FAQ's
Take a practice test for each test and compare scores and how you feel about each test. If you still don’t have a preference, here are some factors to consider:
Younger students can do many things to prepare for the test. Use Khan Academy for maintain mastery of all the math you are learning in school. Become an avid reader and try to cut down on screen time. Proactively learn new vocabulary and try to read books that interest you and are at a high reading level.
By far, the most important book for students is “Moonwalking with Einstein,” by Joshua Foer. This riveting best-seller shows how memorization can be enormously fun (and orders of magnitude more effective).
After reading it, encourage your child to take up memorization as a hobby, using the many Youtube “how to” videos for “memory athlete techniques” or “mnemonics.” Ideally, he should participate in the most valuable hobby for a student: Memory Olympics competitions. Even a mediocre “memory athlete” can multiply his advanced vocabulary by a factor of ten in six weeks by learning thirty-three words per day using the “Anki” app. (It’s free on every platform other than the iPhone, but it can be used at no cost using an iPhone’s Safari browser.)
Students should be encouraged to participate in “competition math” because it turns math into pure joy for many participants.
Parents should emulate Frank Gilbreth in the hilarious book “Cheaper By the Dozen” to stimulate curiosity and love of life and learning.
Here are some of the basics. If you have questions, come to one of our upcoming free Information Sessions.
The Verbal section has changed the most, primarily because long reading passages cannot fit on one computer screen. This means that Reading Comprehension has been replaced by vocabulary. Approximately twenty-two percent of the Verbal now consists of advanced vocabulary questions, but a closer inspection reveals that over a third of the verbal questions are purely a matter of vocabulary and nearly every question (including poetry) includes college-level words.
Calculators are now permitted throughout the Math, and an advanced calculator (Desmos) is supplied in the “Bluebook” test app. The Desmos calculator gives students a huge advantage on the test because many questions can be answered simply by typing them in or with creative use of its more advanced features.
It is worth practicing on the College Board’s “Bluebook” app, but some of its features are more useful than others. For example, the annotation tool is not as effective as the test center-supplied scrap paper. However, tools such as “eliminate answers” and “mark this question for later review” are valuable.
The test is “section adaptive,” meaning that although everyone gets the same first Math section, high scorers will get a harder second section and low scorers will get an easier one. (The same goes for the Reading and Writing section.) This shortens the test by over an hour, minimizes frustration with overly difficult or easy questions, and improves the accuracy of the score. Students shouldn’t pay much attention to this format change: they should just try their best on each question, and that ironically, if a test feels hard, it may be a sign of a higher score.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to find accurate prep material for the digital tests because there are no real, previously administered tests available. The College Board has only released six sample Digital SATs and one sample Digital PSAT. There are commonalities, however, between the new test questions and various elements of the paper-based SAT, the pre-2016 SAT, the GRE, and the GMAT so test prep professionals can provide an advantage for the next year or two.
Parents often wonder why their straight-A students get mediocre SAT scores. This is by design: the College Board rewards innovative thinkers who look at topics differently from the standard high school curriculum, so success often means “taking the road less traveled.” Students who proactively study vocabulary, read voraciously for pleasure, and review all of the math they’ve learned previously get higher scores.
Check out all of our Free Resources under the Resources tab! If you are taking the ACT, use previously administered tests to study. If you are taking the SAT, do the seven released practice tests in the Bluebook app. For extra math help, Mathchops can be a useful tool. Anki is a great way to help you master and retain new vocabulary.
This is by design: the tests know what schools teach, and simply design questions to trip up a certain percent of typical students. An “easy” question is one that tricks a minority of students, while a “hard” one will often have a trap that ensnares nearly everyone. The key to getting the highest scores on the SAT and ACT is to “take the road less traveled” and do the things that almost no one does. Students who proactively learn vocabulary, read voraciously for pleasure, and spend a few minutes every day reviewing all of the math they’ve learned previously get much higher SAT and ACT scores.
Don’t rely on “test optional” policies. The SAT and ACT are still linked to many scholarships and specialized programs such as honors colleges. Furthermore, many top schools are saying that test scores are an important part of applications.
Emory Dean of Admissions, John Latting, said, “we’re not as trusting, frankly, of GPA these days….grades are definitely inflated and not as connected to true class performance as they used to be.”
Yale Dean of Admissions, Jeremiah Quinlan, said, “it turns out that the SAT or the ACT is the single best predictor of a student’s academic performance at Yale.”
This is part of a trend we are seeing across many top schools.
