SAT Resources

I am often asked, “What are the best resources to help a student prepare for the SAT?” The primary resources that my students use are The Official SAT Study Guide, published by the College Board and Up Your Score published by Workman’s Press. The Official SAT Study Guide, also known as the blue book contains many valuable lessons including 8 practice tests. The blue book is published by the actual company that administers the SAT exam. The questions are the most accurate representation of the actual test questions. In contrast to the practical bluebook, Up Your Score is a book written by actual students who have aced their SAT’s and have since gone on to Ivy League Colleges. This book is more of a strategic guide. It provides the student with valuable insight into the tricks and traps the test makers set to confuse students.

After an ambitious student has extracted all the knowledge from these two books, I recommend the following multimedia reference materials: For writing and grammar please look at Woe is I by Patricia T. O’Connor. This book contains many valuable rules of grammar often ignored by high school curriculum. The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White is another classic book of grammar and usage that will serve as a valuable tool for students throughout college. Finally, a free podcast from Grammar Girl provides a 3 to 5 minute weekly audio lesson on topics which can be immediately used by students to improve their writing skills.

For additional math and reading problems I recommend Gruber’s Complete Preparation for the SAT by Gary R. Gruber, PhD. This book contains many hints, tips, practice quizzes and lessons on almost any topic covered by the SAT. Don’t be overwhelmed by the size of the book. A student need only use this resource to focus on particular parts of the test he or she is having trouble with. For example, Gruber’s has a wonderful section on math word problems, an area which many students often find challenging.

The College Board makes available an online course from its website www.collegeboard.com. This valuable course offers lessons, quizzes and additional full length practice tests. Book owners are given a $10.00 discount and there is an essay scoring service offered free of charge. The website also provides detailed answers and explanations to all questions in the bluebook free of charge.

How to Use Your PSAT Results

The PSAT results are in. Now what to do? First find out if your score is high enough to qualify for a national merit scholarship. Consult with your guidance counselor and find out the cutoff score. Second, go over all the wrong answers to see if there is a pattern. For example do you consistently get the same type of question wrong? If so, sit down with your tutor and map out a study plan to improve upon all your weak areas. Finally, use your PSAT scores to set realistic goals for the SAT. Set the bar high enough above your PSAT score but do not be unrealistic. Write down your specific goals on a piece of paper and look at that paper from time to time. You will be amazed at how close you can come to your goals with a little hard work.

Up Your Score--Free Sneak Peak

The publishers of "Up Your Score"-The Underground Guide to the SAT have been gracious enough to allow me to share with you a free chapter of this most valuable book. I recommend this book to any student who wants to become a master SAT test taker. To all students that are interested, I will send an entire chapter of the book which includes many helpful tips for free! Visit my website, www.testniques.com and click on the Contact Us button and request your free chapter as soon as possible.

How to Find More Study Time

Time is a precious commodity, but we all have the same amount of it. How do some stuents find those extra hours per week for test preparation? First think about all the time you waste. In a typical example, a student will commute to high school via mass transportation and sleep during the trip with her i-pod blaring. The round trip to school for some is in excess of an hour. Don't act mindlessly! Instead print out an interesting article or articles in the morning from the nytimes.com website and read it on the bus. Read it with your pen, circling key words and phrases. You will not only increase your vocablulary, but you will also become more worldly and knowledgable of important issues of the day.

SAT Coaching....Does It Work?

According to testing industry watchdog, Fairtest.org a number of studies indicate that a good coaching course can raise a student's score by 150 points or more on the test's 2400 point scale. The Collegeboard originally claimed that performance on the SAT could not be improved by coaching but now it has backed away from its original claim. The College Board now sells its own test prep materials and such test prep materials now comprise a significant portion of its annual revenue stream.

Guessing

Guessing on the SAT is a matter of math. There is a 20% chance of guessing correctly if the student cannot eliminate any of the answers; a 25% chance if she can eliminate just one answer; a 33% chance if two answers can be eliminated; and a 50% chance if three can be eliminated. Because of the way the SAT is scored, there is no statistical advantage to guessing on an SAT question without first eliminating one answer choice. Most test prep advisory services instruct students to guess if they can eliminate at least one answer. I believe that a student should not guess unless she can eliminate at least two answers. This is especially true at the end of a math section or at the end of a sentence completion sequence where the difficulty factor of the questions are high, making it much harder to find the correct answers.

Setting Goals

If you have reviewed the U.S. News and World Report Ultimate College Guide, you should have a general idea what SAT score will qualify into the admission matrix of schools you are interested in. Set a goal for 50 points higher than those average scores. Keep taking practice tests until you consistently reach your goal. Then, not only will you be able to confidently apply to the college of your choice but you may open up a whole new set of choices.

