The high-stakes world

We live in a high-stakes testing world. Lets face it, for a whole host of reasons more and more of us face the prospect of life-changing, career-determining exams. Answer choices A, B, C, D, and E are there, staring us in the face, offering the prospect of fulfilling success or ignominious failure.

It used to be this was the domain of the college bound, the SAT was the big dog that defined our expectations of the nature and purpose of standardized testing. But now these exams are everywhere, at all grade levels, in all career paths, and at all levels of advancement and success.

High-stakes testing is a term usually bandied about to describe academic exams given to grade school children -- exams that have the potential to bar a child's advancement to the next grade unless certain standards are met. Since the establishment of the No Child Left Behind legislation, state high-stakes exams have spread across the nation.

But a similar high-stakes environment exists in the adult world. Certification exams, board exams, admissions exams, and placement exams can direct the course of a professional or academic career at any of a dozen points.

This blog is about these exams -- standardized, typically multiple choice, high stakes tests. It is also about how to pass them. How to study, how to practice, how to prepare and how to think.

I study these tests and I know them well. I know them like any good general knows his foe. I respect them for their challenges, for the ingenuity and care of their design. I enjoy, above all, the challenge of helping my students overcome the challenges posed by these exams, passing the roadblock and finding success.

This blog is about helping you with whatever testing challenge you might face. Topics may differ and details of strategy may vary but a common thread of tactics and mental management can help any test taker -- facing any kind of test -- find success.