Chariot Learning

What About the SAT or ACT Waitlist?

Mike Bergin — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 15:05:51 +0000

No college-bound student wants to hear the word “waitlist” from the school of her dreams. But the waitlist option can be a boon to anyone who misses the registration deadline or decides at the last minute to take a test. Getting on the waitlist for a particular test carries a real reward in terms the possibility of testing earlier than you could otherwise but also real downsides: You are not guaranteed a seat: Waitlisted students are admitted on a first-come, first-served basis. Your morning will be full of uncertainty and delay: Waitlisted students are seated after all regularly registered test-takers have been admitted and if sufficient test materials, staff, and seating are available. You might not know where you are testing until the last minute: College Board allows students to register for an SAT seat by radius. Waitlisted students will be automatically placed into an open seat as they become…

Why Smart Students Score Higher

Mike Bergin — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 20:33:30 +0000

Chancy and consequential exams like the SAT & ACT have long been conflated with IQ tests. While there may certainly be some overlap–historically, SAT scores correlated highly with the g factor or general intelligence–these different assessments are designed for dramatically different purposes. Even so, smarter students tend to score higher on these and any other exams. But smart doesn’t carry the same connotation as intelligence, at least in this context. Instead, I favor the way Seth Godin–-a genius in his own right–-defines what smart really means: Smart is no longer memorization. It’s not worth much. Smart is no longer access to information. Everyone has that. Smart is: Situational awareness Filtering information Troubleshooting Clarity of goals Good taste Empathy and compassion for others The ability to make decisions that further your goals The good news is that smart is a choice, and smart is a skill. Anyone old enough to remember…

ACT Acquired By ETS: Is This Good?

Mike Bergin — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 15:22:26 +0000

On June 30, 2026, ETS announced that it is acquiring ACT. In the official press release, the move was described as combining the strengths of two mission-driven measurement organizations to address the significant challenges facing American education. “Together, ETS and ACT will deliver solutions to help individuals learn, demonstrate skills, and connect to jobs in a dynamic economy being radically reshaped by AI.” Is that really what’s going to happen though? In my humble opinion, yes. This merger should better position ACT to fulfill its founding purpose. I explained why in Marlena Corcoran’s recent Forbes article on the topic: “The 2024 acquisition of ACT by a capital management company worried many of us in education, but those concerns were ultimately unfounded,” Bergin wrote. “ACT never deviated from its mission of helping people achieve education and workplace success. The news that ETS, a long-respected testing and assessment organization, has now acquired…

How To Build Effective Study Routines That Actually Stick In High School

A Valued Guest — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 12:47:33 +0000

Many high school students sit down to study and immediately feel overwhelmed. Homework piles up. Tests come up suddenly. Last-minute cramming becomes a default. A consistent study routine changes that pattern. Small habits repeated each week improve memory and reduce stress. Research on learning strategies shows that spacing study sessions and practicing recall strengthens long-term learning. Students who build simple routines often find schoolwork easier to manage. A few focused habits can turn studying into a predictable part of the day. Start With a Consistent Study Routine A strong routine begins with regular study time. Consistency trains the brain to expect focused work at a specific time of day. Educational experts recommend studying in shorter sessions throughout the week instead of long cram sessions. Many high school students benefit from 50 to 75 minutes of daily study time outside of class following a simple routine: Studying at the same time…

Testing & Scholarship Timelines Webinar

Mike Bergin — Fri, 29 May 2026 14:00:09 +0000

Success on the road to college depends as much on what you do during summers as during the school year. If you’re looking to make this summer count, find out everything you need to know about when and how to prep for the important admissions exams and submit successful scholarship applications. “I wish we had started sooner.” That’s what every parent tells Dave “The Scholarship Coach” Peterson. Dave is the father of college graduate who, over his undergraduate studies, won over $80,000 in scholarships. His success with scholarships prompted Dave to write the book DEBT-FREE COLLEGE: Proven Strategies for Winning Scholarships and Other Tools to Help You Avoid Student Loan Debt and share his expertise with other families. Dave and I have shared strategies for smart college admissions many times previously, most recently in a discussion of Scholarships & Majors: How Clarity Can Unlock More College Aid.

