SAT reading passages can be a little hard to pick apart. They’re not light reading, and you probably won’t have any real interest in the topic. And they’re full of detail, a lot of which ends up being pretty unnecessary for the questions. It’s true that there are lots of questions that ask about specific […]
Tag Archives | SAT Strategies

SAT Study Music
The “Mozart effect” is pretty well-known, but it’s usually misunderstood or exaggerated. The truth is, it’s unlikely at best that any one type of music can help bring up your SAT scores—it may even impair your memorization skills. But I still recommend listening while prepping. Why? Music makes studying more enjoyable Even if the […]

SAT Prep Lifehack: Get Rid of Decision Fatigue
The SAT is a ruthlessly long set of decisions to be made. You’ll be stuck making tough decisions again and again and again, often unsure of whether you’ve made the right choice. Everyone knows the feeling that comes after a trial like that; you come out of it feeling drained, even a little hazy and […]

Staying Focused on Long SAT Reading Passages
Note: This post has been updated to reflect changes to the SAT beginning in March 2016 (aka the “New” SAT). Have you ever found yourself reading the same sentence or paragraph over and over? It doesn’t have to be when you’re going through something as dry as an SAT reading passage; it might even happen […]

SAT Multiple Choice Strategy: Picking the Low-Hanging Fruit
For the most part, questions on the SAT are put in a pretty specific order. With the exception of the passage-based critical reading, each group of questions of the same type is ordered from easiest to hardest. So what does that mean for you when you take your SAT? Taking each SAT section backwards […]

Two Weeks Before Your SAT
What should you do if you have about two weeks left until your test day? There’s a lot to cover, and there’s not much time to do it in, so you’re going to have to be smart about how you tackle SAT prep at this point. If you haven’t been studying the test at all […]

How to Find the Wrong Answers in SAT Reading Comprehension Questions
When an SAT writer creates wrong answers for a question, they draw from the same material that they made the correct answer out of. They reference the same phrases and ideas that the best answer does, but they twist the logic or facts to the extent that they become straight-up wrong. Now, put yourself in […]

The Importance of Enthusiasm for the SAT
There’s a skeleton in my SAT closet. It’s something I don’t always tell to students, but there’s a lesson to be learned, so here it goes: I could have done a lot better in prepping for my test. There, I said it. I took a classroom-style course from one of the major prep companies, but […]

Building Your SAT Reading Muscle
Imagine your brain as a group of muscles. One of these muscles is called the reading muscle. Like any muscle, the reading muscle can very easily become weak and flaccid–if you don’t use it. Now imagine trying to lift 150 pounds over your head. That would take quite a lot of muscle. Reading muscle-wise, the […]