Questions For Seniors in High School

High School Seniors must be asking the following questions: Should I take the SAT again in the fall? What topic should I choose for my college essay? What colleges should I apply to? When do I start the process? When do I go on campus tours? How many recommendations do I need? How do I market myself? Which colleges best match my interests and abilities? Take the summer time to think through these extremely important questions. I am preparing a survey that may help answer some of these questions. To request this questionaire, email me at Steve@testniques.com

Simple Time Management

For one week keep a journal of your daily activities. This should be easy when school is out. After one week, look where you waste the most time. Then turn this unproductive time into SAT Study Time. One hour per day does not sound like a lot, but cummulatively it becomes 75 hours for the entire summer. Now ask yourself if you will be prepared for this test with 75 hours of study time under your belt. Of course you will be more prepared than perhaps any test of your life.

June Tests Scores Available June 21st

On Thursday June 21st the SAT scores will be available online. Hard Copy scores will be mailed two weeks later. If you have a password and ID, long onto the collegeboard website Thursday morning to get your scores. For a $10 fee you can order a written student score report. From this report you can learn many things about how you took the test. The student score report is helpful for students thinking about taking another SAT. From the student score report you can detect certain tendencies, ie. types of questions answered incorrectly, difficulty of questions answered incorrectly, patterns at the end of sections, etc. More on this in a future entry.

You Are the President of You!

How you manage your time this summer will determine how smoothly your next high school year will run. For High School Seniors especially, the two biggest events of the Fall Semester will be the October or November SAT and the College application process. Most students regret the fact that they even have to take the SAT again. If only they had put in more time and effort. Juniors, learn this invaluable lesson, put in the time, so you dont have to worry about another SAT during your senior year! Seniors, learn from your mistakes, start the college application process early. Gather as much information from the internet this summer. Amass all of your information---essay ideas, lists of achievements, a mock resume, recommendation requests, schedule campus visit dates, talk with admissions officers and financial aid officers at the universities you are interested in.

2007 Ultimate College Guide

The U.S. News 2007 Ultimate College Guide is a useful resource when gathering information about prospective colleges. The book is stocked with information including costs, most popular majors, admission criteria such as required G.P.A. and SAT scores, campus size, financial aid, demographics and extra-curricular activities. I believe that this book is a must have for High School juniors starting the college application process this fall. The book can be purchased from the home page of www.testniques.com

Factoring

To solve the more difficult math problems on the SAT it is important that you refresh your factoring skills. The types of factoring consistently tested on the SAT are: (1) the Difference of two squares; (2) Finding common factors and reducing algebraic equations and (3) Factoring quadratics. For a nutshell review of these 3 types of factoring go to page 244 of the Official SAT Study Guide. Once you master these skills, difficult algebra problems will become simple. You will be able to break down seemingly impossible problems by cancelling out and the answers will come flying into your head. Remember there is a simple solution to most difficult math problems on the SAT.

Your Fingers and Your SAT Score?

New research indicates that a childs finger length can predict how he or she will perform on the SAT. I know this sounds ridiculous, but here is the link to the article: http://www.livescience.com/health/070522_finger_sats.html. Personally, my index fingers and ring fingers are the same length. Low and behold my son got identical scores on his Verbal and Math, and a mere 20 points higher on his Wrtiting. I must admit I haven't examined his fingers.

Vocabulary

Students who experience the SAT for the first time have the same takeaway--the vocabulary was so hard! They lament, "If only I had a better vocabulary, I would have gotten a much better score." Here are my thoughts for improving your vocabulary:



1. Buy an electronic dictionary and look up any words you do not understand immediately. Read the sentence again and see if it makes sense now;

2. Circle any words you do not understand in the course of your reading. Buy the NY Times and read it this summer;

3. Realize that if you speak another language such as Spanish, French or Latin there may be a similar word in those languages that is close to the meaning in English;

4. When doing sentence completions on practice SAT tests, look up all the word choices you do not understand regardless of whether those words are the correct answers. Remember there is a specific group of words that the testmakers use, so todays incorrect answer may be tomorrow correct answer.

SUMMER STUDY GUIDE IS OUT

I am using this blog to write down my thoughts as an SAT tutor. From Time to time I will post information, articles and random thoughts that may help those that are taking this college entrance exam. High Schools are on summer recess in most of the United States, so many students are handed a gift that is so precious--TIME. Time to spend with friends and family. Also, time to work, sleep and of course, prepare for the SAT! I also have a website, www.testniques.com. There is a lot of free information on that site. Feel free to avail yourself to all of it. I have also completed a 30 page Summer Study Guide, which I will be distributing shortly via the web.