Kurt Strazdins

Photo courtesy of MCT campus.

Across the nation, students panic: SAT prep, college applications and recommendation letters. So this is senior year fun?

This is a stressful time, but count on one thing: increasing SAT scores.

One route many students take is getting a private tutor. This way, students are not crammed into large rooms with unfamiliar faces listening to broad and generalized directions.

English teacher Mrs. Deborah Carter is a tutor for students preparing to take the SATs. She says, “Every single student is going to be different.” There is no “best plan.” With a tutor the student can focus on the particular sections that give them the most trouble.

Carter’s advice to all students taking the SAT is, “there are no short cuts. Read all you can get your hands on, and when you are taught grammar and vocabulary, actually study it.”

Another tool for FCPS students is the Virtual School, with the college exam preparation (CEP) material that was set up last fall. Teachers, parents and students received a Find Out First notice that explained how the school works and the tools that are set up for them.  This can still be found on the FCPS Virtual School website. SAT prep is $30 and it provides preparation for the ACT, SAT and Advanced Placement tests.

“Many student learners prefer to have immediate feedback about their performance,” said the principal of the Virtual School, Dr. Stacey Adamiak. Since the school is all online, students can take the test multiple times. On the other hand, it’s difficult for many to stick to a study plan if there is no specific teacher or time for learning.

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Adamiak also said the website “can show your strengths and weaknesses using data.” This way students can examine their weak points are and study that section until they feel comfortable for the next SAT.

The five most popular SAT materials can be purchased at book stores or online, including the College Board Official SAT Study Guide with DVD, Gruber’s Complete SAT Guide 2014, Boot Camp for Your Brain: A No-Nonsense Guide to the SAT I, Barron’s SAT book, and Cracking the SAT.

On the College Board website, students can access the question of the day, sample practice questions, and practice tests which are all free and available to anyone. With the PSAT scores, students can log in to their results and see a study plan of their weaknesses.

There are also other test prep sites like Sylvan.

One success story comes from a junior, Avery Eddins. Eddins had taken her first SAT in October. She had studied a little before taking the SATs for the first time; however, she said “[she] wished she had studied more and started weeks in advance”.

Before taking the SATs for the second time, she studied prefixes and suffixes, which helped her with the writing section and with questions involving vocabulary. After the second test, she had felt as if her hard work had paid work off and she is confident that she scored much better on her second SAT than her first.

Eddins’ advice to anyone preparing for the SATs is, “to not freak out, get a good night’s sleep and study days or weeks in advance.”