How to crush the SAT (from 1580 scorer)

Summary

In this video transcript, Vivien, a Stanford computer science graduate and founder of acle AI, shares her SAT preparation experience and strategies. She scored a 1580 on the SAT and offers tips to help students excel in the test. Vivien emphasizes starting early, focusing on reading and writing skills through higher-level reading, and understanding the test's tricks. She also discusses the importance of practice, using a Desmos calculator, and number sense for the math section. Vivien advises taking mock exams under realistic conditions and planning to take the SAT multiple times to reduce stress and improve scores.

Takeaways

• 📚 Start Early: Vivien suggests starting SAT preparation early to reduce stress and build up skills gradually.
• 🎓 College Focus: The founder of acle AI emphasizes the SAT's importance for college admissions, especially for selective colleges.
• 📈 Improve Gradually: Engaging in regular reading and writing activities can naturally enhance SAT scores.
• 🕵️‍♀️ Understand the Game: The SAT is designed to trick test-takers; knowing how to navigate the questions is crucial.
• 👀 Focus on Key Information: In lengthy questions, only a few words matter; learning to identify them can improve accuracy.
• 📉 Skip and Return: If a question seems difficult, skip it and return after answering easier ones.
• 📚 Read at a Higher Level: To excel in the reading and writing section, read complex texts over an extended period.
• 🧮 Math Hacks: Use tools like Desmos calculators and develop number sense to tackle math sections effectively.
• 📈 Plan Ahead: Most students benefit from taking the SAT multiple times to improve their scores.
• ⏱️ Practice Under Pressure: Simulate test conditions during mock exams, including timing, to prepare for the real test.
• 🏋️‍♀️ Train Hard: Practicing mock exams in half the official time can make the actual test feel easier and less stressful.

Q & A

What is the speaker's name and what did she study in college?

The speaker's name is Vivien, and she studied computer science in college.

What was Vivien's SAT score when she took the test?

Vivien scored a 1580 on the SAT, which was out of 2400 at the time. When calculated using the new scoring system, her score remained a 1580.

What is the name of the AI tool Vivien founded?

Vivien founded an AI tool called Acel AI, which helps high school students prepare for college.

Why does Vivien believe it's important to start thinking about the SAT early?

Vivien believes that starting to think about the SAT early reduces stress and allows for a more gradual and less intense preparation process.

What was Vivien's approach to studying for the SAT during high school?

Vivien started studying for the SAT as a sophomore in high school with the help of a private college counselor. She took one math and one reading and writing section per week for about a year.

How did Vivien's reading habits contribute to her SAT preparation?

Vivien's love for reading, especially through honors English classes, helped her improve her vocabulary and understanding of grammar and sentence structures, which in turn helped her do better on the SAT.

What is one strategy Vivien suggests for dealing with long, complex questions on the SAT?

Vivien recommends reading through the question, identifying the key words, and eliminating extraneous information to focus on what's important for answering the question correctly.

Why is it difficult to cram for the reading and writing section of the SAT, according to Vivien?

Vivien explains that cramming is ineffective for the reading and writing section because it requires a long-term improvement in reading comprehension and vocabulary, which can't be achieved quickly.

What tips does Vivien give for the math section of the SAT?

Vivien suggests practicing with a Desmos calculator to get comfortable with reverse-solving multiple-choice questions and developing number sense to quickly eliminate incorrect answer choices.

How does Vivien recommend students approach taking the SAT multiple times?

Vivien advises taking the SAT more than once to familiarize oneself with the testing environment and to have the opportunity to combine the best scores from different attempts.

What practice strategy does Vivien suggest to simulate test day conditions?

Vivien recommends taking mock exams in a quiet environment, simulating the entire test experience, and paying close attention to timing to ensure all questions are answered.

How does Vivien view the SAT in terms of future life preparation?

Vivien sees the SAT as a way to set oneself up for future success, not only by potentially getting into more selective colleges but also by developing skills like time management and self-discipline that are valuable in later life.

Outlines

00:00

📚 SAT Preparation Insights

Vivien, a Stanford computer science graduate and founder of acle AI, shares her personal experience and tips for acing the SAT. She emphasizes the importance of early preparation and regular study to reduce stress. Vivien suggests that students should focus on reading and writing skills through engaging in honors English classes or reading high-level materials like the New York Times or Wall Street Journal. She also advises on test-taking strategies, such as ignoring extraneous information in questions and skipping difficult questions to return to later. Vivien's score of 1580 on the old SAT scale (equivalent to the same on the new scale) highlights her credibility.

