AP Exams to be Online in 2020
Some guidance for your AP Exams.
Free AP Exam Resources
Because of the widespread impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, students will now be required to take their AP Tests online this year. We’ve gathered some free resources that might help you get up to speed on what you’ll need.
Follow AP Central on YouTube and you’ll find great videos to guide you on the specific information about your subject test: https://www.youtube.com/user/advancedplacement
You can find some great quizzes for AP subject tests here: https://www.princetonreview.com/college-advice/advanced-placement-resources
Just because these test will be online, does not mean students will be able to cheat their way through the exam. Here are some videos that address the issue of security on the AP exam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm9aFyc0U_o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2R44dZZYHI
Hope these can help.
Best of luck!
SAT/ACT Requirements Suspended for 2021
UC temporarily adjusts admissions requirements to help students, families in wake of COVID-19
Think twice before avoiding the SAT/ACT!
According to the University of California system, (https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/uc-eases-admissions-requirements-help-students-families-wake-covid-19) due to the Coronavirus pandemic, they have decided to adjust admissions requirements on their applications. This decision has suspend the SAT/ACT requirements for the 2021 admission cycle.
“We want to help alleviate the tremendous disruption and anxiety that is already overwhelming prospective students due to COVID-19,” said John A. Pérez, chair of the Board of Regents, the governing board for UC. “By removing artificial barriers and decreasing stressors – including suspending the use of the SAT – for this unprecedented moment in time, we hope there will be less worry for our future students.”
This decision is temporary until further notice. The suspension of this testing mandate doesn’t mean that it is permanent. However, should this mandate remain with the CollegeBoard finding a method for students to take the exam, students should you still attempt the exam?
The answer is YES!
The main reason is human bias within admissions officers and departments. Having a high score automatically triggers good thoughts in an admissions officer. Additionally, students who have a score will show that they found a way to take an exam despite the pandemic. This can bias the admissions officer to think that this student is more responsible or forward thinking.
The best advise would be to act as though these exams are still a necessity for admissions.
Link’s Options for Distance Learning
Online Services Available During Quarantine
We can still help you no matter how far you are!
The Coronavirus pandemic have obviously hurt businesses of all types, however Link has always been focused on one-on-one education. Once things go back to normal we feel uniquely qualified to house your student in a private and clean room collaborating with their tutor.
In the meantime, Link will continue to prep students with tutoring, testing, and college admissions programs through various online platforms to service our new and existing clientele. Skype, Zoom, and WeChat will be used to communicate with students face-to-face.
For more information or to sign up, feel free to contact us.
Link Reads
Link Reads
Week of 6/3/2019
Here are 5 stories from the web that we’re reading this week:
“A Financial Checklist for Your Newly Minted High School Graduate” - New York Times
We’ve got budget, retirement account, credit, information security and insurance advice for your independent adult, college student, gap-year taker or future soldier.
You’re Welcome.
Many more boys get diagnosed with ADHD than girls. But more girls may have the condition than we think – and their struggle to receive a diagnosis can affect their whole lives.
How Much Does Your Education Level Affect Your Health?
But health behaviors can explain only a portion of the relationship between education and mortality. Education may also provide skills to analyze information and tackle complex problems — precisely what’s needed to navigate the modern health system and attend to chronic diseases.
Link Reads
Link Reads
Week of 5/26/19
Here are 5 stories from the web we think you’d like to know about.
This week: the state of the college library, the truth of the digital divide, and an alternative to mindfulness.
The Books of College Libraries Are Turning Into Wallpaper, The Atlantic
University libraries around the world are seeing precipitous declines in the use of the books on their shelves.
“University libraries across the country, and around the world, are seeing steady, and in many cases precipitous, declines in the use of the books on their shelves. The University of Virginia, one of our great public universities and an institution that openly shares detailed library circulation stats from the prior 20 years, is a good case study. College students at UVA checked out 238,000 books during the school year a decade ago; last year, that number had shrunk to just 60,000.”
It's Not Only Rich Teens That Have Smartphones, The Atlantic
To focus only on the ‘digital divide’ between desktop and laptop users is to miss an encouraging trend.
“51 percent of teenagers in low-income families have their own smartphones, and 48 percent of tweens in those families have their own tablets. Note that these are their own devices, not devices they have to borrow from someone else. Among middle-income families (that is, between $35,000 and $100,000), 53 percent of tweens have their own tablets and 69 percent of teenagers have their own smartphones, certainly higher but by a lot less than one might imagine.”
If You’re Sick of ‘Mindfulness,’ Might I Recommend ‘Interoception’?, The Cut
“What if it’s not your friend/husband/child who’s making you unhappy, what if it’s just your body? (“Just.”) Psychology professor Lisa Feldman Barrett, author of How Emotions Are Made, encourages anyone feeling dread to first ask themselves, “Could this have a purely physical cause?”
Here are 24 cognitive biases that are warping your perception of reality, World Economic Forum
“In total, there are 180+ cognitive biases that mess with how we process data, think critically, and perceive reality.”
As native speakers, how many rules do we not know but still follow? The Language Nerds
“Even English grammar, the ins and outs of which have been studied by thousands of people for centuries on end, has not been completely described. You can’t go anywhere and pick up a book or look up a computer program that has all the rules of English. Thus, there is no documented list of the rules an English speaker is supposed to know and so most native speakers don’t really “know” most of the rules of English.”
Link List
Link List
Four interesting links from the web. This week: mapping history, outdoor movies, and proof that you’re never too young to teach activism.
1) From the News: Mapping the Tongva villages of L.A.’s past
One cool thing I have seen done in education is listening to presenters do a “land acknowledgement” to recognize the indigenous people who inhabited the land before colonization. In Claremont, the original inhabitants of the land were the Tongva people. The Tongva inhabited the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands. Here is a map that shows the villages of the Tongva, as shared in the LA Times: https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-tongva-map/
2) Currently Reading: A is for Activist
I love getting children’s books for friends that they and their children can both enjoy. A is for Activist definitely fits into that category:
https://amzn.to/2Hgbqwj
3) On the Calendar: Family Movie Night @ Claremont Club
I am a member of the Claremont Club. I also love outdoor movies, so this is really just the best of both worlds! Must be a member to attend:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2235867713172431
4) On the Shopping List:
“Introverted Mom” by Jamie C. Martin
My partner and I don’t have kids yet, but I have a sneaky feeling she would like this book a lot.
https://amzn.to/2Hg4NKv
Link Reads
Link Reads
Week of May 20, 2019
Here are 5 stories from around the web:
1) Morehouse Graduates' Student Loans to Be Paid Off by Billionaire, New York Times
2) After decades of pushing bachelor’s degrees, U.S. needs more tradespeople, PBS
3) Gen Z may be the loneliest generation, EAB
4) The Reasoning Behind the SAT’s New ‘Disadvantage’ Score, The Atlantic
5) America's Most Widely Misread Literary Work, The Atlantic
