with other elite graduates like themselves. It’s like a private club.

Jobs

Ivy Leaguers get the best jobs. Just look on LinkedIn and you will see that more often than not, the top financial, law and consulting firms employ Ivy League graduates.

Prestige

People love to brag about having graduated from an Ivy League university. It raises the esteem of a person to have been part of a prestigious college, and it opens doors.

Most Importantly: Money- It is Like Winning the Lottery

According to The Years that Matter Most: How College Makes or Breaks Us, by Paul Tough, using research by Raj Chetty, the famous Harvard economist who utilized tax returns and college data, students who attend Ivy League and other elite colleges become very wealthy as adults. Ivy League plus graduates (of Ivy League schools plus Stanford, MIT, Duke and the University of Chicago) have a 1-in-5 chance of achieving the 1% by their mid-30s, making more than $630,000; at other elite schools, the chances are 1-in-11; at community colleges, the odds are only 1-in-300. Imagine being in the 1% by your mid-thirties! The Ivy League gives a student the confidence and motivation to become richer than they could ever imagine. This is what people dream of.

Want to make six-figures right out of college?

Attend these schools and major in the following, and you can make $100,000+ right out of college:

MIT—Economics, Computer Science, Mathematics, Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering

University of Pennsylvania—Nursing, computer science, Financial Management, Systems Engineering

Stanford University–Computer Science

Princeton University– Computer Science, Economics

Dartmouth– Computer Science, Economics

Cornell—Computer Science

Columbia- Computer Science

Yale—Computer and information Sciences

Harvard- Computer Science, Statistics

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Collegescorecard.ed.gov

Money Recruits Ivy League

True story: a mom friend who is a lawyer once volunteered at the local bar association and offered to mentor some students. She took two students from Columbia law school to lunch. It was no slice of pizza or a sandwich either, it was a hot pot all you can eat in Chinatown for $39 a person that the students said they wanted to go to. The Columbia students did not even thank her for lunch, no email, no text, nothing. The next time she saw them at the bar association, one of them looked at her awkwardly as he walked in late for his internship meeting at the association. Turns out the Columbia Law students are used to being wined and dined by firms eager to recruit them for jobs. They said that they get invited to receptions on a weekly basis, so they thought that the mom got money from the bar association to take them to lunch, even though she paid with her own money.

Why do Firms Recruit at Ivy Leagues Schools

Firms recruit from Ivy League schools because everyone wants the best, and since these schools were selective already, the perception is that the selection has been done for them. The top jobs at big firms most often go to the graduates of Ivy League and other elite schools. This also raises the prestige of the firm, so that the firm can sell to the client that so many graduates of elite firms will be handling the work.

Ivy League Graduates are on the Forbes list of Billionaires.

Seventy-one of the Forbes 400 billionaires for 2021 went to seven Ivy League schools: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, Dartmouth and UPenn. Not surprisingly, Harvard is at the top of the list, which contributed more alumni on The Forbes 400 than any other university — with 15. This excludes Harvard’s infamous dropouts: Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. Fourteen graduates of The University of Pennsylvania were in the Forbes 400 in 2020. Yale and Stanford tied for top three with 12 graduates each.

The 2021 Forbes 400 List of the Richest Americans: 12 Colleges with the Most Undergraduate Alumni

#1 Harvard University

Forbes 400 members: 15

#2 University of Pennsylvania

Forbes 400 members: 14

#3 (tie) Stanford University

Forbes 400 Members: 12

#3 (tie) Yale University

Forbes 400 Members: 12

#5 University of Southern California

Forbes 400 Members: 10

#6 Cornell University

Forbes 400 Members: 9

#7 Princeton University

Forbes 400 members: 8

#8 (tie) University of Michigan

Forbes 400 members: 7

#8 (tie) Columbia University

Forbes 400 members: 7

#10 University of California, Berkeley

Forbes 400 members: 6

#10 (tie) Dartmouth College

Forbes 400 members: 6

# 10 (tie) Duke University

Forbes 400 members 6

Ivy Leaguers Make Bank

The most highly paid jobs in the United States come from the following firms:

