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Feb 05 2012 |
THE SILENT TIMER™ Story The concept for THE SILENT TIMER™ was conceived by Erik McMillan and Mark Blecher, two University of Texas seniors who saw a need that wasn’t being met. Every year hundreds of thousands of high school and college graduates aspire to higher levels of education. We have all heard the buzzwords: SAT, ACT, LSAT, MCAT, GRE, GMAT, and the list goes on. These are all tests that help students get into their college or graduate school. One feature all of these standardized tests share is stringent time control to measure how well and how quickly students can answer tough questions. In fact, the most difficult part of these exams is the time constraint. Most students, if given ample time, could finish most questions correctly. Since accomplishing higher levels of education is paramount to a student’s future success, income level, and life, big money is spent to learn how to take these tests. Students pay special test preparation schools such as The Princeton Review or Kaplan to learn how to beat their standardized exam. Erik McMillan and Mark Blecher both took an LSAT class in preparation for the June 2002 Law School Admissions Test. One of the major points stressed throughout the course was to practice taking sample tests under real timing situations. To do so students were urged to purchase a “legal” timer to help them keep time in practice and on test day. A “legal” timer is one that makes no noise and will not distract other students in the testing situation. If a student’s timer makes noise during an examination, the student will be asked to leave and will not be given a score on their test. With this in mind, Erik and Mark set off to find a timer that would satisfy these requirements: a timer that would guide them to a better score on their test. They went to Wal-Mart, Target, Oshman’s, HEB, Albertsons, and Radio Shack for a timer that didn’t make any noise. The response they received from most stores was, “Why would you want a timer that doesn’t make a noise when it gets to zero”? After all, the main point of a timer is to remind you when a certain amount of time has gone by. The idea to make a special standardized testing timer hit Erik on his trip to Radio Shack. After asking where their timers were located, a Radio Shack employee took Erik to the timers and explained which one most people had been buying. Erik proceeded to ask if the noise could be disabled on the timer. The employee told him that he was sorry, but a lot of other people were asking for timers without noise as well and he didn’t know what to tell them. This was the point of divine inspiration. Erik saw the problem, and also saw that many others were experiencing the same problem. They needed a legal timer for their tests and they had nowhere to turn. Erik purchased the noisy timer for $16.50, went home and removed the speaker from Radio Shack’s non-legal device. The idea has come a long way from ripping sound out of Radio Shack timers. Erik and Mark now have a patent pending on the only testing timer (THE SILENT TIMER™) specifically made for standardized test takers on the market. The timer is equipped with unique features that make it an ideal study aid for many important exams: it keeps track of test section time, lets the student know when time is almost up, and even lets the student know how much time per question they have left at any given point. THE SILENT TIMER™ is the key to developing the pacing skills students need to improve their performance. * Test rules for standardized exams vary. Check with your exam board to make sure The Silent Timer™ is legal for your test.
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