While there’s no use denying that SAT and ACT scores are an important piece of your application and student profile–they’re not everything.  Four years of hard work and good grades (hopefully) in high school  are not erased with one standardized test score.

That being said, the SAT and ACT are tests that can be mastered through hard work and time commitment. College entrance exams aren’t quite tests you can cram for. They’re tests you should prep for over a long period of time, so you can get comfortable with the exams and develop the critical thinking and problem solving skills that are essential for succeeding on the SAT and ACT.

Scott Farber, founder of educational services company A-List Education (and one of the creators of Vocab Videos!), was recently featured on the Weekend Today Show offering his expert test prep advice for both students and parents.  Watch the clip below:

Because we had so many AWESOME submissions, choosing our grand prize winners was an extremely difficult decision, but the votes are in! A panel of judges including members of the Vocab Videos team (who know their vocabulary!) and a special guest judge in the film-making industry helped choose the big winners. Drum roll please…..check out the impressive winning entries below:

Filmmaker Grand Prize Winner (May Holiday Challenge) by Guthrie Kornbluth:

Filmmaker Runner-Up (TV Parody Challenge) by Matthew Fiedler:

Student Video Grand Prize Winner (Oscars Challenge) by Gilberto Moreno’s Class:

Student Video Runner-Up (April Fool’s Challenge) by Desiree Duzich:

Student Video Best Parody (TV Parody Challenge) by Gilberto Moreno’s Class:

Student Video People’s Choice by Eli Palomares (Oscars Challenge based on number of votes):

Student Photo Grand Prize by Stephanie Baldwin:

Antithesis = the direct opposite.

Student Photo Runner-Up by Joshua Sessoms:

Trepidation = a state of alarm or dread; apprehension.

Student Photo People’s Choice by Paul Stamper:

Ineffable = incapable of being expressed or described in words.

As featured on:

The Vocab Film Festival has been running since February, and has received numerous video and photo submissions illustrating the meanings of key SAT vocabulary words. Students, teachers, and filmmakers, alike, have found clever ways to help participants and fans understand the meanings of words. Check out one of our winning student video entries below:

Additionally, hundreds of votes have come in to support of affiliated nonprofits, Harlem Children’s Zone, Year Up, Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, and Urban Word NYC; the one that has the most votes at the close of the Festival will receive special prizes and donations generously provided by our innovative educational partners.

In the final month of the Festival, we welcome your participation more than ever!

GET INVOLVED. GIVE BACK. WIN BIG!

Look at our Vocab Film Festival widget below, and check out our Myxer channel to watch more of our videos and to get Vocab Videos on your phone!

Myxer: Privacy Policy | Terms – More from Vocab Videos

• DetentionSlip.org- Contest: Vocab Film Festival
• Zinch.com- Vocab Film Festival: $20,000 in Monthly & Grand Prizes
• Knewton.com- Knewton is Proud to Sponsor the Vocab Film Festival…
• YearUp.org- What’s New? The Vocab Film Festival
• OnlineVideoContests.com- Vocab Film Festival – February Challenge
• VidOpp.com- Vocab Film Festival
• TweetMeMe.com- Vocab Videos- Bringing Vocabulary to Life- Vocab Film Festival
• DetentionSlip.org- Vocab Videos Word of the Week
• Educated Nation: http://www.educatednation.com/2011/03/28/vocab-film-fest/
• The Kevin Bennett Blogspot: http://thekevinbennett.blogspot.com/2011/03/vocab-videos.html
• Licataland Blogspot: http://licataland.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html

Don’t forget to “Like” Vocab Videos on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for the latest Festival updates, announcements, and submissions!

REMEMBER: Vote on your favorite submissions! Doing so will not only ensure that your favorite entrants win some incredible prizes (the Festival is giving away MORE THAN $20K IN SCHOLARSHIPS, CASH, AND PRIZES!), but that your favorite participating nonprofit organization will receive special prizes and donations at the close of the Festival!

The Vocab Film Festival is sponsored by a number of wonderful educational organizations including Zinch.com, Knewton, Perfect800, and Cerebellum, and has the support of the incredible participating nonprofits, including Year Up, Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston, Urban Word, and Harlem Children’s Zone. We encourage you to learn more about our sponsors and nonprofits partners who have helped to make the Vocab Film Festival possible.