Chariot Learning Selected Top 15 for SAT & ACT Test Prep

Mike Bergin — Tue, 05 May 2026 18:07:08 +0000

A fundamental premise of test prep is that improvement over time, no matter how incremental, inevitably adds up to significant and sometimes phenomenal progress. Operating a small business committed to test prep feels the same way. You start by focusing on helping one student at a time and, if you and your students reach those goals often enough consistently enough, big things happen–like being placed on a list of the Top 15 SMEs for Test Prep (SAT, ACT, AP) in USA!! Full transparency: I have no idea who Editorialge is or how a small but mighty practice like Chariot Learning landed on a list with so many impressive multi-state heavyweights, but I can hardly fault their criteria or conclusions: Identifying the standout independent test prep providers required a rigorous filtering process to ensure both educational integrity and measurable score improvements. We evaluated dozens of American companies against a strict set…

Valid, Reliable, and Fair

Mike Bergin — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 17:28:53 +0000

While high stakes exams have always been an integral part of education, certain standardized admissions tests invite disproportionate discussion about their value relative to essentially anything else. The roller coaster of test optional policies only adds uncertainty to questions about the utility of the SAT & ACT at a time when these finely tuned assessments may actually be better than ever in terms of providing critical insight into relative academic ability and college readiness. What makes tests like these so effective? When we consider whether an exam is worth our time, we look at three critical factors: validity, reliability, and fairness. VALIDITY Test validity describes the degree to which a test measures what it claims to measure. The higher the validity, the more closely linked the test is to its stated focus. As College Board has said, tests themselves are not valid or invalid. Instead, we validate the use of…

Underrated Test Taking Skills

Mike Bergin — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 15:57:57 +0000

Many students–and parents–struggle under the misconception that good test takers are born rather than made. When you think about it, though, taking tests is to a large extent a skill that can be learned, practiced, and coached. As with any other skill, some people may be born with certain advantages, but innate traits don’t determine your destiny. In fact, the traits that define success in any endeavor you might consider test taking are available to anyone who wants to develop them: 1. COMPOSURE Obviously, anyone seeking success on a chancy but consequential exam should have a plan for how they will succeed, one that encompasses every aspect of performance before and during the test. But bad test takers panic when things go wrong. Great test takers stay cool under pressure and stick to their plans no matter what happens. 2. ENDURANCE You may not work up a sweat during a…

Multitasking Makes Us Dumb (A Little)

Mike Bergin — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 12:10:02 +0000

Do you have time for an easy quiz? Just answer this one question: Do you do better work after a good night’s sleep or after missing a full night of sleep? Easy, right? Believe it or not, multitasking has the same impact on our work as losing a night’s sleep, according to trials run at King’s College London: In 80 clinical trials, Dr. Glenn Wilson, a psychiatrist at King’s College London University, monitored the IQ of workers throughout the day. He found the IQ of those who tried to juggle messages and work fell by 10 points — the equivalent to missing a whole night’s sleep and more than double the 4-point fall seen after smoking marijuana. Why give up the the mental processing power of 10 full IQ points if you don’t have to? More than likely, multitasking gives students an emotional boost, even when it hurt their cognitive…

Make Your AP Exams Count

Mike Bergin — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 17:22:06 +0000

We heard from one of the families we work with recently with a question about whether to sit for a specific Advanced Placement exam or not, considering what a poor job her daughter’s teacher was doing. As an educator, my gut response is to take every exam seriously and prepare accordingly. However, AP exams stand apart from every other assessment high schoolers encounter on their road to college, and four strong reasons make the case for sitting–and studying for–every AP exam you can: 1. Excellence is its own reward. Advanced Placement classes represent the highest level of academic rigor most schools offer, and thus are filled with students used to scoring at the far right end of the bell curve. When you’re that competitive, you play to win. 2. Colleges care more than ever about great AP scores. Obviously, top grades in AP classes is a necessary yet not sufficient…