xiggi

Thanks to everyone for making this thread better and more detailed than its intended scope. I'm really happy to see that different opinions and ideas can be discussed without acrimony.

If I only could find the time to finish writing down my thoughts.

xiggi

As you may expect, there is no universal answer to this question. For some, very little time will be required. For others, the process will require a lengthy revision of concepts and the development of an adequate strategy.

Normally, students who prepare for the SAT should have covered the concepts that will be tested during their high school career. While the former SAT covered material up to 9th grade, the new test has introduced a few concepts from 10th or 11th grade. However, despite the changes, the need to study in ANTICIPATION of the test should still be MINIMAL. In most cases, all what will be needed is to dust off concepts that may not have been used for a couple of years, and become familiar with the format and the rather arcane language of the SAT.

It is for this reason that I recommend to “re-discover” the material in the more interactive process of “learning or re-learning while practicing.” It is also important to repeat that it is not necessary to STUDY any of the source books I recommend at the end of this post. One of the reasons is that the “knowledge” that is needed to do well on the SAT is neither extensive nor complicate. What separates most students from a great score is rarely a lack of “school” knowledge, but a lack of familiarity with the test and a lack of time management concepts. On this issue, I believe -with great conviction- that the best way to improve one’s “test knowledge” and learn how to manage time is through dedicated practices. The number of practices that will be needed is, however, entirely dependent on the background of the student.

Let’s look at how this works! To begin, everyone should have the Official Study Guide. Yes, that is the fat Blue Book published by the College Board. The book contains sections filled with generic and mostly vapid advice. While reading the first 376 pages of the book can be instructive, it is NOT necessary to read them before getting to the real benefit of the book: the eight exams. In this regard, the blue book is a bit different from its predecessors, since the tests are a mix of old and newly developed questions. In fact, it requires a small leap of faith to believe that the tests published will be as foretelling as in the past. However, there are no known substitutes to the material released by the College Board.

So, what do we do with the eight tests. This is my recommendation:

1. Set aside 1 or 2 tests for the assessment and exploration phase. In this phase, I recommend to get “all” your books out and start answering the questions without any time limits. Whenever you’re stumped, take a peek at the response or even at the fully developed answers that are posted on the TCB site. The idea is to understand how ETS writes its questions and what makes certain questions more difficult than others. It is in this phase that one will use the outside material the most. This is when you will read about the process of elimination, working backwards, and other techniques that are more common sense than any “great secrets”. It should not take more than a few hours to exhaust the strategies and tips published in the source books. So, do not overestimate the time needed to “check” the source books. Again, there is no need to read anything that was not covered in a question. The index and table of contents should be your best best friends.

2. For the second phase, you’ll need to answer the questions without open books, and with an eye on the clock. For the first test of this phase, you may cheat a bit and go over the allotted time. However, by the fourth (or third) test, you should be able to stay well within the limits. If you constantly need more time, it means that you are wasting time somewhere. This is where it is IMPORTANT to pay attention to your correct responses, and see if some different methods could have saved you precious time. For instance, spending 4-5 minutes on a single question –unless it the last one on a section- is ALWAYS a bad idea. You need to develop the reflex to abandon questions that are known time-sinks, and develop your ability to recognize the lengthy questions. It is important to know that the TCB tests CAN be completed with time to spare. Not finishing a section is the result of poor time management and lacking skills, and not because of ETS’ trickiness. Also, realize that finishing a section with MUCH time to spare is also poor time management. Spend enough time on the SAT forum, and you will read about careless and dumb mistakes. Rushing through the test is never recommended!
3. The last phase involves taking one or more tests under “testing conditions.” Some people recommend to build up your stamina by working through a few 4 hours ordeals. As usual the more you do, the better your preparation will be. While I do not subscribe to the theory that it is essential to take the test in a single session, I would leave it as an individual choice! If you are worried about your resistance, by all means, take a few timed and complete tests. My personal view is that I rather keep the practice sessions as “fun” and painless as possible. The College Board has published reports that indicate that high school students are able to take tests for about six hours before showing signs of fatigue. Obviously, a grain of salt is sometimes necessary to digest the “official” reports from the College Board.

