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大多数学生在SAT考试中得不到1500分（满分1600分）甚至更高的分数，而仅仅只能得到1400分（甚至更低），是因为他们没有用正确的方法去了解和学习标准测试。
许多文章反复强调标准化测试的悲哀之处在于，SAT并不是对智力的一种测试，而是对“你准备得有多好”的一次检测。我们也曾经提到过很多更好的方法来学习（欢迎阅读我关于“学习金字塔”的其他文章），目前亚洲大多数教育机构和中国一样，宣扬将“死记硬背”作为唯一的学习方法。他们用“文化差异”作为借口，声称中国乃至亚洲的学生更适合这种学习方法，我认为这完全是胡说八道，我之前帮助过的各种考培机构客户里的学生就是最好的证明，当他们优化学习技巧时，在学习方面会得到更好的表现。
虽然在很多能得到1500+分数的学生当中，从某种意义上来讲，他们确实还是适合死记硬背的学生，但这并不意味着其他学生根本无法得到1500分。其实事实上，他们已经达到了一个学习瓶颈，而且很可能是因为他们并不适合补习学校所教给他们的现有SAT考试技巧。
西方国家对中国乃至亚洲学生有一个普遍的误解，就是将中国默认为每个人都是能力非凡的考试者，事实上我相信大多数人在补习班付出巨大的努力，花了无数的时间记忆单词，结果在SAT考试中通常只能得到1350-1450分。特别是在我最熟悉的中国SAT考生中，很多辅导中心的学生们常常拿那些1520以上的考试成绩作为“任何人都可以做到”的证据。不过，他们让广大考生忽略的信息就是，如果每个人都能取得1520分以上的成绩，那么SAT考试的”钟形曲线”就没有任何意义了。当然，有许多在SAT考试得到低分的学生的话，也有助于降低平均的SAT分数，但你同时也要记住，为了提高个人的竞争能力，SAT考试仍然是对自己具有挑战的一门考试。
如果学生想克服自己的考试瓶颈，他们需要重新调整学习策略并且使用其他学习方法。幸运的是，大多数现有方法在西方已经被广泛使用多年，现在在亚洲和中国开始出现了越来越多的不同类型的互动性讲座（workshop），目的是把它们介绍给当地的学生，而这些方法，你在课堂上是无法学习到的。
我坚信一定要先在语言和数学的基础上使用这种方法，因为一旦学生熟悉他们，这种方法就很容易应用到SAT考试上。虽然一开始可能看不出来，但SAT应该是能量化你自身的英语和数学的基础考试。当然，刚刚那句话的确有争议性，但无可争议的是你一定要拥有多种多样的学习技巧，将自己充分武装起来，因为不管你怎么努力去记住如何使用某某单词，如果你还要另记4999个其他的单词，你的大脑会很快将这个单词格式化！如果你或你的孩子是神童，例如我拒绝哈佛邀请的妹妹或者我毕业于耶鲁大学物理博士的哥们儿,当然你可以忽略我刚刚所提到的。
在下一篇文章中，我将介绍一些能突破SAT成绩的非传统方法，我必须解释一下，对于那些已经习惯于学习金字塔甚至是使用“死记硬背”之外的学习方法，如思维导图的人来说，“非常规”这个词可能会有点误导，所以请看我下篇文章的详细内容和解释。
——————————以下为Andy老师英文原稿——————————
Why some students cannot hit a 1500+?
The reason why most students are not getting a 1500 (out of 1600) or even higher on the SAT, and instead are only at the 1400 mark (or even lower), is that they are not using the correct methods of learning standardized test.
The sad thing about standardized tests, as many articles have repeatedly reiterated, is that SAT is not so much a test of intelligence, but rather it is a test of“how well you have prepared”. We also have mentioned previously that there are many better ways to learning (refer to my articles on the learning pyramid), and at the moment most education institutes inAsia and Chinapreach rote learning as the only way to learn. They use “cultural differences” as an excuse to claim thatAsian and and Chinesestudents are better suited to this sort of learning methodology, which I think is an absolute load of nonsense having proven to myself that students are much better when they optimize their learning.
A lot of thecurrent1500+ students are the ones that actually are suited to the rote learning, but it doesn’t mean the rest of the pack cannot achieve a1500 at all. In fact, they have hit a plateau, and it is most likely because they are not as suited to the existing SAT techniques that are taught at such cram schools.
There is a common misconception in the West thatAsian and Chinesestudents are expected to be fantastic “test takers”, in fact I believe most that have been hard-working back atcram schoolsand spend countless days memorizing vocabulary words usually end up in the 1350-1450 range.Especially in China which I’ve the most familiar with, many test prep centers glorify students that are above 1520 and frequently tout them as evidence that anyone can do it. The message that they fail to convey is that if everybody were able to achieve a 1520+ score, then the bell curved SAT wouldn’t make any sense. Of course, you’ve got low-achievers to help drag the average SAT scores down, but remember, in order to become highly competitive, the SAT is still a test against oneself first and foremost.
To get over the plateau, they need to reconfigure their learning strategies and use other methods. Fortunately, most of these existing methods have been widespread in the West for years, and now there is a growing influx of workshops that are aimed to introduce them inAsia and China, and these are the sort of ways that are not usually taught in class.
However, I’m a firm believer in using such methods in language and mathematics fundamentals first because once students are familiar with them, it is very easy to apply them to taking the SAT, since ultimately, while it may not seem like it, the SAT is supposed to be a test of your English and quantitative basics. Of course, that can be debatable, but what isn’t debatable is the need to have diverse set of learning skills in your arsenal, because no matter how hard you try to memorize how to use the word xxxxx, it will not be retained if you have to memorize another set of 4999 words along with it! If you or your child already were some type of prodigy like my sister who rejected Harvard or my best friend in college who graduated from Yale with a PhD, you wouldn’t be needing this article in the first place.
In my next article, I will introduce some unconventional ways to a breakthrough in your SAT scores. The word“unconventional”may be a little misleading to those that are already accustomed to the learning pyramid or even simply learning methods beyond rote memorization such as mind-mapping.
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Andy的简介：
- Multicultural and multilingual: Grew up and lived in a number of countries, American-born Chinese -（Third Culture Kid）多文化和多语言:在多个国家成长和居住；美籍华人-典型第三文化人士(TCK)
- Leader in empowering corporate training and recruitment professionals with assessment methodologies and project-based learning andragogy为企业培训和招聘人士提供领先评估体系和游戏化的项目式学习的职场教学法的领袖
- Decade of experience in education and training, and expert in China十年以上的学生教育和企业培训的经验:并被很多本土和国外人士称为“中国通”
- Regular community event organizer with expertise in workplace gamification for employees定期社区活动的组织者:游戏化员工体系的主题
- UC Berkeley Alumni Club Ex-Leader and Recruitment Ambassador毕业于世界名校加州伯克利大学并担任校友俱乐部前任负责人和前任招生大使
- Third-party Interviewer for College Admissions美国第三方面试官(很多大学现在需要学生在提交申请书与第三方机构进行面试)
- Helped build a number of college admissions counseling departments负责搭建多个海外升学指导中心
- Unlike most “education experts”, personally attended more than a dozen schools growing up and personally went through the AP, IB, British, Singaporean and Hong Kong education systems相比其他所谓的“教育专家”，从小上过十几所学校，亲自体验过AP、IB、英国、新加坡和香港的教育制度
- Recently, created China’s first bilingual entrepreneurial and innovation educational events organization: Center for Youth Business Facilitation
在这一两年间，建立了中国第一个双语创新创业学习的活动平台: CYBF创习国际交流中心