Do students really need SAT strategies?
So what’s the deal with all these strategy books? I haven’t really read one, so maybe they must have something great in them. And they’re very thick. Taking away the practice tests, they’re still thick, compared to what I’d expect from a test-taking strategy book.
Is there a lot of valuable information from these books? I’m almost confident that practice would pwn these guides anytime, regardless of a student’s intellectual capacity. At least for me it would.
Perhaps it teaches efficiency with it? But I feel that restructuring my game plan would take away efficiency.
But I don’t really know. Insights from people who used them, perhaps?
Favorite Answer
Of courses, practice is still the best way to get used to the format and timing of the test, but the books are valuable.
And it all depends on the individual. Are you good at tests? Do you usually do well on them? You may just not need that much in the way of studying. But for the SAT, EVERYONE can benefit from practice– and half of doing well on the SAT is just KNOWING the test and FEELING like you’re prepared for it, both of which the study guides and review books help with. They aren’t just test-taking tips and cheap tricks– they help tell you what you need to know for the test: what grammar concepts to focus on (subject-verb agreement is big), which concepts in math the test covers (very specific areas in Algebra and Geometry, and nothing else; I love Calculus but I hate Geometry, so I’m convinced I’d have gotten a higher math score if I’d actually gone through a review book), they help with the necessary vocabulary, and so on.
Have you taken the SAT? It’s possible that you can do well without “restructuring your game plan” at all– I got a 710 on the Verbal section (a good score) the very first time I took the SAT in ninth grade, so I certainly didn’t need to study that; I only got a 550 in Math, though, but it went up after I’d finished Geometry and had Algebra II and some Calculus, so I didn’t really use a SAT prep book for that either. But some people wait to take it until later, don’t like their scores, then many see a marked increase in them after using an SAT prep book. If you can do it without the study, though, more power to you. Good luck!
One books recommends among other things that you mark your answers in the book and transfer them over in groups so that you aren’t shifted back and forth. Try answering 5-10 questions and then marking your answer sheet. Of course, when time is running down, you don’t want to be left with 10 answers to transfer.
They also present all of the instructions so you don’t have to read them at the test site.
They give you approximate scores before you take the test, so you know which areas you have to brush up on.
Some of them try to teach a section of the SAT but they don’t really do a great job of this. The student has to figure out what they didn’t get in school and find books that teach that stuff.
i am a junior..and i really suck at math..actually i kind of forgot most of Algebra, i ‘ve only studied geometry in 7th or 6th grade last time.so i don’t know it at all..but the SAT book has brief info about it, which is very clear. you should get a Princeton Review SAT guide, you don’t have to go through everything there..just maybe take a diagnostic test on the web and see where your weaknesses are and in the Contents section of your review book and go to only those sections. i think they will help you in some sort of way.
As a teacher, I can tell you I “know” the subjects and questions students will be asked. Teachers and administrators have access to SAT questions, allowing them to “coach” their students in answering same
One must be suspicious of a student who has a “C” average, yet demonstrates an “exceptional” score on his/her SAT; yet administrators and teachers say he/she was not “working to their potential” in the classroom, and excells on the SAT. Bologna!
There are no valuable statistics that can be taken from SAT scores. States and schools can “skew” the scores anyway they choose.
