Yay – The College Board now posts explanations for all the SAT Practice Tests. However, sometimes the explanations leave A LOT to be desired. (And this isn’t a new problem for them.) Sometimes I think they are having a contest to see who can write the most unhelpful explanation possible. This one is currently winning among my […]
Strategy
Unforced errors on the SAT and ACT
Increase your SAT or ACT score by reducing your unforced errors
SAT: Make a study plan now
Is everyone else buried in APs, prom, and other end-of-the-year craziness? My students are even more busy than usual (which didn’t seem possible.) I know that everybody is really busy. But you still need to make time to study for the SAT test. I’ve got 4 students on my interest list that are “going to call […]
SAT strategies: Write everything down!
Two things that I keep telling my kids over and over. It comes up in EVERY session with EVERY kid. Write everything down Draw a picture Write everything down Write EVERYTHING down. EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. So many kids lose points by solving out the equation and then, at the very last second, losing the point. Today […]
Estimating on the SAT
Estimating continues to be effective on the new SAT. Many problems require you to solve for the exact answer – but not all of them. This question is from the Official SAT Practice Test 7, Section 4, Question 15. First, draw a picture to visualize the problem. Hmm.. 3 7/8 is pretty close to 4. […]
Strategic guessing leads to a higher SAT score
This is what random guessing looks like for most of my students. They blindly wander around lost hoping that wildly guessing will net them a few points. Most of the time it ends up looking like this: lots of wrong answers, wasted time, and lost points. Random guessing doesn’t work R’s answers to this writing […]