SAT AND ACT IMPROVEMENT: LOOKING AHEAD
By Dr. Wayne Adams
Bright Futures Scholarships are always of high interest with my students and parents because they can represent about $18,000 to $25,000 during a four year period at a public university in Florida, and eligibility can help in negotiating the best college “deals” with both private and nonFlorida public universities out-of-state. At this time, there appear to be no changes in award levels and qualifications for either the 100% or 75% levels for 20222023. But significant possible changes are being discussed now in the Florida legislature, which controls the Bright Futures program. The most significant idea is to modify the program was recently voiced by Chris Sprowls who recently told reporters the state needs to focus on its workforce priorities, and that it’s up to students to choose their majors carefully. “We have to rethink how we subsidize every degree to the same degree,” he said. Possible options being discussed include fully funding as before majors in STEM, healthcare, and other majors, and only fully funding majors deemed not as worthwhile for the first two years. In other words, a computer science major would be fully funded, and a 16th Century Literature major only for the first two years. Part of my guides and booklets for each of my student’s and their families includes a guide to multiple websites where everyone can get an idea of the average net cost, normal graduation rate after 4 - 6 years, average starting salary after graduation, normal average income multiple years after graduation, and average college debt for most colleges and universities today. As a former Dean of a Graduate School of Business, I can attest that colleges and universities are a business … just with different names for things such as “profit” being “surplus”. The ultimate key to education is positive cash flow for the colleges and universities.
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All of my students and parents are well-aware that higher education is an investment, and needs to be evaluated in many ways including short and long term financial. This is always part of the first half hour of our first class as we get to know each other, and we discuss how the classes are designed to help my students and their families have their best possible futures … including doing their best on these exams. This is also why my Negotiating with Colleges and Universities Guide is so popular with my families. Not only is it often a surprise that you can negotiate, my families have saved from $1,000 to $10,000 a year in college costs by knowing many ways to nicely, effectively help negotiate the best educational deals. As we all move into spring, many SENIORS are working on bringing up their exam scores up to qualify for the 75% or the 100% Bright Futures Scholarship (about $25,000). We have until the last SAT Exam on Saturday, June 4th, to qualify with the SAT, and until the last ACT Exam on Saturday, June 11th, to qualify with the ACT. At this point, it is not unusual to do a “Skill Strengthening” class to improve either the Writing and Language / Reading combined score or the Math score on the SAT, or either the English and Reading combined score or the Math and Science combined score on the ACT. These focused classes are about half the hours of a full prep class. Sometimes, when we are aiming for more improvement, we do the full prep classes. My JUNIORS and some SOPHOMORES are usually focused on getting ahead with preparing for the SAT and/or ACT and either work over the spring, or get set to prepare starting right after school finishes for the ACT in mid-July and/or the SAT the last Saturday in August.
For students wanting to do a combination class of ACT and SAT, we can finish either the week just before school resumes in August (with a complementary, additional review class the week before the SAT), or the week before the actual SAT Exam. During the summer, we easily schedule around family vacations, summer jobs, athletic commitments, and “surprises” as they may arise. If You Would Like To Talk More About Your Student … Please contact me at 727-253-0639 or send me an email at wwa0811@mykolab.com. Dr. Wayne Adams is one of the leading SAT and ACT tutors in the country. His students normally improve 200+ points on the Writing, Reading, Writing and Essay, and Math, and 4 – 7 points on the ACT composite. They have been admitted to 8 of the top 10 universities in the country, 18 of the top 25, and many schools in Florida. These schools include Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Stanford, U Chicago, Duke, U Penn, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Notre Dame, Emory, UC Berkley, UCLA, USC, UNC (Chapel Hill), NYU, Northeastern (Boston), Boston College, Georgia Tech, Naval - Air Force - Merchant Marine Service Academies, Penn State, LSU, Auburn, UF, U Miami, FSU, USF, UCF, Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, FIU, New College of Florida, Stetson, and Julliard – Manhattan New England - and Berkley Conservatories of Music. Many have received academic, athletic, or music scholarships. This year, he also tutored three juniors who scored at the national merit finalist/semi-finalist levels on the most recent PSAT. He is a former Dean of a Graduate School of Business and Full Professor, and began college teaching at the University of Maryland in 1968. He has degrees and advanced studies at Harvard, Yale, Vanderbilt, Columbia International, and Luther Rice.
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