A good SAT/ACT score is the score that gets you the program you want or the scholarship you need.
Yes! Old tests are still a useful tool for 3/4 of the new Digital SAT/PSAT. The major difference is the Reading Section, but focusing on most of the questions from the Writing and Math sections of previously administered tests will be helpful. For the Reading section, focus on vocabulary rather than traditional reading comprehension. The new Digital SAT/PSAT actually has commonalities not only with parts of the recent paper-based tests, but also with the pre-2016 SAT, the GRE, and the GMAT. Because there are fewer resources specifically designed for self-study for the new digital tests, test prep professionals who know which questions from these tests to use for practice will provide an advantage for the next year or two. Switching to the ACT is also a good option for many students concerned with the lack of materials for the SAT.
Yes. Students should prepare for the PSAT. National Merit, and even lesser recognition like Commended Student come with a plethora of scholarships. There are 27 Colleges and Universities that offer full-ride scholarships to those who have achieved National Merit status, many of which are top tier schools. If you are already a high scorer, you should make it your priority to prepare for the PSAT and aim for National Merit. If you are a lower scorer but have a lot of time to prepare before the test, you should make it your priority to prepare for the PSAT and aim for National Merit. Even if you don’t reach that goal, a high PSAT score can open the door for many other scholarships and recognition such as “Commended Student.”
The PSAT is now a digital test, and students who prepare for the PSAT are also essentially preparing themselves for the new Digital SAT as well since those tests are so similar. The new, digital test puts a much higher importance on vocabulary than the old paper-based version of the test. This may sound like bad news to some, but in reality it makes the test much more coachable as students who don’t have the best abilities in traditional Reading Comprehension can memorize and learn vocabulary words and thereby raise their scores much more quickly than they could on the paper-based test.
One final piece of advice is that the PSAT double-weights the Verbal portion of the test. If you have time to only prepare for one section of the test, prepare for the Writing section as that is the section you will see the most rapid improvement and a section that will have a greater impact on your score due to the double weighting.
Tutoring
There is a direct correlation between effort and score increase. Students who invest double the amount of time practicing between sessions generally get far more than double the increase. There are four types of homework:
Practice on real, previously administered tests (preferably timed). Each session (other than the first) begins with the list of mistakes to identify areas for improvement. Here are dozens of real SATs and ACTs. Here are the four new, Digital SAT practice tests in printable form.
Use MathChops.com daily. Even five minutes per day can cause a significant rise in scores and is worth the minimal cost. (Obviously, far more is far better: one student last summer went above and beyond and raised his math score from 600 to 760 in a single month by doing 3,199 questions in conjunction with tutoring.) Here is a one-minute video explaining how it works.
Watch the recording of the previous tutoring session. This is essential in order to understand 100% of the material discussed.
Barak may also occasionally give worksheets that focus on one specific skill or concept.
Yes. All sessions are on Zoom and are recorded so that students can watch the recordings for extra practice and to ensure they understand 100% of the material covered. We have found that because of these recordings, our students actually do better than when we were meeting with students in person.
In the hierarchy of test preparation, private tutoring is the most efficient way to raise your score, followed by small group classes and then independent study.
When students meet with Barak one-on-one, he does not use a set curriculum and is therefore able to respond to whatever the student needs at any given moment to help them raise their score. He starts with the concepts that come up most often and are the easiest to learn and then works his way up to entirely new ways of building ingenuity and looking at questions from multiple angles. This is why private tutoring is the most efficient way to raise scores quickly; it doesn’t waste time on skills the student has already mastered. If your student is already high-scoring or only needs to work on one section of the test, this is why private tutoring is probably a better option than a group class.
If private tutoring isn’t quite within your budget, group classes are an excellent alternative and a great way to kickstart your student’s test prep journey. A good group class shows them how their hard work can lead to tangible score improvements and sparks the motivation to carve out personal study time. For students who weren’t initially interested in preparing for the test at all, and for whom private tutoring could have been a waste of time and money, group classes serve as a catalyst for change. They provide a cost effective way to test out tutoring and can inspire students to want to put in the effort working one-on-one with a tutor to reach their full potential. For students who have been procrastinating, or for those who didn’t reach their goal scores with independent study or other prep services, a group class is a great way to review right before the test, calm their nerves, and help them refocus on the task at hand. Even a short class can work wonders! 2 days of class won’t cause burnout, but it could provide inspiration and motivation. 5 hours of instruction won’t help a student learn all of Algebra I, but it will clarify common misconceptions and give invaluable tips and tricks for the test.
