Do you think you are preparing for the SAT or ACT in the most efficient and effective way?
Over the years, Princeton Tutoring has worked with hundreds of students to improve confidence and scores.
Regardless of whether you are self studying, working with a private tutor, or taking test prep classes, we have found that the NUMBER ONE strategy for increased test scores is…
[Continue reading to discover the most important SAT and ACT test prep strategy]
The NUMBER ONE strategy for increased test scores is PRACTICE and REVIEW! Can it be as simple as that? Yes. But it requires a lot of hard work.
Recommended Test Prep Process:
With the understanding that practice and review are fundamental to significant score improvements, we generally recommend the process below to all of our SAT or ACT students:
- Diagnostic test from a real College Board or ACT exam
- Identification of strengths and weaknesses
- Work on problem areas and review strategies
- Homework and practice problems between sessions
- Timed practice tests
- Repeat – Practice, review, practice, review, practice!
Why do you think most of the larger test prep companies provide some sort of guarantee ONLY IF you do all the practice tests and homework? The reality is that any student who completes a lot of practice tests and homework will improve their test scores.
However, to really maximize results, you not only have to do tons of PRACTICE, but you also have to do a good job of REVIEWING your answers and determining what you got wrong and why.
The by-product of all your effort is that you become more familiar with the format and timing of the test and… you actually learn the concepts! Test-taking tips and strategies are great, but they only take you so far if you don’t really understand how to solve for x or have trouble comprehending a long passage.
A Helpful Tool – testprepboost.com:
As you review your answers, you’ll want to make sure that you are accurately identifying strengths and weaknesses. If you don’t perform this step correctly, you will be wasting a lot of valuable time downstream focusing on less impactful areas.
You can do this the old-fashioned way – manually – or you can use a free diagnostic tool like www.testprepboost.com to do it much more quickly and accurately.
After inputting your answers from a practice test (make sure you are using the OFFICIAL tests from the 2nd Edition of the “Official SAT Study Guide”), the tool will output:
- Scores and answer key
- In-depth analysis of your test results by question type
- Identification of specific problem areas for targeted review and practice
In addition to a standard scoring summary, the tool will output a series of helpful tables and graphs. For example, not only will you easily see that you have to work on your “Algebra” skills, but you will also know to focus specifically on “Solving Equations”. This tool takes the guesswork out of SAT preparation.
Hopefully these tips help! Good luck!