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Since January 2006, all of my students' scores improved from the PSAT / initial SAT to the current SAT with combined Reading / Math / Writing scaled score increases ranging from 40 to 570 points. 

Link: SAT Website

Link: ACT Website

SAT Prep

Students who learn how to effectively recognize and eliminate obvious incorrect answer choices on the Reading, Writing, and Sentence Completion sections have a chance to improve their combined SAT score by 200-500+ scaled points.

Sample SAT Reading Question:

It can be most reasonably inferred from the passage that (A) similar folk beliefs are based on identical logic and reasoning (B) modern cephalopods will one day be believed to have been caused by lightning (C) all modern cephalopods have bullet-shaped inner shells (D) belemnites are considerably larger than ordinary pieces of gravel (E) during extremely violent storms, stones can occasionally fall from the sky

During individualized SAT/ACT prep sessions, I use my 10+ years of teaching / test prep experience to:

1) Help students fill Sentence Completion holes by purging erroneous choices through a systematic process of deduction.

2) Help students distinguish from among the 6-7 recurrent types of Reading questions, and quickly identify key words that expose well-disguised inaccurate answer choices (see 'Sample SAT Reading Question' above).

3) Help students pick numbers (Math questions with variables) and work backwards (great for multiple-choice tests) to decipher questions that would ordinarily require long forgotten algebraic formulae.       

Though it is advantageous to have taken Algebra II and writing/reading-intensive secondary Language Arts and Social Studies classes, the SAT/ACT is more about commitment, hyper-focusing, and, well, how good you are at taking the SAT/ACT. In other words, the SAT/ACT is 50% what you’ve learned (over the past 10 years), and 50% what you’ve practiced (over the past 10 weeks)!

 Links:

SAT Math Practice Test: 20 Questions / 25 Minutes

SAT Reading Practice Test: 24 Questions / 25 Minutes

Use the chart at the bottom of this page to convert Raw Scores to Scaled Scores 

SAT Scaled Score Admission Ranges for Western Universities

College	Reading	Math	Writing
Arizona	480 – 600	490 – 600
Arizona State	480 – 620	490 – 620
Cal State Fullerton	430 – 530	440 – 560
Cal State Long Beach	440 – 550	450 – 580
Fresno State	390 – 510	410 – 540
Hawaii	480 – 580	510 – 610	470 – 570
Oregon	490 – 600	500 – 620
Oregon State	470 – 590	480 – 610
San Diego State	460 – 570	480 – 590
San Jose State	430 – 530	450 – 580
Stanford	650 – 760	680 – 780	670 – 760
UC – Berkeley	580 – 710	620 – 750	590 – 710
UC – Davis	490 – 630	540 – 660	500 – 630
UC – Irvine	510 – 610	550 – 670	520 – 630
UC – Riverside	450 – 560	470 – 610	450 – 560
UC – San Diego	540 – 660	600 – 700	560 – 670
UC – Santa Barbara	530 – 640	540 – 660	530 – 640
UCLA	560 – 680	600 – 730	570 – 690
USC	620 – 720	650 – 740	640 – 720
Washington	520 – 640	550 – 680
Washington State	490 – 600	510 – 610	470 – 570

Breakdown of Math Topics Covered on the SAT

1. Number and Operations

2. Algebra and Functions

3. Geometry and Measurement

4. Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability

1. Number and Operations

- Basic properties of numbers and their terminology

(e.g. negative numbers, prime numbers, factors, integers, sets, sequences)

- Squares, square roots and exponents

- Order of Operations

- Fractions and decimals

- Percents

- Ratios and Proportions

- Averages

- Arithmetic Word Problems

2. Algebra and Functions

- Simplifying algebraic expressions

- Operations on Algebraic expressions (including factoring of quadratic equations)

- Equations and inequalities involving roots, exponents and absolute values

- Solving systems of equations and inequalities

- Direct and inverse variation

- Algebraic word problems

- Functions (domain, range, translations of graphs, functions using special symbols)

- Equations of lines (slope, intercept)

3. Geometry and Measurement

- Properties of parallel and perpendicular lines

- Coordinate Geometry (slopes, distance between points, midpoints of lines)

- Triangles (area, angles, properties of equilateral, isosceles, right and special triangles, the congruency and similarity of triangles, Pythagorean theorem)

- Quadrilaterals and other polygons (including area, interior and exterior angles, perimeters)

- Circles (area, circumference)

- Solid geometry (volume and surface area of solids)

- Transformations (translations, rotations, reflections)

4. Data Analysis, Statistics, and Probability

- Data interpretation (reading tables and line, bar and other graphs)

- Descriptive statistics (mean, median, mode, weighted average)

- Probability (of one event or two or more independent or dependent events)

- Geometric Probability (probability that a random point chosen will fall within a particular geometric figure)

Raw Score to Scaled Score Conversion Chart

Raw Score = Total Number Correct – ( Total Number Wrong / 4 )

Note: An actual full-length SAT exam contains 3 Critical Reading sections and 3 Math sections. This conversion chart is based on a single Critical Reading section and a single Math section.

Raw Score	Math Scaled Score	Reading Scaled Score
24		800
23		780
22.75		760
22.5		750
22.25		740
22		730
21.75		720
21.5		710
21.25		700
21		690
20.75		690
20.5		680
20.25		680
20	800	670
19.75		670
19.5		660
19.25		660
19	760	650
18.75	740	650
18.5	720	640
18.25	710	640
18	700	630
17.75	700	620
17.5	690	620
17.25	680	610
17	670	610
16.75	660	610
16.5	660	600
16.25	650	600
16	650	590
15.75	640	590
15.5	640	580
15.25	630	580
15	630	580
14.75	620	570
14.5	610	570
14.25	610	560
14	600	560
13.75	600	550
13.5	590	550
13.25	590	540
13	580	540
12.75	570	540
12.5	570	530
12.25	560	530
12	560	520
11.75	550	520
11.5	550	510
11.25	540	510
11	540	510
10.75	530	500
10.5	520	500
10.25	520	500
10	510	490
9.75	510	490
9.5	500	480
9.25	500	480
9	490	470
8.75	490	470
8.5	480	470
8.25	480	460
8	470	460
7.75	470	450
7.5	460	450
7.25	460	440
7	450	440
6.75	450	430
6.5	440	430
6.25	440	420
6	430	420
5.75	430	420
5.5	420	410
5.25	420	410
5	410	400
4.75	410	390
4.5	400	390
4.25	400	380
4	390	380
3.75	380	370
3.5	380	370
3.25	370	360
3	360	350
2.75	350	350
2.5	340	340
2.25	340	330
2	330	330
1.75	320	320
1.5	320	310
1.25	310	300
1	300	290
0.75	290	280
0.5	280	270
0.25	270	260
0	260	250
-0.25	250	240
-0.5	240	240
-0.75	240	230
-1	230	230
-1.25	220	220
-1.5	220	210
-1.75	210	200
-2	200	200

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