By Xinming Li, bostonese.com
Newton, Mass., June 10, 2015, — If you are in the same business for over 30 years, you probably think there is not much new material to be excited about. This is certainly not the case for Mr. Neil Chyten, who founded Chyten Educational Services in 1984. Author of many SAT/ACT books, Neil Chyten is well known in the test prep business as “the SAT guy” who often stays up well past midnight to write these books.
Neil Chyten (right) and students of Chyten Educational Services (photo by Xinming Li).
“I can’t wait to get in my office every morning to help students prepare for the new Common Core and the new SAT, and design new blended learning courses with our staff. There are just too many exciting changes right now,” said Neil Chyten in a recent interview with bostonese.com at Chyten Headquarters at 858 Walnut Street, Newton, Mass.
A recent lecture on changes in the new SAT and the Common Core by Chyten was well-attended by parents and students. “Many parents don’t understand the Common Core. It will affect every aspect of their children’s lives,” said Chyten.
The Common Core State Standards Initiative is the largest-ever attempt in the United States to set unified expectations for what students in kindergarten through 12th grade should know and be able to do in each grade in preparation for college and the workforce. In short, the standards are meant to get every student in America on the same page. Right now, the Common Core standards cover two areas: math and English language arts (writing and reading).
“Education is changing in America. The Common Core emphasizes real life skills, such as reading a GPS map and creating a chart for presentation. The new SAT is tied 100 percent to the Common Core. Our new blended learning courses, such as the 5-week GPA booster program, will help students improve their GPA as well as SAT scores,” said Chyten.
No one has taken the new SAT yet. However, the first-in-the-nation new SAT prep book is available at Chyten Educational Services now. A team of test writers worked tirelessly to put this book together with 1,000 new questions.
(from left) Mei and Neil Chyten at the new-generation course classroom (photo by Xinming Li).
According to Chyten, the new SAT math questions are longer and require more reading in order for students to fully understand the problems and choose correct responses. The new SAT essay also presents bigger challenges than before. It requires skills like evidence-based writing, reading graphs and analytical skills to achieve a great score. You can check out a blog: Tips For Writing an Award Winning New ACT Essay by Neil Chyten.
Students in the Class of 2017 will have the choice of taking the old SAT, ACT or the new SAT. “We require our tutors to have master’s degrees. We also write our own curricula for test prep and academic advancement. Parents and students can visit www.chyten.com or www.thechytencenter.com for our classes and tutoring service,” said Chyten. The SAT guy is as excited today as he was on the very first day he began working as a study skills tutor, 34 years ago.