05:05

🧠 Mastering the SAT Math Section

In this paragraph, Vivien discusses strategies for the math section of the SAT. She recommends practicing with a Desmos calculator to familiarize oneself with the tools provided during the test. Vivien also suggests developing 'number sense' to quickly estimate and eliminate implausible answer choices. She encourages students to take advantage of the lack of penalty for guessing, as it can significantly increase the chances of answering correctly. Additionally, she advises planning and taking the SAT multiple times to become more comfortable with the test environment and timing.

10:07

🚀 Setting Yourself Up for Future Success

Vivien wraps up the video script by encouraging students to view the SAT as a stepping stone for future success, not just for college admissions but also for life skills. She stresses the importance of self-discipline and time management, which are crucial for both the SAT and future endeavors. Vivien suggests practicing mock exams under time constraints that are more stringent than the actual test to build confidence and ensure that the real test day feels manageable. She invites viewers to ask further questions and express interest in other topics they'd like her to cover.

Keywords

💡SAT

The SAT is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. It is known for causing stress among students due to its impact on college applications. In the video, the speaker shares her personal experience and provides tips on how to prepare for the SAT, aiming to reduce the stress associated with it.

💡Stress

Stress is a common emotional response to a situation that is perceived as challenging or threatening. The video script emphasizes the stress that students often feel about the SAT and offers advice on how to make the preparation process less stressful by starting early and focusing on building skills over time.

💡Vivien

Vivien is the speaker in the video and a Stanford alumna who scored 1580 on the SAT. She uses her experience to provide credibility to her advice and to connect with the audience on a personal level. She also mentions founding an AI tool, indicating her expertise in both education and technology.

💡Acle AI

Acle AI is an AI tool mentioned by Vivien, which is designed to help high school students prepare for college. The tool is currently focused on test preparation, indicating a technological approach to the age-old problem of standardized testing.

💡Test Prep

Test preparation refers to the process of studying and practicing for a standardized test. The video is centered around Vivien's insights into effective SAT test preparation strategies, such as starting early, understanding the test's structure, and practicing under timed conditions.

💡Reading and Writing

Reading and Writing are two sections of the SAT that the speaker suggests can be improved by engaging in higher-level reading and writing activities over time. This aligns with the video's theme of long-term skill development as opposed to last-minute cramming.

💡Math Section

The Math section of the SAT is discussed as an area where strategic preparation can be particularly effective. Vivien suggests using tools like Desmos calculators and developing 'number sense' as ways to improve performance in this section.

💡Mock Exams

Mock exams are practice tests that simulate the actual SAT. The video emphasizes the importance of taking mock exams under conditions that mimic the real test environment to build familiarity and confidence.

💡Selective Colleges

Selective colleges are institutions with high standards for admissions, often requiring high SAT scores. The script suggests that students aiming for such colleges may need to adopt more intense preparation strategies.

💡Planning Ahead

Planning ahead is a recurring theme in the video, with the speaker advising students to take the SAT multiple times and to practice under stricter conditions than the actual test to reduce stress and improve performance.

💡Desmos Calculator

Desmos Calculator is a specific tool mentioned for math preparation. It is highlighted as a way to practice solving problems under test conditions and to develop strategies for tackling multiple-choice questions effectively.

Highlights

The SAT doesn't have to be a stressful experience.

Vivien, a Stanford computer science graduate, scored 1580 on the SAT.

She founded an AI tool, acle AI, to help high schoolers prepare for college.

Students should start thinking about the SAT earlier to reduce stress.

Private college counseling can be beneficial, especially in competitive schools.

Starting SAT preparation in sophomore year can be effective.

Reading and writing skills can be improved through honors English classes.

The SAT is designed to trick test-takers, so understanding question structure is key.

Skipping questions and coming back to them can be a good strategy.

Reading at a higher level for an extended period improves SAT performance.

Practicing with a Desmos calculator can help with the math section.

Developing number sense can improve SAT math scores.

Planning ahead and taking the SAT multiple times can lead to better scores.

Mock exams should be taken in a testing environment to simulate the real test.

Practicing mock exams in half the official time can improve test day performance.

The SAT can be seen as a way to set up for future success.

