GET THE NEWSLETTER

Quick Note: we will never share you email address any third party. Promise.

If you’ve ever taken a stats class, you’ve probably seen a chart like this one before. It’s a random number table, used by statisticians for ensuring absolute randomness in research. Imagine some researchers want to do a survey and will be using the phone book to call people up and ask them some questions. Without getting into it too much, it’s important that you understand that they can’t just flip open the phone book and “randomly” point at names and get an official sample. There are all sorts of factors that can influence selecting folks to call: where their names are on the page, if the names are listed next to each other, or if I am drawn toward phone numbers that are eye-catching (like 353-7777).

Instead, researchers will use a chart like this to guide their calls, perhaps by counting to the 8th person on the list, then down 3 more, then 1 more, then 3 more, then 7 more, and so on. Just as I use a completely fair, outside deciding agent–a coin–in my first example to see if I win a prize, so also must scientists use randomly generated directions (like a number chart) to guide their randomness.

What does this have to do with your SAT score?

Well, the SAT is a test designed such that you aren’t rewarded for guessing. If you answer a question correctly you earn 1 point; if you leave it blank you lose nothing. However, if you answer incorrectly, you lose one quarter of a point. Obviously you have a lot to gain by getting an answer correct and so many students use guessing strategies to be successful on the test. Some students have a rule of thumb that if they can eliminate two of the five choices, they’ll guess, because theoretically they have a statistical chance of 1/3 of getting it right. If they guess on 9 questions and get 3 right (which pure statistics tell us they would), that would mean they gain 3 points, lose 1.5 (6 x .25), and net 1.5 (which actually ends up rounding up to a net of 2).

Sounds great, right?

So how come I’m not an avid fan of guessing? How come it’s not one of my primary strategies for my students both in private tutoring and in Outsmarting the SAT? Am I doing them a disservice by not advocating the practice for everyone?

I don’t believe so, and this is why:

A student guessing on a standardized test is not a true random guesser and ETS knows it.

Say I’m working on a sentence completion question and I have confidently eliminated two answer choices, so I’m left with three words: histrionic, cataclysmic, and hierarchical. First, let me point out that the folks reading this post have a better chance of making a statistically random guess than someone who has read a sentence directly related to one of these words. However, even without seeing the question, we’re still not going to be completely random–I may choose the word histrionic because I’m a teenager and my dad uses it to describe me (and though I’ve never bothered to ask him what he means, it may be “a sign”), or I may ignore it because it looks like the word history and I don’t think that’s related to the sentence I’ve just read.

While a student working through the test may not be as long-winded in his rationale for choosing or ignoring a particular word, sometimes a mere “oh yes, I’ve heard that before” can sway a student. Or, if the last two answers were C, a student will usually not select C as his guess (when really the pattern of answers is completely irrelevant.) I honestly believe that ETS knows exactly what they’re doing when they include words that look like one thing and mean another or words that are more ubiquitous than others. They make true random guessing that much more difficult.

The definition of educated guessing is that one makes a guess informed by additional factual information. In these circumstances it is often very difficult for a student to sort through facts and his gut feelings. For some students this is a great boon: they’re the kids whose instincts are usually right on, and after plenty of connoisseurship of their own propensity to guess correctly, I advise them to go right ahead and do so.

And then there’s me. I am the The Worst Guesser On Earth. I categorically do not, no way, no how, ever guess on the SAT. Why? Well ignoring that I usually don’t need to, on the rare occasion that I’m caught without a clue, I guess wrong. It’s like a hex. I don’t know why this is the case, but evidently my own biases and “educated guesses” are way off track.

The sad fact is that as much as we’d like to believe that stats will come to our aid and boost our SAT scores, we’re never randomly guessing at the testing center. It’s also why you may want to be wary of any tutor that relies on guessing strategies to help you prepare for the test. Remember, everything on the SAT can be learned. However, if you still struggle here and there, your best bet is to track yourself–in your practice work, note when you’ve guessed and note how often you guess correctly. If it’s working for you, go with it. If you’re anything like me, you’ll probably prefer to leave answers blank.

I’ve been in the test prep field for long enough now to be able to have seen about two complete high school student body turnovers. Amusingly enough, when I started prepping students for the SAT I was only a year or two out of college and still had a pretty decent sense of what was happening on the high school front.