A-List Education Incorporates Teacher Training into New Breed of SAT Program at Two New Jersey High Schools

A-List Collaborates with Paramus High School and North Bergen High School on Unique SAT Programs Offered at No Cost to Students

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–A-List Education (A-List), leading experts in standardized test preparation, announced today the launch of SAT consulting and teacher training initiatives at Paramus High School (Paramus) and North Bergen High School (North Bergen) of New Jersey. The training programs equip the schools with the resources necessary to manage their own, in-house SAT preparation courses that can be offered free of charge to their students. This arrangement allows Paramus and North Bergen teachers, who have first-hand knowledge of students’ proficiencies, to build on their relationships with students and provide them with an SAT program that is fundamentally tailored to their needs.

In the past, A-List has run successful SAT courses using its own instructors at tri-state area high schools including Dumont High School in New Jersey. Here, A-List developed a strong, working relationship with the Dumont School District’s then superintendent, Dr. James Montesano. Looking to build on the success of the Dumont program, where many students’ SAT scores increased in excess of 150 points, Dr. Montesano welcomed A-List into Paramus, where he is currently superintendent of schools. This time Dr. Montesano asked A-List to work directly with teachers to create a customized SAT program implementing A-List’s materials and methodologies, enabling teachers to utilize them with each new junior class.

“Most students can’t afford to spend thousands of dollars on test preparation,” Scott Farber, president and co-founder of A-List said. “Schools can play a vital role and by training their teachers can offer outstanding SAT instruction at no cost to their students. It’s our hope to bring this program to high schools across the nation and to level the playing field.”

The program begins with senior A-List instructors conducting extensive seminars for the schools’ English and math teachers, equipping them with the content and strategies necessary for students to master the SAT. Teachers receive The A-List Book of Knowledge and companion teaching aids that offer explanations of answers and give detailed pedagogical reasoning about what types of mistakes students make and how to correct them. Students use A-List’s Vocab Videos, an innovative online vocabulary system, to learn more than 500 of the most frequently tested SAT words. Throughout the program, A-List provides the schools with detailed score reports that assess each student’s progress, indicate to teachers where a student is struggling, and suggest techniques to help improve scores. In addition, A-List consults with Paramus and North Bergen administrators to develop a customized curriculum and course structure, ensuring the program fits seamlessly into the school day.

“I’ve seen firsthand what A-List can do,” said Dr. Montesano, superintendent of schools, Paramus, NJ. “A-List’s SAT teacher training program allows the district to leverage its own assets and to institutionalize A-List’s proven approach to test prep. Their comprehensive materials and Vocab Videos are extraordinarily effective resources. Students, teachers, and the Paramus School District will all benefit from this program.”

Both Paramus and North Bergen high schools now have the capabilities to develop sustainable, high-quality programming that they can offer at no cost to their students through the A-List approach to in-school SAT programs.

About A-List Education

A-List Education (www.alisteducation.com) is an innovative provider of educational services for students, schools, and non-profit organizations. The company is dedicated to helping students achieve their academic goals and successfully prepare for undergraduate and graduate studies. A-List’s services include standardized test preparation, academic tutoring and college admissions advising. Through private tutoring, classroom based programs and online services, such as Vocab Videos (www.vocabvideos.com) and College Essay Optimizer (www.collegeessayoptimizer.com); A-List has helped thousands of students through its unique and highly effective programs and services. Using customized curricula and proprietary materials, A-List prepares students for standardized tests such as the SAT, ISEE, ACT and GRE. A-List is also committed to helping underprivileged youth and works with several nationally recognized original non-profit organizations, including Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Harlem Children’s Zone and Year Up.

About Vocab Videos

Vocab Videos (www.vocabvideos.com) is an entertaining and effective learning system that brings vocabulary to life. Leveraging humor, pop culture and engaging characters, Vocab Videos helps increase student understanding and retention of vocabulary words through verbal, auditory and visual cues. Vocab Videos employs proven educational methodologies to help students learn more than 500 frequently tested words found in high school level English classes and on college admissions tests like the SAT and ACT.

For more information about Paramus High School, please visit http://www.paramusschools.org/ppsd/

For more information about North Bergen High School, please visit http://www.northbergen.k12.nj.us/northbergen/site/default.asp

An Interview with Scott Farber: Word Learning.