Technology

Financial

Consulting

Law firms

These firms recruit from Ivy League and other elite colleges more often than from other colleges. Then, there are the fintech companies, often started by Ivy League and Ivy Plus students, such as Stripe ($95 billion valuation, founded by Harvard and MIT students, processes credit cards for small businesses and large companies such as Zoom and Microsoft) and Robinhood ($11.1 billion valuation, started by Stanford student, more than 13 million users buy commission-free stocks, ETFs, options and cryptocurrencies on the app).

Ways to Get Rich

Here are some ways people get rich in the Ivy League

Job at a top firm

If you look on LinkedIn, you will see the school of each person’s account and the company where they work. More often than not, the most prestigious companies have the most number of Ivy Leaguers. There are at least four different types of companies where you can make lots of money right out of school: technology, finance, consulting and law firms. These companies concentrate their recruiting at Ivy League universities most often. Therefore, if you just get a job at a top firm, make the high salaries, save your money, max out the 401k and other retirement plans, you will do very well.

Start their own companies

Did you know Warby Parker was started by UPenn graduates? The Ivy League is full people who have started innovative technology companies. According to Forbes, in an analysis of 13,000 startup founders, Pitchbook added first-round funding between 2006 and the end of August 2019 by the startup founder’s university, 9 out of the 10 top schools for venture capital (VC) came from the United States’ Silicon Valley and Ivy League universities. The colleges that boasted the most VC-backed startups are Stanford, UC Berkeley, MIT, Harvard, University of Michigan, Tel Aviv, University of Texas and University of Illinois. Stanford produced such companies as DoorDash and Snapchat. Between 2012 and 2017, the following universities produced students with the most successful patent applications (indicator of innovation): Stanford, MIT, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, University of Washington, UNC Chapel Hill, KU Leuven (Belgium), University of Southern California, Cornell and Imperial College London (UK).

Network with classmates and alum

Ivy Leaguers tend to trust other Ivy Leaguers, so they are more interested in networking with their fellow classmates and alumni. When you are looking to start a company, or are seeking a job, you are more likely to be successful when reaching out to former classmates in the network. Some places to network include LinkedIn and the Ivy Clubs, as well as alumni associations. Money circulates amongst the rich with relationships and connections.

Marry a rich classmate

According to Forbes, the most number of billionaires come from the Ivy League, many of whom inherited family money. Inheritance and marriage remain the top way that people become wealthy, and there is a large concentration of single wealthy individuals at Ivy League universities. See next chapter for the full details.

How to Get Rich by Attending an Ivy League University

Here are some ways people get rich by going to an Ivy League college:

Job at a Top Firm

If you look on Linkedin, you will see the school of each person’s account and the company where they work. More often than not, the most prestigious companies have the most number of Ivy Leaguers. There are at least four different types of companies where you can make lots of money right out of school: technology, finance, consulting and law firms. These companies concentrate their recruiting at Ivy League universities most often. Therefore, if you just get a job at a top firm, make the high salaries, save your money, max out the 401k and other retirement plans, you will do very well.

2. Start their own Companies

3. Network with Classmates and Alum

4. Marry a Rich Classmate

How to Get Your MRS Degree in College

How to Get Into Stuyvesant High School

Mom Who Attended Stuyvesant Shares How Her Kid Also Passed the SHSAT:

Stuyvesant High School is a top feeder school to Harvard. In fact, according to The Harvard Crimson, one out of every twenty Harvard freshmen attended one of the following seven high schools most represented in the class of 2017: Boston Latin, Phillips Academy in Andover, Stuyvesant High School, Noble and Greenough School, Phillips Exeter Academy, Trinity School in New York City, and Lexington High School. If you are thinking of attending Stuyvesant High School, you probably live in or are thinking of moving to New York City. The two schools that are Harvard feeder schools that are located in New York are Trinity School and Stuyvesant. Trinity costs around $60,000 per year and Stuyvesant is free. Yes, Trinity is wonderful if you can afford it, but there is something to be said for a free education. Plus, Stuyvesant is an entire building of top-notch learning: an entire floor dedicated to math, another floor dedicated to biology, and an Olympic-sized pool.

