Studying For The SATs

I used one of those giant SAT prep books. I don't think it really helped much. It's too much stuff to really sit down and study. It's like studying for a test that includes everything you learned in math and english for 12 years. I guess it helps some, just so you know what kinds of things they are looking for.

yeah, I never did that. That's probably why I got a 940.

I never took the SAT. I took the PSAT and got an 800. It was then I realized that I was going to start out at Community College before transferring to a 4 year school.

So, basically...I'm saying that on this topic...I can offer no help.

Oh, wait...I can offer something...they don't do analogies anymore.

I had a teacher who reccomended doing the New York Times crossword every day as a method for boosting vocabulary skills. A lot of the kids in her classes took her up on it and seemed to have good results.

I've heard a lot of people have problems with the analogies, so you might spend some time focusing on that.

And finally I've heard that the average test score jumps a hundred points the second time someone takes an SAT. Aside from that, I reccomend lots of sleep, water, and a decent breakfast.

I've heard the SAT has been expanded to include a written portion? I know there are a lot of manuals and whatnot that offer advice for time managment skills during written tests, how to prepare for an essay very quickly, that sort of thing.

You might try to find some Advanced Placement course teachers in your area. The AP teachers at my school all put a lot of effort into teaching their kids how to take the AP tests. Maybe the ones in your area dedicate similar efforts to the science of test taking and could offer you some advice

teach word origins!

What prepped me best was the SAT prep on CD-ROM (I'm pretty sure it was Princeton, but it might've been Kaplan).

You could quickly and easily take tests, it had a ton of teaching material and was pretty damn easy to use. Got my score up to 1580 with that sucker, very good if you need to go back over stuff you took years ago.

I think it all depends on the childs preperation during high school. Because no matter how much you study, most underfunded schools don't cover all of the subjects that're tested over in the SAT. I went to a really small, country school that didn't cover everything, I missed out on a lot just for going to a school where my graduating class was 83 people.

With me though.. I scored a 970 on my SAT, which isn't the best ever, nor does it make me retarded. Although, I didn't study or even open an SAT study guide book once, so I'm sure if I would've put some thought into it, I could've improved my score 200+ points.

Practice tests.

It's more important to learn how to take the test than to learn what's on the test.

Nick

Early on, my mum bought me a vocabulary book from Princeton Review and had me start making flash cards. I made a new one every day and on the back I wrote the definition as well as used it in a memorable sentence. Every week I'd go through the entire growing pack. I thought it was super tedious when I was doing them, but I got a 760 on the verbal portion (1370 total) so I'd say it paid off.

Other than the flash cards, learning how to take the test is extremely important. That's one thing I'm struggling with now for the GRE...

Personally, I don't think there's a whole lot you can do to prepare for the verbal section of the test, because the range is so broad. So past just getting the students familiar with the sections, I don't know if there's much else, other than maybe some vocabulary. I concentrated a lot more on the math section, because that's definately something you can improve on, so I worked a lot with a test prep book and took practice tests.

I worked for The Princeton Review for 4 years.

My advice is that you give both Princeton Review and Kaplan a call and see what they can offer. Often, they do classes for free or very low costs for low income students. The Princeton Review, I know, has a foundation set up for this very purpose. I assume Kaplan does as well. Princeton Review was always relatively eager to help out and sometimes a bidding war would ensue between us and Kaplan. You never know.

Beyond that, both TPR and Kaplan will also likely be able to donate some books and/or some lesson plans that will help you and your friend out. Also, both TPR and Kaplan offer free tests both online and paper/pencil.

If TPR and Kaplan can't help you, oftentimes local universities have programs where college students go and run free SAT prep classes. I know this was the case at Berkeley. I'm sure there are similar programs at one of the schools near Baltimore or DC.

double post.

[Edited on Aug 08, 2005 by Subrosa]

Haha It's interesting that you say that. From the first time I took the PSAT to the last time I took the SAT, I was able to bring my verbal score up by over 100 points. Meanwhile, in spite of classes and books and practice tests, I have always gotten the exact same score in math. Not even thereabouts of the same grade, either: I mean 610 every single time. I don't understand it myself, and it's getting pretty ridiculous.

Teaching about pre- and post-fixes (like bi- means 2 and ped- means foot etc.) helps with the word comparison part.

I've tutored kids in the SAT for about 6 years now. Unless the student isn't a native English speaker, it's been my experience that people have a much easier time improving their scores on the English and Writing sections. Vocab and familiarity with the sections are both important factors, but the writers of the SAT write the questions in such a way as to be misleading. The deck is stacked against them.

There are lots of things kids can do to get ready for the test. Starting to read books actively, asking questions like "what's the main point of this chapter" "how does the author feel about this topic" and (most importantly) "what in this chapter
tells me the author feels that way", can go a long way to help students answer the critical reading answers the way the test writers want them to.

Similarly, there's a right and wrong way to write the essay now required. (Yes, the test changed and there is an essay required now.) The standard 5 paragraph essay most schools teach is the key to a good score. Making sure students state their thesis (i.e. "the greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves"), their example ("Romeo and Juliet is an excellent example of this"), and the proof ("Romeo and Juliet demonstrates that the greatest griefs are those caused by ourselves, because the two families in the book indirectly lead to the death of their children").

They got rid of that part...

but it does still help on the sentence completion questions for vocabulary students are unfamiliar with.

For the people that studied, I know that the practice tests in books really helped. I believe that Tooth and Nail can also be a pretty big help.


My method goes on the list of methods to avoid. I ignored the fact I was signed up to take my SAT six months in advance and threw a kegger in the backyard of the house my family was trying to sell and then brought a drunk friend back to our new residence, where he puked on our couch in the middle of the night. Then I wound up with a 1300.

No problem. If all else fails, let me or HelloNurse know and we'll see what kind of strings we can pull for you.