Written By: Michael F. Shaughnessy Senior Columnist EducationNews.org

1)      I understand that A-List Education has introduced a new product, Vocab Videos. What is this all about?

Vocab Videos (www.vocabvideos.com) is an entertaining and effective learning system that brings vocabulary to life. Leveraging humor, pop culture and engaging characters, Vocab Videos help increase student understanding and retention of vocabulary words through verbal, auditory and visual cues. Vocab Videos employ proven educational methodologies to help students learn more than 500 frequently tested words found in high school level English classes and on college admissions tests like the SAT and ACT.

2)      How long are these videos and how many are there?

The videos tend to run 20 seconds to no more than a minute and currently there are over 500 words available on the website, with plans to develop many more over the coming year.  We wanted to make them short enough to keep the focus on illustrating the word itself, but the individual videos also come together to form “episodes” with extended plot lines and featured characters.

3)      I hear that Vocab Videos engages students by using popular television shows.  What are some of these shows?  Are you using the A- TEAM?

Getting students to engage with vocabulary content isn’t always easy.  We realized that an innovative method had to connect the Web 2.0 world and pop culture elements high school students see every day.  The VV episodes parody popular shows including Gossip Girl, Lost, 24 and the Office, as well as horror movies and Will Ferrell’s off beat sports movies.  As yet we have no videos using the A-Team, but the possibilities are endless.

4)      Are they in DVD or VHS format?

Vocab Videos are available through a Web-based service with monthly subscriptions of $9.99 or a twelve-month subscription for $49.99. Subscribers have unlimited access to content on the Vocab Videos website, including quizzes, review materials and video clips.

DVDs of Vocab Videos will soon be available on Amazon.com and in retail stores. There are no VHS versions.

5)       You are using a basic premise that I believe the Dolch lists espoused to help them learn  the most frequently found vocabulary words- was this your intention?

We found that many of our students struggled to learn words using traditional flashcards or by simply looking up new words in a dictionary.  We decided to develop a system that would make it easier and more enjoyable for students to expand their vocabulary by engaging them with verbal, auditory and visual cues.

Similar to the Dolch methodology, we recognized that many students are visual learners but we wanted to go a step further and introduce the video component. Vocab Videos provides students with a real-world illustration of the meaning of the word and a visual memory that they connect to that word. Furthermore, we found that incorporating humor into the videos is a highly effective technique for connecting students to the content and promoting retention.

6)   These words seem to be found in advanced high school English classes and on college admissions tests.  How did you come about choosing them?

Recognizing the difficulty many students have learning new words through conventional means, A-List created Vocab Videos after intense analysis and research. We reviewed dozens of standardized exams and ran word frequency queries through a database.  In addition our experience working with thousands of students (as well as individual teachers and school districts) gives us a unique insight.  This teaching system employs proven educational methodologies and helps connect high school students with the content and expand their vocabulary, while entertaining them along the way.

7)      How has this “A-List Education” made studying easier and more enjoyable?

A-List is dedicated to helping students achieve their academic goals and successfully prepare for undergraduate and graduate studies. A-List’s services include standardized test preparation, academic tutoring and college admissions advising. Through private tutoring, classroom based programs and online services, such as Vocab Videos (www.vocabvideos.com) and College Essay Optimizer (www.collegeessayoptimizer.com), A-List has helped thousands of students through its unique and highly effective programs and services. Our goal has always been to really make learning more fun while leveraging technology and creativity to empower students and teachers.

8)      Do you have a web site where I can learn more? Or an 800 number?

You can reach A-List education at www.alisteducation.com and Vocab Videos at www.vocabvideos.com. The number is: 646.216.9187

See how educators are helping with SAT preparation and incorporating technology into the classroom. Students are learning essential SAT vocabulary, and having fun in the process!

• Students, Vocab Videos is a fun and effective way to learn SAT and ACT vocabulary that can increase your SAT score up to 150 points!
• Parents, your kids will enjoy Vocab Videos and it will help them get into their top-choice colleges!
• Teachers, Vocab Videos can enhance vocabulary lessons and it gets results!

Check it out in action at Paramus High School, and consider giving Vocab Videos a try!