S.A.T. SMART TO SERVE PRINCETON & LAWRENCEVILLE STUDENTS

Teens from the Princeton/Lawrenceville communities will be arriving at Rider University this summer and fall, not to attend college classes but to prepare for their college days at universities throughout the country.  They will be preparing for the dreaded S.A.T. exam with a local course offered by S.A.T. SMART, which was founded by a Princeton teacher, Susan Alaimo, back in the spring of 1995.  “The first S.A.T. SMART course was offered to ten students,” reminisced Alaimo. “S.A.T. SMART kept expanding, and we have now prepared more than 5,000 students for the all-important P.S.A.T. and S.A.T. exams!” 

Alaimo is passionate about education, and says it is vital to help each student reach his or her potential on the all-important S.A.T. exam.  “The S.A.T. is the one level playing field where colleges compare students from all different types of high schools, from all over the country and even the world,” explained Alaimo. “Most people don’t know that the S.A.T. is marked on a curve, so students are actually in competition with each other.  It’s too important a test to go into cold, not knowing the strategy or how to best tackle the test.”

The three areas on the S.AT., Math, Critical Reading and Writing, are each scored on a scale ranging from 200 to 800 points. But Alaimo states that the strategy for each area is quite different.  “The Math questions are presented in order from easy to hard, so students should work with care to be sure to get the beginning easy questions correct,” explained Alaimo.  “They should not rush and risk making careless mistakes, because they are only heading for the toughest questions, which are deliberately designed so that most students get them wrong.”  The Critical Reading questions, according to Alaimo, are another story.  “The Critical Reading questions, at the end of the long and tedious passages, do not go from easy to hard,” explained Alaimo. “The first questions are based on the first few paragraphs, and they continue in sequential order as to how the material is presented in the passage.  So the best strategy is to read the passage one paragraph at a time, answering the questions as you move through the passage.”

How does S.A.T. SMART differ from other prep courses?  According to Alaimo, who earned a Master’s Degree from Columbia University and is an S.A.T. teacher and College Counselor at a private high school in Princeton, a key difference is that she uses all College Board material in the course.  “The directions, sample questions, box of math formulas, and format of the questions on our practice material are identical to what the students face on the actual test,” reports Alaimo.  “My goal is to instill confidence in my students while insuring that they understand the strategy of the test and are prepared for the type of material on which they will be tested.  I’ve had many students improve by hundreds of points.  It’s extremely rewarding to help students reach their potential and get accepted to the college of their dreams. And the higher their S.A.T. scores, the more scholarship money they are awarded!”

S.A.T. SMART launched a new website in time for the 2013 summer season, which can be viewed at www.SATsmart.com. Summer classes are being offered at Rider University from August 19th through August 22nd, and Fall classes are being offered on Sunday afternoons in September, leading up to the October P.S.A.T. and S.A.T. exams.