I took the SAT twice. Once when I was in 7th grade and once again when I was a junior in high school. I did well both times without much preparation however many friends of mine who I considered just as intelligent as me were struggling to score higher than average. I didn’t grasp why until they mentioned to me that they had not finished any of the sections completely. Their pacing was all off and made it so they couldn’t even finish a section.
Jordan Liss, an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, decided to help solve that problem with his Testing Timers watches. After filing for a patent to cover his design, Liss started manufacturing and selling his own line of watches that can also function as a timer for either the SAT or ACT providing proper countdown timing for each SAT section.
The watch has two real benefits beyond telling the time. It can simulate an exam setting with rigid time components and it is also allowed as a timer during the actual exam. Gone are the days looking at the white board for a 5 minute warning note.
The ability to accurately simulate a testing environment is critical for those that struggle with time. While I never had an issue with timing myself, I decided to take a practice SAT while using the watch. It was both easy to use and effective providing both section and total time remaining, markers representing sections, and a visual track showing progress. The tangible benefits were reduced stress during test taking and consistency across the sections.
Linda Larson, a SAT tutor, had this to say about the Testing Timers: “We use them during class time when we take timed practice tests. The students use them at home as well. Then, of course on test day they all use their watches. During one timed essay section, one of my students who had never used the watch before, said that when she had 3 minutes left she thought she should stop but kept going and was amazed at much she was able to accomplish in just 3 minutes.” Being able to effectively utilize the entire time for the exam can be critical to achieving the highest score possible. In the case of this student, she scored a 12 out of 12 on the essay section.
Another student of Larson forgot her calculator but remembered her watch. It’s obvious which tool was more important to her performance.
I really enjoyed my experience with the watch and the refreshing entrepreneurial story behind its creation. I will be recommending it to my friends and relatives about to take the SAT or ACT. I think it could really help those that struggle with time score higher than they could without it.
