Tips for Improving Your SAT (and ACT) Math Score
Several years ago, I was tutoring the 16-year-old daughter of a Harvard classmate. One problem required her to multiply six by seven. She reached for her calculator. I stopped her and asked her to calculate in her head. She held out her hands, counted on her fingers – and then answered, “41.” As an SAT math test prep coach, I was concerned.
I quizzed her on the six, seven, eight, and nine multiplication tables. She struggled to recite them all. Sadly, this event was hardly an isolated incident.
“Why is this lack of foundational arithmetic a problem?” one might wonder. Students certainly do! “Since students can use calculators on the SAT and the ACT, why not use them for simple operations?”
In this post, I’ll explain why not knowing foundational math can hurt you on tests like the ACT and SAT. Then I’ll provide three free tips to improve your score: master the basics; improve your focus; conquer alarm bells.
Daily SAT Math Test Prep Tip 1: Master Basics, Memorize Formulas,
Without knowing immediately that six and eight are factors of 48, more complicated math becomes more difficult, more time-consuming – and more fatiguing. Everything from adding and subtracting fractions to factoring quadratic equations eat into the limited time you’re given on the ACT and the SAT. Even if you receive an extra time accommodation, spending valuable cognitive resources on arithmetic wears down your “brain battery.” By the time you reach the more difficult problems at the end of the test or the second module, you’re depleted. You then make silly errors even on easy questions – and your score suffers.
Scores also suffer from students’ reluctance to spend time memorizing formulas. “Why should I bother,” they ask, “when there’s a reference table on the test?” Those tables may help you on questions that require simple application of a formula. However, more difficult questions often require application of one concept in the formula to solve a problem that might not seem at first glance about that formula. You may not even realize that you need the formula if you haven’t already memorized it.
Many students would struggle to solve for x because they have not yet memorized or understood that the relative sides of a 30-60-90 triangle are x, x√3, 2x. Image by Dominique Padurano.
Once you’ve mastered the basics and memorized formulae – the first step for solid SAT math test prep – go ahead and use all the tools at your disposal!
“What are those basics and formulae?” you might ask? While a full list is beyond the scope of this blog, I highly recommend these books for anyone undertaking SAT math test prep (which you can also find in the “Test Prep” section of my website’s Resources page):
The Big Fat Middle School Math Workbook (for arithmetic and pre-algebra basics)
SAT Math Advanced Guide and Workbook
ACT Math Advanced Guide and Workbook
For ACT and SAT math test prep that lasts, read each chapter and make flash cards for facts and formulae you don’t know. Quiz yourself until you do – then take a practice test. Note which items you recalled on the test and which you did not. Make flash cards for other basics fundamental to other questions you missed. Rinse and repeat this basic ACT / SAT math test prep recipe for higher scores!
Image by Stefan Cosma on Unsplash
Daily SAT Math Test Prep Tip 2: Build Your Focus
Whether or not you have a diagnosed attention deficit, most students – like most adults! – lose focus easily. Distraction sets in particularly if the task is difficult, boring, or both.
How do you know if you’re losing focus? Examine your most recent practice test. Did you answer several questions incorrectly in a row? Did you get the whole first section right and most of the second half wrong? Of course, there’s a chance you simply didn’t know the content. But when I notice this pattern, questioning the student often points to a loss of focus.
Of course, the internet abounds with tips on building focus. Here are my three favorite tips. They work not just for ACT or SAT math test prep, but also for Reading Writing.
Limit phone use to twice a day. Constant toggling between your phone and homework, reading, or conversation diminishes your capacity to maintain focus when you really need it.
Sleep at least eight hours each night. Prolonged sleep deprivation inhibits your ability to focus.
Without focus, no amount of SAT math test prep will help!
Image by Jannet Serhan on Unsplash
Daily SAT Math Test Prep Tip 3: Breathe through Alarm Bells
For some students, it starts when the number of variables increases from two to three. For others, it’s when the mere sight of an f before (x) appears. For all but the most competent, confident math students, there’s usually some math topic that incites fear and sets those internal alarm bells clanging, making it impossible for them to even read the question correctly – let alone answer it that way. The first part of my last SAT math test prep tip is to recognize which sorts of problems set these alarm bells off.
Then practice silencing them. When you encounter them, place your hands on your lap. Close your eyes. Inhale deeply through your nose. Then exhale slowly through pursed lips. Repeat just once. When you open your eyes, you’ll feel calmer and more ready to engage with the question.
Practicing the breathing tip each night will allow you to apply it more readily during your exam. Bonus: it’ll help relax you before bed!
If you struggle with test anxiety more generally, feel free to listen to the recording in the “Test Anxiety” section of my “Resources” page repeatedly. And of course, if you need more advanced guidance, check out my services on stress management and drop me a line!
The best SAT math test prep won’t completely banish your fears, but it will give you lifelong tools to mitigate and work with them.
Conclusion: Daily SAT Math Test Prep for the Six Weeks Before the Test
This month, hundreds of thousands of high school juniors (and many sophomores) will take the PSAT. Many others will sit for the ACT and SAT in the coming weeks and months. If they complete each of these SAT Math test prep tips every day between today and test date, I guarantee their SAT Math scores will increase.
Have questions on these SAT Math test prep tips, my SAT tutoring services, or something else related to the journey towards college? Feel free to email me.
Got a different SAT Math test prep tip you’d like to share? Drop it in the Comments below.
Till then, happy calculating and good luck!
AUTHOR’S BIO: Dominique Padurano, MS, Ed, PhD, founded Crimson Coaching in 2014. Since then, she’s helped hundreds of students reach their dreams through her academic tutoring, test prep, and college essay coaching and counseling services. A solopreneur, she runs the business and does 98% of its coaching. Dr P speaks regularly at nonprofit organizations and has also been quoted in national and international publications. For more info, feel free to read her Google reviews or schedule a complimentary consultation.