To incoming senior high school students and their parents, there’s nothing more nerve wracking than the college entrance exams. Schools like the Ateneo, UP, and La Salle are prestigious and sought after; they give new graduates an edge when it comes to landing plum positions in the corporate world.
There’s always help out there for students willing to learn and to be guided. In fact, their only problem may be in knowing how to choose the best help. AHEAD Tutorial and Review has a different program, approach, and style from other centers, and is the perfect fit for the discerning and diligent mind.
Although all review courses help raise a student’s chances in successfully passing the college admission tests, not all review centers follow the same system in teaching. If you want your child to have that competitive edge, choosing the right review center is as crucial as getting into the right college.
1. AHEAD has a unique test based program patterned after specific college entrance tests, designed to provide students the right preparation for the right exam.
Deciding which school to go to is the student’s first task. Whether it’s for the ACET, UPCAT, or DLSUCET, AHEAD Tutorial and Review Center’s President Rossana Llenado advises preparing correctly for college entrance exams. “After you decide which universities you want to apply to, try to take review classes that are ‘college specific.’ Some schools give more focus on Math; others might pay attention to your Science scores. Try to find out which subjects the school of your choice might concentrate on. If you find yourself in a review session, take it seriously. The more you pay attention to lectures, the less detail you will miss, the bigger the chances are of you making the grade,” she says.
With a test-based review, students are better prepared for the college entrance exam of their choice. The tests in this review will touch on the subjects that a specific exam for a particular college will have. It’s not just about studying or reviewing, but studying for the right subjects.
“The Ateneo College Entrance Test is a good example,” adds Llenado. “It’s different from all other admission tests in the country since it has a General Intelligence Test. Its Math component is also much more difficult than those of other entrance exams’.” The approach to the review and the way it is conducted are also important factors to consider.
2. AHEAD’s review program develops learning by doing.
According to Edgar Dale’s Cone of Experience Theory: “Research shows that people retain 20 percent of what they hear, 10 percent of what they read, 30 percent of what they see, and 90 percent of what they do.”
AHEAD applied this knowledge, and is the only review center that replicated the same environment and exam patterned on actual school admission tests. These simulations helped prepare students for answering similar questions under time pressure, just like what they would experience when taking the exam.
Students will then feel they are more confident and prepared mentally, physically, and psychologically, having been trained to take tests under time pressure, and to answer particular questions. Plus, they will be given invaluable tips to help them get into the college of their choice.
3. AHEAD has diagnostic tests that lets students know where they stand at the start of the review and what they need to do to improve this standing.
The Diagnostic Test is a scientific way of assessing the proficiency level of each student in the different subject areas that comprise the entrance tests. The students are given the scores for each test section or subject, the percentage equivalent, and an analysis of their scores. “Through our review format, they also learn how or why they got the answers wrong (or right). It also allows us to identify their weak points and recommend appropriate actions,” explains Llenado. “The students will know which subject areas need more focus. By comparing their scores in the Diagnostic Test to that of the Simulated Test, we are able to determine how effective the review has been for them.”
These tests are given by AHEAD’s best and brightest people. All instructors are knowledgeable in their respective fields, energetic, and very gregarious to help the students become comfortable and at ease with them. They effectively motivate youngsters, are current when it comes to modern trends, are attuned to what may be the interests of the students, and are sensitive to each and every student’s concerns.
The quality of the instructors are guaranteed by making each new instructor go through a five-step screening process and training program before they can even begin lecturing in any review class, ensuring that students can understand clearly the principles behind questions expected to come out in entrance examinations.
Plus, taking the UPCAT, ACET, and DLSUCET review courses are also inclusive of Students Orientation, Parents Seminar, and a Refresher Course right before the big day!
4. AHEAD’s simulated tests are the closest your child will get to the actual exams.
AHEAD Review Manager Flo Mesa adds, “Our test-based program includes administering a Diagnostic Test at the beginning of the program and a Simulated Test at the end of the program. Also, each 4-hour session includes answering of exercises in the form of timed tests. These expose the students to materials that approximate the actual entrance tests in terms of time limits, number of items, and levels of difficulty. The class type of review also simulates the actual conditions in which the entrance tests are carried out, including the presence of a test proctor.” Our research team ensures that the content of the Simulated Tests is updated yearly and the items as close as possible to those in the actual test,” assures Mesa.
After all, trying to review all the things they’ve learned from first year in high school to the time they take the entrance exam can be overwhelming. Plus, some entrance exams include questions that touch the basics of Physics, maybe even Trigonometry, Mythology, General Information, Literature, Current Events, Math Problem-Solving, and more!
5. Weeks before the actual college entrance tests, AHEAD holds a 16-hour refresher course for all its summer students.
The refresher course not only ‘refreshes’ their minds or helps them recall the topics taken up in their review classes, it also boosts their confidence and gives them added inspiration.
The Refresher Course is offered to all AHEAD summer enrollees, usually held a week or two before the date of the entrance test. “Through the refresher course, our instructors help the students recall important concepts and techniques learned during the summer,” explains Mesa. To boost confidence, the refresher also features practical tips and inspirational talks from previous AHEAD students who passed the exams. This is a well-attended event as it also allows the students to have a “reunion” with their summer classmates.
In the end, despite all the guidance and help a tutorial service and review center gives, instructors from AHEAD still stress the importance of diligence, hard work, patience, and preparations in passing the college entrance exams of premiere schools. Students who have enrolled in AHEAD have been registering the highest passing percentage in the college entrance exams of the top universities since 1995. It remains the only review center to publish an annual passers list.