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Health & Fitness

Lessons Learned from a Wrong Turn on Test Day

Lisa Bleich, President of College Bound Mentor, gives tips on how to take control of the College Application even with some bumps along the way.

“What happens if someone coughs?”

“I keep my head focused and I don't pay attention.”

“What happens if you see how much time is left over and you start to panic?”

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“I keep my head down and I keep focused.”

“What happens if you get a hard reading passage?”

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“I go through quickly but I don't spend too much time on it and move onto the next.”

“What happens if you get a hard math section?”

“Unlikely, I know the math.”

“What happens if you start to second-guess yourself?”

“Stop second-guessing myself.”

“What happens if you forgot something?”

“Take a deep breath and just try to relax and stay focused.”

We went over every contingency the night before. Armed with number two pencils, a printed map to the location and a calm, focused approach to test taking, my daughter was prepared to take her ACTs. She'd been studying and practicing for the past six months and was ready.

The only problem, I screwed up. She had taken them once before at a high school in Edison, so when I saw Edison again, I assumed it was the same high school. I was wrong. I dropped her off at the high school in question, and as I pulled away a sense of dread came over me. I didn't know why. Within two minutes the phone rang; I answered it to my daughter sobbing and panicked on the other end because there was no testing at that location. A kind man in the building told her it must be the other high school in Edison. I quickly turned the car around and picked her up. We entered the address into my iPhone: 14 minutes away. She panicked, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. 

“They won’t let me in; I’ll be too late.” 

“I am so sorry; I totally screwed up. I am such an idiot!”

I tried to take away both my own guilt and her anxiety in one fell swoop. I said let's just focus on getting there on time. We made it with one minute to spare.

The takeaway from this situation is that as much as we try to control our environments, much of life and the college admissions process are out of our control. (Okay, this could have been avoided if we had read the address on the entry ticket!) However, how you manage the unexpected is often the key to how you will succeed in life. So here are some tips for understanding what is and is not in your control and how to develop a plan for success no matter what the outcome. 

Things in Your Control

1.  Developing a Realistic List of Schools: It is often easiest to find the reach or possible schools on your list, but the schools that are most important to get right are the likely or safety schools. These are the schools that are more realistic and will set you up for a successful admissions process.

2.  Putting Your Best Effort into Schoolwork and Activities: You do have control of how much time you put into your studies and how effectively you use that time. Are you studying smartly or are you just studying? Do you know for yourself how you learn best? Are you passionate about your extracurricular activities?  If not, maybe you are doing the wrong things. This is a good time to assess where you stand.  

3.  How you Respond to Obstacles/Setbacks: Obstacles can come in any form, from Hurricane Sandy to illness to receiving a low grade on a test. What is important and in your control is how you respond. Are you resourceful when you lose power? Do you go in for extra help and buck up when you don’t receive the grade you expected? The response to adversity is what is important because sooner or later everyone will face a setback in his/her life.

4.  Managing Your Time and Expectations Effectively: College students often report this as one of the hardest things that they need to learn, so it’s great if you can work on this during high school. When applying to college this becomes increasingly important because there is a lot do and it is very hard to scramble come October of senior year. It is best to start at the end of junior year into the summer and work on a little bit each week so that you are ready to submit come Nov. 1, or even earlier.

5.  Your Essays: This is the one part of your application that you do have control over because it is the opportunity to share your personality and voice. Think about it carefully before you sit down to write.   

Things Out of Your Control

1.  Getting into a Highly Select College or "Reach" College: For even the best and brightest students, highly-select colleges are hard to get into, so know that going in and be open to how the process evolves.

2.  Unforeseen Obstacles: Hurricane Sandy was a perfect example. Again, you have to be resourceful and figure out a way around this.

3.  Your Child (For Parents): This is the time for students to start taking control of their future and parents to start to relinquish it.

4.  How Much Financial Aid You Will Receive: This again is dependent on the family income. You can, however, identify schools that offer merit aid, which goes back to tips 1 and 2 in things you can control.

5.  Human Error:  People make mistakes, from a counselor forgetting to sign an Early Decision form to a student making a typo on the activity listing to the College Board not sending out your test scores. All of these things can be fixed, so it is best to just know it is all part of the process.

Thankfully, my daughter pulled herself together for the test. But that's precisely why this process is so stressful. There are so many parts to it and each one provides challenges; something as simple getting to the right testing location can present a problem. The key is to try to stay calm and sane and find the humor during this crazy wild ride. 

Good luck to everyone taking the SATs on Saturday and be sure to check the address of your location before you go! 

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