Master the SAT

by Brian R. McElroy

Harvard grad, SAT perfect scorer, and professional SAT tutor since 2002.

copyright 2021 McElroy Tutoring Inc.

contact: mcelroy@post.harvard.edu

“So who are you,” you might ask, “and why are you qualified to write this book?”

My name is Brian McElroy, founder of McElroy Tutoring. I’m a 41 year-old Providence,

RI native, and I live with my wife, our three daughters and our two dogs in beautiful
Colorado Springs, Colorado. Ever since graduating from Harvard with honors in the
spring of 2002, I’ve worked as a private test-prep tutor, essay editor, author and
admissions consultant.

I’ve personally taken the SAT 6 times, and have scored 99% every time, including a
perfect 2400 on the old test in 2014, and a perfect 1600 with all 154 questions correct
on the new SAT in 2016. More importantly, however, I’ve coached hundreds of students
to significantly better SAT scores over the past two decades, with an average score
improvement of over 150 points, including scores as high as 1500, 1550, and even
1600.

Unlike so many other shady characters and money-grabbing content providers in the
SAT prep business, I’m no con artist out for a quick $9.99: I simply know this test
inside-out. And to prove it, I’ve abandoned the profit motive and published this SAT
book for free as a publicly accessible Google document, for the benefit of any and all
potential readers.

What is the SAT?

The SAT is a widely accepted college entrance examination administered by ETS (the
Educational Testing Service) and created by the College Board. It is a 4-hour
standardized test of Reading, Writing and Grammar, and Mathematics skills. Nearly all
the 4-year colleges in America that require test scores accept either the SAT or the ACT
as an admission test.
The SAT exam has undergone many changes in its history, and was most recently
updated to its current format in March of 2016. For a detailed history of the SAT and
ACT tests, check out this blog and/or the SAT Wikipedia Page.

Structure of the SAT

1) Reading section - 65 minutes, 52 questions. 1.25 minutes per question

2) Writing and Language section - 35 minutes, 44 questions. 40 seconds per
question
3) Math no Calculator section - 25 minutes, 20 questions. 1.25 minutes per
question
4) Math with Calculator section - 55 minutes, 38 questions. 1.45 minutes per
question
5) (Optional) Essay section - 50 minutes, 1 question.

Yes, the essay is optional, but many colleges require it for admission.

What is the PSAT/NMSQT?

The PSAT stands for “Preliminary SAT.” It is meant to introduce high school Freshmen,
Sophomores, and most importantly, Juniors to the SAT exam. It is administered
Nationally, and through many local high schools, either during the day on a Wednesday
(school day test) or on a Saturday (Saturday test). In some cases, there is also a
makeup test date two weeks after the Saturday test.

The NMSQT stands for “National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.” The National Merit
Scholarship is a prestigious scholarship that can be earned by high school juniors who
are taking the PSAT. Whether you qualify as a National Merit scholar semifinalist (which
is determined by your “Selection Index” score

How are the SAT and PSAT scored?

The SAT is scored from 400-1600 composite, and each of the two sections (Evidence
Based Reading/Writing and Math) are graded from 200-800. Add them together to get
your combined score. The PSAT is scored from 320-1520 composite, and each of the
two sections are graded from 160 to 720.
What is an average score on the SAT and/or PSAT?

Above table: Composite Percentiles Only (Source: McElroy Tutoring)

Below Table: Section Percentiles (Source: College Board PDF)
Section 1: (Evidence-Based) Reading Section
(65 minutes, 52 questions = 1.25 min/question)
The Reading section used to be called the “Evidence-Based Reading Section,” but I
suppose when the College Board focus-grouped the test, they decided that particular
title was too wordy, or perhaps too intimidating to high schoolers.

Still, it’s important to remember that no matter what the College Board chooses to call it,
it’s still a test of Evidence, and of literal interpretations of what you read.

Think of this this way: in the real world, “thinking outside the box” and “reading in
between the lines” are seen as positive qualities. The SAT Reading section, however,
does not reward creativity--in fact, it penalizes it!

When considering the answer choices, you can’t let your own head get in the way.
Don’t choose an answer that seems like it could be true, might be true, or is true IF
(insert condition here). The correct answer is the answer that is most literally
supported by the text. If you have to perform mental gymnastics to explain why an
answer is correct, then the answer is most likely not correct.

Here’s an extended analogy that I like to use to describe the correct SAT Reading
strategy. Imagine that you are in a court of law, and that you are a lawyer. In front of
you is an SAT Reading question, and across from you is a judge. You must read the
SAT question / relevant portion of the passage, answer it, and then “approach the
bench” to defend your answer in front of the judge.

One catch, however: you’re mute. Yes, you’re a lawyer who can’t talk. All you can do
while defending your answer to the judge is point at lines from the text.

Can you see the trick here? The correct answer shouldn’t require you to “spin,” explain
or justify it. It should simply be the answer with the most supported language from the
relevant portions of the text, typically in paraphrased form (verbatim phrases can often
be signs of decoy answers).

