Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Frequently Asked Questions About the SAT Answered

Veritas Prep’s Shaan Patel Answers Five of the Most Commonly Asked Questions About How to Smartly Prepare For the SAT

Malibu, California, November 07, 2012 - Do you have questions about the SAT? You’re not alone. For many students and families, the SAT is daunting. To help answer many of the most common questions about the SAT test, Shaan Patel, a perfect SAT score recipient and Director of SAT Programs at Veritas Prep, identified the five questions he’s most frequently asked and offers responses below:

Frequently Asked Questions About the SAT Answered
The SAT is very different than the tests students take in their high school classes, but many think that if they are a solid A student, they don’t need to prepare for the SAT. That overconfidence is the number one reason students who normally do well academically post disappointing scores the first time they take the exam. The SAT rewards the prepared and it is absolutely an exam students can master with effective SAT prep. Students that spend time learning and practicing key strategies, reviewing grammar rules and vocabulary and taking practice tests will be much better positioned for success on test day.

For students applying to competitive colleges and universities, is your GPA or SAT score more important?
When admissions officers look at GPA and SAT scores, only one is a standardized measure: the SAT. Grade point average has a high level of variability from school to school, which means it isn’t a consistent or standard measure with which to compare or evaluate applicants. So when it comes to college admissions, the four hours you spend taking the SAT is more important than the 4,000 hours you spend working on your GPA. Given that, whether you take an SAT course or prep on your own, you need to put considerable effort into preparing for the exam.

When is the best time to take the SAT?
While many consider spring of junior year the best time to take the SAT, Veritas Prep actually recommends that students first take the exam during the winter of their junior year. The reason is simple – timing. Students that wait until spring of their junior year are preparing for the SAT, finals and often AP exams as well. Add in sports, extracurricular activities and a job, and that is a lot to handle. The best plan is to take the SAT in the winter when you have more time to dedicate to SAT preparation. A common argument is that you should wait to take the SAT until after you’ve completed algebra II, but the truth is, if you prep properly you’ll have command of the strategies you need to correctly solve SAT math questions, not to mention the rest of the exam.

What’s the biggest misconception about the SAT?
The SAT is an unknown to a lot of people, so there are actually lots of misconceptions. The biggest misconception is that high school or AP classes are preparation enough for the SAT. Unfortunately, that just isn’t true. While AP classes can help on the SAT Subject tests, overall, the average high school curriculum is not designed with standardized college entrance exams in mind. The SAT tests different skills than what you learn in high school, and some properties of the exam even contradict what your teachers may have taught you. For example, English teachers emphasize quality over quantity when it comes to writing essays; however, on the SAT, the more you write on the essay, the higher you score. To get ready for the SAT, you’ll have to spend time preparing specifically for the exam in addition to your regular high school coursework.

What is the best piece of advice you can give to students preparing for the SAT?
Practice, and practice only with official College Board SAT practice tests. The best way to prepare for the exam is to use questions produced by the folks who created it. The College Board releases a question of the day that you can sign up to receive by email, as well as makes several tests available at little or no cost. A College Board SAT practice test is also among the free SAT resources Veritas Prep offers on its website.

Patel improved his SAT score from 1760 to a perfect 2400, earned more than $237,000 in scholarships and co-authored the Veritas Prep SAT 2400 program, which is available as a classroom course, live online, on demand in high definition or in private SAT tutoring sessions. Additionally, McGraw-Hill recently published his book, “SAT 2400 in Just 7 Steps.”

For more information, visit www.veritasprep.com/sat.

About Veritas Prep
Veritas Prep is the world’s largest privately-owned provider of test prep and admissions consulting services. It offers industry-leading programs to help applicants improve standardized test scores and gain admission to the world’s most selective universities. Founded in 2002 by graduates of the Yale School of Management, Veritas Prep offers its live classroom GMAT prep course in more than 90 cities worldwide and as an interactive online course available to students everywhere. Its Veritas Prep SAT 2400 course is available as a classroom course, live online, on demand or in private tutoring sessions and features the only zero risk, money back guarantee in the industry. In addition, Veritas Prep offers admissions consulting services for applicants seeking entry into competitive business schools, law schools, medical schools and other graduate programs. For more information, visit veritasprep.com.

Contact:
Lindsey Read
CSG PR
3225 East 2nd Avenue
Denver, CO 80206
937-408-9321
lread@csg-pr.com
http://www.csg-pr.com

Announcing Premium Support Services, Patton Now Offers 24x7 Worldwide Coverage

Expanding its gold-standard Free Support—unique within the industry—Patton introduces platinum-level Premium Support and platinum-plus Premium 24/7 Support services, taking legendary excellence in customer service to new heights.

