I'm surprised to see "Approved for Exams" featured so prominently, as handheld calculators for lots of standardized exams are being phased out.
All of the exams listed are either already offered in a computerized format or in a transition phase, with the PSAT, SAT, APs, and ACT all already offering Desmos in their testing apps.
I love handheld calculators, but, especially in a time-sensitive environment, it's hard to beat a large screen and full keyboard.
I'm not sure what features people consider important, as I've never used Spotify or other common podcast apps, but I've had a good experience getting podcasts through Patreon and then adding them to AntennaPod through their rss feed.
"Dumbing down" is an imprecise and inaccurate description of the most recent changes to the SAT.
The Collegeboard did indeed adjust the test to better appeal to students, but this was primarily done by shortening the length of the exam from ~ 3 hours to ~2 hours. To compensate for this, the test was updated to an adaptive format to present students with more questions of appropriate difficulty levels based on their performance.
The other main change, which the article highlights, was to shorten the reading passages. Yes, there are skills no longer being tested because of this change, but it's also allowed for a broader array of passages to be included. The new version of the test introduced poetry and novel question types involving logical reasoning and use of data. Which of these skills are more important for success in college and future careers is a worthwhile question to ask, but not one with an obvious answer.
This looks fantastic! I work in test preparation myself (though not for the LSAT) and this ticks all the boxes for the best approaches. I also really appreciate it being direct and opinionated without the obnoxious tendency of a lot of guides to denigrate alternatives.
Yes, you do need to press white keys further back sometimes. Imagine trying to play on black keys with your thumb and pinky finger while playing a white key with your middle finger. You won't be pressing all the way at the back, but your finger will have to press between the black keys.
I'll have to go through this with my family; we have a number of terms we use that we're never sure if they're Canadian, non-regional uncommon words, or just things our family say.
My grandpa called toonies "bearbucks", which isn't listed, but is in one of the quotes on the toonie entry. No listing for "reef" as in yanking on something, though I don't know if that's a Canadianism or not.
I'd love to have some sort of normalization option to separate more subtle positive trends from the general increase in number of posts.