A bunch of people have emailed me asking why I only post answers, and not full solutions, for my drills. That’s a fair question, so I figured I’d answer it publicly. I don’t post solutions because I think the best way to improve your skills is to figure the solutions out on your own. When I work with kids, I almost never give answers (although I’m almost always asked). What I do instead is help my students to find the path to the solution themselves and then keep them on it by reminding them to use all the weapons in our arsenal. To put it in old-school SAT analogy form:

Mike the tutor : SAT math :: lane bumpers : bowling

Although I’m not physically sitting beside you and acting as a bumper, I have provided on this site the tools you need to solve the problems in my drills, and I’ve linked to the relevant techniques for each question in the answer keys to point you in the right direction. If you want to be able to solve similar questions on test day, you’d do well to mess with the puzzle pieces now by yourself until you see how they fit together.

That said, it’s completely counter to my mission to frustrate you, so I’m happy to help if you’re really stuck. Ask me a for an explanation at PWN the SAT Q&A and I promise to get one to you as quickly as I can.

One last note: I don’t want to be unduly dogmatic about this. I know self-study is a lot different than sitting with a tutor, and I don’t want to force a round peg into a square hole. If enough people chime in, I’m happy to reevaluate my position.

Comments (4)

I’m halfway through your relevant technique links so I can get solutions for everything that I missed on Drill #3.

a) I LOVE all of your technique links and do every single one of the problems that I’m able to.  MOST of the time it helps me get to the solution of the original problem. (not always ;))

b) It’s definitely way more fun for me to have live explanations (from good explainers….such as you)  — but,  there is also something very satisfying (though much more time consuming) about doing it the way described in a).

c) I will confirm my final position on this tomorrow, after I make it through to the end of Diagnostic #3.  I do have a bunch of issues flagged that I still need clarification about.

Oh, the memories. 

 Just read that post Catherine.  I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.  I remember bonding with you over that a few years later when I was walking a mile in those very same shoes, thinking I was a lone case of “unhappy parent” — only to find out I was not alone!

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