Omniac Attack: Expert Tutor Tips!

Hey Albuquerque students!

The October 23rd ACT is just a day away and at least some of you are starting to panic.  And there's some good reason for that.  It's one of the first really important things most high school students will have to do, which makes it stressful; and the October exam is the last chance that seniors will probably have to take it before their applications are due, which only adds to the stress.  But our Omniac tutors have three simple, last minute ideas that are sure to make the test easier and reduce your stress.

By the time that students become seniors, they have been introduced to every single concept that they find on the ACT.  That said, students still miss far more questions than they probably should.  

There are two main reasons for so many missed questions:  the ACT deliberately writes questions to be confusing to students and most students get so focused on answering every question that they rush through the test and make simple mental mistakes that can and should be easily prevented.  

Simply put, you should slow down while taking the ACT.  Unless you are aiming for a score of 30 or higher, there's absolutely no need to answer every single question.  By taking your time, and spending as much time as needed to answer questions correctly, you can increase the percentage of questions you get even though you're doing fewer questions.  As long as you keep up a medium pace, you'll get more points and improve your score.  You'll also be under a lot less stress on test day...

Far too many students get so hung up on finding the right answer that they miss opportunities to find the wrong answer.  As we said earlier, the ACT asks questions in such as way that finding the right answer is difficult.  However, finding wrong answers is often significantly easier.  

Focus on using the Process of Elimination to find wrong answers and get rid of them (we actually recommend that you physically cross them out in your test booklet).  Best case scenario is that you find three wrong answers and are left with one right answer.  Worst case scenario is that you have to guess from two or three possible choices instead of four.  Either way, you're a little better off and a whole lot less stressed.

Even if you're a senior and you have applications due soon, you can always take the test again.  Many universities will allow you to submit test scores even after you've sent in your application.  If you're unhappy with the results you get from tomorrow's test, send those in with your application anyway, take the test in December and then update your application with your December scores.  

And, of course, if you're a junior, you have plenty of time to retake the test.  There is one bad thing about this though.  Unless you're just a point or so away from the score you want, just taking the test again probably won't get you all the way there.  You actually have to prepare for this test and change the way you take it if you want to significantly increase your score.  Fortunately, there are a myriad of options available for doing just that, ranging from study guides to full test prep course.  Whichever method you think will be best for you, you have plenty of time to get ready!

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Hey La Cueva students!

For those of you who attended our practice ACT and Teachback last month, we have great news for you!  And if you were unable to attend either, well, the news is still pretty great.  

Omniac Executive Director, Mark Truman, will be at La Cueva on Wednesday, October 20th from 7 PM to 9 PM, to give out lots of great information about college admissions.

Mark will be talking about several different points, focusing on the process of applying to college itself.  There are two main types of universities, selective and non-selective schools, and each has its own set of advantages and each has very specific things that it looks for in its applicants.  Mark will break down the differences between these two types of schools, will lay out many of the advantages that each one has, and will go in depth to look at exactly what each will want in your application.

Next, Mark will enter the labyrinthine world of financial aid.  As Mark will explain, paying for college is much easier than most people think.  The big problem is that very few know where to start and most financial aid offices are notoriously unhelpful and uninformative.  Fortunately, Mark will list several great places to start your search for financial aid and will explain several of the more general approaches to financial aid that is so very difficult to get from a financial aid office.  He will also go over several of the things that makes getting financial aid in New Mexico unique.

In addition to the general information that Mark will be supplying, he's always to apply his seven years of consulting experience to your specific situation.  Come prepared with questions about your admissions experience and Mark will see that they are all answered!

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Do you have a question that can't wait until Wednesday?  Or will you be unable to attend the Info Night, but would still like this information?  Please contact us to ask a question or schedule an appointment and we'll be glad to help!

Hey Albuquerque students!

We understand that Albuquerque students, like students from all states, predominently attend in-state universities.  We think that's awesome!  UNM, NMSU, and all of the other New Mexico schools are all fantastic places to attend.  

However, many Albuquerque students who end up at these universities actually desired to go out of state.  

There are a variety of reasons why this happens.  Sometimes, students apply to various other schools and are rejected or do not get the financial aid that they'd need to attend.  Other students though, don't even apply to the schools they really want to go to, because they hear about admission rates around 10% or lower and just assume that they'd never get accepted. 

 
The first two advantages that these types of schools offer are fairly obvious:  they're outside of New Mexico and they're selective.  Students will have many more opportunities to learn and grow as people when they're exposed to different situations and cultures, as opposed to living where they've lived all of their lives.  

This can even have an impact on those who remain in-state, as many New Mexicans who leave the state for college, Omniac founder Mark Truman included, return to New Mexico and introduce their new ideas to the state.  

The second obvious advantage is that selective schools are selective.  Lower admission rates mean that a school usually has a smaller student population and that population, on the whole, is generally much more excited about being at the school.  Both of these combine well to form an extremely positive learning environment.  

For those who would be interested in such a school, but are still worried about admission and cost, there are a number of things that can help to alleviate those concerns.  First, some selective schools are quite a bit more selective than others.  The perception of 10% admission rates is mostly false, with only Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and 1-2 others having such a difficult admissions process.  The vast majority of selective schools have admission rates in the 20%-40% range.  So, it's much more reasonable to get into most selective schools than many people realize.

 
Second, just as it's important for some New Mexico students to travel to other parts of the country to experience new ideas and situations, it's also important for those schools to have New Mexico students so that they can bring the unique ideas and experiences that comes from growing up in New Mexico to other parts of the country.  This concept is called geographic diversity, and all schools value it to some degree.  The great part about that is that New Mexico tends to be underrepresented in the student populations of many schools, particularly ones in the Mid West and on the East Coast.  So it's often in the best interest of these schools to look a little more closely at qualified New Mexico applications.

 
Another significant factor in students' decision to avoid selective schools is the prohibitive cost.  It's true that nearly all selective schools are private, and therefore a little more pricey than in-state schools.  There's also the conventional wisdom that a name-brand college degree is not worth the mountains of debt necessary to obtain it.  Well, recent studies seem to contradict that.  Apparently, there's a strong correlation to support that people who attend higher ranked colleges, which tend to be more and more selective as their rank goes up, will earn more money right after college.  

Again, the bottom line here is that if you really want to go to a selective school, don't be afraid.  Yes, there definitely are some challenges that won't be seen when applying to non-selective schools, but if this is the type of school that you want to go to, there are plenty of ways to resolve those challenges, and the benefits are more than worth it.

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Need some help applying to selective schools your really want to go to? In need of academic tutoring, ACT tutoring, SAT tutoring or college consulting here in Albuquerque?  Contact us today and we'll help you get ready for college and beyond!