Juniors and the New SAT

Juniors and the New SAT August 13 Some students are choosing to get a head start on the new SAT. Its tough to be a rising junior this year. Taking the SAT is stressful enough. Studying for one SAT only for the SAT to switch to a new format of the exam in the spring adds to a super stressful year. For students who took the SAT this past  spring and want to see if they can get that score up, theyll get a couple more cracks at it in the fall. And we encourage these students to take advantage of these additional, final opportunities. Because  the prep work that must be done for the old SAT is not the same as the prep work that must be done for the new SAT. One  advantage for students whove been prepping for the old SAT is that theyve got real SATs as in previous administrations of the exam to practice with under timed conditions. Students who will be taking the new SAT dont have this advantage. Companies can make all of the practice questions that they want but these practice questions arent the real thing. We always encourage our students to take previous administrations of the exams under timed conditions on a Saturday or Sunday morning (or on any morning over the summer, frankly). There are lots of tricks to the SAT. We tutor students at Ivy Coach on both the old SAT and the new SAT. But regardless of whether you use our SAT tutoring or another companys SAT tutoring, we strongly encourage you to take real tests under timed conditions. Its the best thing you can do. Your SAT score, in the end, shouldnt be a surprise to younot if you took real practice tests leading up to the exam.  In our experience, its the very best strategy. And if youre considering the ACT, well, this is the year of the ACT. Mark our words.