Now, I don’t want to pull some sort of “in my day” spiel, but you should know that when I was in high school we didn’t have computers at the house and internet access was extremely limited (and, frankly, we really had no idea why we’d want to use it anyway). That being said, I’ll also admit that we watched a fair amount of television. Nevertheless, we spent a good deal of time reading recreationally. Anais Nin, On the Road, Jonathan Edwards–you name it and someone we knew was reading it. And now, well over a decade later, I will bet serious money on the following statement:

Kids–even the “smart” kids–just aren’t reading like they used to.

It’s a problem.

In the past week alone I’ve had to clarify the meaning of the following words for students hoping to attend Ivy League schools: timid, pedagogical, somber, polarized, consummate, equitable, and steadfast. [There are more but I'll spare you.] In no way do I mean to be condescending or to in any way poke fun at my students; instead I mean to Sound The Alarm.

In the world of educational chatter, “teaching to the test” and the limitations of what one can glean about a students’ intellect or college readiness from standardized testing are major issues–and a fair ones at that. However, I think we’re finally at the point where it’s not about the test anymore.

I don’t want to hear another word about how deeply unfair the SAT is until you can show me a culture of high school students who read quality literature for fun on a daily basis. Show me students who turn off YouTube and Hulu (and  Halo, for that matter) in favor of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell or The Kite Runner. Show me students who are working through House of Leaves for the fun of it (to date, I’ve had one dare to do so and, frankly, he loved it…. and now he’s at Williams) and I’ll show you a legion of college applicants that aren’t doing battle with the reading comprehension section on the SAT.

As a tutor I spend more time than ever teaching the rudiments of critical thinking–meaning, I spend many hours explaining one, the meanings of words, and two, why it’s so important that we be able to articulate definitions. (It’s quite difficult to compare the meaning and intention of two words–the building blocks of answer choices–when all you can say about each of them is “oh, you know, I know what it means, but it’s just so hard to say it!”)

I’m seeing fewer and fewer students knock the SAT Reading out of the ballpark and I’m going to stick my neck out and say that I don’t think it’s because I’ve spontaneously become a lousy teacher. So, teachers, parents, and my tutor colleagues: please, please, encourage your students to read more than you ever have before. And students, you heard it here first: if you don’t start reading challenging literature on a regular basis and discipline yourself to learn and articulate the meanings of new words as you come across them, your SAT score will suffer.

It’s as simple as that.

Funnily, in the midst of the Twilight hysteria that began what now seems like eons ago, I started hearing about a specific aspect of it from all my students. Incredibly, while all my adult girlfriends were thoroughly engrossed in the pure drama of the saga (full disclosure: the Twilight series is not a guilty pleasure in which I have yet indulged), my teen students were assaulting me with “Elizabeth! These books are serious and have so much vocabulary in them!”

Well, more kudos belong to Brian Leaf, a Massachusetts-based prep tutor who has taken on Twilight with an excellent challenge for its disciples: since the book is full of great vocabulary, let’s learn it. “Defining Twilight” is a great way to not only learn the vocab in Twilight (rather than just notice that it’s there and forget it), but also to spark a pattern of learning the vocabulary in other challenging texts as students move through high school. As an SAT, SSAT, and ISEE tutor who works with students with limited vocabularies on a daily basis, I’m so pleased that another useful product is available to help students get started early on–in a way that’s applicable and even possibly exciting.

While “Defining Twilight” (and the ensuing follow-up titles) shouldn’t be a student’s only path to increasing her vocabulary, this book is a great start and I hope a product that will encourage students to begin developing vocabulary for the SAT and PSAT long before their junior years.

Check out Brian’s book here:

–Duke doesn’t actually suggest preparation for either test, so don’t feel enormously pressured to prepare. In fact, Duke TIP clearly states on the program’s site that they don’t want students to feel stressed when approaching the test, especially because stress on test day may have a negative impact on scores.

–However, if you do want to minimize test intimidation, your student may feel more empowered by actually seeing a copy of the SAT or ACT before test day just to know what she’s getting into. Free sample tests are available on both the College Board and ACT websites. Remember that the SAT does dock scores for incorrect answers—to score around a 500 on an SAT section, one needs to answer just over half the questions correctly and leave the rest of the test blank. Answering or guessing too zealously may be to your disadvantage. However, the ACT does not take off points for incorrect answers, so you want to encourage your student to select an answer for every question on the test (yes—Christmas Tree during the last five minutes).

