Articles & Essays | Ben Paris publications on SAT ACT GRE GMAT LSAT prep

This Counts as "Tough Vocabulary" Today

Remember “SAT” words? Those esoteric rhetorical coruscations, those shibboleths of erudition, those arbitrary arbiters of acumen? Well,...

Standardized Tests Magnify and Reflect Inequality

When the college admissions scandal (which desperately needs a catchy nickname) first hit, I was worried that the sheer outrageousness of...

Why Gifted Children May Not Test Well

“I don’t do well on tests.” Ever heard someone say this? Ever say it about yourself, or your child? You’re not alone. Many people believe...

The Anxiety Gender Gap

Anna was heading into her last week before she took the ACT, and all signs were good. She had scored nearly perfectly on three practice...

College Admissions Testing: Even More of an Arms Race

The ACT’s recent announcement that students will be able to retake individual sections sounds like good news, and as a test prep tutor, I ca

Educational Assessment and the Crisis in Higher Education

Imagine an educational program that takes 4 or more years of full-time effort, costs four times the typical annual salary of its...

The Thinking Behind the “Flipped” Classroom

Like many other educational innovations, the flipped classroom began with the recognition of a problem with the traditional way of teaching.

Critical Thinking is Vitally Important. But what is it, Anyway?

A recent Wall Street Journal article[1] reported a seemingly paradoxical situation: Employers generally agree that critical thinking is...

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