For grade 11 students (or as Americans call them, “juniors”), the daunting task of applying for colleges is creeping into their lives. Whether these students plan to attend a Canadian or American University (or study abroad for that matter), they must consider the plethora of items to be checked off before they graduate. One of those items is standardized testing aka the SAT or ACT.
(Whether to take the SAT or ACT)
Why is it important to take the SAT/ACT? These tests tell universities just how ready you are for undergraduate studies. Thus, taking the SAT is a vital component of any good uni app. (Not necessarily the most important part, of course). This is especially relevant if you are planning to apply to Ivy Leagues or other highly-selective schools. (SAT Website)
So you might be wondering, “what is the SAT?”. Here’s a basic rundown:
The SAT:
Length: 3 hours 45 minutes
Composed of:
1. A Writing Section (worth 800 marks) made up of a 25-minute essay and grammar questions
2. A Math Section (worth 800 marks)
3. A Reading Section (worth 800 marks)
A Perfect Score: 2400
A little scary, right? Don’t worry, the SAT does not actually test your knowledge, but rather how good you are at taking the SAT. To help you out, I’ve provided a few tips on how to generally improve your score. (Many of these tips can also apply to tests you take in general!)
1. Answer the question before you look at the possible answers
The SAT is a multiple choice test. This means that students can often distracted from the correct answers and be lured into choosing trap answers. The key here
is to read the question first, answer the question,and then check the possible answers to see if any match yours. Obviously, if an answer matches yours, that’s the one you circle. Let’s look at typical SAT reading question:
Not surprisingly, Joan’s gossiping was more _____
to her own reputation than to that of the person she
was maligning.
a) advantageous
b) injurious
c) skittish
d) flagrant
e) puerile
In these fill in the blank questions, you need to choose the best word to place in the sentence provided.
“Yikes, I don’t know what puerile means…how do I answer this question?”
What you want to do is cover up the answers and only look at the sentence given:
Not surprisingly, Joan’s gossiping was more _____
to her own reputation than to that of the person she
was maligning.
Okay so what word would be fit here? First, you need to understand the sentence. Here, Joan is gossiping about a person. (By the way, maligning means saying bad things about someone). And according to the sentence, that gossiping has done ______ instead of to the person she’s gossiping about. Well, then you have the question: “What does gossiping usually do?”. It hurts others, right? So, it would be reasonable that what the blank is, it probably means a word like “hurtful”. Okay, now that you have your answer, check the possible options:
a) advantageous b) injurious c) skittish d) flagrant e) puerile
This one’s easy, the word “injurious” matches your word perfectly. (If you don’t know what injurious means, you can break the word apart. Since it contains “injur-“, the word is likely associated with causing injuries) Even if “puerile” and “flagrant” may be unfamiliar to you, it shouldn’t matter because you have the word “injurious” which coincides with your answer “hurtful”. Therefore, the answer is (B).
This trick works for every question on the SAT, it’s just a matter of answering correctly.
2. Do A LOT of practice tests
As I wrote before, the SAT does not test how intelligent you are, it tests how good you are at writing the SAT. That being said, just reading articles and books about the SAT is not going to get you anywhere.
Anyone who is serious about getting a good score needs to work through actual SAT papers, and a lot of them for that matter. The more practice tests you do, the more familiar you are with not only the questions, but the kind of answers. This way, when you go take the SAT, you can complete the questions systematically which will increase the number of right answers and the likelihood that you will finish in time. I suggest the following sources for practice tests:
The Princeton Review: Cracking the SAT (<–This one can be found in libraries)
The Princeton Review: 11 Practice Tests for the SAT
CollegeBoard website (has links to the Official SAT Study Guide)
3. Don’t stress about the SAT
I think this is a major concern for students. Although there is a lot of pressure to not only take the SAT, but also to do well. I’m not going to say that you shouldn’t worry about the SAT, but that you should feel confident, not anxious when you walk into that test room. The SAT really is more of an opportunity, rather than a test, and should be treated that way.
So study hard, but don’t get nervous! As long as you try your best, success will come your way.
On January 21, Atari filed for bankruptcy, signalling the end to a company that had been an influence on the gaming industry since it was founded in 1972. Producing some of the most famous early video games including Pong – arguably the first commonly played video game and the game which jump started the industry. After beginning to lose dominance in the video game industry (can you name any other famous game produced by Atari?), Atari split into two divisions, one of which focused on selling games. This company managed to survive through numerous miracles, being purchased and sold by numerous companies over the years. After being absorbed by companies and spun off, Atari lost its name for many years, regaining it in 2003. The company continued to remain afloat for a few years, but still didn’t manage to produce anything that gained a following. Atari’s fall is something that not many have found surprising, with the company failing to produce hits and bleeding money (Atari lost about five million dollars in its last year of operation). The future of the Atari logo has yet to be seen – though many may not buy Atari games today, due to the failings of the company, the culture associated with the company has the potential to allow for a new company to take the brand. The end of Atari does not mean much to the video game industry – a stark contrast to the next company, THQ.
One day after Atari closed, THQ announced their bankruptcy as well. THQ was founded much later, in 1989, only releasing its first game in 1991. THQ then began to purchase numerous gaming companies, while also beginning a short foray into the mobile phone gaming market (before smartphones). THQ continued to grow, reaching a peak of over one billion dollars in profits in 2007. After a string of failing games, THQ reported a loss of over $200 million in 2011. Hoping to increase their profits, THQ launched a Humble Bundle, a set of games in which the purchaser sets the price – an act which has helped a great number of indie developers in the past – and hoped for the best (If you’re curious about Humble Bundles, read more about them in Carrie’s post 