The skills learned for the SAT can be beneficial in later life.

Transcripts

okay here's the honest truth about the SAT I  know that it's something that a lot of people  

are really stressed about but you don't need to  make it a stressful experience so I'm going to go  

over a little bit about my experience studying  for the SAT some tips that I have for students  

who really want to crush the SAT and also how to  make it a little bit less stressful so my name  

is Vivien I went to Stanford and studied computer  science and I got a 1580 on the sat back then it  

was out of 2400 but when I calculated my new score  using the new test I got a 1580 and I'm also the  

founder of acle AI which is an AI tool that helps  high schoolers get ready for college right now  

we're focused specifically on test prep and so  I do work at a SAT prep company I will disclose  

that and so you can take this video with a grain  of salt but I really just want to help students  

understand why the SAT is important and also how  they can do better on tests like the SAT some of  

these tips are going to sound a little bit intense  because I'm really focused on helping you get the  

best score that you can for people who are looking  to go to a little bit less selective colleges you  

can also just spend your time studying Reading  Writing doing all of these things that you enjoy  

doing and that's actually going to help you  do better on the SAT so my main thing is that  

I think students should start thinking about the  SAT earlier because then it's a lot less stressful  

to prep for it beforehand if you are looking for  A600 you will have to be pretty intense because  

the SAT is a bit of a game and you just have to  understand how the game works in order to get that  

perfect score okay here's my story about studying  for the SAT so I actually got a private college  

counselor when I was a freshman in high school  which is a super privileged thing that I was  

able to do um I grew up in a really competitive  High School uh in paloalto and I went to a public  

school which again public schools in my town  were really great but they had you know we had  

about 300 graduating seniors every year and one  college counselor for all of them so they really  

couldn't get to know you that well and frankly a  lot of the times they were helping out students  

who were at the average or below average and  helping them sort of graduate from high school  

and maybe not as focused on the kids who are  looking to get into really selective colleges  

and I actually started studying for the sat with  that counselor when I was about a sophomore in  

high school um I actually know other people who  took the SAT when they were in middle school or  

freshman because they wanted to go into really  selective summer programs I was not one of those  

students but I started studying for the SAT when  I as a sophomore because the philosophy that we  

had was that the earlier that we started we could  do a little bit each week and then sort of build  

up from there and so I took uh one math and one  reading and writing section per week for about a  

year and then by that point my average score when  I took a mock test was you know in that 90th 95th  

percentile and so I was feeling really good going  into the test and I didn't have to cram as much  

and during that time one of the most important  things that I did was that I actually just loved  

reading and especially if you're already taking  uh you know honors English classes or things like  

that that can really help improve your reading  and writing score because you start to learn a  

lot of vocabulary you start to see these grammar  sentences and the ways that things are constructed  

and that can really help you do better on that  sat intuitively so you don't have to memorize  

a bunch of things okay so here's one honest truth  about the SAT which is that it's really built to  

trick you it's not always about knowing all of  the material but sort of more how the questions  

are asked and a common thing that I see is that a  question is maybe three or four sentences long but  

really there's only a few words in that sentence  that actually matter for you to get the question  

right and so what I always recommend is that if  you're getting stressed during the test just read  

through the question and if something doesn't  strike you right away you can just skip to the  

next question and come back to this one most of  the time those really long questions most of the  

information is just there to lead you off off  track so I recommend taking a beat closing your  

eyes taking a deep breath and then rereading the  question and making sure that you eliminate all  

of that extra information so I'll show an example  problem here where there's a ton of information  

and they give you a lot of numbers like 35% or  5,000 and there's a bunch of mixed signals that  

you're getting from the question but if you read  what it's actually trying to get you to do you can  

write out some really simple equations that can  help you get to the answer so so the main thing  

here is to just remember that these questions are  kind of set up to overwhelm you a little bit but  

as long as you take a step back you can go ahead  and Crush that question okay the second honest  

reality that I have about the SAT is that the  reading and writing section is really hard to  

cram for if you want to get a good score on that  reading and writing section I would recommend just  

reading at a higher level for a long period of  time before you take the SAT and that's going  

to make things a lot more straightforward for you  so for example when I was in high school I took  

mostly honors English classes and we would read  you know some of these American Classics we would  

read books that were written in older grammar  or older English so that I could start getting  

used to the different sentence structures and so  other than taking those uh AP classes or honors  

