Chariot Learning

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…

Test Prep Tips from Lou Holtz

Mike Bergin — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 14:07:32 +0000

Football fans know Lou Holtz (1937–2026) as a legendary American college coach and broadcaster. Over a 33-season collegiate career, he earned 249 wins, not only becoming the only coach to lead six different programs to bowl games but also leading Notre Dame to the 1988 National Championship. Coaching wisdom often applies far more broadly than just to one sport or activity, and Holtz habitually dispensed timeless wisdom that should resonate as strongly with test takers as with play makers on any field: “It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.” “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.” “Life is ten percent what happens to you and ninety percent how you respond to it.” “Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period.” “Pressure comes when someone calls on you to perform a task for which…

What Makes a Great Learner?

Mike Bergin — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 19:55:41 +0000

Whether you’re studying a tough subject, learning a new skill, or preparing for an important exam, you probably feel, at one time or another, that everything would be easier if only you were smarter. Yet, while traits like high working memory and processing speed may be significantly influenced by genetics, most qualities associated with high IQ individuals can be adopted by anyone. Here are seven of the most important ones: 1. INTELLECTUAL HUMILITY 2. CURIOSITY 3. COACHABILITY 4. PUNCTUALITY 5. RESPONSIVENESS 6. CRITICISM 7. PERSISTENCE INTELLECTUAL HUMILITY The journey to becoming smarter often begins and ends with the same realization: you’re not as smart as you think. Receptivity to learning admits that there is at least a little and probably a lot to learn. Once you resist the false confidence of the Dunning–Kruger Effect–that cognitive bias wherein the less people know, the less likely they are to recognize their ignorance…

Deliberate Practice and 4 Not-So-Easy Steps to Success

Mike Bergin — Mon, 02 Feb 2026 18:47:04 +0000

Over 25+ years as an entrepreneur, author, and publisher of (now-defunct) SUCCESS magazine, Darren Hardy has relentlessly studied and dissected the habits of the most accomplished people on the planet. He can attest that the secret to success isn’t much of a secret at all: practice. However, the kind of practice that drives stratospheric levels of accomplishment and excellence is extremely specific. Deliberate practice requires tremendous commitment and structure over time. But no other path takes you to even the chance of doing your very best when it matters. How do you know if you are practicing properly? Hardy described four essential steps to attacking deliberate practice: You must be motivated to attend to the task and exert effort to improve your performance. The design of the task should take into account your pre-existing knowledge so that the task can be correctly understood after a brief period of instruction. You…

What is a Conjunction?

Mike Bergin — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 12:07:42 +0000

The study of grammar often entails learning technical terms for words we use every day. Why else would English speakers–at least the ones without the benefit of a Schoolhouse Rock education–struggle to identify what a conjunction is? The issue is partially related to forgetting your grade school education but is also related to the fact that conjunctions come in three different types: 1. COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS Coordinating conjunctions are the ones that tend to come to mind when we think of this critical part of speech, the signal words that connect words, phrases, and clauses. A simple mnemonic taught to most students identifies all seven coordinating conjunctions: FANBOYS… For–And–Nor–But–Or–Yet–So 2. SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS Subordinating conjunctions connect a dependent clause to an independent clause, e.g., Although technical grammar terms aren’t tested on the SAT and ACT, students still benefit from knowing them. The list of subordinating conjunctions is long, but words like because,…

12 Days of Time Management: Work to the End

Mike Bergin — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 13:00:42 +0000

Lao Tzu commented that time is a created thing. “To say ‘I don’t have time’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.'” How you spend your time signals your values and priorities. Show the world what matters to you while using our 12 Days of Time Management for Teens: Ever notice how a runner will race a marathon differently than she will a sprint? The main distinction lies not in the nature of running itself but rather in where the finish line is placed. The endpoint defines the race. Your academic career and the bright professional one that is sure to follow look very much alike: lots of projects, some of them sprints and some marathons. But every opportunity you’ll have to display your mastery shares one important trait. Every one has an endpoint. The end of a task may lie when the work must be submitted. At other…