Investigating the scoring rubrics in either The Official SAT Study Guide, 2nd edition
or The Real ACT Prep Guide: The Only Official Prep Guide From The Makers Of The ACT
can help you sort out how to earn the scores you need.

–Having your student take a practice test, even just at home at the kitchen table, can be helpful for selecting the best test for her. You may want to keep in mind that the SAT employs a far more robust vocabulary than the ACT, while the ACT includes a fast-paced Science Reasoning section that tests data-interpretation skills (rather than high-school level science).

– The Duke TIP cutoff scores are usually at or just above a 500 on each section of the SAT, which translates to roughly a 20 or 21 on the ACT.

–If you decide you do want to prepare your student, some of the faster, more learnable elements of both tests include Algebra, basic Geometry (not proofs, but rather understanding angles, lines, and degrees), and Grammar. Since you’re just out to collect as many correct points as possible, concentrating on a few specific topics may streamline the process of reaching the cutoff scores. Outsmarting the SAT was written for students to learn these concepts from the ground up, it’s a great option for basic skill-gathering for both the SAT and ACT; use it in conjunction with The Official SAT Study Guide, 2nd edition or The Real ACT Prep Guide: The Only Official Prep Guide From The Makers Of The ACT for real practice questions.

–We’re happy to help and congratulations on having such an accomplished child!

Fact #1 In life you will find that there will be a number of things you don’t want to do. While you will be an adult and will have the freedom to make your own decisions, you’re still going to need to get a job, pay bills, mow the lawn, and do the dishes. (Read: you’re going to need to have a work ethic.)

Fact #2 When you have a job, whether you work for yourself or someone else, if you aren’t a self-starter—even when the project is sooooo boring—you’re going to either lose your job or stay in the same stinkin’ position until the end of time.

Fact #3 While your parents may pay attention to your grades and homework now, the only person who is going to notice the grades you make as an adult—as measured in your personal satisfaction with your career and the number of dollars in your bank account—will be you.

What does this have to do with test prep?

Fact #4 It’s not a big secret that preparing for a standardized test is not as fun as riding your bike, playing a video game, watching television, cooking dinner, mowing the lawn, cleaning the bathroom, changing the oil in your Grandma’s car…. Ok, you get the idea. Studying for these tests, while they do have their creative moments, isn’t usually going to be the activity you most look forward to during the day.

Fact #5 It doesn’t matter that it isn’t fun. Lots of things that aren’t necessarily fun lead to great things: sweating it out at the gym leads to great muscles, running sprints at practice means speed to outrun your opponent when you need it, and cleaning out the car means you won’t be mortified on your date on Friday night.

Fact #6 Sometimes, it’s not even the immediate result that is most important; instead, it’s the opportunity you create for yourself in the long run—opportunities you may not yet even realize exist. What does this mean? Well, to be direct, your SAT or ACT score is totally pointless if you don’t see it as a key to get you through the door of your dream school, even if you don’t yet know what your dream school is.

The moral here is that the amount of studying you do for the SAT or ACT today, that one extra vocabulary word you learn or the geometry rule you memorize, can directly influence the number of doors that will be opened to you after you send in those applications.

On those days where you’d rather give Fluffy a bath than do another flash card or practice test, just remember that drudgework today is just an investment in opportunity tomorrow.

I recently realized that, whether you’re an accomplished student or not, that you may not really have a handle on the best way to prep for a standardized test. People argue back and forth about how “coachable” these tests may be, but there are two fundamental things you need to keep an eye out for while studying for either the ACT or SAT. This is one of my best-kept secret tactics. 

For every question you come across (and this is assuming you are using only real practice tests created by the test maker), you need to know what they asked how they asked the question. It’s fairly simple, really. Neither the SAT nor the ACT is a test of everything you learned in high school; instead, they test a finite number of facts/concepts and then test your knowledge or ability to apply them in different ways.

So, while you’re studying any SAT or ACT topic that fact-based (like grammar and math), this what you do for any question that gives you any sort of pause:

• Write down what you needed to know.

New formula? New grammatical construction? How functions work? Make sure you take notes on what you needed to know (and, most importantly, what you didn’t know) so you can make sure you don’t miss it again.

• Write down how they asked you about it.

