What do we do in class?
Our classes are uniquely designed to focus on preparing students for not just the exam, but everything that surrounds it. The strategies we teach have been carefully developed over 16 years and by exclusively using actual College Board SAT or ACT materials.*
*While some class activities fit neatly into one slice of the pie chart, others involve overlap between multiple slices. This chart offers a general overview of class time rather than a definitive account of each minute.
Deep Strategy
Because most of the basic content of the exam is familiar to most students, the greatest benefit of test prep is in understanding the exam. The SAT and ACT are designed to be tricky, particularly in how both questions and answers are phrased. The deep strategy element teaches students the various ways the test makers complicate these familiar concepts in an effort to trip up students.
Content
We cover frequently tested grammar and math concepts, including proper uses of punctuation, deceptive cases of subject-verb and subject-pronoun agreement, completing the square, and quickly finding the median in various representations of data.
Test Day Readiness
By the time test day arrives for ACT and SAT exam takers, students will have a plan for every moment, starting with breakfast. Our strategies and techniques help our students develop skills for every aspect of the test-taking experience, not just the test questions, so nothing catches them off guard.
Anecdotes
We often learn best from human experiences, rather than mechanical memorization of concepts. Anecdotes in class, drawn from the experiences of both the instructor and several thousand former students, offer vivid descriptions of strategic successes and mishaps. Current students benefit from models of what to do – and what not to do – presented in a compelling and memorable way.
Logistics
We prepare not just for the exams in general, but for the specific ones each student is taking. Students and parents are informed of the upcoming registration deadlines for all relevant SAT and ACT exams. Students learn when to register – not just to avoid late fees, but also to secure their seats before the most popular test centers close out. Should scores be sent to colleges or not? Should you take the exam with the essay? There are many decisions to make before test day, and our students are prepared for them all.