The Tests and the Rest podcast has always been relentlessly focused on exploring important topics in testing, admissions, education, and learning with amazing expert guests. Once in a while, though, we enjoy an unstructured opportunity to discuss our own takes on major issues, upcoming events, and our endeavors at the intersection of business and education. Catch up with us in the latest episode of EXTEMP with Amy & Mike.

What are five things you will learn in this episode?

1. What new piece of curriculum did Mike create recently?

2. What is Mike’s background in birding?

3. What were Amy’s big takeaways from the College Board National Forum?

4. What have we learned about college admissions?

5. When and where will the NTPA Winter Workshop be?

We definitely want to respond to listener questions in our next EXTEMP episode, so reach out to us on social media or get in touch through our contact page. Let’s get this Tests and the Rest mailbag rolling!

LINKS

Roots2Words Teachers Pay Teachers Store

2024 National Test Prep Association Winter Workshop

10,000 Birds

RELATED EPISODES

EXTEMP WITH AMY & MIKE: October 2024

PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF TEST PREP: AMY SEELEY’S ORIGIN STORY

SAT & ACT TESTING TIMELINES: MIKE BERGIN’S ORIGIN STORY

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our past episodes on the show page and keep up with our future ones by subscribing to our email newsletter.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS

Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros and LEAP. If you’re interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, feel free to get in touch through our contact page.

The ACT has been remarkably stable since the last time the exam was “enhanced” in 1989. However, significant changes are coming more quickly than you might think to this influential college admissions exam. Amy and Mike invited ACT representative Catherine Hofmann to share all the details about the ACT Test Enhancements.

What are five things you will learn in this episode?

1. How is the ACT changing?

2. What aspects of the ACT are staying the same?

3. What is the motivation for these enhancements?

4. Will the Enhanced ACT be linear or adaptive?

5. What is the timeline for the Enhanced ACT?
   

MEET OUR GUEST

Catherine Hofmann serves as the Senior Vice President of Government and Public Relations at ACT, where she has held a leadership role since 2014. Prior to joining ACT, she worked in Oklahoma as a teacher and assistant principal, at the Oklahoma Department of Education, and then at College Board overseeing state strategy.

Growing up in a fifth-generation rural farming family and as a first-generation college student, Catherine understands the value of a college education and strives to use her voice and professional experience to advocate for underserved students. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Central Oklahoma and a master’s degree in School Administration.

Catherine lives on the family farm established in 1860 outside Louisville, Kentucky, with her husband, her four children, and her beloved rescue cats and rescue dog, Cash. And the family is growing—she regularly fosters rescue animals and engages in a range of other community volunteer services.

Learn about the coming changes and sign up for updates at the ACT Test Enhancements page.

LINKS

ACT Test Enhancements

The Upcoming Changes to the Enhanced ACT

RELATED EPISODES

WHY TESTS MATTER: STUDENT PERSPECTIVES

WHY THE SAT AND ACT ARE AWESOME

WHEN SHOULD YOU TAKE THE SAT OR ACT?

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our past episodes on the show page and keep up with our future ones by subscribing to our email newsletter.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS

Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros and LEAP. If you’re interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, feel free to get in touch through our contact page.

You don’t need to be a future business major to bring some marketing acumen to your application to higher education. Amy and Mike invited marketing professional Stacey Ross Cohen to review how to build a winning brand to ace college admissions.

What are five things you will learn in this episode?

1. How are college admissions and personal branding related?

2. Why is personal branding/digital leadership critical for college-bound students?

3. What are essential steps teens should take to build a strong personal brand?

4. How can college-bound students use social media to their advantage?

5. What other essential life skills are important for high school teens to navigate the college process?

MEET OUR GUEST

An award-winning marketing professional who earned her stripes on Madison Avenue and at major television networks, Stacey Ross Cohen excels at taking brands to market and leveraging each client's unique voice for impactful campaigns.

In 1998, Stacey founded Co-Communications, a marketing communications agency serving clients in education, healthcare, real estate, hospitality, economic development, professional services, and nonprofits. Her accolades include Forbes Enterprise, PRSA Practitioner of the Year, City & State NY/Power100, and Crain's New York Business' Notable Leader in Advertising, Marketing, and PR (2023). Stacey recently made her debut on the TED stage, is a contributor at Entrepreneur and The Huffington Post, and has been featured in Forbes, Inc, USA Today, Newsweek, and more.

She holds a BS from Syracuse University, an MBA from Fordham University, and a certificate in Media, Entertainment, & Technology from NYU Leonard Stern School of Business. Stacey is a sought-after speaker and author in the realm of PR, Marketing, and Branding and has delivered talks at Fortune 500 companies and global education institutes. She is a newly appointed adjunct marketing professor at Fordham University. An entrepreneur at heart, Stacey started her first business when she was just 14 years old and is now a member of a prominent angel investor group.

