In late February, the College Board (makers of the SAT), announced it would be taking additional steps to crack down on cheating. Organized efforts to buy your way to a better score have become big business globally, and after a slew of cheating-related cancellations in 2016 the College Board is hopeful their latest round of security updates will help keep …
Avoid SAT Test Prep Scams
There’s a lot at stake when it comes to standardized test scores, including college admissions and access to scholarships. With what may feel like the entire future on the line, it’s no wonder many parents and students are willing to do whatever it takes to help raise test scores and potentially open doors. And while there are many legitimate test …
What To Do if You’re Accused of Cheating on the SAT
For an SAT-test taker, it’s a worst-case scenario no one wants to encounter: having your test flagged for possible cheating. Each year, roughly 2500 students are informed that their scores are considered suspicious. Knowing what to do if your legitimately-earned numbers are flagged can be the difference between keeping your scores and starting from scratch. Why You Were Flagged Being …
Zeros and Factors of Polynomials
Reading over the list of topics included on the math section of the new SAT can seem like slogging through a knee-deep vat of jargon. Buried in that list is the phrase “understand the relationships between zeros and factors of polynomials.” Although it sounds like the sort of thing writers on a sci-fi show dump in to make a scene …
Factoring and FOIL-ing – Polynomials Techniques
When it comes to the mathematics portion of standardized tests there are at least two F-words that the test writers are actually hoping you’ll think of: “FOIL” and “factor”. In this post, we’ll take a look at these two important polynomial techniques and why they’re so useful. What are polynomials? Polynomials are algebraic terms that include a constant multiplied by a …
Guessing on the New SAT
You’ve probably focused most of your test-prep time on increasing the chances that you’ll know the right answer to questions on the SAT. But what about when you don’t know the answer? Is it ok to guess? The answer is a resounding YES! In this post, we’ll look at how guessing on the new SAT works on the test and discuss …
What To Do If Extreme Weather Impacts Your Test Date
While “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” will stop a determined mail carrier, Mother Nature can definitely wreak havoc with SAT testing. The recent Winter Storm Jonas that shut down schools up and down the east coast is a perfect example of how weather can interfere with test taking. Here’s a look at what you need …
Line Upon Line: Equations You Should Know for Lines
While the SAT math section includes a handful of useful formulas, all of these “freebies” are directly related to geometry.  There remain a significant number of important equations that you’ll need to know on your own to successfully navigate the math section of the test.  In this blog post, we’ll be looking at what equations you’ll need to know about …
Words in Context Questions
With the latest incarnation of the SAT, test-takers everywhere are hoping to score as close to a “perfect 1600” as possible. Besides the elusive 1600 point composite score, however, the new SAT also includes several additional numerical indicators, designed to help students and educators evaluate how college-ready the student is on a number of fronts. Buried in this list of …
How to Become a Better Reader for the SAT
Avid readers generally only need minor touching-up when it comes to taking the verbal portion of the SAT. You can’t really fake an interest in reading, nor should you try. But you can break down the aspects of reading comprehension and try to practice them individually. This is the one that gets just about everybody. The people with the largest …