(Monthly Tip) Preparing for Standardized Tests

Monthly Tip

July 2022

Preparing for Standardized Tests

With schools wrapped up for the academic year, summer is often a time when parents can finally sit back and plan ahead. One of the most frequent questions that parents have during this time of year is how they can be proactive in helping their children prepare for the SAT/ACT. If an actual prep course is still a few years in the future, there are still plenty of ways for parents to get their children ready not only for the SAT or ACT, but for other exams, such as the SSAT and the HSPT.

SAT Basics

The format of the SAT and ACT are fairly similar despite different section names. There are four sections on the SAT: Reading, Writing and Language, Math (Calculator), and Math (No Calculator). This leads many to divide the test into two major sections: English and Math. If we were to tell you that the most important skill that students can master as they prepare for the SAT is reading comprehension, that may seem counterintuitive. After all, reading is only half of the English section, and English is only half of the exam. However, the big secret of the SAT is that the math on the Math section is not very difficult. The highest level of math tested on the SAT is basic trigonometry, which many students take as sophomores or juniors in high school.

The Importance of Reading

The SAT test makers seek to challenge students not with complicated math, but with complicated questions. If every question on the math sections of the SAT were written with clarity, then the average score would increase significantly. By far, the most effective way for students to improve their performance on the math sections is to improve their ability to read questions closely and understand the task before proceeding. Many students tend to misunderstand questions on the math sections because they move too quickly; with a time limit, students are often more concerned with answering as many questions as possible. However, because the questions on these standardized tests tend to be worded densely, students often become stuck as they attempt to untangle what exactly a question is asking. Luckily for all of the parents for whom math is merely an unpleasant memory, this is a skill that can be developed in myriad ways and does not require anyone to relearn what SOHCAHTOA standards for.

Summer Reading Tips

Reading comprehension is the key to performing well on the SAT/ACT math sections. If students can parse what exactly a question is asking, they will realize that the actual math involved is not so complicated. Here are a few ways that you can help your children build this incredibly important skill this summer:

Encourage your children to read. There is no better way to develop a comfort level with any task than doing it regularly. The more that your children read, the better. Whether they read novels, short stories, comic books, manga, graphic novels, cartoon strips, cereal boxes, road signs – anything and everything is key because each of these formats provides your children with unique ways to strengthen their comprehension skills. The lengthy prose in a novel is vastly different from the shorter, more direct dialogue in a comic book; knowing how to read between the lines and synthesize the material in both, though, provides your children with a greater understanding of the texts. If your children want to read guides on how to build a perfect replica of a Taco Bell in Minecraft, let them! Once they finish, ask them to explain what they learned on the surface level and the implications that the author made.
Practice detangling webs of words. In our day-to-day lives, we all encounter and regularly decipher potentially confusing texts: poorly translated articles, IKEA directions, tech guides, board game instructions, directions written by well-meaning relatives, and more. These confusing and often frustrating situations present a perfect opportunity for students looking to improve their close-reading abilities. Delegate these instructions to your young learners and task them with detangling the language. Dense, confusing texts compel readers to slow down and engage with their critical thinking skills as they attempt to parse through the language and determine main ideas and supporting details. For example, give your teenagers a recipe and ask them to convert it into an easy-to-follow plan for you. Give them the instructions for a new board game for family game night, or a new universal remote for the home entertainment center, and ask them to synthesize the information. If they can detangle these challenging texts, they will be better prepared to attempt similar feats on the SAT/ACT.
Paraphrase information and restate questions or tasks. Summer presents countless opportunities for engaging with important, but often tedious, information. If your children are headed off to summer camp, they will likely receive a multi-page list of rules, required and suggested items to bring, important dates, etc. This presents a perfect opportunity to help build their paraphrasing skills. Ask your children to consolidate the important information into a single paragraph, one that it solely in their own words but contains the main ideas of the original text. If you are visiting Civil War battlegrounds or European museums this summer, there will be countless plaques explaining historical facts or background information. Challenge your children to read the plaques and explain the details to a younger sibling/cousin, an older relative, or another teenager. By altering their audience, your children can practice recognizing main ideas and relaying them in a manner that resonates with their specific listener. Paraphrasing is a powerful skill because it requires both strong reading comprehension skills and strong critical thinking skills, which are crucial for the SAT and ACT.
Develop good habits around reading important texts. Different situations require different approaches to reading. Scrolling through the news necessitates a different level of attention than reading an important business contract. Most adults subconsciously switch between tasks of this nature, but many teenagers have yet to master this skill. They will read the directions on a test exactly as they would a Twitter post. Helping them develop the ability to approach important texts differently can pay huge dividends come test time. If you challenge your children to engage with any of the tasks discussed previously and you find that they have read through it too quickly and with little thought, take the time to correct them. Encourage them to read it again more carefully. It can often help to have them develop a specific physical cue to prime their brain, such as closing their eyes and taking a deep breath, so that they know this is the time to slow down their approach to a text.

Final Thoughts

Standardized tests can seem intimidating, but there are several steps that your children can take now to better prepare for the SAT/ACT. Strong reading comprehension skills is at the heart of all of these tests, so it is crucial that students hone their abilities. For further help with reading comprehension skills, consider signing up for Thinking Organized’s Ready Reader program, where your children will develop their comprehension skills by learning active reading strategies. Your children can also sign up for Thinking Organized’s SAT/ACT Prep program, where they will learn further techniques to perform well on these tests. Please reach out to us with any questions that you may have!

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