Stacey's best-selling book Brand Up: The Ultimate Playbook for College & Career Success (Post Hill Press/Simon & Schuster) is a game changer for teens to stand out and achieve success in our increasingly connected, cluttered, and competitive world. It's packed with exercises, tools, and tips essential to establish a positive narrative and social media presence that can open doors to desired colleges and coveted first jobs. Endorsed by Barbara Corcoran, who calls the book a must-read "to excel at networking, entrepreneurship, in the classroom and the boardroom," Brand Up is available at Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Target, and Amazon.

Stacey can be reached at https://branduplife.com/ or LinkedIn.

LINKS

Brand Up: The Ultimate Playbook for College & Career Success

Brand Up Life

RELATED EPISODES

FITTING IN AND STANDING OUT

AVOIDING THE PAGEANT APPROACH TO COLLEGE ADMISSIONS

FINDING YOUR AUTHENTIC SELF IN THE PATH TO COLLEGE

PSYCHOGRAPHICS IN COLLEGE ADMISSIONS

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our past episodes on the show page and keep up with our future ones by subscribing to our email newsletter.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS

Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros and LEAP. If you’re interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, feel free to get in touch through our contact page.

The current college admissions dynamic where selective schools routinely receive 10, 15, or even 20 times as many applications as they have available seats has been a tremendous source of stress for applicants and their families. But how are the professionals who have to manage these applications holding up? Amy and Mike invited author Teege Mettille to explore how admissions counselor morale is changing admissions.

What are five things you will learn in this episode?

1. What exactly is admissions counselor malaise?

2. How have changes on college campuses impacted the admissions process?

3. What are the implications of this malaise in admissions for applicants?

4. What are the implications of this malaise in admissions for educators and counselors?

5. What can be done in the short term to improve this situation?

6. Is there a world where colleges and universities shift their perspective?

MEET OUR GUEST

Teege Mettille is a nationally-recognized leader in college admissions, with a career that spans leadership roles at four different institutions, serving as President of the Wisconsin Association for College Admission Counseling, and a three-year term as a member of the President's Council for the National Association for College Admission Counseling. He recently wrote The Admissions Counselor Malaise, a thorough assessment of the changes in college and university management that has been zapping the joy out of the profession. He joins us today to discuss that concept, and how it is impacting not just admissions counselors, but school counselors, independent educational consultants, and students.

Teege can be reached at teegemettille@gmail.com.

LINKS

The Admissions Counselor Malaise: Addressing the staff morale crisis in college admissions

Addressing The Staff Morale Crisis In Admissions

RELATED EPISODES

HOW TO SPEAK TO A COLLEGE ADMISSIONS REP

DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS AND COLLEGE ADMISSIONS

POWER DYNAMICS IN COLLEGE ADMISSIONS

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our past episodes on the show page and keep up with our future ones by subscribing to our email newsletter.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS

Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros and LEAP. If you’re interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, feel free to get in touch through our contact page.

The Tests and the Rest podcast has always been relentlessly focused on exploring important topics in testing, admissions, education, and learning with amazing expert guests. Once in a while, though, we enjoy an unstructured opportunity to discuss our own takes on major issues, upcoming events, and our endeavors at the intersection of business and education. We hope you enjoy this first episode of EXTEMP with Amy & Mike.

What are five things you will learn in this episode?

1. What massive step did Amy take in her test prep business?

2. How many educational projects exactly has Mike been working on?

3. What were the major developments in education and admissions last month?

4. Where will you find us and what should you pay attention to over the next month?

5. What are this month’s hot takes?

We definitely want to respond to listener questions in our next EXTEMP episode, so reach out to us on social media or get in touch through our contact page. Let’s get this Tests and the Rest mailbag rolling!

LINKS

Seeley Test Pros

LEAP

Chariot Learning

Roots2Words

TestBright SAT/ACT Curriculum System

Tutor: The Newsletter

National Test Prep Association

ACT Instructional Mastery

RELATED EPISODES

CELEBRATING OUR 600TH EPISODE

PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF TEST PREP: AMY SEELEY’S ORIGIN STORY

SAT & ACT TESTING TIMELINES: MIKE BERGIN’S ORIGIN STORY

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our past episodes on the show page and keep up with our future ones by subscribing to our email newsletter.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS

Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros and LEAP. If you’re interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, feel free to get in touch through our contact page.

After 599 episodes devoted to amazing conversations about testing, admissions, education, and learning, it’s time for something completely different. Amy and Mike invited educator Susan Powers to help celebrate our 600th episode. Get ready to hear from the ghosts of podcasts past, present, and future along with a modified Colbert questionnaire!

What are five things you will learn in this episode?

