February 15, 2014

Dear Parents and Students,

We are pleased to announce a comprehensive Summer SAT course to prepare students for the 2014-15 PSAT/SAT test dates. The course will be held at the beginning of the summer, June 16-27, in order to jump start what can appear to be, at least at first, the daunting journey of preparing for the upcoming College Board entrance tests. The class will run over the course of ten sessions and continue with teacher-student-parent appointments on Monday, June 30. The course will be held on the Laguna Blanca campus.

As most of you know, the SAT was revised significantly in 2005, so that it is longer (3 hours and 45 minutes instead of 3 hours), and it includes three sections—Math, Critical Reading, Writing. Each section is worth 800 points. The Math portion of the test includes more advanced content (specifically, concepts from Algebra II). The Critical Reading section (formerly “Verbal”) covers reading comprehension and sentence completion questions. The Writing section (a new section based on the SAT II Writing test) includes a 25-minute essay, as well as multiple-choice questions on grammar, usage, style, and paragraph writing. Quantitative comparisons have been eliminated in Math, and the analogy questions have been eliminated from the Critical Reading section.

Students whom we have prepared for the SAT have raised the scores, on average, by almost 200 points. Indeed, the goal is for students to improve their scores by at least 200 points. Several students who have taken the course over the last few summers have improved their scores by over 300 points; and a few more super dedicated Laguna folks have increased their scores by over 400 points. By beginning the class in June, we can offer students a Summer Study Program that will reinforce and build upon material covered in the course. This program will include independent review of material, weekly vocabulary study, and practice tests. In addition, one critical new component to this year’s course is that we are asking students to purchase not only the College Board’s Official SAT Study Guide (the book), but also the College Board’s Official SAT Online Course. The online course’s detailed explanations of student’s scores (on its six tests and the book’s eight tests) will be a tremendous resource for all. The personalized online feedback—in the form of score breakdown—will help us work together to target specific areas with which our students need help.

The price of the full course (Math/Reading & Writing) will be $1,350. Students can choose to take one section of the course, in which case the price will be $675. After Monday, June 2, we will not be able to provide refunds for the course. If you have any questions about the Reading/Writing component of the course, please contact Ms. Tidey at [email protected]. If you have any questions about the Math component of the course, please contact Mr. Ary at [email protected].

We look forward to assembling a class of highly motivated students!

Sincerely yours,

Ashley Tidey and Dan Ary

SUMMER SAT COURSE – JUNE 16-JUNE 27, 2014

SAT Prep: READING/WRITING with Ms. Tidey
Ashley Tidey has over 20 years of experience teaching English and academic writing, both at the secondary school and university levels. She has taught SAT I Verbal and SAT II Writing courses since 2000, and she has tutored students in the areas of reading and writing and SAT prep since 1985. She has a B.A. in English from Williams College (1987) and a Ph.D. in English from Indiana University (1996). She teaches Upper School English at Laguna Blanca.

The primary goals of this section of the course are the following:
• To teach general test-taking strategies
–Students will learn when to make educated guesses and how to work under time pressure
• To teach strategies for writing the at-first-glance daunting 25-minute essay
–Essay question from the May, 2007, test: “Is knowledge a burden? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, and observations.”
• To teach strategies for taking the multiple-choice sections of the new Critical Reading and Writing sections
• Students will write at least three 25-minute essays, and they will create their own “Example Bank” of literary, historical, cultural, personal examples to draw upon for the upcoming SAT essay. In addition to learning strategies for approaching difficult reading comprehension passages and sentence-completion questions, students will review basic parts of speech and study common grammar and usage problems (specifically, fragments and run-ons, subject-verb agreement errors, dangling participles, pronoun errors, adjective-adverb confusion, etc.). Finally, students will be expected to do homework that will include practice tests and continued (starting in June) memorization of SAT High-Frequency vocabulary words, as well as prefixes, roots, and stems.

SAT Prep: MATH with Mr. Ary
Mr. Ary has taught for over 28 years, including 20 years as a full-time instructor at Laguna Blanca. He is an adjunct professor at Santa Barbara City College and has been a Visiting Instructor at UCSB. His Master’s degree is in Mathematics. Mr. Ary has tutored extensively with both individuals and small groups. He has years of experience in teaching both SAT I and SAT II math courses. He has successfully collaborated in the development of and teaching SAT preparation courses since 2000.

Students will review
• Arithmetic skills
• Algebraic techniques, both Algebra I and Algebra II
• Word problems
• Geometric concepts and reasoning
• Miscellaneous topics including statistics, counting, and probability problems
• Special functions and transformations

Students will learn
• Strategies for working with SAT multiple choice and grid-in (student-generated response) questions
• Practical ways to use their TI8X calculators to improve their over all math score
• When and how to guess

DATES!

CLASS TIMES: June 16-27 course & June 30 conferences
DAILY SCHEDULE: The decision about whether Math or Verbal will run in the morning will be decided in the next few weeks!

