A new SAT-preparation plan offers free access--and a feisty attitude--on the Internet’s World Wide Web.
Stanford Testing Systems Inc. has introduced WebWare for the SAT, a Web site that claims to be the first and only free Internet-based preparation service for the Scholastic Assessment Test. The service contains more than 700 practice questions and a skills-analysis profile for students.
The company sells enough of its software to afford to put the service on the Internet for free, said Pardner Wynn, the president of the Spokane, Wash.-based company. Besides, he said, the Web site provides “an exceptional amount of feedback from students and educators.”
But the company does not extend any such generosity toward its higher-priced competitors. “We were not big fans of people who were charging $600 for an SAT test,” Mr. Wynn said, explaining his company’s promotional barbs against other SAT-preparation services.
And the company shows little mercy toward the Educational Testing Service, the Princeton, N.J.-based test-maker that administers the SAT. Under the heading “Wanted: ETS Horror Stories,” the company urges any student who claims to be wrongly accused of cheating by the ETS to call a toll-free assistance number.
The service can be found at http://www.testprep.com.
At the other end of the technology spectrum, a Los Angeles-based company has revived a low-tech preparation method for the SAT. “This is the era of computers, but nobody ever said technology produces better learning,” trumpets the promotional material for Flashpoints, a series of flashcards featuring sample SAT questions.
The Flashpoints kit contains 918 flashcards that are indexed and color-coded for the verbal and math sections of the college-entrance exam. A complete set can be ordered for $89.95 from National Academic & Licensing Study Aids Inc. at (800) 411-7314.
How can educators forge links between K-12 and higher education? In thousands of ways, according to a new book.
Linking America’s Schools and Colleges: Guide to Partnerships and National Directory, compiled by the American Association for Higher Education, gives detailed descriptions of more than 1,100 school-university partnerships and provides directory information for 1,000 such links.
Copies are $50 for AAHE members and $55 for nonmembers. To order, write Anker Publishing Co., P.O. Box 390, Jaffrey, N.H. 03452-0390; fax (603) 532-7454.
--Jeanne Ponessa
jponessa@epe.org
