The Bergen County Academ​ies (BCA, BCTS) Prep
"The Best BCA Prep Program in Bergen County"

Overview

The Masters Prep's BCA Prep program is a one of a kind program catered to competitive students who wish to attend the magnet school. Our BCA prep program is selective and requires the applicant to take a diagnostic test and to submit her/his 6th and 7th grade report cards along with PARCC results for evaluation. 

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The Bergen County Academies (BCA or BA) is a public magnet high school located in Hackensack, New Jersey. As a public school, BA accepts students from across the county at no cost to the student (the costs are covered by the student's home district). The school is divided into seven specialized college-preparatory programs, each called an "academy." BCA was recognized in 2009 by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best high schools in the United States. According to statistics from Newsweek (2011), BCA students scored an average of 2100 on the old SAT, the second highest average among US high schools; overall, Newsweek ranked BA 23rd in the nation and 2nd in the state. In addition, Bloomberg Businessweek cites BA as New Jersey's best high school (the BCA/BCTS profile to be updated).
 

Our BCA prep course starts in the summer and runs through the end of December. During the summer, we provide lessons on fundamental, challenging math topics that have been tested on previous BCA Entrance Exams and help our students enhance their problem solving and application skills. For the essay portion of the exam, we focus on developing students' critical reading and thinking skills, logical reasoning skills, and effective writing skills.

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In the Autumn (from September to December), our BCA prep program offers not only math and essay writing classes but also AMC8 practice and reviews, simulation tests, application essay edits, and admission interview training. The Maters Prep's BCA Prep Autumn Program is described below in more detail.  

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Masters Prep's BCA Prep Program for Autumn 2020-21 at a glance

Period: September 7, 2020 -  January 7, 2021

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Mathematics:

• Sixteen 1.5 hour lessons

• Eight Complimentary AMC 8 Practice Tests followed by 30-minute review (From September 7 to October 31) on Fridays and Saturdays

• Eight Real Test Simulation Sessions on Saturdays or weekdays (From November 2 to January 2)

• Extra-help for math is available on a weekday and Saturday

• Complimentary Math Final Review sessions in the first week of January 2020

• Our methodology: Knowing the inner workings of numbers, number operations, and other fundamental mathematical concepts is crucial to success in the Bergen County Academies Math Entrance exam. We teach mathematical reasoning behind the mathematical operations students do every day without asking why and how it works. We also introduce various mathematical techniques and useful theorems that can be applied to solving complicated problems. Beyond the BCA prep, what you learn from this course will remain in your memory and serve as the pedestal on which you will build more advanced mathematical concepts in the future years.

 

 

Essay Writing:

• Sixteen 1.5 hour lessons

• Eight Real Test Simulation Sessions on Saturdays or weekdays

• Our methodology: We go beyond sentence correction and essay organization improvement. Besides these basic essay writing skills, we also teach how to reason, how to avoid fallacies in deriving conclusions, and how to analyze stories (literature) as well as help our students communicate their ideas effectively through various writing techniques. Our students explore more than 10 different types of stories and prompts and practice analyzing each type.

 

Application Essays:

• We evaluate our students' application essays, provide critiques and revision recommendations, and proofread the final draft at no additional cost. We emphasize the importance of the genuine idea coming from the students, not from their parents or from any other source such as professional editors or the internet. Therefore, we do not write for them but have our students rewrite their essays until they become satisfactory.  

 

Bergen Academies Admissions Interview:

• For those who passed the first phase, we provide two interview training sessions: an orientation session (small group) and an individualized mock interview session (1:1).

• The BCA admissions interviews are conducted on an individual basis. Some academies conducted group interviews in the past, but in recent years group interviews are rare. Each student will meet two to three interviewers, mostly two, and each interview lasts three to fifteen minutes. The interview questions vary depending on the applicant, the interviewers, and the academy. The AVPA (art, music, theatre) applicants also have a brief interview after the audition or the portfolio review. Our mock interview training sessions are indispensable to your successful admission interview. Sometimes students who did not study at Masters Prep want to get our interview training. If seats are available after we assign the training sessions to our students, we might be able to offer a very limited number of spots. 

• Here is a one-minute video clip on the top 5 BCA admission interview questions. 

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Masters Prep's BCA Prep Jump Start Program, Summer 2023  
"Our Summer BCA Prep classes are challenging, eye-opening, and rewarding." 

Period: June 26, 2023 -  August 17, 2020 

Schedule: Mondays and Wednesdays 9:00-12:00 / Tuesdays & Thursday 9:00-12:00  
Subjects: Essay & Mathematics 
For more information, please fill out the form below and plan to visit Masters Prep. We will give you a presentation about how we prepare our students for the BCA entrance exam and the admissions. It will takes about an hour. 

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Articles on How to get into the Bergen County Academies

The following articles are what The Masters Prep published over the period from September 2015 to February 2016 in the educational section of a local magazine. The articles explain the step-by-step application and admission process, including how to prepare, what to avoid, and other important tips from online open house registration to admission interview. (We temporarily moved the articles to the archive drive and they are not available at this time. If you are interested, please contact us.)

 

The Guarantee Program (2019-20)

Should a student participating in the Maters Prep's BCA Prep Autumn Course meet certain criteria, he/she will be eligible for the Guarantee Program. Under this program, should the student fail to pass the initial testing phase (phase 1), the student will be reimbursed with 25% (tuition credit for future course registration at Masters Prep) OR 15% (check reimbursement) of what was paid for the tuition (excluding the class material cost of $200 and $50 registration fee). Check reimbursement will be made on or before April 30, 2020.

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What are the criteria that need to be met?

1. The student must have been accepted to the Masters Prep's BCA prep course*.

2. The student must be present for at least 95% of the lessons per subject. This translates to no more than one allowed absence for the student, if the student wishes to be eligible for the program.

3. The student must take seven practice tests out of the eight tests that are provided.

4. The student must take seven AMC8 practice tests and review sessions out of the eight that are offered.

5. The student must have had his/her BCA application (essay) reviewed by The Masters Prep.

6. The student must have submitted his/her copies of their 6th and 7th grade academic report cards and PARCC or other standardized test results to Masters Prep.

7. The student must attend all of the math final review sessions, which will take place in the first week of January, 2019.

8. The reimbursement request must be made on or before March 10, 2020. (The reimbursement form along with the original copy of the first phase letter from the BCA must be submitted. The reimbursement form will be emailed individually upon request.)

*The Guarantee Program is not applicable for the students who primarily applied for Bergen Tech (Teterboro Campus) due to different admission criteria and application process.

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The Masters Prep's recent results

Please click on the link to see the results.

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To start the process, please make an appointment and visit Masters Prep. We will provide an individualized presentation about how to apply to BCA/BCTS and how we prepare students for the successful admission into the academies. If possible, please come with your child (recommended) so that he/she can take our evaluation test during or after the presentation. Please fill out the inquiry form below. Once we receive your inquiry, we will contact you to schedule an appointment. If your child takes the evaluation test, there is a $40 fee for the evaluation, which will be credited against the tuition amount if you register your child for our Bergen County Academies prep course. If you are already ready to apply to our BCA Prep program, please fill out the application form.  (There is no application fee.)

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Inquiry Form