SAT AND ACT IMPROVEMENT: LOOKING AHEAD By Dr. Wayne Adams Upcoming Exam Dates: SAT on May 12th, June 4th, and August 27th; … ACT on April 2nd June 11th, and July 16th. One question I often have from parents and students is, “Dr. A, are there really that many ‘tricks’ that can help improve SAT and ACT scores?” The answer is, “Yes,” with some specific techniques, some ways of thinking, and some mental techniques to help reduce test anxiety and “stay focused, on track” when the inevitable distractions hit during an exam such as having to read a question multiple times, realizing it is taking too long on a question, and different forms of self-doubt. Math has many specific techniques that help students answer questions much faster with a far higher probability of getting the right answer. Here’s an example. If the question asks which of the four following expressions is equivalent to (8x2 – 4x +2) / (3x2 + 2x – 8) and gives you four possible fractions with x’s and numbers in the numerator and denominator, there is a way to get the correct answer in less than fifteen seconds working only in your head! Here’s how. No one said you couldn’t plug in 0 for x, which leaves our expression = -1/4. Now, plug in 0 in for x in each of the four possible answers. The answer that also = -1/4 is correct. If two of the possible
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answers = -1/4, then go back and plug in 2 for x in the first expression and get another “target number”. Use it for x in the two “possibles”, and only one will give you the new target number. That’s your answer. All too easy … if you know how to recognize the six types of Plug-Ins in arithetic, algebra, and geometry problems and how to handle them. In five to 15 seconds my students avoid factoring, canceling out in the numerator and denominator, and using at least a minute of time on a test where “time is not your friend” … not to mention the far higher possibility of making a math error. By the way, almost all algebra problems and many types of geometry problems can be solved with Plug-ins if you know what to look for and how to do them. My students love “doing algebra without algebra”. I firmly believe that half of a student’s doing their best on these exams is mental. This is why I wrote Achieve and Maintain Your Peak Mental Performance Zone on the SAT and ACT including How To Win Over Test Anxiety for my students. This includes fourteen ways to “stay in the zone’ during the actual examination. As we all move into spring, many SENIORS are working on bringing up their exam scores up to qualify for the 75% or the 100% Bright Futures Scholarship (about $25,000). We have until the
last SAT Exam on Saturday, June 4th, to qualify with the SAT, and until the last ACT Exam on Saturday, June 11th, to qualify with the ACT. At this point, it is not unusual to do a “Skill Strengthening” class to improve either the Writing and Language / Reading combined score or the Math score on the SAT, or either the English and Reading combined score or the Math and Science combined score on the ACT. These focused classes are about half the hours of a full prep class. Sometimes, when we are aiming for more improvement, we do the full prep classes. My JUNIORS and some SOPHOMORES are usually focused on getting ahead with preparing for the SAT and/or ACT and either work over the spring, or get set to prepare starting right after school finishes for the ACT in mid-July and/or the SAT the last Saturday in August. For students wanting to do a combination class of ACT and SAT, we can finish either the week just before school resumes in August
(with a complementary, additional review class the week before the SAT), or the week before the actual SAT Exam. During the summer, we easily schedule around family vacations, summer jobs, athletic commitments, and “surprises” as they may arise. If You Would Like To Talk More About Your Student … Please contact me at 727-2530639 or send me an email at wwa0811@mykolab.com. Dr. Wayne Adams is one of the leading SAT and ACT tutors in the country. His students normally improve 200+ points on the Writing, Reading, Writing and Essay, and Math, and 4 – 7 points on the ACT composite. They have been admitted to 8 of the top 10 universities in the country, 18 of the top 25, and many schools in Florida. These schools include Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Stanford, U Chicago, Duke, U Penn, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Notre Dame, Emory, UC Berkley, UCLA, USC, UNC (Chapel Hill), NYU, Northeastern (Boston), Boston College, Georgia Tech, Naval - Air Force - Merchant
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