Test Prep

How is your tutoring approach unique?

Many test prep tutors only review problems with students, showing them how to do a math problem or explaining a grammar rule. Unfortunately, improved content knowledge does not help students recognize what a question is asking, work through the questions efficiently, nor avoid common, predictable errors. While it is necessary to teach missing and forgotten content, I teach and stress specific procedures that help students streamline their comprehension and decision-making processes on the exam and improve their accuracy. Fundamentally, a student must change how they approach the test to see substantial score improvement. I also teach a specific reviewing method I call “error logging” to help students make those changes.

At the sessions, we begin by working through the procedures together. Because accuracy must always be developed first, students then practice the procedures untimed on homework sections. We review the specific errors at the following session, addressing why the correct answer is right, what mistake in thought process, procedure, or content led the student to their specific error, and how the student must approach similar problems differently to avoid this mistake and promote the correct answer. After one or two untimed sections, students begin working through sections timed without the aid of the procedure sheets. Once all four sections have been covered, the student moves on to completing full, timed practice exams, preferably in one sitting.

What are the benefits of one-on-one tutoring?

Group test prep courses fail to address the most important component for student development: the specific reason why a student got the question wrong. Consider a single math problem. Perhaps one student did not know the underlying content. A different student misread the question because they were reading too quickly, missing a key point to comprehend the problem. Another student made a predictable algebraic error because they do not consistently write out their work. Yet another student did the math correctly, but did not answer the specific question being asked. The instructor works through the problem on the board, teaching the content. Only one of these four students benefits from the lecture.

A skilled one-on-one ACT instructor will help a student identify and fix procedural faults that are overlooked in group courses.

Is online tutoring successful?

In my experience, online tutoring is just as effectual as in-person tutoring. I use an online meeting platform called WebEx that allows me to video conference with the student while displaying and writing on exams and procedure sheets. Online tutoring is also more convenient for students as it requires no travel.

When should we begin tutoring and for how long?

To fully prepare a student for an exam, I generally hope to see a student for eight two-hour sessions. The number of sessions required depends largely on a student's starting and goal scores, the amount of math English grammar content that must be covered, and the intensity at which a student error logs the material. Most students who complete eight sessions see an additional three to five composite points on the ACT; I routinely have students improve beyond that, including multiple nine-point score improvements.

A weekly schedule leading into the test date is best, so tutoring should preferably start two months beforehand. Because there is less homework between the first few sessions as we cover introductory content, sessions can be doubled up the first and/or second week. A more condensed schedule is possible for students during summer break.

Do we need to prepare and take both the ACT and SAT?

Except in extremely unusual cases, students only need to prepare either the ACT or SAT. All institutions that require a standardized test score for application now accept both exams and do not prefer one over the other.

What are the major differences between the exams?

The ACT is tested in four sections: English, math, reading, and science. All four sections are equally weighted to calculate a composite score.

The SAT underwent a major redesign in 2016, so the current test design will be unfamiliar to many parents for some time to come. The SAT consists of four sections: reading, writing and language, math without calculator, and math with calculator. The reading and writing and language sections are equally weighted to create the “Evidence Based Reading and Writing” score, which is worth half of the composite score. The combined math questions (roughly one-third of which are without calculator) constitute the other half of the composite score. Although the SAT does not have a science section, the test now incorporates similar graph and chart reading questions in the reading and English sections.

A few other distinctions and observations:

• About 25% of the SAT math questions are “grid-in,” requiring students to bubble-in numerical answers. All ACT math questions are multiple choice.

• I would argue that the ACT math section better awards content knowledge and computational ability. The SAT math section tends to include more difficult lateral problem solving.

• Although the SAT reading section gives substantially more time per question (75 seconds vs. 52.5 on the ACT), many SAT reading questions have a follow-up question that require students to identify the specific text in the passage that supports their answer. These paired questions are very time-consuming, so the pacing tends to be roughly equal.

• Every official SAT practice exam’s reading section contains a passage written in the 1800s-early 1900s. Many high school students are not familiar with the dense, florid style and vocabulary and have considerable difficulty comprehending the writing. The ACT’s reading passages are almost always in contemporary English.

• The ACT’s English section, from my perspective, tests specific grammatical and stylistic guidelines in a more consistent, approachable manner. Some SAT English questions require awkward constructions to avoid rhetorical errors.

Which test do you recommend?

In general, I think the ACT is the better designed exam. Unless a student’s math score substantially outstrips the rest of their section scores (and they are comfortable working without a calculator and very good at lateral thinking in mathematical problems), I would suggest preparing for the ACT. That said, because the tests are curved, most students will score in roughly the same percentile on both exams.

If a student would like to determine which test feels better to them or if they have a higher starting score on either exam, I would be happy to send baseline exams for both tests.

Do we need to sign up for the optional essay section?

To be safe, it is best to sign up for the essay unless you are certain that all of the schools to which you will apply do not require it. The essay section must be taken with the rest of the exam to be submitted as part of an application: one cannot take the essay alone at a later test date. That said, relatively few schools require the ACT or SAT essay, although a not insignificant number recommend it as part of the application. A student should consult their high school guidance counselor for college application advice.

Unless specifically requested to do so by a student or parent, I do not work with the student on the essay section because the essay score is not calculated into the composite score, which is the focus of college admissions.

Pacing: Methodical EFFICIENCY Beats Speed

Pacing is one of the most misunderstood principles of standardized test taking. Many instructors will simply tell a student to work faster, a vague instruction that rarely yields positive results.

Without specific procedural plans in place, a student will make predictable errors that cost them time: reading every answer choice into every English question, missing key information stated in math and science questions, wasting time rereading passages in the reading section. A student who is focused simply on speed often ends up reading passages and questions too quickly, leading to confusion.

For some students, the goal of completing a section becomes counterproductive when rushing to finish the exam decreases accuracy. For example, the problems in the ACT math section increase in difficulty as the test progresses. A student who only has time to answer the first two-thirds of the problems correctly before randomly guessing on the twenty most difficult problems would score a 26 on most exams. Every question is worth one raw point. Good pacing is accuracy on all accessible problems and a willingness to let go of the most difficult questions.