Again, it is important to repeat that NOT everyone will have to take the eight tests. For some, the eight tests will be a major overkill. I do believe that anyone who goes through a preparation that includes working on this many tests should be VERY CLOSE to his or her expected maximum scores. At the end of the preparation, every possible SAT concept should have been covered and reviewed adequately. If a student made sure to verify all the answers, look up and compare proposed answers and methods in the source books, or discuss the questions on the SAT forum at CC, he should encounter very few surprises on THE official test.

However, some students may require or desire more practice sessions. As time passes by, more tests will become available through releases by TCB. A subscription to the online course of TCB gives accept to three additional tests as well as access the grading system for essays. My recommendation is to sign up for the service, especially if you need more tests.

This brings us to the question about source books. While I recommend to acquire as many books as feasible, this does not mean that one has to buy and read ten to twenty books cover to cover. For the old SAT, the recommended books composed a pretty short list. For general strategies, most of the books published by Princeton Review, Kaplan, or Barron’s represented a good start: the strategies for the math sections were pretty interchangeable, but the verbal strategies offered a few variances. As usual, during the preparation phases, a student should try the strategies that fit him or her better. I found that concepts such as “read the passage first” or “read the questions first” were NOT as important as the techniques needed to approach the sentence completions and reading comprehension sections. Among the books, one deserves a special mention: and that is Gruber’s. In general terms, Gruber went further and faster than the other authors, and its math section was deeper and better. Alas, Gruber’s also included many elements that went beyond the scope of the old SAT. I am not sure if Gary Gruber intends to update his book soon, but it is still a very good choice as a source book. Again, the source books are NOT meant to be studied cover-to-cover but are meant to be used as you would use encyclopedia. You look up concepts when needed, and not in anticipation of possible questions. Let the practice tests guide what you need to review!

With the changes for the new SAT, we also witnessed the arrival of a few new books. So far, the books written by Adam Robinson (Rocket Review) and Pete Edwards (Maximum SAT) have raised the bar considerably, especially in clarity and focus. I would highly recommend making the books part of your library. However, this does not mean that students should follow Adam Robinson’s –often pompous and grandiloquent- recommendations and subject themselves to his recommended game plan. Use Robinson’s book as a source to clarify a few blurry concepts, but again, let the practices dictate what you need. In this regard, Maximum SAT provides a cleaner and more subtle approach. Without the annoying –and mostly unfounded- rhetoric of Robinson, Maximum SAT is able deliver what it promises! In the same vein, the solutions’ book published by Testmaster(s) should be a very valuable tool for everyone, especially for developing a set of shortcuts and tools.

To round up your source books, I would also recommend to add a good grammar book as well as the Grammatix guide. Guide books are different from source books that tend to focus more on theoretical approaches and try to be more complete. Some people may not like the more direct and shorter style of a guide book, or even doubt the effectiveness of the methods. However, when it comes to the most challenging part of the SAT (critical reading) I have yet to read a book that can help anyone as much as and as fast the Grammatix guide. However, I view source books and guide books as being complementary. Being able to cherry-picking the best from all sources is the key to a good self-preparation.

Lastly, as far as PSAT books, the books that were published last summer were mostly equal in their mediocrity. My only recommendation is to wait for new books to surface during the summer or simply use the SAT books and ignore the essay discussions.

xiggi

Tomorrow's installment: Is there a better time to take the SAT and how often can I take it?

xitammarg

Hi all--

I think Pete summed it all up perfectly, and Xiggi's last post is solid, as always. Well done! And thanks for the vote of confidence, Xiggi

Mike

PeteSAT

More great advice from Xiggi, and thanks for the Kudos on the book!

