How to Help your Tutoring Student Achieve the SAT Scores they Want

Want the latest tips on how to teach your SAT student to breeze through the SATs? Today I will walk you through some of the most useful tips and tools you can give to your student to help them succeed.

First and fore most knowing what the question is asking of you on the exam is very important. Let me give you an example; many questions that you will face will have key words that you will need to pay attention to. For instance, after reading a passage a question that’s asked could be something like:

“In paragraphs 2 and 3 which sentence describes the authors stance on the issue?”

The student will need to first recall what the issue of the short essay is. Next students will need to understand that the word “describes” tells about the authors position also known as the “stance” on the topic. In addition to this the student will not only need to understand the vocabulary, but also be able to recognize the sentence that uses adjectives to describe the authors objective.

As a tutor teaching your student the proper steps in searching for the correct answer is going to be vital in getting the highest test scores. Although the test is a timed test, it is important to pace yourself while making sure you spend the time to analyze the test questions.

Got the Math Woes?

Math on the SATs is a cumulative exam that measures your knowledge of math over the past several years of high school. As a tutor you will want to study the exam, so you are as familiar with it as the maker itself. You will want to break down the exam into different sections. It will also help if in the beginning you give your student a diagnostic math test, so you can evaluate the areas that you will need to spend the most time on.

For many of the simplification sections and plugging in values, you can help show your student how to check their answers by working the problem backwards. This is a great way to ease uncertainty and will ultimately help your student spend less time over analyzing whether or not they got the right answer. Simply show your student to follow their work from the last step to the first, and they will see that they end up with the problem they started with.

Word problems tend to be challenging for many high schoolers taking this exam. As a tutor and a teacher, I have found that students do better when given a problem to solve, but have a really hard time when asked to come up with the problem themselves. A great way to prepare your students with this is to give them practice samples that are along the lines of,

“What other expression is equivalent to (2x-5) + (8y - -5x) “

Getting them familiarized with different ways to solve the same types of problems will be extremely useful.

My last piece of advice is to just stay consistent with your student. Keep them on a steady study plan. The more exposed they are to the problems on the exam, the less scary it will seem to them when they see it again on the actual test. It will also help to encourage your student to make a choice to dedicate themselves to being accountable to studying and help them to keep their eye on the prize. Happy teaching!