Open College Doors with a Top Score on the New SAT

Have you ever wondered what the lucky few who are accepted at Harvard, Yale and other Ivy League schools have in common? Your application can be outstanding, your essay may read like a Pulitzer Prize winning piece, but (no matter what the admissions manual might tell you) if your SAT score is not top notch, it is unlikely that you will be accepted at the best schools.

The good news is that there are many opportunities to prepare for the SAT. There is a dizzying array of test preparation opportunities, including online tutoring, classroom instruction, and SAT practice software. The SAT is no longer viewed as a quasi-IQ test that needs only to be taken once to measure aptitude. It is more like an athletic event that requires months or years of training for optimal performance. Getting to know the test and practicing test-taking strategies provide even better chances of SAT success than brilliant native intelligence. Test taking skills can be learned and honed, like any other practical skill.

The best way to ace the SAT is to get to know the test. But you can throw out the old books (or at least sections of them). If you are taking the SAT in the spring of 2005 and have taken a look at the new test, you will notice that this is not your big brother's SAT.

• The verbal section is now called the Critical Reading section. Gone are those pesky (but, for some people, fun) analogies like: Soporific: Interesting as Lucid:Vague. Instead, there are shorter reading passages in addition to the longer passages. There are also sentence completions to test vocabulary and knowledge of sentence structure. The Critical Reading Section takes 70 minutes and is divided into two 25 minute sections and one 20 minute section.
• In the Math section, the SAT test makers have eliminated the quantitative comparisons in favor of math from the college prep high school curriculum; for the first time there are questions from Algebra II class material. The math questions are in the form of multiple choice and student produced answers. The skills tested are: exponential growth, absolute value, functional notation, linear functions, manipulation of exponents, and properties of tangent lines. You are permitted to use a calculator on the math section, but all of the questions can be completed without a calculator. The math section takes 70 minutes and is divided into two 25 minute sections and one 20 minute section.
• Most SAT takers were encouraged to take the SAT Writing Achievement Test; in fact, while most achievement tests are optional, the majority of good colleges required a Writing Achievement Test score as part of the application. Now the SAT test makers have saved you the extra trip to the test center but have lengthened the test by basically adding the Writing Achievement Test to the end of the SAT. Since college work usually requires a substantial amount of writing, the test makers and admissions people want to know that every potential college student can organize his or her thoughts into a well organized, concise essay. The Writing section includes grammar questions which ask the student to identify the error in a sentence or a select a correctly written sentence. The grammar section takes 35 minutes to complete, and the student is asked to organize and to write a well-organized essay in 25. One hour is allotted for the Writing section.

  Basically, these changes were added because the SAT test makers and college admissions staff want to be certain that potential college students are well-prepared for college coursework and not simply skilled at taking tests. This is the reason the new SAT focuses more on writing rather than on verbal logic and on higher math. What this means for the SAT test taker is that quickie preparation is a thing of the past; for an optimal score, a student should view test preparation as long term skill building, beginning in the freshman year. An athlete invests more than a month when he or she is training for a marathon. Similarly, the SAT, a mental marathon, should be viewed as a contest of college skills, not as a kind of IQ test.

When to Begin

The answer to this question is: the earlier the better! Become an avid reader; add a novel or a magazine once a week to your regular English coursework. SAT reading passages are taken from literary fiction, Op-Ed newspaper pieces, opinionated essays, and articles on natural and social sciences. Write down any unfamiliar words, look up the definitions in a dictionary, and learn them. A notebook can be used for this purpose. Focus on your essay writing in your school coursework. Pay attention to those red marks your teacher makes and think of them as useful SAT preparation feedback. Take a timed SAT section a week from an SAT preparation book. This, by definition, will take you less than 30 minutes, including the time it takes to correct the test. Be aware of your strengths and weakness and stretch those mental "muscles" that need work.

For math, review the concepts you are learning in Algebra I and II and Geometry on a weekly basis. It is worth working ahead and cracking that Algebra II book. Zero in the teacher's red marks, and practice the questions you get wrong on school tests until you not only get them right, but understand exactly how to get the right answer and why it is correct. Since time constraints are a part of SAT test-taking, learn and practice the most time-efficient way of solving certain problems. If you are one of those students who have a "math block" hire a tutor early on who will work with you both on coursework and on SAT preparation.

