Why People Tell You to Practice for the SAT and ACT
When I was in high school, my mom made me practice for the SAT and ACT on two separate occasions (in retrospect, thank you for making me do this mom, but at the time, I was not excited -- at all). The first time was my junior year during Spring Break as we visited colleges and universities in the southeast of the US. I would do an hour per day and I did not enjoy it at all.
The second time was in a class-like setting. We somehow were able to do a group class at a discounted rate, so my parents enrolled me. I remember feeling like the strategies we were learning only applied to the SAT, and that I would never use these skills again. Unfortunately, I was right. The skills we were taught in that class were only applicable to that test -- I have not used any of them since then.
So why would people tell you to practice for the SAT and ACT and why am I trying to convince you that this is a good idea?
Two reasons.
Practicing actually does help, and it is how you practice that makes a difference.
Practicing teaches you the test.
When I was in high school, I didn’t understand how practicing could help me. In theory, it was testing me on information that I had learned in school, so I shouldn’t have to practice. I should be able to just sit down, take the test, and show colleges what I know. But the reality is that these tests require practice because they follow the principles of logic and there are specific patterns that can be identified within the tests themselves. Yes, you will be tested on information you know, but the manner in which you answer the questions will require practice in identifying what kinds of questions show up consistently. Then, you will be able to learn the content that you don’t know for the test, and practice specific problems that are new to you (especially if you haven’t taken pre-calc or trig -- you can do these problems, but you just need to learn what you don’t know!)
How you practice is also key. Now that you are able to learn what you don’t know, practicing daily will help your brain pick up the patterns that are within the tests. You will be able to see how the questions are asked consistently, and your brain is more likely to remember these patterns after repetition. Without repetition, you will struggle to retain and recall the types of question and answer formats that are commonly used on the test. When you practice sports, you drill the same play in order to make it second nature. When practicing an instrument, you spend hours rehearsing the same piece to make sure it is locked into your fingers. It is the same idea with the SAT and ACT. This type of practice helps you learn the test. You become used to the way it speaks to you, and you are able to figure out how to best approach problems.
But this isn’t the only way to practice. This manner of practicing still only applies information to the SAT or ACT in specific ways. As a high school student, I wanted the time I spent learning this information to apply to my life, in any way, and we have found a way to integrate life-long learning with prep for the SAT and ACT.
We have discovered three main elements when practicing for these tests: understanding the content, developing stamina, and becoming familiar with logic.
Honestly, if I had this information when I was in high school, and if I knew how I could practice efficiently, I would have spent more time practicing. We have found that these three elements are important because most students struggle in one or multiple of these parts, making it difficult to see an increase in scores. And finally, we are able to teach it in a way that applies to all of your multiple choice tests, your general education courses, and even decision-making, through our logic-based curriculum.
Understanding the content. If you don’t know the information on the test, it is going to be hard to take the test. Whether you are working with us, prepping with another company, or working on your own, it is important to spend some time learning the content you have never learned or are struggling to understand. Once you are learning the content, we recommend that you always try to learn in context. Don’t try to simply memorize formulas in a vacuum, but understand how they apply to different types of problems. For example, learning the slope formula, without knowing what coordinates are (x,y), you are going to struggle with other problems. Khanacademy.org has a great diagnostic test for the SAT that can help you figure out what you need to learn.
Developing stamina. This aspect of the test is easy to forget because it is less obvious. The tests are long (about 3 hours) -- meaning that your brain is going to want to stop thinking at some point during the test. Practicing full-length tests are helpful because they give a more accurate view of what you have learned and how it will feel to sit for three hours (uncommon in a daily routine), while also focusing on academically rigorous content.
Becoming familiar with logic. Logic is the study of reasoning and establishes the appropriate principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration. It gives a framework for valid reasoning. These principles are used daily – when we watch the news, talk to our friends about our beliefs, and meet new people, we tend to utilize logic in order to make our conclusions. The SAT and ACT operate off of these principles, and we can help you understand how these patterns work in both the tests and in your daily life.
Whether you choose to prep with us or not, hopefully this helps you understand how practicing can help and where to start. It is a process, but it is one that many students need to work through in order to attend university in the US. If you have any questions about the process and where to begin, we are here for you. Always feel free sign up for a free consultation, explore our website, or just give us a call. We understand that preparing for these tests can be overwhelming, and we’d love to do what we can to help.
