Score! – the KYBO Blog
Our perfect score methods are no secret: we never shut up about them.
KYBO leadership has been crafting tools, content, and curriculum to improve standardized test scores for nearly two decades.
Latest Utterances
I’m a Confidence Man
I’m a confidence man. Before you go reporting me to the appropriate authorities as some sort of flimflam man, I’m not saying I’m a con artist. I mean, I do work hard to gain the trust of my marks students, prey on…
Want to Raise Your Scores? Stop Using Your Smart-Person Brain.
Most students head into test day ready to think smart and work hard. After all, they’re about to take a test that will determine, in part, which college they get…
Ghostwriting College Essays?!
Introduction and Disclaimer Don’t worry, I’m not a real ghostwriter; I’m much too proud to withhold the taking of credit for my own productions. Rather, I’m just an educator. The…
Formulas are for Mules, Part III
A hopefully unnecessary disclaimer If you haven’t noticed yet, my modus operandi (my MO, for you true crime fans) in annihilating your dependence upon formulas has never involved claiming that…
Formulas are for Mules, Part II
Before we start addressing the actual individual packages of nonsense formulas below, I wanted to expand a little on my main claim in Formulas are for Mules, Part I. But…
REady for the Digital Test?
The SAT has changed… again.
Read our recent four-part series on the history of the changes to the SAT, and make fun of your enemy the whole time. Find out if they’ll regain market share from the ACT!
Our Score history
Want to Raise Your Scores? Stop Using Your Smart-Person Brain.
Most students head into test day ready to think smart and work hard. After all, they’re about to take a test that will determine, in part, which college they get to go to…
Ghostwriting College Essays?!
Introduction and Disclaimer Don’t worry, I’m not a real ghostwriter; I’m much too proud to withhold the taking of credit for my own productions. Rather, I’m just an educator. The word educate, however,…
Formulas are for Mules, Part III
A hopefully unnecessary disclaimer If you haven’t noticed yet, my modus operandi (my MO, for you true crime fans) in annihilating your dependence upon formulas has never involved claiming that a formula you…
Formulas are for Mules, Part II
Before we start addressing the actual individual packages of nonsense formulas below, I wanted to expand a little on my main claim in Formulas are for Mules, Part I. But first, a quick…
Formulas are for Mules, Part I
An introductory prevarication Sometimes, the truth of a matter isn’t so obvious as to just point at it and see it. Like a doctor whose white coat elicits our trust and deference, or…
How much should I practice?
You should practice as much as you can. Thank you! Goodnight! Oh. You wanted something more specific? Well, ultimately, how much you should practice depends on your goals. The ACT and SAT sort…
Numbers aren’t real, but they are useful.
Numbers aren’t real; they’re just labels for that which has been counted. Hold up your left hand. How many fingers are on it? Now, obviously, depending on who’s reading this article, the answers…
Punctuation Rules Are Black and White
Why do students leave high school not knowing they can use semicolons to separate two related sentences? Why do most students I meet for the first time lack the ability to use colons…
Should I take the ACT or SAT?
One of the most frequently asked questions we get is which test a particular student should take. Here are the general things to know and consider before making a decision: Schools no longer…
I’m Anxious About My Test Anxiety
My Experience My name is Jack Kybo. I am a college graduate in his mid-thirties who taught in the classroom for six years, I have been tutoring the ACT and SAT for over…
Reading (on the Reading Section) is for Losers, Part 3
The Reading section of a standardized test is exactly like a trip to the grocery store. Literally. Except figuratively. Imagine you need to pick up three things you need for the dinner you…
Keep Your Paradigm Straight, Part II
You’re not owed a “good” answer The test maker only owes you one thing: on each question, there needs to be one answer choice that is not wrong. Notice I did not say…
Reading (on the Reading Section) Is for Losers, Part 2
Before we get into strategies for answering questions on the Reading sections, let’s sum up my argument for skimming rather than reading the passage with a classic Choose Your Own Adventure™ piece of…
Reading (on the Reading Section) Is for Losers
I have an English degree. I taught English/Language Arts for six years in the classroom. I read, on average, over a book per week. But on the Reading sections of standardized tests, I…
Talk is cheap—or is it Miserly?
Fiat Talk-Talk Words are cheap. To be sure, it wasn’t always that way—In the beginning was the Word, ya heard? But anyway, it sure seems that words are cheap right now. Particularly since…
Fluid, bold statements
The excerpt below is adapted from a 2004 book about famed film critic Pauline Kael written by an editor and critic who knew her personally. An anecdote: one summer day not too many…
Mastering Who and Whom
To whom it may concern, Whose job is it to write the who/whom/whose test questions? Who’s behind those questions anyway? I mean, no one who understands grammar understands the difference between “who” and…
On the other hand, to start off on the right foot…
Conjunctive adverbial idioms… what? Conjunctive adverbs… eh? Transitions! Ah, yes! Like therefore and however! The SAT and ACT makers love to test the use of these grammatical tools in the English and Writing…
Keep Your Paradigm Straight, Part I
Choose your path: Let me shift you into gear A blind man gets on a crowded bus, and there are no seats available. One man offers the blind man his seat. Was that…
There must be more than this Provincial life
Oxford defines provincial as Quick note about which dictionary to rely on when studying vocabulary for standardized tests: it doesn’t matter. That said, we have found that the College Board’s use of their…
Comma Splices
Out of all the comma rules that appear on the ACT and SAT, comma splices are the only rule that describes an error. So why am I wasting your time talking about a…