top of page
Search
Getting Started with the SAT and ACT in 2025
Here are some common questions about what’s changed with SAT/ACT preparation in 2025. If you have other questions or want more...
benparis21
Apr 1
0
Assessing the ACT Changes (From 2024)
[This essay appeared in Inside Higher Ed in 2024.] Starting next spring, the ACT will see some major changes . It will be shorter, and...
benparis21
Apr 1
0
Choosing Between the SAT and ACT
If you’re thinking about taking a standardized test to help your admissions chances, the first step is to decide whether you want to...
benparis21
Apr 29, 2024
0
Beating Test Stress
For years, more and more colleges went test optional. But the tide has turned. More and more selective colleges, including MIT,...
benparis21
Apr 29, 2024
0
Standardized Tests and College Admissions 2024
Standardized tests are in the news again, and both students and parents have questions about the importance of the tests and what “test...
benparis21
Apr 29, 2024
0
The SAT's Proposed "Adversity Score" (From 2019)
[This essay of mine appeared on Inside Higher Ed in 2019, just as the College Board announced that it would assign an "adversity score"...
benparis21
Apr 29, 2024
0
Failing to Improve Critical Thinking
[This essay of mine originally appeared in Inside Higher Ed in 2016. I recently looked at it again and stand by it! Hope you like it.]...
benparis21
Apr 29, 2024
0
Are We Sure we're better off without Standardized Tests?
Are We Sure We’re Better Off Without Standardized Tests? Critics of standardized tests won a big victory recently, as the American Bar...
benparis21
Jun 28, 2023
0
Keep the LSAT
It measures important skills, guards against grade inflation, and provides an alternate path to success. The knives are out for the LSAT....
benparis21
Jun 28, 2023
0
Effort Isn't Everything
For a while, everyone was talking about Maitland Jones, the NYU organic chemistry professor let go after some of his students created a...
benparis21
Jun 28, 2023
0
Standardized Tests and College Admissions Strategy 2023
More colleges are test optional, and the SAT is changing. What does this mean for you? The college admissions process is changing, and...
benparis21
Jun 28, 2023
0
This Counts as "Tough Vocabulary" Today
Remember “SAT” words? Those esoteric rhetorical coruscations, those shibboleths of erudition, those arbitrary arbiters of acumen? Well,...
Ben Paris
Mar 21, 2021
0
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...
Ben Paris
Mar 7, 2021
0
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...
Ben Paris
Feb 3, 2021
0
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...
Ben Paris
Feb 3, 2021
0
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
Ben Paris
Jan 18, 2021
0
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...
Ben Paris
Jan 18, 2021
0
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.
Ben Paris
Jan 18, 2021
0
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...
Ben Paris
Aug 19, 2016
0
bottom of page