Who Is This Kid? Colleges Want to Know! from The Critical Thinking Co.™: A TOS Crew Review

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way

Who Is This Kid? Colleges Want to Know! from The Critical Thinking Co.™


Who Is This Kid? Colleges Want to Know! from The Critical Thinking Co.™ is a great resource for your high school students that are getting ready to explore college admissions.

My oldest just graduated college this spring! I have another 2 currently in college, so that leaves just 5 more to walk through the college admissions process 😊  I wish I had this resource earlier!

Who Is This Kid? Colleges Want to Know! is a softcover, 160 page book (also available in ebook format) designed for your 9-12th grade students.

The goal is to get your student thinking and writing about what kind of student they are and to prepare them to communicate it as they apply to college.

The book is broken into 5 parts:

• Student Self-Assessment
• Searching the Colleges - Building Your College List
• Communications
• College Admissions Calendar
• Glossary

The author, Joyce Slayton Mitchell has 17 years of experience as a college advisor.  She has written multiple books and articles offering college advice.

This book is designed for your student.  It has plenty of space for them to record information, practice essay writing, and keep detailed notes during their college search.

I have a Freshman and a Junior this year, so it was the perfect opportunity for us to explore some of the sections.

The Student Self Assessment section includes a Campus Culture Quiz.  My daughter was interested to see what type of college her interests would lead her toward.

She answered 10 quick multiple choice questions - many of the answer choices made her giggle...

"Your planning a Friday night with your friends. Where do you go?"

1. A Friend's Party
2. USA Exchange Student Program
3. High School Arts Festival
4. Science Fair Workshop
5. Climate-Change Film

or

"When you daydream about Saturday night at college, what will you be doing?"

1. Fund raising for a water purification group
2. Cheering for the basketball team
3. Attending a philosophy lecture
4. Attending a philharmonic concert
5. Attending an engineering internship program

We got a laugh imagining the type of students that spend Friday and Saturday nights watching climate-change films or attending philosophy lectures.  

But, it was a helpful tool to realize that there are different types of college cultures, and you want to know what type appeals to you.  The quiz is scored and broken into 5 different "colors" of college culture - collegiate, intellectual, creative, preprofessional and activist.

Each part in the book has a brief amount of description and advice.  The majority of the book is formatted in worksheet style for your student to have places to write and record information.

In the College Search section, students can use the worksheets to start evaluation different college options with questions about size, academics and extracurriculars along with personal impressions about what they like and don't like about the college.

The Communications section helps get your student practicing skills for applications, essays and interviews.

An Organizer will hep them keep track of deadlines and test scores.

A blank Common Application is included to let them know what to expect on applications.

Interview exercises are a way for them to prepare for types of interview questions they may encounter, and offers some practical tips for interviewing as well.

This book includes 5 practice essay exercises with a general essay question and plenty of space to write.

The final section - College Admissions Calendar gives a general schedule for your student, broken down by month.

 The Glossary is a useful tool for understanding all those college acronyms.

I feel like it's a great prep tool for high school students to use.  Be sure to check out other products the Crew has been reviewing:

• Creative Problem Solving Level 1 (Grades PreK-2) 
• Dare to Compare Math: Beginning (Grades 2-3) 
• Mastering Logic & Math Problem Solving (Grades 6-9) 

Find The Critical Thinking Co.™ on Social Media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheCriticalThinkingCo
Twitter: www.twitter.com/criticalthinks
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecriticalthinkingco/
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/criticalthinks
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsVEVNa6UpVqXxo_t5sbb7Q

Hashtags: #hsreviews #thecriticalthinkingco, #criticalthinking, #empowerthemind, #criticalthinkingskills, #criticalgiving

See what other members of the Crew thought here

UMHB 2019-20

So my last post had our Bentz Acadmy first day pics...

Here's what I got from the college boys:


My Freshman:

 My Sophmore (and I had to beg for it...)

And, MY SENIOR - how can it be...

UMHB

They're back at college...this time, it's all three Bentz Brothers!

Are you ready, we've renamed it - University of Many Handsome Bentzs!!

UMHB

The University of Mary-Hardin Baylor has officially changed it's name to:

University of Many Handsome Bentzs

Are you ready for this Belton, TX?  The 3 amigos are registered for Fall Semester!

I love the "new" logo a friend made for Noah's Graduation....