I am in the "take four hour ordeal" sample tests group. I do think it's important to learn how fatiguing the test can be, how you react to that fatigue, and how you can overcome it. Losing focus is a major issue for a lot of students, and practicing ways to get back on track might be useful. Balanced snacks and electrolyte drinks during breaks can help a lot of people keep their energy level up. (You're not allowed to have food in the testing room, but you should be able to head to the hall during one of the short breaks for a few bites and sips.)

Xiggi is absolutely right about the importance of pacing. I say that it's NEVER a good idea to spend 4 or 5 minutes on a problem, even if it is the last question on a section (unless you're an SAT wizard who's shooting for that perfect score). Almost all students will be better served by looking back over the section and checking other questions that gave them trouble. And, as Xiggi said, if you have 5 minutes left at the end of a section, you may have gone a little too fast. Xiggi also said that "Not finishing a section is the result of poor time management and lacking skills, and not because of ETS’ trickiness." I personally think that it is exactly ETS' trickiness that results in poor time management...once you've learned that there is almost always an easy way to solve any question (especially math) and you threfore avoid the pitfalls of ETS' tricky questions, your pace will improve. As Xiggi said, the material that the SAT tests is not difficult...students should have covered all or most of it in high school. It's the way the questions are asked -- that "arcane language" -- that makes it tough.

Also keep in mind that it's not always advisable to finish sections. Roughly speaking, if a student is scoring in the 650 or below range, finishing the test will very likely hurt his or her score because of the wrong answer penalty. (On the ACT on the other hand, there is no penalty for wrong answers.)

Keep it coming, Xiggi! And Mike, and Godot, and Mark, and everyone else!

So, when does the "Xiggi Method" manual go on sale?

xiggi

On this issue, allow me to be a tad controversial and direct: You “can” take the SAT as many times as you want. This means that you should take it until you obtain the score that satisfies you. This said, you really should not HAVE to take the SAT more than a few times. If you plan your preparation correctly, you should be able to maximize your scores without having to spend too many Saturdays at a test center. With the availability of released tests and books, there is no reason to use an official setting as training grounds. There is no validity in taking the test to see where you fit or how well you could do. There is also little validity to repeat the effort shortly after the first attempt to see how much you improved “naturally”. There are always exceptions to the general rules, but I would always recommend to take your “trial runs” at home and use your SAT dates for bona fide efforts only.

Why do I believe that you can take the SAT almost at will?

1. Despite a few “common sense” voices that will negatively depict a multiple tester as an obsessive candidate, there is little evidence –if any- that colleges penalize multiple trials. On the contrary, schools are actively encouraging multiple trials by using the best individual scores or best “one-sitting” scores. It would be easy for schools to implement policies that discourage multiple trials: they could average scores or apply a diminishing scale to scores obtained on repeated tests. Yet, there is not a single confirmed report of a school applying such penalties. The evidence shows that schools show interest in your best scores, since it is in your and in THEIR best interest. I have to recognize that Chuck Hughes, a former Senior Admissions Officer at Harvard College, gave the following tip in his book: “Never take the SAT I more than 3 times”. However, as related in Tom Fischgrund’s “Perfect 1600 Score”, the example of a student who was accepted at Harvard after scoring a 1600 on her FIFTH trial would contradict this position. Further, despite my multiple requests at various admission offices, no schools has ever accepted to acknowledge the existence of penalties for multiple trials.

2. It is important to know that, at most schools, the information sent by candidates is processed by technicians or other administrative personnel. The consensus is that only the BASIC information such as grades and test scores are copied onto the admission files used by the adcoms. While the detailed information does not disappear in a dark hole, it is very doubtful that the schools that receive tens of thousand of applications devote much time in analyzing the number of SAT attempts. Chances are that the adcoms will only see the sanitized test results and base their early selection on the best scores.

