home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Many members of the forum have asked about the availability
- of software packages to help prepare students who are facing
- the American right of passage known as the Scholastic Aptitude
- Test (SAT) and related college entrance exams. There is
- apparently some evidence that practice for these tests is
- advantageous. And there is a lot of anecdotal evidence that
- software is a good medium to motivate students and encourage
- the interaction and involvement necessary to improve the bottom
- line in test-taking endeavors: higher scores! Whether
- justified or not, the popularity of these programs has grown
- steadily both in schools and homes. For many, there seems
- to be a certain challenge in "beating the system." One company
- (Krell) even guarantees success--improve your score or your
- money back!
-
- What follows is a sampling of some of the popular programs on
- the market, with a few quotes from reviews to provide some
- perspective...
-
- COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMINATION PREPARATION (CLEP)
-
- Jostens Learning Systems, Inc.
- 800 East Business Center Drive
- Mount Prospect, IL 60056
- 800-323-7577
-
- Apple II
-
- Cpmplete program: $432. Three parts are available:
- Verbal Skills ($200); Verbal Strategies ($160); Mathematical
- Skills ($120). Corvus network version available for $1995.
- A management system allows the teacher to control the sequence
- of problems, time limits, and to record the progress of
- up to 85 students. The screen presentation was noted by
- one reviewer for its usefulness and readabiltiy. This program
- was released in 1981 and has received consistently
- good reviews. It was referenced in the 1986 edition of
- ONLY THE BEST: THE
- DISCRIMINATING SOFTWARE GUIDE...
-
-
- COMPUTER PREPARATION FOR THE SAT
-
- Harcourt, Brace, and Jovanovich
- 1250 6th Avenue
- San Diego, CA 92101
- 619-231-6616 & 800-543-1918
-
- Apple II, IBM, Commodore 64, TRS-80 Model III/4, Atari XL
-
- $79.95. Includes four full-length exams--540 drill items and
- 1000 electronic flashcards. A school version with a management
- component is sold by Coronado, an HBJ Subsidiary, for $435.
- Call 619-231-9466. The Coronado version made ONLY THE BEST:
- THE DISCRIMINATING SOFTWARE GUIDE... IN 1985. A reviewer for
- Creative Computing magazine felt that the questions on this one
- were "tougher" than several others he examined. That could be
- good, right?
-
-
- COMPUTER STUDY PROGRAM FOR THE SAT
-
- Barron's Educational Series
- 113 Crossways Park Drive
- Woodbury, NY 11797
- 516-921-8750
-
- Apple, IBM, Commodore 64/128
-
- $50. Barron's is an established publisher of print materials
- to help prepare students for the SAT, and this program is
- based upon their SAT study books. The program is comprehensive
- and thorough, and while some reviewers criticized the electronic
- workbook approach, at least one felt that the program did a good
- job of diagnosing student strengths and weaknesses and provided
- good tutorial explanations of wrong answers. A "rasberry" sound
- for wrong answers could be irritating.
-
-
- KRELL'S COLLEGE BOARD SAT EXAM PREPARATION SERIES
-
- Krell Software
- 1320 Stony Brook Road
- Stony Brook, NY 11790
- 516-751-5139 & 800-245-7355
-
- Apple, IBM, Commodore 64, TRS-80 Models III/4, Atari XL Series, Acorn
-
- $300 for gold label version: results are guaranteed to raise
- scores 70 points if studied for 6 hours; a red label edition
- (condensed version, no guarantee) is available for $140. This
- program enjoys a solid, Cadillac reputation, and is the only
- program recommended by Edforum member (and Logo Forum Sysop)
- Jim Muller, who has looked at several programs and likes
- Krell's because it goes beyond the drill and practice/workbook
- formula to use the unique features of the computer. The program
- diagnoses the student's strengths and weaknesses, rewords and
- reorders review questions, and an "automatic learning" feature
- tracks students' progress and keeps them working on special
- problems.
-
-
- LOVEJOY'S PREPARATION FOR THE SAT
-
- Simon & Schuster
- 1230 Avenue of the Americas
- New York, NY 10020
- 212-333-5800
- 212-245-6400 (mail order dept.)
-
- Apple, IBM, Commodore 64
-
- $69.95. Lovejoy is an established publisher of print materials
- for SAT preparation, and they include a copy of LOVEJOY'S
- CONCISE COLLEGE GUIDE in this package. The program contains
- two complete tests and 27 practice modules. Reviewers agree
- that it has clear documentation. The screen display includes
- instructions at all times--some like this feature, others
- think it distracts. An on-screen notepad and calculator are
- accessible by hitting a function key. The program and data
- disks are separate, so those without two disk drives will have
- to swap disks frequently.
-
-
- MASTERING THE SAT
-
- Mindscape, Inc.
- Educational Division, Dept. M
- 3444 Dundee Road
- Northbrook, IL 60062
- 800-221-9884
- 800-942-7315 (in Illinois)
-
- Apple, IBM, Commodore 64/128, Amiga, Macintosh
-
- $80-$100. Includes two full-length SATs--one pretest and
- one post-test. The Test of Standard Written English was
- singled out by one reviewer as especially good. Another
- reviewer praised the documentation, which includes additional
- study aids. Correct answers are explained along with the
- wrong ones. Developed with assistance from the National
- Assoc. of Secondary School Principals.
-
-
- OWLCAT SAT PREPARATORY COURSE
-
- Digital Research, Inc.
- P.O. Box 579
- Pacific Grove, CA 93950
- 408-649-3896
-
- Apple, IBM, Commodore 64/128
-
- $250 for full 60-hour package; $90 for an abridged, 15-hour
- version. A unique feature is the "Buddy Study" game option
- that lets two people compete to answer SAT-like questions
- rapidly. An electronic dictionary is available, and tutorial
- explanations of both correct and incorrect answers are provided.
- Reviewers praised the excellent documentation, which is
- identical for both versions. A diagnostic disk offers a
- sample test and analyzes scores, but it can only be used once.
- Fortunately, you can make back-ups! A reviewer who tested
- it on an Apple with a 40-column, all upper case display
- complained that it was hard to read. She also felt that disk
- accesses were excesseive, and didn't like the buzzer on wrong
- answers.
-
- THE PERFECT SCORE: COMPUTER PREPARATION FOR THE SAT
-
- Mindscape
- 344 Dundee Road
- Northbrook, IL 60062
- 312-480-7667
-
- Apple, IBM, Commodore 64, Amiga, Macintosh
-
- $70-$80. Covers all SAT categories. Includes a number of
- attractive design features such as the use of arrow keys to
- indicate answers, emphasis upon test-taking strategies, and
- an option to return to unanswered questions. It is written
- in MicroMotion Forth-79, and is said to be efficient in terms
- of disk access. Lack of recordkeeping was mentioned as a
- weakness by one reviewer.
-
-
- I relied upon the following sources in preparing the above list:
-
- Mattas, Linda. ONLY THE BEST: THE DISCRIMINATING SOFTWARE
- GUIDE FOR PRESCHOOL--GRADE 12. Carmichael, CA: Education
- New Service, 1986.
-
- Mullins, Carolyn. "The SAT: Cramming with Your Computer."
- ELECTRONIC LEARNING: April, 1985; pp. 31-35.
-
- Pratt, Swain. "Are You Prepared for theSAT?" RUN: September,
- 1985; pp. 53-58.
-
- Solomon, Gwen. "Improve Your SAT Scores." FAMILY COMPUTING:
- October, 1986; pp. 43-45.
-
- Staples, Betsy. "SAT Packages--An Update." CREATIVE COMPUTING:
- April, 1985; pp. 86-89.
-