MEK’s High School Admissions Prep is designed for ambitious middle school students, seeking admission to competitive magnet and private schools. Through rigorous coursework, proven test-prep strategies, and a curated process, our High School Admissions Prep program gives students the skills they need to ace admissions tests!
Our program combines strategy learning, skill building, and test taking practice to ensure students strengthen each aspect of the test taking experience.
In class, students learn content specific strategies that guide them to finding the right answers. Through their homework, students practice these strategies, gradually strengthening their skills and solidifying healthy study habits that will benefit them throughout high school.
Finally, students have weekly supplementary test practice that challenges and sharpens students’ test taking skills, helping them build the endurance and confidence to apply themselves fully on test day. Through Canvas, students can reinforce their skills by doing assignments directly through the platform, check their progress, and structure their study habits.
We offer specific courses designed to prepare students for the BCA, ISEE, SSAT, and HSPT exams. And with our more than 25 years of experience in High School Admissions Prep, you can guarantee that our programs will set your child up for success both on the exam and in the high school classroom!
MEK’s High School Admissions Prep programs are in a class all their own. We strive to give your child an extraordinary level of attention and care by treating their needs and goals as the top priority. All MEK instructors are trained education professionals, so you can rest assured your child is receiving quality resources, a strategic curriculum that meets them at their current level, and lessons that build skill mastery and confidence. Plus, our group classes make for a fun, dynamic, learning experience.
The MEK BCA Prep course is a fall-only extensive test training program for current 8th graders, divided into two phases. Courses are held through a winning combination of engaging lectures and practice tests in a professionally proctored, realistic environment.
Program Details:
Season: Fall
Format: In-Person at Palisades Park and Closter
Phase I: 9 weeks
The focus of Phase I of the BCA Prep course is to break old habits and build new, effective test-taking skills. Through live virtual lecture and on-site testing, students are taught strategies to conquer the 40-question math exam and critical literary essay. Students learn to pinpoint the pattern of their mistakes and develop their own test-taking strategies.
Through Phase I, students become analytical mathematicians and writers, learning to handle numbers and write about their literary analysis in effective ways.
Phase I includes weekly practice exams, homework assignments, and expert lectures. It also includes expert application essay help and guidance throughout the program.
Phase II: 9 weeks
The focus of Phase II is to use what students have learned in Phase I for intensive test training. Through on-site lectures and on-site testing, students are trained to apply their learning to tackle a huge variety of questions and test-day circumstances, pushing students to step out of their comfort zones, build mental endurance, manage their testing time, and develop test-taking techniques to allow them to excel.
Through Phase II, students learn to think like test creators, as they are taught to expect the unexpected.
Phase II includes weekly practice exams, homework assignments, and expert lectures. It also includes interview training by our expert admissions counselors.
Class Placement & Shuffle
Class placement is determined by students’ individual skill levels and progress. Because students’ progress vary on an individual scale, MEK ensures that each student receives the care they need by placing them in the level that best addresses the student’s needs.
Every three weeks, students are reevaluated and shuffled based on their progress. Students who show exceptional progress are moved up to higher levels, while those who do not make enough progress may stay in the level they are in, or move down to address more foundational concerns.
Schedule: Specific schedule is determined by class placement and shuffles.
- BCA High Honors
- BCA Prep A
- BCA Prep B
- BCA Prep C
AS OF SPRING 2023, THIS COURSE HAS BEEN COMBINED INTO EXAM PREP 8.
Pre-High School Prep is a Spring-only course designed as a test prep boot camp for 7th graders who are planning on applying to magnet, private, or parochial schools. This course gives students a head start on mastering the key content and skills required to ace the BCA, SSAT, and ISEE tests.
Schedule: 20 sessions
Season: Spring only
Students build reading, verbal, and math skills that they do not learn in the school classroom, but by doing so, they are given the skills to excel in the 7th grade classroom and ace their PARCC exams, both of which are important for increasing their admissions chances to BCA and private schools.
READING
Through a wide variety of reading passages, from poetry to non-fiction to political cartoons, students learn to read closely, find evidence, and tackle words in context, all under a time limit. Unlike the school classroom, the MEK classroom exposes students to all types of reading material that prepares them for all potential test-day curveballs. This class helps students build strong reading comprehension foundations for their future BCA or SSAT/ISEE prep.
