Meet the Student who Skyrocketed 200 SAT Points in One Lesson! 

When I met Alison (pseudonym), she had just one week before she was scheduled to take the SAT, and her latest practice SAT score was too low for the colleges she hoped to get in to. Little did she know that her score was about to skyrocket 200 points over the course of a single 2-hour lesson.  Here is how she did it:

Alison's Story

Alison was starting to feel the pressure. After all, she had taken a 3-month SAT prep course with a high-end SAT prep company, and she had learned a lot of new material, but her scores on practice tests had hardly budged (they had improved 30 points).  She was understandably concerned that her score had plateaued and that she would not be accepted into the colleges that she wished to attend.

She scheduled an SAT lesson with me (ZevTheTutor) on the Sunday one week before the SAT.  Since students typically have months and at least 10-15 lessons before the SAT, my challenge was to quickly evaluate Alison’s strengths and weaknesses and determine the most important things for her to learn in our single 2-hour lesson to transform her score by Saturday.  

Fortunately, the course that she had been enrolled when in was, in fact, run by one of the 12 or so tutoring companies that I had been hired for before, and I was intimately familiar with the curriculum that Alison had covered. I quickly scanned recent practice tests that she had completed and quickly quizzed her on all of the most important content and major strategies that I felt could be covered in such a short period of time. I then jotted down on a sheet of paper the three most important things for Alison to learn in our one lesson together, and we got to work.

Alison learns how to Crack the Sat Math exam 

We started with reviewing two critical math strategies that make certain math questions easier. To my surprise, she already knew how to use those strategies well. What I discovered, however, was that she was unable to identify the questions that she could apply these strategies towards (which is why I hadn’t seen her use them on her practice test).  I then explained the step-by-step process for identifying which questions can be solved with which math strategies and had her practice this skill until I felt that she had become adept before moving on to English grammar.  

Alison learns how to Crack SAT English

Alison had the same problem that most students do on the grammar: they simply use their ear on the test to “hear” what “sounds” correct – in other words, Alison was using her intuition, rather than her knowledge of grammar.  The problem with intuition is that it doesn’t change or improve very quickly (For instance, you can learn the difference between “who” and “whom” quickly, but it will take a long time before you will intuitively use them correctly through intuition without analyzing this grammatical situation).

I then taught Alison a strategy that I developed that allows students to systematically apply the grammar rules they’ve learned and solve grammar questions by systematic analysis using their knowledge, rather than solving them through intuition. (This powerful technique has worked wonders for many students and has gotten many students from an average or below-average performance on grammar to over the 95th percentile - some even to the 99th percentile)  With most students, however, they need to learn the rules of grammar before the this technique becomes highly beneficial.  Fortunately, Alison already knew many of the grammar rules quite well, so we didn’t have to spend much time covering grammar rules before she was able to reap the benefits of this technique. 

SAT Results and College ADmissions

By the time our two-hour lesson was done, Alison was gaining confidence and motivation. She worked diligently all week, practicing what she had learned.  While I knew the strategies and skills we worked on would substantially improve her performance for Saturday, I had no idea what a transformation they had achieved.

Two weeks later, I was stunned by the results –

Her score had skyrocketed 200 points!! (140 points in Math and 60 in English)

I was absolutely thrilled for Alison.  200 points a game-changer when it comes to college admissions. It not only turns reach schools into safety schools, but also unlocks opportunities at a whole range of other, more competitive college. We kept in touch and a year later, I heard from her mother that she had gotten accepted into the college she wanted.  Way to go Alison!

SAT SecretS from Alison's Lesson To Make Sure You USe

SAT Secret #1: Know How to Identify Which Strategies Apply to Which Math Questions

SAT Secret #2: Use Your Knowledge of Grammar Rather than Using Your Ear to “Hear” What “Sounds” Correct