SAT scores are back today

I l-o-v-e SAT score day! My students get to see the results of all their hard work.

So congratulations to my students! I’m thrilled right along with you.

Hats off to A. He has his eye on Georgia Tech early admissions which is extremely competitive. He had good PSAT scores – Math 98%, Reading 78%, Writing 87% – but they weren’t good enough. If he could get above the 85% in all sections, he’d qualify for a 4-year, full-ride scholarship.

He’s a smart kid who is easily bored. We had to walk line  between giving him enough time and practice for him to learn what he needed to and not drag it out where he got bored and checked out. And, to make things even more challenging, he’s had a lot of family issues this year. For a number of reasons, we had one shot to get the scores he needed.

We spent just three sessions together where we focused on reading. Here are his results:

• Math 780 (99th percentile)
• Reading 700 (95 percentile)
• Writing 690 (95th percentile)

Wahoo! A perfect combination of good strategy and targeted, focused work. These scores are going to give him the edge he needs to get into the school of his dreams. If he keeps his grades up senior year, he’ll get that scholarship worth $100,000. Yowza!

And then there’s K. She is another amazing kid. She’s an international student and wants to earn a tennis scholarship to a school in the States. We tackled all three sections over 13 hours of work. Here are her results today, compared to the January SAT.

• Math from a 530 (54th percentile) to a 590 (72nd percentile)
• Reading from a 570 (72nd percentile) to a 620 (84th percentile)
• Writing from a 580 ( 77th percentile)  to a 650 (90th percentile)

180 point improvement! Woot!

(If you didn’t get the scores you wanted, here’s how you can turn them around.)