English classes you can always just read more in  your spare time I would read things like the New  

York Times or the Wall Street Journal books or  non-fiction pieces that you can learn different  

kinds of sentence structures from vocabulary from  and that's actually the best way to prep for the  

SAT but also for later life because you can reuse  a lot of those words in your day-to-day remember  

that a lot of the skills that you learn for the  SAT should help you in your career later down the  

line and they're not really just this Sprint for  the SAT but it's really a marathon of learning  

over your lifetime okay and so as I mentioned  before the reading and writing section A lot of  

the times it just takes a lot of years of reading  and writing but for the math section there are  

actually a lot of hacks that you can do that will  help you take the SAT in a much more effective  

way so one of the things that I would recommend is  getting a ton of practice with a Desmos calculator  

because a lot of the times if the answers are just  written out as a multiple choice you can reverse  

solve the question by plugging the answers back  into the equation I'll put a question here where  

you just see that out the other hack that I have  is learning more number sense so this is really  

just around understanding the T-shirt size of a  number so for example is 10,000 way too high but  

is one way too low you'll see a sample question  question that I have here where the order of  

magnitude between the answers here is really big  you have one answer that's in the hundreds and  

then one that's in the tens of thousands which  one are they actually looking for that would let  

you eliminate half the answers and if you're  able to eliminate two answers then you could  

actually just guess between the remaining two and  remember there's no guessing penalty so each time  

you have about a 25% chance of getting the right  answer so you should always guess and if you can  

eliminate even one or two answers that's going to  up your probability of getting the right answer  

a lot more okay and another unsurprising reality  about the SAT is that it really favors people who  

plan ahead there are going to be people who can  take the SAT on their first go and get an amazing  

score and good for them but for the majority of  people you want to plan ahead so that you're not  

stressed leading up up to the test and so for most  people you really want to take advantage of the  

fact that you can actually take the SAT multiple  times I don't usually recommend taking the SAT  

three times because that's sometimes Overkill but  you can always take it once to get a better sense  

of the testing environment and then take it again  and you can also supercore those two different  

tests that you took so you could take the better  score that you got on either section and add them  

up depending on the college if that lets you and I  would really recommend if you're taking mock exams  

to act like you're in the testing environment  sit in a quiet place take the entire test  

front to back make sure that you understand  that the timing is really really critical  

because skipping ahead to certain questions is  going to be better for you because there is no  

guessing penalty you want to make sure that you  get to every question and that you have enough  

time to answer the harder questions which might  be at the back or you just can triage yourself  

a little bit better so you can spend more time on  the questions that you needed extra help with okay  

and related to planning ahead is that the more  times you can practice a mock exam the better  

and I want you to think about taking the mock  exam in about half the official time that you're  

allowed to take the mock exam so this sounds  like a really intense tip here but what I'm  

really trying to help you do is understand how  the test day will feel and practice at such a  

level that the test day will actually feel really  easy for you because you actually practice on hard  

mode and if you're able to take the test in half  the time that'll give you a ton of time to go back  

review your answers make sure that you're happy  with everything you did make sure you didn't skip  

any questions whatever have you and just having  that extra padding if you don't don't actually  

know how to do a question that's totally fine  and just skip it and come back and at the end  

if you still don't know how to do it then just  go ahead and guess so the way that I think about  

this sort of halftime thing is like you would be  an athlete training for the Olympics right if you  

were training in Denver or Colorado at way higher  altitude when you actually go to the Olympics you  

would be in a lot better position than a lot of  your competitors because you are training on hard  

mode okay and my final reality check about the  SAT is that I know that it's stressful but you  

can really think about it as a way to help you set  yourself up for success in the future that is both  

through getting into more selective colleges if  that's your goal but also having this constrained  

thing that you're practicing for that you're  really putting a lot of effort into will help  

prepare you for later life as well the reality  is that life doesn't get easier after high school  

you'll have to set your own calendar you'll have  to set your own schedule you won't always have a  

boss telling you exactly what to do and a lot of  the times in high school your teacher is telling  

you what to do but the SAT is one different thing  where you can start practicing setting your own  

schedule being your own boss and understanding how  long it will take you to do something like the SAT  

and having something to work towards so I hope you  found this video helpful thanks for watching and  

let me know if you have any other questions about  the SAT and what other topics you want me to cover