Did they make the question a two-parter? Was the grammar something that “sounded right” that you might actually say but is, in fact, wrong? Did you miss an EXCEPT question? Did you overlook the different of perfect squares because you didn’t recognize it? Did you have to factor exponents in a way you never did in Algebra class?

Tracking these two simple elements is the key to unlocking and studying for any standardized test. Good luck!

Tomorrow we’re going to bring our tickets and IDs and #2 pencils (they say you’re not allowed to use a mechanical pencil, so I’d bring the old fashioned kind in case you have a stickler proctor). We’re leaving the cell phones at home, because if it rings, buzzes, or you’re seen touching one during the test you’re out the door no questions asked. 

We’re going to bring a snack or two, like peanut butter crackers and a banana (not a donut) and definitely a bottled water, too. 

And if you’re stressed out, you may want to look into the latest piece of my ongoing series with Barbara Ann Cochran, Gold Medalist and Coach Extraordinaire– she can help you sort out what all the panic is about and how to get past it here.

As a millennial, you have some distinct advantages: you’ve grown up in a home with a computer, you’ve got access to information that used to take major trips to the library to discover, and you can stay connected wherever you are, twenty four hours a day.

The disadvantage: you’re blipped out. You’re the sound byte generation. You can’t focus. You bore easily. You’re antsy. You’re not very likely to read this article in its entirety.

This all puts you at a natural disadvantage for surviving the mega tests that are the SAT and ACT.

So what do you do? Well, I’ll tell you, but you’re probably not going to like it. The best thing you can do for your concentration is to get away from the computer. Seriously. Stop obsessively checking your friends’ Facebook statuses, leave Twitter alone for a while, and press the pause button on YouTube. Step away from the screen. Moreover, once you’ve done that, don’t head for the television; head outside.

Ride your bicycle. Play sports. Start a weekly yoga regimen and stick with it.

Read a book for fun, and don’t put it down when you notice your mind wandering. Go back and read the section you missed again. Keep it up! Work up to getting absorbed in a book for one to two hours at a time.

Seriously? Yes. Seriously.

You will probably also want to take a look at what you’re eating. While low carb eating was a big fad ten years ago, foods with a low glycemic index are definitely the way to go. If you’re loading up on sugar and refined carbohydrates (cheap sugars that make your blood sugar spike and plummet throughout the day), you’re certainly in the ruthless cycle of sugar rush and sugar coma.  I’ve got news for you: the words “coma” and “great test taking” aren’t used in tandem very often.

Specifically regarding studying: you’ll want to keep your desk area neat and clean. Turn off the radio. If you’re one of these people that can’t stand the quiet, you may want to check out Simply Noise, a web site that creates white noise to drown out distractions (I like the brown/red noise, personally).

Also, don’t wait until 11 o’clock to do your homework, because that’s when you’re tired. While you most likely would rather use your free energetic time after school to tool around hanging out with your friends, you’re far more likely to focus on and remember what you studied during those times. These are the harsh realities.

Concentration on Test Day

The thing about Test Day is that you’re not likely to turn into Captain Focus if you haven’t been training beforehand. Nevertheless, there are still a few things you can do:

1. Plan to take a mind clearing breath after a predetermined number of questions. If you know you’re someone that loses concentration or tends toward what I like to call the “I’m Never Getting Into College Freak Out,” you need to plan to take a deep breath every few minutes. It loosens you up and gets oxygen into your system. Yes, remembering to breathe helps.

2. Have a mantra. While your mantra doesn’t have to be “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and…,” it certainly can be! Your mantra needs to be something special to you, something personal that reminds you that you are prepared and you are smarter than the SAT. Even “I AM prepared” works. Pick something useful.

3. Take a snack. Just like your brain needs oxygen, hence the breathing, your brain needs fuel too. Since we already talked about the horrors of sugar addiction, you probably know I don’t want you to take a donut along. Take a banana and some peanut crackers (or some version of that) that you can eat quickly that won’t upset your stomach. Think a balance of carbs and protein (for energy) and fat (so that you’ll feel full and not obsess about lunch while doing the double reading passage.

4. Don’t Drink a Red Bull…unless you drink Red Bull every day, in which case, please do. The point here is don’t eat or drink on test day that you wouldn’t normally have. I know those no-crash energy drinks seem alluring, but Test Day is not the day to experiment.

If you’d like more info on the low attention spans of the millennial generation in particular, please check out this great book review on Salon.com.