Michael Moshan is a respected entrepreneur who has created edutainment series such as "Rock the SAT,” which places SAT test vocabulary within the context of song lyrics. Michael Moshan’s work as co-executive producer has included creating the original music that is used in building students’ vocabularies. The close connection between music and learning has been demonstrated in numerous studies. A recent University of Edinburgh study found that basic movement performed to music, while a simple task is being learned, helps develops cognitive centers within the brain.In particular, the practice of this music-related movement affected those parts of the brain that control movement and sound processing. This enhanced structural connectivity provides the wiring for different cells to better communicate with each other. A conclusion of this study is that this connection could help rebuild structural elements of brains that have suffered impairment. This finding could be critical in enabling patients who have lost a limited degree of movement control to regain mobility.
The president of Haven Tusk Title, LLC, Michael Moshan manages staff and oversees client development and account management at the New York City-based title company. Outside of work, he is a musician who formerly played in the band Brother Josephus and the Love Revival. Michael Moshan also used his musical skills to co-write volumes one and two of Rock the SAT. Co-written by Moshan, Michael Shapiro, and David Mendelsohn, Rock the SAT 1st Edition integrates SAT vocabulary into real rock songs to help students master terminology relevant for the SAT. The package features 13 tracks and a study guide with definitions, song lyrics, and sentences that use key SAT terms.The 2nd Edition includes six additional tracks with unique vocabulary-packed names, including The Evil, Nefarious, Wicked Town of San Pedro, Copasetic, and Panegyric to My Grandmother. With these songs, students can master terminology in a fun, engaging way to boost their performance on the SAT and prepare for postsecondary studies.
An executive in the title industry, Michael Moshan oversees Haven Tusk Title, LLC, as company president. Michael Moshan also was co-producer and co-songwriter for Rock the SAT, an SAT study guide that is available in two volumes. The musical guide helps students memorize SAT vocabulary using original rock music. Since it was first administered to college applicants in 1926, the SAT has been known by various names, including the Scholastic Aptitude Test, the Scholastic Assessment Test, and the SAT Reasoning Test. The exam was developed by Carl Brigham, a Princeton professor who previously worked on IQ testing experiments in the U.S. military.The SAT gained significant ground as a college admissions test in the early 1930s, when Harvard University began using it to test scholarship candidates. Henry Chauncey, an assistant dean at Harvard, later convinced other schools to use the test, and by 1940 over 10,000 students were taking it each year. By the early 1960s, the number of students taking the SAT worldwide had grown to more than 800,000. Although the SAT has evolved over the years, the modern test covers many of the same basic concepts that were included in the original version. Recent revisions to the SAT have focused on improving questions and making the test more competitive with the ACT, a similar admissions exam which was first administered in 1959.
Michael Moshan stands out as co-executive producer and co-songwriter of Rock the SAT, a learning kit that uses high-energy songs to help students remember SAT vocabulary. In 2015, Michael Moshan and colleague David Mendelsohn released the collection's second volume.Music helps students to memorize rote information in a way that few other things can. Experts attribute the effect partially to repetition, as a catchy song inspires a listener to play it multiple times. The brain then naturally remembers the lyrics and, in turn, the information that the lyrics contain.The lyrics themselves may also contain repetitive material that aids in memorization. Lyrics tend to feature poetic devices such as alliteration, assonance, and rhyme, the latter of which is particularly effective in helping the human brain to remember lines of text.Meanwhile, the pairing of music and lyrics helps the brain to form multiple connections related to the same piece of information. Just as a driver can reach a destination by multiple roads, so a learner can find his or her way to the definition of a word by remembering the associated lyrical or musical pattern. These multiple contexts also improve longevity of the memory, so that it stays accessible to the learner for a longer period.