Take, for example, this question from the May 2017 SAT that I was working on with a
student recently.
As you can see from reading the text, the author essentially asks “if woman is not
allowed by men to reach her full intellectual capacity, then why educate her at all?”
Remember, your first job is to simply read the relevant text, and comprehend /
summarize it in your head.

We are then asked what “faculties” means in line 20. Well, since “faculties” is in direct
reference to “education,” the safest answer would be something that pertains directly to
“education” (line 21), “wisdom” (line 22), “understanding” (line 24) and “knowledge” (line
29). Clearly, the winner here would be Choice B: intellectual abilities, which is a
synonym of these terms. In this case, we have a great deal of supporting evidence in
the text, which is always what we want.
CHOICE A: We are given no evidence to support “instincts,” and any justification of this
answer would require the aforementioned mental gymnastics that we now know to
avoid.
CHOICE C: “Capabilities” is fine, but there is no support for “practical” in the text.
CHOICE D: This one simply doesn’t make much sense in the context of the sentence.

Of course, it would also help to know that “faculties” means “abilities,” but it is not
necessary to know the meaning of this word to answer the question correctly.

Now, let’s tackle some common concerns about the Reading portion of the SAT.

1: How much time do I have per passage? How long should I spend Reading the
Passage and Answering the Questions?

At 65 minutes and 5 passages, you have exactly 13 minutes per passage. I would
recommend that you spend about 4-5 minutes reading the passage, max. You are
going to need the rest of the time to answer the questions, unless you want to risk
having to answer some of the questions from memory, rather than having the full time to
go back and re-read.
2: Moving around the Questions

Remember that there is no rule that you necessarily have to answer the questions in
order. Start with easy questions where you can easily find the topic being referenced,
and save more obscure questions, and main idea questions, for later, when you
understand the passage better--you will slowly improve your understanding of the
passage as you move through the questions.

3: Question Pairs and how to Handle Them (the “Relevance Test”)

Approximately 40% of the questions on the SAT are either the 1st or 2nd part of what I
call a “question pair”: you know, the kind where the SAT asks a question, and then the
following question says something like “which of the following lines provides the best
evidence for the answer to the previous question?” Thus, it is necessary to be
intimately familiar with this question type, and to have a game plan going into these
questions. The method that I like to use is called the Relevance Test.

TBC

Section 2: Writing and Language Section

 (35 minutes, 44 questions = 40 sec / question)

If you’ve taken the ACT English test before, then the SAT Writing and Language Section
is going to seem awfully familiar. In fact, it’s a pretty shameless rip-off on the College
Board’s part. The Writing and Language section includes questions about commas,
apostrophes, sentence relevance and inclusion, sentence order, word choice,
redundancy, parallel structure, subject/verb agreement, noun/pronoun agreement, and
more.

Examples to follow…

Section 3: Math No Calculator Section

(35 minutes, 44 questions = 40 sec / question)

The Math No Calculator section...TBC. For now, check out my full list of SAT Math
Formulas.

Section 4: Math With Calculator Section

(35 minutes, 44 questions = 40 sec / question)

The Math With Calculator section...also TBC. Again, for now you can study my list of
SAT Math Formulas and Concepts.

Section 5 (Optional): The Essay Section

(35 minutes, 44 questions = 40 sec / question)

The SAT Essay section is a rhetorical analysis assignment. In it, you are asked to
analyze how the author builds his/her argument and connects with his/her readers or
audience.

Having read many of these essays, I am aware of their main weaknesses. I can’t tell
you how many students I’ve seen with disproportionate scores like 6/2/6 on Reading,
Analysis and Writing. Reading is easy...you simply summarize and paraphrase what
you read. Similarly, your Writing score is mostly a reflection of style. But the Analysis
part is where many students are lacking.

What does Analysis really mean? It means that it’s not enough to talk about the WHAT
and the HOW...you also have to talk about the WHY.
So many writers do a good job of summarizing WHAT the author says (Reading), HOW
the author builds his argument, and WHAT the effect is on the reader and the audience.
But what not enough writers do is analyze WHY the author chooses these strategies,
and WHY they have a certain effect on the reader. In my opinion, the WHY is the most
interesting part of any essay. Ignore it at your own peril!

Check out my own example of a perfect-score essay on the SAT.

SAT Action Plan - How to Study for the SAT

There is no one “right way” to study for the SAT. Some students prefer to jump in
head-first and take a diagnostic practice test right away. Others are much more
cautious, wanting to learn the topics well before taking an exam under test-day
conditions.