In short, integrate test preparation in your day-to-day schoolwork for long-term, effective skill building.

To Pay or Not to Pay

There is an abundance of SAT Prep courses available. Nowadays, you can have your choice of SAT software, online tutoring, face-to-face tutoring and classroom instruction. The least expensive option is to sit down with an SAT Preparation book and take practice tests yourself. This requires a lot of self-discipline and motivation to work on weaker points. Perhaps you could recruit an older sibling to give you test-taking hints or start an SAT prep group with friends at school to give each other feedback and helpful test-taking hints. This is especially helpful if you team up with people whose skills are different from yours; for instance, if math is your strong point, find an English maven who is mathematically challenged and tutor each other. This is a useful and almost absolutely free method (except for the modest price of the preparation book).

If you prefer to prepare for the SAT on the computer, browse the web for online courses. These will give you a diagnostic test to measure your present skill level and personalized drills to develop weaker areas. Many of these have access to online tutoring, in some cases, 24 hours,7 days a week. A typical online course will cost about $150-$170 with a price increase of about $50 if you want an additional tutoring hours.

You've probably seen ads at bus stops or in newspapers for SAT prep centers which provide classroom instruction, mock tests, and personalized tutoring. If you want a general overview of the test and are self-motivated, an SAT prep class, depending on the length of the course, will cost $300-$500. This usually includes mock SAT exams at the test center and computerized feedback. If you want the convenience of personalized instruction, you can hire a tutor to come to your home, or you can meet at a designated time at the test center. Most premier tutoring packages cost $1,000-$1,200.

Basically, you can either save your pennies for tutoring and courses or crack the books yourself. Whatever method of test preparation you choose, remember that consistent work is the key to success. This means making a schedule of what you want to accomplish week by week instead of cramming all the preparation in a few weeks' time.

Practice, Practice

How do you get to Carnegie Hall (or is that Harvard?)? Practice, practice! The SAT is offered 7 times throughout the year, and it is beneficial to take the test as many times as you can. The lowest scores are dropped, and college officials will not see you at your worst, so there is no need to worry about risking an embarrassing score. On weeks you don't have an actual exam, take mock tests at a test center or at home with a kitchen timer. Give yourself one SAT test question a day. The more familiar you are with the test, the less you will suffer from "text anxiety" (which is often "time anxiety") and the stronger your test-taking skills will be.

A Few Useful Hints

The following are strategies to help you get started with taking the SAT.

• First, make sure that you understand all the directions before going into the test. If you practice adequately, this will not be an issue, but make sure you don't waste precious test time reading the directions.
• For sentence completions in the Critical Reading section, fill in the blanks with your own words before looking at the answer choices. This will get you started thinking about the sentence, its structure and flow. For double blanks, solve the first blank first and then the second. Read the sentence quietly to yourself to make sure that it sounds correct.
• For Reading Comprehension, read each passage systematically. Don't read as if you are casually perusing a magazine article or sitting back with a novel. Think of the passage as a treasure trove of answers. To help you zero in on the information you need, pre-read all of the questions. Divide the passage up into sections and look for keywords that will help you find the answers. Then, to save valuable time, answer relevant questions as you find them. Answer the analytical questions last.
• For math questions, solve the problem yourself before you look at the answer choices. Some of the answer choices are designed to throw you off if you are not thinking about the problem carefully. If your answer is not listed as one of the choices, go back and try to fix your math rather than guessing. This may seem time consuming, but, in the long run, it is worth the effort to check your work rather than to ponder tricky answer choices.
• To succeed in the Writing Section, be sure to crack a grammar book well in advance. Some of the answer choices may "sound" correct to us because they are commonly used but are not in accordance with the rules of Standard English. Try to identify the reason an answer choice is correct rather than relying on your intuition and ear. The most efficient way to write an essay in 25 minutes is to use an outline. Invest 5 minutes to jot down the main points of each paragraph and the points you will use to support your argument, and the remaining 20 minutes of writing should go smoothly.

Good Luck!

For success on the SAT, don't go in cold. Think of SAT test preparation as in-depth training for college coursework rather than as disposable work geared toward one test. This point of view should motivate you and enable you to put more of your energy into SAT preparation, instead of viewing it as a waste of time. Not only will long-term training give you a better chance at a top score, it will also train you to handle the intellectual challenges you will encounter when you are admitted to the college of your choice.