1. What are the biggest things Amy and Mike learned since the beginning of the podcast?

2. What were some of our favorite episodes?

3. What will our podcast tombstones say?

4. What are Mike, Amy, and Susan’s favorite test passages?

5. What does the future hold for testing, learning, and this podcast?

MEET OUR GUEST

Susan Powers is the founder and CEO of Woodlands Test Prep, a tutoring company based in the Houston area that improves students’ scores, supports students’ academic success, and helps families navigate the college admissions testing process with much less stress.

Susan started teaching SAT and GMAT classes for Kaplan in 1994 as a hobby while an executive for a large oil and gas equipment company, doing strategy and acquisitions. The arrival of children put hobbies on hiatus, and she was able to return to tutoring in 2011, founding Woodlands Test Prep. The company has grown from a solopreneur to a larger company with multiple tutors. Susan delights in all aspects of the business from tutoring to curriculum and resource development to process improvement to hiring those few rare gems and teaching them how to help students too!

Susan was a National Merit Scholar and has a B.A. in French and a B.B.A. in Finance from Southern Methodist University and an M.B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, focusing on entrepreneurship. She lives in the country with her partner, Joe, and three dogs, a cat, and a parrot named Monkey. Her two children now live adventurous lives in the mountainous West. She loves to travel around the world, play day-long board games, sing, write poetry, garden, and read a couple of books at a time.

Susan is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Test Prep Association. She first appeared on the podcast in episode 231 in a Test Prep Profile and in episode 534 Choosing Between the Digital SAT and the ACT.

Susan can be reached at www.woodlandstestprep.com.

LINKS

The Highlands Ability Battery: What Are Mike and Amy's Results?

RELATED EPISODES

CELEBRATING OUR 500TH EPISODE

PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF TEST PREP: AMY SEELEY’S ORIGIN STORY

SAT & ACT TESTING TIMELINES: MIKE BERGIN’S ORIGIN STORY

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our episodes on the show page.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS

Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros and LEAP. If you’re interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, feel free to get in touch through our contact page.

Ready to learn the history, philosophy, and practice of an experienced professional in the test prep industry?

MEET OUR GUEST

Meet Sara Kohn, who was raised in South Florida and attended Florida State University, where she obtained a degree in marketing. She later pursued a master's degree in exercise science. About two decades ago, She began tutoring about 20 years ago and eventually established her own company, Ready Set Prep - now called Advanced Test Prep, focusing on high level preparation, particularly for National Merit and the PSAT/NMSQT. She has conducted successful programs across South Florida, contributing to around 10% of all semifinalists in the state annually. Expanding on her passion for education and helping students achieve their academic goals, Sara’s journey in the field of tutoring and test preparation has been both fulfilling and rewarding. Through her company, Advanced Test Prep, she has been able to make a significant impact on the educational landscape of South Florida.

Sara has had the privilege of assisting educators and school districts nationwide in establishing their test preparation programs, aiding them in seamlessly incorporating test preparation into their existing curriculum. Additionally, she has collaborated with organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club, the Salvation Army, and the FIU Upward Bound Program. This enables her to offer elite private school services to individuals who may not have access to them otherwise.

Find Sara at www.advancedtestprep.com.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our episodes on the show page.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS

Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros and LEAP. If you’re interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, feel free to get in touch through our contact page.

Ready to learn the history, philosophy, and practice of an experienced professional in the test prep industry?

MEET OUR GUEST

Meet Reema Chitalia, a dedicated test prep expert passionate about shaping the futures of students pursuing education abroad. After earning her Master's degree in the United States and working as a consultant at Deloitte, she recognized gaps in global education systems and utilized technology to tackle these challenges. Before long, she established Edufit, an innovative online test prep platform that offers bite-sized lessons designed for Gen Z, ensuring thorough understanding and lasting retention. Having trained over 5,000 students, she is committed to transforming the way we approach standardized testing. As an international educator, she specializes in SAT and ACT preparation, while also having extensive experience with AP exams, Olympiads, GRE, GMAT, IBDP Bridge Courses, extended essays, and much more. Currently, she is in an exciting phase of expansion, actively seeking collaborations with international schools around the world for mutually beneficial partnerships.

In addition to her entrepreneurial pursuits, she is a TEDx speaker and motivational speaker, engaging with teenagers on essential topics such as success, character building, and resilience.

Find Reema at rchitalia@edufittestprep.com.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

Tests and the Rest is THE college admissions industry podcast. Explore all of our episodes on the show page.

ABOUT YOUR HOSTS

Mike Bergin is the president of Chariot Learning and founder of TestBright. Amy Seeley is the president of Seeley Test Pros and LEAP. If you’re interested in working with Mike and/or Amy for test preparation, training, or consulting, feel free to get in touch through our contact page.