February 2012
10 posts
1 tag
4 tags
Round Numbers and SAT Scores
Researchers Uri Simonsohn and Devin Pope conducted an experiment to find out whether round numbers act as performance goals for test takers.
“We found that high school juniors were at least 10 to 20 percentage points more likely to retake the SAT if their total score ended in 90 (e.g., 1190) than if it ended in the most proximate 00 (e.g., 1200).”
Turns out that round number...
5 tags
Wait…Score Choice and Superscoring…Can You Do...
FAQ #4
Q. What’s the deal with Score Choice and Superscoring?
A. Thank heavens for reliable sources.* I can never remember the answer to this question.
Here’s hoping it sticks this time…..
1)Score Choice:
This means that *you* can pick which scores to send. Most schools will let you do this, but a handful (GW, Georgetown, Stanford, and Yale come to mind offhand) will...
4 tags
The Xiggi Method
The legendary (and yet strangely elusive) “Xiggi Method,” is solid SAT advice from a regular College Confidential contributor. There are nearly 1000 comments about “the method” — to give you some idea of the level of status this advice has achieved.
Personally, I don’t agree with everything Xiggi advises (e.g. I’m not sure you have to buy tons of...
4 tags
Tip #17 (she says with confidence)
Tip #17
Sentence Completion (aka the Vocab Questions):
On this one you really should take my advice, because I only got one wrong out of 7 SATs last year (yes, I’m bragging, but my Math score entitles me to brag about my Reading and Writing scores.)
Ok, here’s “The Method”: Any time you don’t know a word, look it up. Period. End of story.** Even if you got...
4 tags
7 SATs Later, Sharing What I Learned
Updating the Resource Page daily. Attempting to share everything I learned, post-7 SATs. (I feel like I need a tag line: “I made mistakes so you don’t have to,”….or “Do as I say, not as I did,”…or something like that.)
OFFICIAL College Board Solutions to the Blue Book. Incidentally, I didn’t always find these to be the most helpful.
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PWN the SAT Q&A: Want a free copy of the PWN the... →
pwnthesat:
The whole reason I started PWN the SAT is that I think good, solid test prep advice should be available to everyone, not just people who have access to top-notch tutors or prep courses. That’s why the content on my sites will always be free, and although I am selling a book now (I need…
3 tags
Filling Up that Page, Tip by SAT Tip
Medium Questions have Medium Answers: If you’re working too hard on an easy question (i.e. the beginning of a section), you’re probably doing something wrong. Similarly, if you come to an answer too easily at the end of a section (especially Math, though maybe that’s just me) — you’ve probably done something wrong too. This does not apply to the Critical Reading...