I didn't expect Farnam Street to relate so directly to college admissions, but it does, and in a way that is as important as it is deep. According to the post linked above, the outcome of a "winner's game" is determined mostly by the actions of the winner; the outcome...
Be brighter
Test Anxiety
Students suffering from test anxiety often make things worse by misunderstanding the nature of successful preparation work. They think: "my goal is to have new knowledge and new techniques." But that's wrong. The right goal is to have new habits. Under pressure, all...
Learning Styles
What skills should tutors have for accommodating visual / auditory / kinesthetic learners? None, I'm afraid; that's simply not a thing. And yet, many students' lived experiences suggests that it is. Why? I suspect it's for more or less the same reasons that September...
Unknown Unknowns
You probably remember the quote: There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know....
What Straight-A Students Get Wrong: An Honest Take
Adam Grant just wrote a lovely piece in the New York Times that points out that, as he puts it, "academic excellence is not a strong predictor of career excellence." He's right, and for the right reasons, but a quick skim of the piece might lead you astray. The key...
Math Under Pressure
This outstanding TED Talk by Barnard's president is mainly about choking under pressure. But how interesting that the example Professor Beilock spends most time on is girls' learning math. One of the excellent points she makes so well is that there's a difference...