Ellyn Hoffman: English Tutoring and College Exam Preparation

05/10/2026

And the list grows: Notre Dame, another Indiana University, Oberlin, and Miami of Ohio.

04/23/2026

During their junior and senior years, I have tutored students for their ACT/SAT tests and worked with them on crafting their personalized, stand-out application essays. Some needed structure, some needed confidence, some just needed help with getting their thoughts out or a brush up on grammar.

Spring has sprung and decisions have been made. These students have chosen schools across the country and it's an impressive array: Rice, Northeastern, NYU, University of Cal (Berkeley), University of Alabama, Miami University, University of IL, Purdue, Kelley Business School at IU and liberal arts at IU.

Congrats one and all!

02/09/2026

AI is still not consistent for flagging grammar issues, duplication and even logic. It's getting there and it can be a great jump start for students who don't like to write. You still need to be on the watch for misplaced metaphors, however!

Example: A cop just knocked on my door and told me my dogs were chasing people on bikes. I told him, "That's impossible. My dogs don't even own bikes."

07/22/2024

Changes to the ACT exam to roll out starting with ONLINE testing (you can still do paper) in spring 2025 and then for school-day testing in spring 2026:

"Like the writing section, science will be offered as an additional section. This means students can choose to take the ACT, the ACT plus science, the ACT plus writing, or the ACT plus science and writing....The new core test will last just two hours, compared to three hours for the current test. To achieve this, the test will include shorter passages on the reading and English sections and fewer questions in each section – 44 fewer questions in all – allowing students more time to answer each question thoughtfully."

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05/05/2024

Add-ons to the list: Baylor University in Texas for BioChem, Loyola for Nursing and University of New Hampshire for Marine Biology. Way to go students for matching with colleges that suit your personalities and your academic goals! The future looks bright.

05/03/2024

Bailor University, Boston University, Clemson, Colorado College, Northeastern (Boston), Northwestern, Purdue (engineering), University of Chicago (MBA), University of Illinois, University of Indiana (Kelley School of Business), Un. of North Carolina, Vanderbilt...to name a few. These schools will be lucky to have the students I worked with in 2023-2024. Way to go students - you will work hard and LOVE college!

04/04/2024

Finding a topic that works for a student, that rings true to them, that encapsulates what they want to convey about their thoughts on finding a college that allows them to have fun (yes, fun!), meet life-long friends and be inspired to work hard at their studies in an area that suits their interests and abilities — that may take a bit of wrestling with ideas and revising the admissions essay. After 15 years of helping students find what they want to say, in their voice, I can report that the "aha" moment is typically evident in their face and in their voice when we're discussing topics. You know when you've got IT!

This NYT opinion author too has seen the stultifying effects of "branding" on kids. Sure, they get into colleges, even some of the more elite colleges. It's just an extra stressful journey. My job, as I see it, is in part to try to take the stress out of writing the essay. It's one of my favorite parts of this job because I know what a satisfying essay looks like, for the student, their parents and colleges.

In the words of Sarah Bernstein, "In some ways, the college essay is a microcosm of modern adolescence. Depending on how you look at it, it’s either a forum for self-discovery or a high-stakes test you need to ace. I try to assure my students that it is the former. I tell them that it’s a chance to take stock of everything you’ve experienced and learned over the past 18 years and everything you have to offer as a result."

Teenagers should not have to commoditize themselves for the sake of getting into an elite school.

03/18/2024

Test optional doesn't look like it's going to be a long-term reality. Colleges are reporting that standardized test scores do correlate with how well students perform in college. Here's one example: "Last year, UT received 73,000 applications to join its freshman class. The 42 percent of applicants who submitted test results had a median score of 1420 on the SAT, while those who opted out of submitting scores had a median of 1160. Enrolled students who had submitted scores also performed significantly better during their first semester of college: Controlling for a wide range of factors, their grade-point average was nearly a full letter grade higher than that of students who didn’t submit, and they were 55 percent less likely to end up in the sub-2.0 danger zone."

Standardized tests are not a measurement of innate human value, but they do measure things that matter.

02/23/2024

David Leonhardt of the NYT reported on the science behind the reliability of standardized test scores as a predictor for success in college in January, 2024: "After the Covid pandemic made it difficult for high school students to take the SAT and ACT, dozens of selective colleges dropped their requirement that applicants do so. Colleges described the move as temporary, but nearly all have since stuck to a test-optional policy. It reflects a backlash against standardized tests that began long before the pandemic, and many people have hailed the change as a victory for equity in higher education.

Now, though, a growing number of experts and university administrators wonder whether the switch has been a mistake. Research has increasingly shown that standardized test scores contain real information, helping to predict college grades, chances of graduation and post-college success. Test scores are more reliable than high school grades, partly because of grade inflation in recent years."

Colleges have fled standardized tests, on the theory that they hurt diversity. That’s not what the research shows.

02/23/2024

The days of test optional may be over soon: "Yale University will require standardized test scores for students applying for the class entering in the fall of 2025, becoming the second Ivy League university to abandon test-optional policies that had been widely embraced during the Covid pandemic.

Yale officials said in an announcement on Thursday that the shift to test-optional policies might have unwittingly harmed students from lower-income families whose test scores could have helped their chances."

Officials said test-optional policies might have harmed students from lower-income families.

06/30/2023

Self-aware college admission essays clearly communicated with purpose and style are always worthy of your best effort. Now, essays will perhaps be given more weight in light of the recent Supreme Court decision eviscerating affirmative action.

However, the chief justice also warned anyone who might be thinking that the essay could be used as a surreptitious means of racial selection.