The Most Important Things
The two most important keys to getting a fantastic sat score
The most common questions I get asked regarding SAT prep are “What’s the secret?” and “What’s your best tip?”. I used to answer with advice about staying literal and direct, managing nerves, and focusing only on what you can control. These are all important, helpful strategies for taking the SAT. However, after many years of working with students to improve their score, I’ve realized that these tips are only components of the big picture. The two true keys of SAT success are quite simple:
Know what SAT score you want and exactly why you want it.
Practice the SAT until you get your goal score.
That probably sounds obvious, and it is, and that’s a good thing! But let me elaborate…
1. Know what SAT score you want and exactly why you want it.
If you’re going to work hard for a great SAT score, you need to want a great SAT score, and not in a vague “I’ve been told this is important” way. It’s easy to view the SAT as just an obstacle to hurdle before you get your college plans set. Instead, see the SAT as a tool that you can put to work for you. You don’t take a Summer cashier job because you love to hand people change. You go out and earn money because there are things you want and need. You don’t learn to play an instrument because you’re fascinated with scales. You learn because you want to express yourself and impress your crush. You don’t do sprint drills during team practice because sprinting feels great and fun. You do sprint drills because they help you win, and winning does feel great and fun. Improving on the SAT with only a fuzzy idea of what its going to get you is a recipe for anxiety, fatigue, and unfocused study.
Of course the SAT is good for college admissions and scholarships in general, but it is important that you pick a specific score target for a specific goal. Your first task before you get started on serious practice is to turn “SAT is just something I have to do” into “SAT work is great because it gets me things I want.” From there, SAT practice will feel like a fantastic use of your time.
Read more on how to set a specific SAT score goal here.
2. Practice the SAT until you reach your goal score.
Again, this sounds obvious. But we lose track of it easily when we’re worried about learning math, or grammar, or vocabulary, or tips or tricks or “the top 10 secrets the College Board does NOT want you to know.” The SAT is a performance skill, just like driving a car, or juggling, or learning an instrument. You get better at performance skills by doing them over and over with an intent to improve. This is why the most important prep book for you to use is The College Board’s Official SAT Study Guide link. The instruction in the front of the book is honestly not very helpful, especially compared with working with a tutor or other prep books. But it has 8 full-length real SATs (almost 600 pages of problems!) and a full answer explanation for each one, and doing problems is the best way to get better at doing problems.
As you do problems, you’ll find plenty of holes in your knowledge where you need to know something from school that you’ve forgotten or never learned. It is helpful to look those things up, or find someone to help you with them (I’m a pretty helpful guy when it comes to the SAT, and you can contact me here!). But never lose sight of the main goal: improve your SAT score by practicing circling the highest number of right answers on the page. You don’t learn how to factor a difference of squares just because you hear that’s some math on the SAT. You learn how to factor a difference of squares because you missed #15 on Page 729 of your book, and you know you’ve missed a few others like it, and you want to get those questions right the next time you see them on the SAT. Stay on target, put in the time, and your score will skyrocket.
How much time? A good bit, but not nearly as much as it would take to learn, say, how to play a Mozart concerto or be a start-worthy point guard. Here are some specific guidelines for how much time you’ll need to work (without a tutor) to improve your score:
Less than 100 points: 2-3 hours per week for 6-8 weeks
100-250 points: 3-4 hours per week for 3-4 months
250-400 points: 5-6 hours per week for 3-5 months (more may be necessary depending on your baseline score and how much instruction you’re getting).
400+ points: 6+ hours per week for as long as it takes you to get there (usually around 6 months is when you’ll hit a true score ceiling. Make sure you only commit to this if you can fit it into your schedule!)
Of course, these numbers can change greatly depending on the student, and can be scaled differently with how much time you have in a day (Summer break helps!) and how close you are to your test date. But my two best tips for setting a practice schedule are that you are finding time at least 5 days per week to study and that you work until you get your score.
Read more on effective SAT practice here.