During the first tutoring session, students ask me how I plan to help them get the 1520+ scores they need in order to get into elite colleges or apply for scholarships.
Here's a brief overview of The Plan:
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| Be absolutely positive going into the test. |
SAT Reading
The revised SAT's Reading section is pretty challenging. One of the five passages will be a historical U.S. document with difficult language and unfamiliar concepts. The science and social science passages, with their focus on recent research methodologies, aren't easy either.The good news is that every Reading question has an objectively correct answer choice and three that are objectively wrong. Reading questions are like math questions: you can always find unambiguous evidence in the passage for the right answer as long as you know what to look for.
Having background knowledge also helps. Because the U.S. history passages often deal with the Constitution or early feminism, it's a good idea to review those topics in your History book.
If you'd like an elite score of 1520+ on the SAT, you'll need to aim for a 370/400 or higher in Reading. We'll start with official SAT practice tests so you can learn the question types and move on to the more difficult AP English Language questions to help you over-prepare.
SAT Writing (Grammar)
SAT Writing requires three skills: punctuation, reading, and vocabulary.
Punctuation is straightforward to learn. As with Math, the SAT recycles the same kinds of Grammar questions over and over again, and if you practice the rules, you'll eventually get all of the questions right.
Questions about adding/deleting sentences, modifying phrases to make them more relevant, and putting paragraphs in order rely on skills that you'll be practicing for the Reading section anyway. Once you've figured out what the author's saying, you won't have any problem identifying the correct way to edit each passage.
Vocabulary questions are the most challenging. The answer choices are almost always eighth-grade level words that are synonyms of each other: for example, question 10 on practice test 1 includes the words satiated, fulfilled, complacent, and sufficient. Studying from flash cards won't help you identify the words' subtle differences in meaning. Fortunately, I can show you study techniques that will help you learn several hundred vocabulary words for each book you read.
If you want an elite score of 1520+ on the SAT, we'll set your Writing goal at 370/400 or higher.
Punctuation is straightforward to learn. As with Math, the SAT recycles the same kinds of Grammar questions over and over again, and if you practice the rules, you'll eventually get all of the questions right.
Questions about adding/deleting sentences, modifying phrases to make them more relevant, and putting paragraphs in order rely on skills that you'll be practicing for the Reading section anyway. Once you've figured out what the author's saying, you won't have any problem identifying the correct way to edit each passage.
Vocabulary questions are the most challenging. The answer choices are almost always eighth-grade level words that are synonyms of each other: for example, question 10 on practice test 1 includes the words satiated, fulfilled, complacent, and sufficient. Studying from flash cards won't help you identify the words' subtle differences in meaning. Fortunately, I can show you study techniques that will help you learn several hundred vocabulary words for each book you read.
If you want an elite score of 1520+ on the SAT, we'll set your Writing goal at 370/400 or higher.
SAT Math
I received a perfect 800 on the SAT's Math section in January 2017.
SAT Math questions can seem intimidating at first. They look like problems from an IQ test that you can't really study for. The good news is that everything on the test consists of middle and high school math concepts combined in unusual ways.
The SAT is a standardized test, so it has to ask the same kinds of tricky problems over and over again. It won't warn you that a particular problem is about factoring, graphing a line, or similar triangles — that would defeat the purpose of making the problems seem hard — but it will never deviate from the Common Core curriculum.
After we've reviewed a few practice tests, you'll start to see how that SAT recycles the same ideas over and over. The problems won't seem as tricky any more, and you'll be able to do them much faster.
Every SAT problem has an efficient solution that takes 30 seconds or less. With practice, you can learn how to identify that solution and implement it quickly.
The SAT is a standardized test, so it has to ask the same kinds of tricky problems over and over again. It won't warn you that a particular problem is about factoring, graphing a line, or similar triangles — that would defeat the purpose of making the problems seem hard — but it will never deviate from the Common Core curriculum.
After we've reviewed a few practice tests, you'll start to see how that SAT recycles the same ideas over and over. The problems won't seem as tricky any more, and you'll be able to do them much faster.
Every SAT problem has an efficient solution that takes 30 seconds or less. With practice, you can learn how to identify that solution and implement it quickly.
Because SAT Math is worth twice as much as either Reading or Writing alone, I prioritize this section with most students, and we aim for final scores of 780 to 800.
It's possible to achieve large score gains on the SAT if you're organized and disciplined. I've hand-picked the best SAT books on the market to help you do just that.
While you're at it, see how some of my current students are doing!
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