Making the Grade - How to Study at the College Level: A Bentz Bunch Review

Making the Grade - How to Study at the College Level- by Mark Pruitt


What is the hardest thing about college?  Right - the studying part... Are your students ready?  Making the Grade -How to Study at the College Level by Mark Pruitt gives you the tools you need to make sure they have developed the study skills they will need.

Mark Pruitt is the Associate Director of Admissions at Harding University.  He has written this study skills program to help your college students develop great study skill and  "dominate" their college classes with excellent study skills.

The Course consists of three components: 

• The Book - a 200 + page, softcover guide.
• The Student Workbook - 10 days of lessons with worksheets, quizzes, and a final exam
• The DVD - 3 sections.

Let me tell you about each part.  First, the book.  It's really much more than just how to develop great study habits, it's also filled with inspiration on time management and college life skills! A perfect book for your high school or college age student to read.  Mark's book is written directly to the student, broken down into short, easy lessons.  Each short chapter is actually a lesson.  Some lessons are only a page long, making this an easy addition to your student's schedule.  

The basic study skills program is a 4 step system (you'll have to buy the program to learn them).  What I love is how this author relates to students.  His experience with college students shows through in his writing.  Now that I have 2 college students myself, I relate!

The section on time management s filled with bits of wisdom for students.  From daily naps to "spontaneity kills"  these chapters will help your student with practical steps to getting control of their most precious resource and defeating common "time bombs" of stress and discouragement.

The final section - "Pruitt's Course on College Life" is my favorite.  It's basically a pep talk for college - what to expect, how to succeed and an honest look at some "dos" and "don'ts".

The Workbook is a companion with both student and teacher sections.  It takes the lessons in the book and creates a 10 day, self-paced study course with the book and DVD .  This should be a required course for your high school students that are heading off to college! 

The focus is on learning to take great notes, write papers, read effectively, take tests, turn in great projects, manage time, and generally have a great college experience.

The DVD is broken into 3 sections:  How to "Dominate your College Classes", "How to take Great Notes" and "How to Manage your Time so you can have a life".  Mark teaches directly to the student on these recorded lessons.  I enjoyed watching him myself, it's a great introduction to college style learning!

Overall, I was genuinely impressed with Making the Grade.  My two oldest are current college students.  I asked them to read it, and watch some of the teaching.  They both agreed it was filled with practical tips they could easily implement.  Their first semester grades reflected what they had learned... both have 4.0 GPA and made the Provost's List!  

I highly recommend Making the Grade!  It's practical and easy-to-use.  Mark Pruitt generously shares his years of wisdom with your student, it's like getting a personal college counselor.  I think, this book would also make a great graduation gift for those Seniors in your life. If you have students heading off to college, do them a favor and buy them this program!

Disclaimer:

I was given a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest opinion.  All opinions expressed are my own.

There they go...

We survived drop off day... x2!  Both of them are at UMHB, good thing we have a big van!!

He's ready for this...right?

Luke gets to be in Lord Hall, a brand new dorm!!  He's a minimalist... quilt, horns, bean bag chair - he's set.

Watch out UMHB... a new style is coming your way!

I love that they are both Crusaders!

Sam is back in his apartment, and they even decorated (it only took them until Junior year!)  It feels so homey...

It's getting real...

It's getting real around here, I have 2 kids in college!

He's all registered - at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor for fall semester!  I love this college... . and having both boys there is perfect.

 UMHB is a great size (around 4,500 students) and 2 1/2 hours away.  Far enough away that they get to stretch their wings, but close enough I can still see them, and buy them groceries.  :-)

Belton has some great restaurants, including one of our favorite BBQ spots.  We enjoyed a mother/son date (on my son!) at The Gin, overlooking the river.

UMHB is home to a national football championship team, with a beautiful stadium.

Yes, he always wears these socks... it's his signature style.  Get ready Humanities Department, you're about to never be the same!  Crusaders forever.

Drop off day is coming too soon....

Invitation to Excellence

Warning - More shameless bragging....

Luke was invited to Baylor University's "Invitation to Excellence" weekend!  This was a special weekend for students with excellent ACT scores to come and experience Baylor and have the chance to write essays for scholarships.

To look the part, he had to let me take him shopping!  He cleans up pretty nice...don't you think!

We both had a great time being away together in Waco.  Of course, the college is impressive - but, time with this one alone is priceless!

