By Susan Alaimo
Hillsborough resident and business owner, Susan Alaimo, has recently written and published a book, SAT SMART: STRATEGIES and ANSWERS to the SAT. “It’s so important for high school students to understand the strategies of the SAT and put the strategies to work on actual test questions,” stated Alaimo, who founded the Hillsborough-based company, SAT Smart, back in 1995.
“We are now in our 20th year of preparing local students for these all-important exams,” reported Alaimo. The Hillsborough resident says she has worked with more than 6,000 students over the years, and is thrilled when she runs into former students and is updated on their college and career successes. “It is very rewarding to work with students and immediately see the impact on their SAT scores, which then directly affects their college acceptances and scholarship offers,” stated Alaimo. “When I run into these students years later, it is very exciting to hear stories of their college experiences, internships, study abroad, and all the other opportunities they are afforded.”
Alaimo wrote her book in March of 2014 over spring break, to give students additional material to complement the 12 hour course that she offers at the Hillsborough Municipal Building. Included in the book is a section titled, “300 Words Frequently Seen on the SAT.” Working as a high school SAT teacher and college advisor for 15 years, Alaimo said she proctored every SAT exam during this period unless one of her four children were taking the test. Over the years, she has seen the same unusual words appear over and over again – words like pragmatic, loquacious and ephemeral. So Alaimo listed them, along with definitions, in her book.
While Alaimo teaches the SAT Smart course herself in Hillsborough and at Immaculata High School, she has teachers who offer her SAT Smart course at Rider University in Lawrenceville, St. Mary’s Church-Stony Hill in Watchung, and at La Salle University in Newtown, PA. Courses are offered on Sundays as well as week nights.