3. Even if a mild penalty for multiple attempts did exist, there are NO schools that give a bonus to reward a single attempt. If you obtain a 1450 on a first trial, no school would EVER round your score upwards or send you a brownie! If you consider your score sufficient for your target school, that is wonderful. However, if your score could be improved, you should NEVER hesitate to take the test again.

4. The current SAT has brought a lot of uncertainties about the possible comparisons of prior scores. For the next few years, adcoms will face students’ record that may present scores from different administrations. It would be extremely farfetched to believe that adcoms could penalize students who were caught in the cogs of changes. What if a student took the “old” SAT twice? Would it be fair to restrict this student to only ONE attempt on the current version? Obviously not!

On the issue of best time of the year to take the SAT, the answer was clear and unequivocal before March 2005. All tests dates were equal and there was no benefit in analyzing the pool of candidates at a certain date to find a “weaker” date. Simply stated, since the “curve” was established before the test and based on prior scores, it made no difference whatsoever to tale the exam in October or May. The fact that some high-priced consultants -such as the infamous Mrs. Cohen- remain oblivious to this information only illustrates their lack of knowledge of the inner workings of the SAT. However, we have to recognize that this issue might be slightly different with the new SAT, and that The College Board has yet to issue a report on its use of experimental sections and new policies on equating. In the meantime, we can safely assume that TCB will maintain its past policies, and that there won’t be any differences between the various administrations of the SAT.

The SAT Subject tests present a different situation and opportunity. It is also very simple: taking the SAT Subject tests immediately after completing the corresponding class at school is always a good idea. It is also a good idea to take the tests as early as possible and not wait until the last possible opportunity. In programming your SAT test dates, try to maintain a certain level of security. Every year, there are reports of closings due to inclement weather. Scheduling any SAT during the winter represents a risk that is best avoided. If you plan to take SAT Subject tests, do it as early as possible and you won’t regret that decision.

xiggi

One great attribute of sharing information for free is that the price is always right. This also allows detractors to point out that you "get" what you pay for! And then, I could always claim that I never had to refund a customer's money.

Now, let's jump onto the next post: ACT versus SAT.

shojomo

Once again, great information! ACT vs. SAT is a post I'm eagerly awaiting!

dkm008

actually i want to add something before you guys move on

I just graduated from high school just a couple of days ago and I just want to share my experiences with the SAT.

I was here on this forum in the summer of 2003 (posted as dkm back then). I really wanted thank xiggi and everyone back then for helping me.

I used the so called "xiggi method" back then and with some hardwork i managed to improve my SAT score from 1210 (first try) to 1460 (second try). I can assure you that the adivice xiggi gave out was some of the best you will ever hear, no books can even come close.

I am living proof his method works and furthermore I am not "extremely intelligent" like most people on these boards. I am just an average or above average student.

Anyway good luck to all you juniors taking the exam, just work hard.

aaron56

I came to know of this thread only now, barely more than a day before the June 4 test! What a shame!

I don't have the CB book and I did my practice tests from the PR and the Gruber books! Am I screwed? Are my scores from the practice tests anywhere near accurate?

1sokkermom

Maybe this entire thread should be moved to the SAT prep section. I don't know about any of the other parents, but I have no plans on taking the SAT soon.

tanman

I see this thread in both the SAT and the Parents section, but the thread numbers are different.. Are the threads the same?

Edit: Apparently not.. my post here doesn't show up on the Parents page.. This is going to get confusing. Could the mods perhaps provide a link to the thread in the Parents section from the SAT section (or vice-versa) instead of copying the whole thread?

Trinity

We will make sure that the informative part of the thread appears on both threads. The discussions might, however, take a different twist in the two forums with livelier exchanges in the SAT forum..

Let's see what happens in the next few days.

audiophile

>>I don't know about any of the other parents, but I have no plans on taking the SAT soon.

LOL. After reading this, I think perhaps I can improve on the 1380 I received in 1972.

On second thought, nevermind.

pentasa

Man you should just start a Xiggi FAQ thread.