In general, I would make a few suggestions:

1) Start slowly, and don’t worry about your timing right away. If you’re a bit
intimidated by taking a full test, work on a few questions at a time instead, or a
single section of the test. Take your time! You have to learn how to crawl before
you can learn how to walk.
2) Study frequently and for short durations. I suggest studying 3 times a day for 50
minutes each, or 2 times a day for 75 minutes each. Spend most of your time
trying practice problems (active), not just reading or watching videos (passive). If
possible, check the correct answer / answer explanation to each question right
away for optimum learning--learning is best done when your thoughts are still
fresh.
3) When you get something wrong, it’s a precious opportunity to improve. Don’t rush
it! Avoid the temptation to just check the correct answer, and move on. Instead,
force yourself to evaluate all the answer choices, and to try the questions again
from scratch, as many times as needed, until you’ve mastered them. Check the
correct answer only after you’ve tried the question again. Repeat this process as
many times as possible until you’ve mastered the material.
4) Don’t take too many full practice tests, and don’t always practice with time
pressure--you need to learn how to crawl before you can learn how to walk.
5) Try to use real SAT questions whenever possible, but be willing to use 3rd-party
materials if you need extra practice in a specific area.
 6) On Math, be willing to go back to the basics if necessary, by drilling certain math
concepts over and over until you are more confident. The Cliff’s Notes Math
Review for Standardized Tests book is helpful in this regard. Many math
questions on the SAT math sections can be solved easily through a strong grasp
of math theory and number properties.
7) Improve your vocabulary. Vocab is very important on the Verbal section of the
GRE. You may have heard (also linked above) that I co-wrote a popular SAT
Vocab Book.
8) Don’t give up. Most people have to take the SAT several times before they reach
their desired score, and most colleges (but not all!) will accept either your best
“superscore”--your best scores from each section combined--or your best sitting.
9) If you’re taking periodic full SAT practice tests as part of your practice
regimen, then good job! But don’t bother trying to review your results
afterward. Instead, wait until the next day, when your mind is fresher, to review
your results. Remember, it’s the careful, deliberate and untimed review of each
question you got wrong that leads to actual improvement, not just the act of
taking the practice test itself. Force yourself to retry each question, even if the
correct answer “already makes sense”...especially on Math. For Verbal, focus on
writing down why all the wrong answers are wrong, not just why the right
answer is right.

Recommended Materials:

Official SAT Practice

Check out www.reddit.com/r/SATACTprep for 42 official SATs and PSATs (and

counting. (direct link)

Sort-of Official Practice

1) Khan Academy. Khan Academy, a nonprofit educational company, has partnered

with the College Board to create a free online SAT prep experience that is
customized to meet your particular strengths and weaknesses.

In theory, this is a great idea. In practice, the system has not worked out all the
kinks just yet, and the questions on Khan Academy are not official College Board SAT
questions. Although they are the closest possible to the real thing, they are most
certainly not the same.
 That being said, I encourage you to use it. It’s free, and it gives you extra
practice, and those are both good things.

Non-Official Practice, Strategy and Answer Explanations

My Top 11 SAT Prep Resources, Ranked.

Vocabulary - SAT Vocab Capacity free e-book / Word Root List / Mnemonic Videos
(Please note that vocab is still important, but less essential, on the new SAT.)

Math - College Panda / A Guide to the Math SAT / Khan Academy / SAT Quantum / Cliff’s
Notes Math Review for Standardized Tests / PWN the SAT Math Guide / SAT Math Tips /
This formula sheet and this formula sheet and this blog post by me

Critical Reading / Writing - The Ultimate Guide to SAT Reading (a.k.a. The Critical
Reader) / The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar / SAT Writing Tips / Prepositional Idiom List
/ Complete SAT Grammar Rules

Essay - The College Panda's SAT Essay / New SAT Essay Questions and Practice
Materials

General SAT Strategy and Additional (Non-Official) SAT Practice Tests - Ivy Global Ultimate
SAT Guide

If you are looking for an online SAT self-study program that tracks your strengths and
weaknesses in each area of learning, then I can recommend Khan Academy, which is a
free service that has partnered with the College Board to provide online SAT drills and
practice. Fair warning: the individual practice questions on Khan Academy are not
official College Board SAT questions, but they are similar.

For additional help, consider a private tutor like me who can point you in the right
direction. UWorld and 1600io are also OK (but overrated, imo) options--I don’t hate
them but I don’t love them, either--UWorld Inc. in particular has admitted paying users
to post positive online reviews, for example.

Real SAT questions are of course always better to practice with, but for the new SAT,
they are currently in short supply. So you should also download and take PSAT Practice
Tests #1 and #2. Professional SAT tutors like me will obsessively collect every real SAT
or PSAT we can find, and at the moment, there are very few of them (14 total), so of
course they are especially precious.
You can also find free SAT Prep Tips on the McElroy Tutoring Blog and free SAT videos
on the McElroy Tutoring YouTube page. You should also subscribe to the SAT Question
of the Day. Finally, here are my SAT Test-Day Tips.

Coming soon:
Why the SAT is Better than the ACT
Why the SAT is Worse than the ACT
Expanded Writing and Language, Math, and Essay Advice
Careless Mistake Advice

Good luck with your SAT Prep journey! I hope that you found this free e-book to be
helpful. Please check in frequently for updates and the newest information--I plan to
update it whenever I am able.

Questions, comments, suggestions, exhortations? Contact me at the email address

below.

Sincerely,

-Brian R. McElroy

Contact: mcelroy@post.harvard.edu

Last updated 5/27/21