How To Ace The SAT

In the college admissions process, where grades are inflated and applicant numbers are rising, standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT seek to level the playing field for college entrance.  However, strong grades in high school classes don’t always equate to high SAT scores.

Anna Coats, the director of operations at Westchase headquartered Studyworks, says that parents and students alike are puzzled by the fact that the test taking skills they use on high school exams don’t translate to tests such as the SAT and ACT.

“Parents and students treat these tests like big final exams and they’re not,” Coats said.

Studyworks provides SAT and ACT preperations courses for students and is located in the Westchase Commons office park.

Coats stresses that students need to know what types of questions are asked in the critical reading, writing and math sections and develop a plan of attack.

The first step in understanding the SAT is to find out what you’re scoring said Coats. High school students in their sophomore and junior year take the PSAT which is similar to the SAT, except that it has five sections instead of 10 and there is no writing section. Another way to determine how you would score is to take a free diagnostic test, which Studyworks offers.

“It will give you a jumping off point to see where you would be scoring,” Coats said.

After determining how you would score, the next step is to find out what scores your target schools require.

“The national average for section scores on the SAT usually falls in the low five hundreds. A lot of colleges want scores in the six hundreds," Coats said. “It’s becoming much more competitive.”

Coats said that one of the most important factors in taking the SAT is that students should know when to skip questions and when to guess. For each wrong answer a student selects there is ¼ point penalty.

“There are 54 math questions on the SAT,” Coats said. “If a student answered all 54, and got 27 incorrect and 27 correct that would make their math score a 460.”

However, if a student were to answer 27 correctly and skip the other 27 that they didn’t know their math score would be a 520.

Another tip is to take six to eight weeks to prepare for the exam.

“Parents and students have to realize that you have to carve out time for the SAT just like you would carve out time for a tennis lesson,” said Coats.

Finally, for students that need to improve their score by 60 point or more Coats suggests partnering with a test prep company to learn strategies for tackling the test. Studyworks guarantees a 300 point increase on the SAT and a five point increase on the ACT.

“We’re going to show you a new way to prep,” said Coats. “It may be a little bit different or awkward at first, but by the time you’re finished with us you will see a big difference.”

For more information on Study Works visit www.studyworks.com or call (813) 855-4807