Cardinal Education Math Workbook

Cardinal Education believes in the social value of a strong public education system and sponsors pro bono programs to bring private sector expertise to bear. However, government fiscal policies are short-changing public schools of opportunities: activities, sports, variety of classes, advanced classes, student-teacher ratios, and counseling departments. The “private school imperative” means that despite economic trends, admission to private school is becoming so competitive that it necessitates standardized testing excellence.

This second edition of the Math Workbook for ISEE, SSAT, & HSPT Prep: Middle School and High School Entrance Exams has been overhauled from the first edition to reflect the most up-to-date knowledge of the private school admissions exams, as well as to incorporate new insights gleaned by our experts as they used the first edition to prepare students for these exams.

Math Workbook for ISEE, SSAT & HSPT Prep

The philosophy of this math workbook remains the same as in our first edition: rigor and drill. Because these are the first tests that actively try to trick students at every turn, those who sit for these exams need reflexive familiarity with mathematical computation, problem types, and strategy. The entrance exams are the first standardized tests for which budgeting time is a significant issue. Students need to spend the majority of time on analysis, rather than computation, to avoid getting tricked. By building skills, speed, and confidence, we hope to eliminate anxiety and give students a solid foundation on which to build excellent scores.

This book was developed to address the severe shortcomings of private school entrance exam prep books produced by big-name education companies. It was brought about after years of using their books in our test prep training and seeing how off-base they were with question types, difficulty, and organization. Questions from those other books made our team wonder if these companies had ever thoroughly analyzed the admissions tests or if they are simply capitalizing on an opportunity to sell more products. The questions in this book are developed from countless hours of analyzing actual admissions tests and student-parent feedback.

This book is intended as a supplement for test prep tutoring. However, motivated students can use it successfully with occasional help from a teacher or parent. Each chapter is comprised of units of similar concepts, with multiple problem sets for each unit. The difficulty level increases in a logically progressive manner from the start to the end of the book. Patricia Brown of Team Talent Tutors comments, “I used this book recently with a student preparing for the ISEE. I would most definitely use it again. I would also use it with students who aren’t taking the specific entrance exams for private school and who just want to remediate math weaknesses. The authors have done a great job compiling a large and appropriate set of practice math problems. Kudos to the authors for giving me such a great resource.”

The Cardinal Education Math Workbook can be used nationwide and is relevant for entrance exams to virtually all American private middle schools and high schools.

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