Gaithersburg, MD and Berne, Switzerland, November 07, 2012 - Patton Electronics (USA) together with Patton-Inalp (Switzerland) have introduced two new premium support services, the sister companies announced today.

Since 1984, Patton has provided gold-standard free lifetime technical support during business hours for every product sold—including free downloadable software upgrades.

Unique within the electronic-communications industry, Patton’s free-support proposition drives down total cost of ownership, delivering significant competitive advantage for Patton channel partners and end customers.

Now, Patton’s new platinum-level Premium Support and platinum-plus Premium 24/7 Support address the high-end service requirements of Telecom carriers, Internet service providers, and other organizations that need guaranteed response and resolution times or evening and weekend service.

“We're responding to customers,” said Burton A. Patton (Burt), EVP. “They  asked for service-level agreements with guaranteed response and remedy times. Our platinum-plus service enhances our unique gold-standard Free Support with global 24x7 coverage.”

Platinum Premium Support guarantees a 2-hour response time and 8-hour remedy time during regular business hours for any critical incident.

Platinum-Plus Premium 24/7 Support offers world-wide, around-the-clock service anytime, day or night. Courteous and competent Patton support staff are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to address major or critical incidents anywhere in the world.

Not that you’ll need it. Among VoIP-industry techno-geeks, Patton’s SmartNode gear is venerated for “set-it-forget-it” stability. Still, one finds assurance in a robust support organization. And there are of course certain businesses that desire or demand that 24x7 safety net.

Burt Patton elaborates, “Patton does business in 142 countries, providing free support in at least 10 languages. SmartNode VoIP equipment is deployed and operating in 105 countries. We have trained and certified nearly one-thousand SmartNode specialists for the global workforce.”

Patton operates Technical Assistance Centers in Gaithersburg, Berne, Budapest, Lebanon, India and Vietnam, providing world-class customer support for Patton channels and customers throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Last month Patton announced its IPv6-ready SIP-Trunking VoIP Gateways are now shipping. Recently the company’s CEO, Robert R. Patton (Bobby) was appointed Chair of Maryland STEM Project Advisory Committee, following on the heels of news that Patton's SmartNode VoIP product line has won the 2012 Internet Telephony Excellence award.

About Patton-Inalp;
Inalp Networks AG was founded in 1998 to design, develop and market advanced Internet Protocol (IP) based multi-service platforms that deliver voice, video and data services over a converged network. Patton Electronics, Co. (Maryland, USA) and Inalp Networks AG (Berne, Switzerland) joined forces in 2002 to manufacture and market the SmartNode™ brand of advanced VoIP products. Patton-Inalp Networks AG is the VoIP competency center and Europe-Middle-East-Africa (EMEA) sales organization for Patton’s business-class network access, connectivity and VoIP equipment.

About Patton:
Patton is all about connections—from inception the company has connected generations in a family-owned-and-operated business. Since incorporating in 1984, Patton has built everything from micro-sized widgets for connecting "this-with-that," to carrier-grade Telecom gear that connects end-customers to service-provider networks. Now headquartered in Gaithersburg, MD, USA, Patton markets a catalog of over 1,000 products, with a focus on VoIP and Ethernet extension technologies. Today, Patton equipment is up-and-running in carrier, enterprise and industrial networks all over the world—interconnecting legacy TDM and serial systems with contemporary and next-generation IP-based voice, data, and multi-media networking technologies. 

Here at Patton, it is our joy and mission to connect real-world customer challenges with high-quality, right-priced solutions, complemented by unrivaled customer service and technical support. In the field, Patton's global family of locally-present sales, support, and engineering professionals are fully-engaged in connecting our product managers with true local-market requirements. Patton works hard to connect with your world, operating regional offices in strategic locations across the globe, with training and technical-support centers in Switzerland, Hungary, Lebanon, India, Vietnam, and the USA. To better reach our global customers and serve their true needs, Patton works in connection with a growing network of technology, business, and sales-channel partners. Patton… Let's Connect!

For more information or a free catalog, email sales@patton.com

Contact:
Glendon Flowers
Patton Electronics Company
7622 Rickenbacker Drive
Gaithersburg, MD 20879 USA
Tel: (301) 975-1000
Fax: (301) 869-9293
press@patton.com
http://www.patton.com