As a Penang SAT tutor, I am irked that SAT prep invariably loses out in priority among students here when it comes to study load treatment. All too often, SAT Prep diligence is forsaken due to other conflicting demands upon the students’ limited bandwidths. To avoid the tussle, why don’t people be clever and do their SAT Prep groundwork during the off-season? After all, SAT is about being clever and the season for that is just around the corner – yes, the summer break.
People generally don’t do as well in SAT as they should because of the misconceptions they have with regards to the test. Classroom English and Math are all good towards the SAT. In fact, they are pre-requisites to it but folks must realize that there’s a further step to take in order to translate those English and Math skills into SAT points. The groundwork to accomplish that requires ample time and the extended break of summer seems tailor-made for it.
The backbone of good SAT Prep ground work is set in its strategy, tactics and techniques that are geared towards achieving the highest score possible. This is because the test is unorthodox in a good number of ways. For example, wrong multiple-choice answers are penalized, essays are graded as drafts and are not fact-checked, and Math problems are often better tackled by back-solving from the answer choices. Such are critical details that they should all be understood before engaging the SAT.
The theory portion, which is often bypassed due to time constraints, is another ill-judged compromise. The reality for all matters of deliberation is that theory is always the platform on which practical operates. Folks should have it down cold before proceeding to the practical scheme of things and this is absolutely necessary for elite-level SAT.
Now, you don’t have to be a Math whiz or English language expert to ace the SAT. With a sound approach taken on solid groundwork, the test can be gamed. So, if you’re graduating from high school next year, why not make this summer break a really targeted one?
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