The group classes give tips, tricks, and strategies for a great foundation for further study or for review right before the test and we keep them small so that all students are able to participate and ask questions. However, if a student takes a group class, we do recommend following it up with a couple of private sessions so that Barak can specifically go over anything the student is still struggling with or higher level concepts that may not have been covered in the group.
The most cost-effective way to work with Barak is to take a group class. The longer the class, the more instruction hours your student will receive at a subsidized rate. We do recommend following up a group class with private tutoring so that Barak can focus exclusively on what your student is still struggling with, but it means that they can jump directly into specifics and not spend time on some of the more basic concepts, or tricks that will be covered in the group class.
Barak has over 30 years of test-prep experience. His superpower is being able to figure out exactly what a student is struggling with in a matter of minutes and helping them to master those concepts quickly and efficiently. His philosophy is to always work on what will make a student love learning and raise their score at the same time.
Most of our students come weekly between 6-12 times, but because every student is different, it is impossible to say that X sessions leads to Y score improvement. All we can say is more is better. The more sessions they do, and the more effort they put in, the more likely they will be to get a big score improvement. We’ve found that weekly sessions usually give students enough time to do the homework in between so that they are seeing regular progress. They also provide accountability. When students are highly self-motivated we have also seen progress when they come every other week.
Most of our private students come weekly 6-12 times and leave a couple extra weeks to add or reschedule sessions, so leave at least 3 months before your first test for tutoring and make sure to schedule those well in advance because Barak’s schedule does fill up.
It is never too early to start tutoring. There are many free resources you can utilize as a younger student to help prepare you for the test.
Most of our students who want to start early, come to us at some point during 10th grade to start preparing for the PSAT and SAT in the fall of 11th grade.
It is also never too late to start tutoring. Barak can cover a lot of material in a short period of time, and there are some tips and tricks that are easy to pick up and can make a significant difference for most students. If you can take a last-minute Crash Course or find time in Barak’s calendar for an emergency session before the test, take advantage of that opportunity.
It is important to know that during the free Demo Class/Info Session Barak demonstrates a lot of tips and tricks, but tutoring is more than that. During tutoring he has his students do real, past tests or official practice tests for homework and goes through their wrong answers with them. He focuses on the concepts behind the questions that they are getting wrong and then uses his database of past test questions to help them master those concepts. This is just a much harder aspect of the tutoring to show in a 15 minute demonstration.
The real power of a professional tutor is to find gaps in knowledge within seconds and to fix them within minutes, and this is one of Barak’s superpowers.
Here is a link to dozens of past tests that students can use for practice for the ACT, or there are 7 practice tests available in the Bluebook App for the SAT. Do as many as you can because they are the best tool for either self-preparation or tutoring. At minimum, aim for one test each week. Completing a full, previously administered test for practice in one sitting is a great way to build endurance and see one’s current score. However, time constraints should not get in the way of students practicing as much as they can. If a half-hour or an hour is available to do a section, he should take advantage of that time and shouldn’t wait for a longer time window. If a student is a high scorer, focus on the hardest questions. For math, those are the higher-number questions, and for the verbal, follow-up tutoring sessions can be helpful for efficient use of his study time. The same is true for ACT Science and Reading.
Barak can accomplish a great deal because he only covers the delta between what the student doesn’t know and does know. He can determine what a student already knows in two ways. One is he uses any previous official tests that they’ve taken and look at the specific questions that they got wrong. The second is that between every class the students do tests for practice and the specific questions that they get wrong indicate a gap in a more general category of knowledge that Barak then works to fill in.
Twenty-four hours notice is required prior to canceling or rescheduling a session in order to make the time available to someone else. Use the links provided in your confirmation email from Calendly. Otherwise, we unfortunately need to charge for the session.
Please note that we do appreciate more notice that 24 hours. We often have a waiting list for popular session times, and more notice gives us more time to offer your slot to someone else.
If Barak has availability, you can start today! You are not required to do anything prior to your first session. If you have a previous practice test or real test, Barak can take a look at it, but it is not required. He will use your first session to go over tips, tricks, and strategies for the test. All subsequent sessions, you will choose a real past test to practice on. You can do a fully timed test, or if you are short on time, you can do each section separately. Score your test, and then send us a short email including the name of the test you chose, and a short list of all your wrong answers (eg. Reading 5, 17, 20 Math 18, 19, 24 etc.). You may also be given a worksheet to practice a particular skill or concept.