Week 1
#1 Monday, 6/16 9-11 a.m; 11:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m.
#2 Tuesday, 6/17 9-11 a.m.; 11:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m.
#3 Wednesday, 6/18 9-11 a.m.; 11:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m.
#4 Thursday, 6/19 9-11 a.m.; 11:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m.
#5 Friday, 6/20 9-11 a.m.; 11:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m.

Week 2
#6 Monday, 6/23 9-11 a.m; 11:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m.
#7 Tuesday, 6/24 9-11 a.m.; 11:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m.
#8 Wednesday, 6/25 9-11 a.m.; 11:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m.
#9 Thursday, 6/26 9-11 a.m.; 11:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m.
#10 Friday, 6/27 9-11 a.m.; 11:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m.

DIAGNOSTIC TEST: to be taken the weekend of JUNE 28-29

#11 Monday, 6/30/2014
By appointment between 8-1: Review Diagnostic Test Results with Ary/Tidey

BOOKS & MATERIALS!

1. The College Board’s The Official SAT Study Guide
ISBN TBA—we need to double check the latest edition

2. McGraw Hill’s Conquering SAT Writing
Christopher Black, McGraw Hill
Most likely but need to check this ISBN — ISBN: 978-007-174-9138 (2010)

3. Barron’s Math Workbook for the New SAT, Fifth Edition
Lawrence Leff
Most likely but need to check this ISBN — ISBN: 978-143-800-0282 (2012)

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4. The Official SAT Online Course ($69.95 plus tax) – NO NEED TO SIGN UP FOR THIS YET

5. I would recommend buying the Picture These Flash Cards and any one other vocabulary program that appeals to your child (depends on what kind of learner you have! audio, visual, etc.). So I would advise going to Chaucer’s and perusing the many SAT vocabulary-prep options. Here are a few good titles to look for . . .

• Barron’s Picture These SAT Words in a Flash, Phillip Geer. SAT-word flash card set. Each card presents a word with a cartoon and punning caption to serve as an amusing and valuable memory aid. THIS IS A KID FAVORITE—A MUST-BUY!!
• Renee Mazer’s Not Too Scary Vocabulary Audio-CD has been recommended by many former LBS students. This program is great for aural/audio learners and folks who enjoy learning while driving!
• Hot Words for the SAT Linda Carnevale. Reviewing 365 words that frequently appear on the SAT, this book groups words in “thematic word clusters.” It has vocabulary-building lessons, illustrative sentences, memory tips, sentence-completion exercises, etc.
• SAT Vocabulary Prep Level 1 Master 500 Essential SAT Vocabulary Words AND SAT Vocabulary Prep Level 2 Master 500 of the Hardest SAT Vocabulary Words. More streamlined than Hot Words, these books contain three words per page in flash-card format; includes definition, part of speech, synonyms, sample sentence.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SAT ONLINE COURSE:

***The Official SAT Online Course** (Excerpted from College Board website)
• Gain valuable experience by taking ten practice tests, answering 600+ practice questions, and responding to practice essay questions—all developed by the test maker. You’ll increase your confidence by practicing with questions just like the ones you’ll see on test day.
• The online course features detailed explanations for both correct and incorrect answers to all questions on the online course.
• Receive detailed personalized feedback on all practice tests and quizzes. With this information, you can better understand where to focus additional study.
• Practice for the SAT essay by responding to essay questions and getting back immediate, computer-generated scores. Up to 40 essays can be submitted for auto essay scoring.
• The online course provides users of The Official SAT Study Guide with explanations and automatic essay scoring for the book’s ten practice tests.
• Auto essay scoring is also provided for the essay questions appearing in the SAT Preparation Booklet™ and on the SAT Preparation Center™.

OTHER DATES TO REMEMBER

By Monday, June 2
• No refunds after today

By Friday, June 14
• Purchase books listed on the previous page

July and August, 2014
• Independent Summer Program – study vocabulary; review lessons; utilize lessons and practice quizzes through Official SAT Online Course subscription.

Please secure your enrollment by sending in registration information and check(s)
for Summer SAT Course, June 16-27, 2014

STEP 1: PLEASE CIRLCE ONE I am registering for BOTH sections.
I am registering for Reading/Writing section ONLY.
I am registering for Math section ONLY.

STEP 2: PLEASE COMPLETE THIS INFORMATION FORM:

STUDENT INFORMATION
Name
School and Grade (for the UPCOMING 2014-15 year)
E-mail address
Cell phone if available
Does student usually check e-mail at least once/day? YES NO (please circle one)

PARENT INFORMATION
Name(s)
Address
City/Zip
E-mail address
Home phone
Cell phone if available
Does parent usually check e-mail at least once/day? YES NO (please circle one)

STEP 3:

If your child is registering for both sections of the course, please write one check to Ms. Tidey for $675 and one check to Mr. Ary for $675. If your child is taking only one section of the course, please write one check for the appropriate section—for Reading/Writing (payable to Ms. Tidey) or for Math (payable to Mr. Ary).

In any case, please send your registration form and check(s) to
Ashley Tidey
2022 Cleveland Ave.
Santa Barbara, CA 93103