As a test prep teacher, and admittedly an SAT geek, I have worked with over a thousand students in my career. Ninety-nine percent of them come to me with misconceptions about the test which ultimately leads to errors in their execution. These errors make a test guru cringe because they are easily preventable! You just […]
ACT English and SAT Writing Tips: Diction Errors
Mark Twain once quipped, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” I doubt that he was thinking about standardized English and Writing tests when he uttered those words, but they are conveniently applicable to ACT and SAT diction errors. Failing to catch diction […]
ACT and SAT Reading Tips: Questions About the Author’s Attitude
“Don’t give me that attitude, young lady!” my mom used to yell when I rolled my eyes at something she said. The something she said was usually a jab aimed at my hair. She hated my bangs even though they added a full five inches to my height. It was the late 80s, and big bangs […]
ACT and SAT Tips: Ten Minute Test Prep
If you’re like most high school students, there isn’t a lot of downtime in your day, let alone time to study for something other than your normal homework. Yet the ACT and SAT loom in your future, and you keep hearing about how you need to start studying for them months—maybe even years—in advance. How […]
Sophomore Study Tips for the ACT and SAT
It’s never too early to start studying for the SAT and ACT! Just ask my 7 year old twins about their daily SAT routine. Just kidding. Sort of. There may or may not be a five question quiz about the author’s attitude and main idea after every bedtime story in my house. But anyway, sophomores […]
How to Create an ACT or SAT Study Bible
Countless studies have been dedicated to the practice of note-taking, and experts agree: taking notes and reviewing them frequently helps students transfer new information from their short-term memories to their long-term memories. And while students instinctively take notes in biology class and during their history lectures, they often show up to our ACT classes without […]
ACT and SAT Reading Tips: The Author’s Attitude
As a teenager, you’ve probably been told you have a bad attitude at least once. It’s a rite of passage in these years of immense physiological change and social and parental pressure. But do you know how to recognize a negative attitude on the ACT or SAT?
Top 7 SAT and ACT Mistakes
There are plenty of lists out there with the “Do’s of SAT and ACT Prep,” but what about the “Don’ts?” Here are the top seven mistakes students make preparing for and taking the SAT and ACT.
Diction-Error-y
Some of the hardest SAT multiple-choice Writing questions involve diction, or an author’s choice of words. These questions usually appear in the Identifying Sentence Errors and have seemingly perfect grammar. The problem, however, is a word or phrase that just doesn’t make sense. Consider an example: 26. The purpose of the Heimlich Maneuver, which was […]
Need a Better SAT Score? You Still Have Time to Prepare for the November and December Tests
Maybe you took the test in early October only to feel completely unprepared when words like “punctilious” and “quotidian” were thrown your way, so you’ve signed up for the November test. Or maybe you’re waiting until October 24 to see your October test scores before deciding whether to take the December exam. Either way, your […]