Stuyvesant High School made public the students from 2016-2019 of the number of kids who attended the Ivy+ schools (Ivies, UChicago, Stanford, MIT) for 2016 to 2019:

Cornell – 193
UChicago – 100
MIT – 42
Harvard – 41
Yale – 35
Princeton – 34
Columbia – 16
Penn between 15 to 23
Brown between 9 to 21
Dartmouth between 8 to 16
Stanford between 3 to 15

Total 496 to 536 for four years

That’s 124 to 134 per year

About 842 seniors in Class of 2019

So 14.7% to 15.9% each year to Ivy+ (source https://tophscollege.blogspot.com)

However, the numbers above are pretty darn good for a free public school education!

Now compare Phillips Academy in Andover (2017 to 2020)…

UChicago – 55

Harvard – 48

Yale – 43

Cornell – 36

Penn – 34

Columbia – 32

MIT – 30

Brown – 29

Stanford – 27

Princeton – 26

Dartmouth – 19

Total 379 for four years

That’s about 94.75 per year

About 294 seniors in Class of 2020

So about 32.2% each year go to Ivy+(source https://tophscollege.blogspot.com)

I am especially qualified to teach you how to get into Stuyvesant because not only did I graduate from Stuy, my child also scored high enough on the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) to get in there. To attend Stuyvesant and other specialized high schools in New York City, you have to pass the SHSAT. If you are a parent who has dreams of your child attending Stuyvesant someday, then start with workbooks that you can order from Amazon for math and English. Teach your child to read by age 3 with Hooked on Phonics. Yes, three-year-olds can learn to read if you just sit there with them and teach them.

Also, Sudoku puzzles are excellent for training the brain. At least two years before the test, send your child to group tutoring classes such as Kaplan, and if economically feasible, hire private tutors. However, if money is an issue, then just order some SHSAT workbooks and have your child do the problems in the book. Active learning (doing problems and looking up the answers) is key. There are also Official SHSAT Handbooks with the real tests, which you can also have your child practice as if she were taking the actual exam. The goal is to have thousands of questions answered under your belt so the answers pop out at you during the test. Yes, your brain works in mysterious ways when you train it right.

Also, visit Stuyvesant and have your child see what is possible. Let your child imagine swimming in the beautiful Olympic pool. Manifest your destiny, work hard, and you will attend the school of your choice.

Since Stuyvesant has the highest cut-off score of all the specialized high schools, consider Staten Island Technical High School, Bronx High School of Sciences or Brooklyn Technical High School. The aforementioned schools are also top schools in boroughs other than Manhattan, and although not necessarily feeder schools to the Ivy League, send plenty of students to the Ivies. Rest assured that your child will get a great education for the bargain price of free. This allows you to save money for other things, such as tutoring, summer programs, extra-curricular activities, college tuition, etc.

When I studied for the SHSAT many decades ago, I did not use a tutor. However, nowadays, almost everyone hires tutors, so you don’t want to miss out. I found Kenny Tan on Wyzant, and contacted him immediately. Kenny tutored my daughter for the SHSAT and as a result, she scored high enough on the SHSAT to gain admission to Stuyvesant High School. My daughter became so good at math that she started to tutor students younger than her for one of her extra-curricular activities. She also achieved an almost perfect score on the SAT. I am happy to report that my kid was accepted into an Ivy League university recently.

I had the opportunity to speak to Kenny Tan recently and asked him what made his method so effective?