VERBAL
BCA, SSAT, and ISEE tests demand an expansive vocabulary from students, which is not available in the conventional school textbook, but rather in novels, articles, and everyday texts. Through uniquely formulated class texts and materials, MEK makes sure that students are fully prepared for any vocabulary word that comes their way.
MATH
In school, students learn math at a huge variety of levels, making it difficult to prepare for admissions tests. At MEK, students are trained to master math concepts at the level of the test, with the methods that are proven to be the most effective, while being introduced to the joys of problem solving. They are taught how to use numbers, making them more analytical and methodical thinkers.
The Exam Prep 8 course is a comprehensive test prep solution which covers skills and material common to all major high school admissions tests (BCA/BT, SSAT/ISEE, HSPT, MCVTS, UCVTS).
Summer 2024 Schedule: 21 Sessions
Season: Spring & Summer
Format: In-Person at Palisades Park and Closter
In the course, 7th graders build reading, verbal, and math skills that they do not learn in the school classroom, but by doing so, they are given the skills to excel in the 8th grade classroom, which is important for increasing their admissions chances to BCA and private schools.
READING
Through a wide variety of reading passages, from poetry to non-fiction to political cartoons, students learn to read closely, find evidence, and tackle words in context, all under a time limit. Unlike the school classroom, the MEK classroom exposes students to all types of reading material that prepares them for all potential test-day curveballs. This class helps students build strong reading comprehension foundations for their future BCA or SSAT/ISEE prep.
VERBAL
BCA, SSAT, and ISEE tests demand an expansive vocabulary from students, which is not available in the conventional school textbook, but rather in novels, articles, and everyday texts. Through uniquely formulated class texts and materials, MEK makes sure that students are fully prepared for any vocabulary word that comes their way.
MATH
In school, students learn math at a huge variety of levels, making it difficult to prepare for admissions tests. At MEK, students are trained to master math concepts at the level of the test, with the methods that are proven to be the most effective, while being introduced to the joys of problem solving. They are taught how to use numbers, making them more analytical and methodical thinkers.
SSAT/ISEE Prep 8 is a test training class offered in the summer only for incoming 8th grade students who have completed MEK’s Exam Prep 8 program and are ready to begin early test training for the October or November SSAT or ISEE.
Season: Summer only
Summer 2024 Schedule: 14 Sessions
Format: Virtual & In-Person at Palisades Park
Students will learn test-taking strategies and content-related skills to boost their performance on the Verbal, Reading, and Math sections of the SSAT and the ISEE.
This course meets roughly twice a week for 8 weeks during the summer. Students will also take a simulation test once a week. All students must first complete a qualifying evaluation before enrolling in the course.
SSAT/ISEE Prep is a test training class, ideal for 8th-graders working to ace the upper level SSAT and ISEE, the two most popular admission exams required by selective private or parochial high schools. This test is used to gauge students’ academic performance aside from report cards, similar to the way colleges use SAT/ACT.
Schedule: 10 weeks
Season: Fall
Specific schedule determined by class placement.
This course is divided into two groups: SSAT/ISEE Prep Advanced and SSAT/ISEE Prep.
- SSAT/ISEE Prep Advanced
For students who have a higher initial evaluation score, are aiming to reach the 99th percentile of test-takers, and are interested in applying to top tier, highly competitive private schools. Students also practice writing narrative essays in preparation for the essay section of the SSAT/ISEE
- SSAT/ISEE Prep
For students who are aiming to reach the 90th percentile of test-takers and are interested in applying to local competitive private schools
Throughout the year, MEK provides one-on-one tutoring for both the SSAT and the ISEE for the lower, middle, and upper level versions of the test. Students can prepare for both tests simultaneously or only one test depending upon the private schools to which they are applying.
Schedule: Recommend 15-20 sessions
Season: All Year
By appointment only
One-on-one tutoring allows students to prepare for these challenging tests in a personalized manner with an expert instructor. During private sessions students will learn strategies for mastering vocabulary, sentence completions, analogies, reading comprehension, quantitative reasoning, advanced problem-solving, and the ISEE/SSAT essay.
The length and frequency of the sessions are customized to the individual student, but all students will get practice with simulation tests, homework and quiz packets, and learn expert strategies.
