I’ve covered this before at length, but it’s important to remember that, in general, you’ll increase your score more by making fewer silly mistakes than you will by getting more of the hardest questions right. I’ve always left the actual calculations and decision making in your court, though. Well, the decision making is still in (more…)
Much hay is made about what the SAT is actually testing. Does it function as some strangely-defined “college readiness” measurement? Is it a pure reasoning test? Is the SAT a test of innate intelligence, like an IQ test? Is it a completely meaningless hoop that you just have to jump through like a circus dog (more…)
Because there’s a penalty of ¼ raw score point for incorrect multiple choice responses on the SAT, many students experience extreme trepidation about guessing when they aren’t sure about an answer. I’ve stated my general advice on guessing before, but the truth is that while I almost always find that my students benefit slightly from (more…)
You don’t need to move mountains to significantly increase your score; you just need to focus on weak areas, a few at a time, and make them strengths. This entire site is dedicated to the specifics of doing just that, but I wanted to take a bird’s eye view today and point out that in (more…)
Most of what you’ll read below can be found couched in more confusing language right at The College Board’s own Score Choice™ website, or in their Score-Use Practices report. The College Board, obviously, is the final authority since they make the rules, but since I’m often inundated by these questions, I thought it’d be nice to (more…)
Assuming (C) is the most common answer makes no sense. Just like this picture. People say dumb things about the SAT a lot. It’s really common to hear someone say the thing about the most common answer being C. Honestly, I set out to write this post to eviscerate those people, but then I did (more…)
I figure now is as good a time as any to answer publicly some of the questions I’ve been asked more than once privately. Some of these are great questions. Some are…not. Should I take a practice test the night before? No. Relax on the night before. If you’re cramming now because you didn’t prepare (more…)
I’m getting a bit tired of all the focus on #20, which is usually the hardest math question on the test. I guess I’m a bit complicit in all the hype, since I like to illustrate techniques on here using difficult problems, but that’s only because I like to show how powerful those techniques can (more…)
Holy mackerel are people misinformed about the SAT. And boy howdy do they like to disseminate their misinformation as though it’s gospel truth. I’ve heard some really dumb things coming even from people who should know much better, like high school college counselors/guidance counselors. In fairness, mastering the SAT (not just the test itself, but the (more…)
Imagine you’re given the task of picking as many apples from a particular apple tree as possible, in a short amount of time. You know that none of the apples on the tree are any more or less delicious than any of the others, but of course the higher up they are, the harder they (more…)
[highlight style=”yellow”]Note: This post is about the old SAT (pre-2016). The “new” SAT does not have a penalty for incorrect answers. [/highlight] In short: almost always. (Note: This is generalized advice; if it doesn’t sit well with you, read this.) I’ve encountered a lot of misinformation about the SAT in my travels, but the single subject (more…)
While it’d be nice if you could expect to go up exactly 2400-p points (where p = your starting score), it’s a good idea to have more tempered expectations as you begin your SAT prep journey. What follow are some generalizations based on my experience. Your mileage may vary. Improvement is relative. If a course or tutor (more…)