I am different from many tutors because I encourage students to use answer explanations to study their mistakes before each lesson. During the lesson, I check for complete understanding by asking students to explain why the answer choice they chose was incorrect and why a different answer choice was actually the correct answer. I then bridge any gaps in understanding that we identify. I believe that students haven’t mastered a concept unless they can teach it correctly themselves. Students who self-prep or enroll in a group class are rarely given such a challenge. Therefore, the real value of a tutor is in ensuring students have correctly understood each concept before moving on to the next one.
Kenny Tan, tutor

Some of my favorite tips from Kenny about how to do well on the SHSAT:

Use High Quality Material– You can find all authentic SHSAT tests here. See the latest SHSAT test below, but be sure to save it for testing under real simulation: timed, in a classroom setting, after your student has sufficiently prepared.

Ivyleague.mom_.shsat2023 Download

2. Be Relentless in Learning from Your Mistakes. Yes, I agree with Kenny, and mistakes are necessary for you to learn. It was helpful to have Kenny explain what my daughter did wrong in a tutoring session and for her to learn from her mistakes.

Anyone interested in tutoring can schedule a consultation with Kenny Tan using this link.

Also, check out Kenny’s website which contains a wealth of information on the SHSAT.

What if your child does not score high enough to get into any of the specialized high schools? Consider moving to Great Neck, NY, with the #2 top school district in New York. Students in Great Neck South High School receive a stellar education and get admitted to Ivy League universities. Here is a renovated 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment for sale in the Great Neck South school district. See it before it gets sold!

Would you like more information about how to get into Stuyvesant High School? Subscribe to the Ivy League Mom newsletter for top tips:

*How to score high enough on the SHSAT to get into Stuyvesant High School, Staten Island Technical High School, Brooklyn Technical High School and the Bronx High School of Science.

*Which school should you select on the SHSAT form for the best chance of getting into a specialized high school?

*Is Stuyvesant High School always the best option?

*The best way to prep for the SHSAT.

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When to Visit Colleges

To manifest your child’s destiny, visit colleges as soon as you can. Manifestation is to bring something you want into your life through attraction and belief: what you think will happen will happen. I do not mean visiting colleges in the senior year of high school. I mean when your kid is around eight years old, start exposing the child to what colleges he can aspire to. Go on vacation to Connecticut and visit Yale; Madison Beach Hotel is close by and very relaxing (you can stay there for free with your Hilton weekend certificates; otherwise the hotel is quite pricey). Right now, if you apply for the Hilton Amex card, you can get 60,000 bonus points and a free weekend night certificate. Go to Boston on vacation and visit Harvard and MIT. While visiting the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, stop off at University of Pennsylvania. Show your kid what he can achieve with good grades. The Secret teaches us that we achieve what we set our minds to do. Therefore, we must show our kids what to focus on.

Showing your child a prestigious college unleashes the power of manifesting. When my child was seven, we started visiting colleges. Of course, we started with the best: Harvard. Boston in the summer is gorgeous, and we toured Harvard with the rest of the tourists, some also had their young children in tow. Another great tourist attraction in Boston is the plentiful lobsters and we had a great time there. I still recall the delicious twin lobsters in the beautiful outdoor restaurant near the water. The more you expose a child to the places you want her to go, the more it becomes familiar, and eventually it will be a goal within reach. A child who has seen what is possible will work harder to get good grades, score well on standardized tests, participate in extra-curricular activities, whatever it takes to get into an elite school.

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Around the time of end of junior year of high school, you might consider visiting colleges you would like to apply to for demonstrating interest. College admissions officers sometimes like to see demonstrated interest by prospective students before they make the decision to admit a student because they want to know the student will accept. Because universities seek to improve their yield – or raise the number of students who accept admission offers – they look for demonstrated interest. Further, some admissions officers have said that they would view it as a lack of interest on the student’s part if they lived close by and didn’t ever visit. It would be wise to visit a college so you can see where you will be taking classes and the surrounding neighborhood. Finally, visiting colleges can allow you to write a better and personalized “why us” essay, which is what colleges are looking for.