2010 April | The Brainscape Blog: Learn How to Learn Faster

How are Free Throws like College Admissions?

By Andy Lutz, 4/22/2010 at 11:28 pm

What do standardized tests such the SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, LSAT, or MCAT really measure? In my not-so-humble opinion, honestly, not much.

In an alternate universe, a young man named Shaquille steps to the free throw line. He knows he’s not good at this. He wishes he had practiced free throws long and hard instead of worrying about acquiring actual basketball post moves, dunks, and the ability to throw foes around the basketball court at will with strength and mobility. That stuff is all nice. But now he’s at the test: the free throw test. (more…)

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False promises of language immersion software

By Andrew Cohen, at 11:05 pm

The past decade has witnessed a huge surge in popularity of so-called “total immersion” language software – i.e., software that avoids all translation and grammar drills in favor of media-heavy activities based exclusively in the target language. (See Rosetta Stone, or French in Action.) These expensive programs easily lend themselves to marketing buzz and sexy press releases. Yet before we get swept up in an airport kiosk promising that we will learn our second language “just like we learned our first one,” we should be asking ourselves if these language programs really live up to their hype.

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Why Vocabulary still matters on the SAT

By Andrew Cohen, 4/21/2010 at 3:32 am

Creators of the SAT, GRE, and other high-stakes standardized tests claim that their recent revisions to the tests’ verbal sections have made them less vocabulary-intensive, in order to focus on students’ more fundamental skills. Many vocab-weak test-takers see this as a very positive change on the part of the tests’ designers. Why, then, do test-prep companies like Kaplan and The Princeton Review still focus such a large portion of their preparation materials on vocabulary exercises?

The truth is that vocabulary remains one of the best indicators of intelligence, whether or not standardized test creators or critics would like to admit it (Smith, Smith, Taylor, & Hobby, 2005). So even though the SAT has eliminated its analogies section in the name of softening the vocab intensity, the remaining sentence completion and reading comprehension activities in the Critical Reading section are still likely to contain many unfamiliar vocabulary words that can affect your ability to answer the questions correctly. Even your ability to write concise, intelligent answers to essay questions can be greatly hindered by a weak abstract vocabulary. (more…)

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How to choose the Best Test Prep for YOU

By Andy Lutz, 4/20/2010 at 7:40 pm

Advice from an expert on how to maximize the effectiveness of your prep—and your score!

There is a bewildering array of choices and tools available to improve scores on standardized tests (SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT, etc)—and with it the chance one will gain admission to a most desired college or graduate program. With this post, I hope to reduce confusion around these choices to help you find the clearest, most-efficient, cost-effective path to maximizing your score.

As a former, long-time test prep executive who ran product development for the world’s largest SAT preparation company (Princeton Review), I know first hand the diversity of products in the market. I spent over 15 years trying to help as many students as possible with our programs, so I understand what makes test prep effective (or not). (more…)

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5 tips for creating great flashcards

By Andrew Cohen, at 5:18 pm

For hundreds of years, flashcards have been a popular, convenient, and easy way to study or memorize a wide variety of subjects. Yet creating good flashcards is still an art that requires significant abstract thinking. We have therefore compiled a list of flashcard-creation guidelines that will ensure that your decks conform to modern cognitive science: (more…)

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Why so many Test Prep companies/choices?

By Andy Lutz, 4/18/2010 at 1:47 am

In 1999, the Princeton Review (my old home) provided two primary ways to help students to prepare for standardized tests such as the SAT, ACT, LSAT, GRE, GMAT, or MCAT: live instruction in small classes or a couple of books one could buy at the local bookstore. Eight years later, when I left the company, the choices had practically multiplied exponentially.

I referenced 1999 because that’s when my team started building Princeton Review’s first online courses. By 2007, companies offered up to 10 different books to prepare for a given test, online courses available at prices from free to $1000, shorter live courses at your school as relatively inexpensive as $200 up to retail courses for $1500, one-on-one tutoring for $400 an hour or more, and even prep on mobile devices such as a cell phone! Whew, long sentence. (more…)

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Test Prep can be expensive. Worth it?

By Andy Lutz, at 1:34 am

Does more expensive = better? In a word: sometimes. In the next couple of pages, I’ll give you some advice regarding the costs of test prep. If you want some history on how we got there, check out my previous post on test prep expansion history. The following includes my six steps to properly factoring cost into your decision for how to prep.

So how should cost come into Test Prep buying decisions? Here’s my 6 step approach for making that decision: (more…)

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What is PERFECT Test Prep?

By Andy Lutz, 4/17/2010 at 6:55 pm

Over my 16 years in test prep, I watched countless students prepare in a wide variety of ways. Test prep works for so many, but honestly, there is no one silver bullet I can share. Through all those years producing books, online and classroom courses, or tutoring services for various tests, I learned something now obvious: One size does not fit all. Every student is different. Your friend may improve his or her score with a given service, but that same service may do little or nothing for you. Conversely, you may up your own score using a completely different service that your friend found utterly useless. Unfortunately, there is no one answer to the question posed in the title.

Nevertheless, there are some critical elements you must consider as you embark on any test prep program. (more…)

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The Problem with Multiple-Choice Self-Tests

By Haitham Jendoubi, 4/16/2010 at 9:29 pm

Quizzes and study techniques generally come in two forms: production and recognition. Flashcard engines such as Brainscape lend themselves to the production variety of study, as they require the user to freely recall the target rather than simply recognizing it from among multiple choices. A large body of research shows that production is tremendously more effective than recognition even if the goal is to perform well on a multiple-choice test (see Karpicke and Roediger, 2006). (more…)

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The secret to learning more while studying less

By Andrew Cohen, at 4:45 pm

Have you ever been jealous of those students who seem to get great grades without much effort? Well, I’m gonna let you in on a little secret: Those students are not necessarily smarter than you are. They’ve simply figured out how to study more efficiently.