SpeedyPrep: A TOS Crew Review

SpeedyPrep
The Bentz Test Laboratory has been using SpeedyPrep to prepare for the Introductory Psychology CLEP Test.  Our tester is a Junior in high school this year, with several Dual Credit college courses on his transcript already.  
SpeedyPrep is an online, CLEP test preparation, subscription program. The CLEP is the College Level Examination Program, which is administered by the College Board, makers of the SAT. CLEP tests are a way to help earn college credit on your own by preparing for and passing a standardized test that demonstrates you have college-level knowledge of that subjet. 
SpeedyPrep offers 24 courses that will help your student study effectively to pass the CLEP exam and earn college credit.  CLEP tests are under $100 that's a small fraction of the cost of college tuition.Trust me on this one...we have a freshman in college this year, his credits are over $800 each!

SpeedyPrep courses are designed to meet the College Board requirements, and they even guarantee you'll pass the CLEP test if you get at least a 90-100% proficiency in their study sessions and take the test within 90 days. Pretty impressive.  
This is a very user friendly program.  After logging in, you can choose from many courses, and you can even work in multiple courses at the same time.  The program remembers your progress for you.
This program utilizes a "Flashcard" approach.  Each study section has fill-in-the-blank or multiple choice questions on content that could be included on the test. 
Students are not expected to automatically know an answer, answers can be left blank if unknown (which made my tester stress out a little...) 
 If the answer is blank or incorrect, the program presents a "flashcard" with the correct answer and a short explanation, a picture or diagram, chart or even video explanation.
The videos are short (usually under 5 minutes), blackboard style presentations of the material to be mastered.

The goal is to continue, with repetition, each section until achieving a 90-100% mastery.  Questions are repeated for reinforcement.  The progress bar gives you a visual of where you are at in the course.

 The study sessions are designed to help you review information that has already been learned, in order to study for the CLEP test.
Simply reading the questions, or watching the accompanying videos will NOT be enough to pass the CLEP alone.

My tester "thought" he might know enough to pass the Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP test.  SpeedyPrep quickly showed him...he did NOT.  The questions are very challenging, and very specific to certain works of literature.  This was valuable information for his dual credit and college planning.
He really enjoyed exploring a variety of courses to see what he already knows by answering the questions.  In fact, the entire family got involved in it.  I was disappointed by how many questions I missed in Intro Psych - especially since I have a BA in it!  Shortened answers are recognized, but misspellings are not.  Once again, spelling counts :-)
He spent most of his time with the videos.  He really enjoyed watching videos that covered information he did not already know, and using it to increase his overall knowledge of a particular subject.  He still loves to learn, score one for homeschooling!
I have also been exploring  SpeedyPrep's courses on my own as an outline of information to be sure we cover in future high school classes at Bentz Academy.  This is a very helpful tool for homeschool moms that find themselves worrying they are not covering the right topics in high school.
Overall, my tester and I were very impressed with this program. It's a very useful tool for CLEP test study and preparation. One word of warning though, before investing the time in studying, make sure your student's future college will grant credits for CLEP tests. Not all of colleges do - check a list from College Board here . You can also see the minimum scores a school may require.
Since we were blessed to get a six month subscription, my college kid plans on doing some SpeedyPrep this summer and taking the CLEP exam to earn credits and save on tuition.

Find SpeedyPrep on Social Media:

Twitter:  www.twitter.com/speedyprep   @speedyprep

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/speedyprep

Hashtags: #hsreviews #collegeprep #clepprep

See what other members of the Crew thought here

He's home...

After all our summer road trips, a weekend at the beach... it came.  Move-in day!

He's attending the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor in Belton, TX.  2 1/2 hours away.  It's happening...

What a bittersweet day!!  I'm so excited for his new adventure, he's soooo ready, and I'm just not sure I'm ready...

It was pouring rain.  His roommate seems nice.  Did I remember to tell him all the important things? Did I pack what he really needs?  Is he ready?  Are we?

We moved his pile into the room pretty fast (helps to have lots of us!) and had him unpacked and arranged pretty quick.  His sisters :-)  I kept reorganizing everything, I'm not sure he'll even know what is there until mid-semester when he happens to discover it.

He is ready.

I will be....after I dry a few tears...

 He was interviewed on TV!  Just minutes after we unpacked.  He's going to be a rock-star.

I barely made it through the "Parent talk" at Welcome Week - telling us they are ready, they will be okay, we will be okay.  Now - go home and leave them!

Our final family pic of the summer...  the last one of "us" like we have always been...together!