Innovative SAT/ACT Programs

The Online SAT Course – Instructional Videos

Before watching the below videos (scroll to the bottom of this page to view), it’s important we first review the purpose of this course, the goal of the course and how to get the most out of this course.

PURPOSE OF THE COURSE 

The purpose of this course is pretty straightforward – we want to give students as many tools as possible to help them improve their SAT score. So first things first, how much improvement is “enough”?

Let’s take an example of a “normal” student who on their first practice test (before they’ve started studying) gets a score of a 960 on the SAT. If this student goes through the course, watches the videos, does the practice and ends up with a score of a 1070, how should we view that? Is a 110 point improvement a lot? Is it enough?

To answer this, it’s important to understand what SAT score even mean and how colleges utilize them. So to use the above example of getting a 960, that puts a student in about the 28th percentile – that means they performed better than 28% of students who took the test. A score of a 1070 is about the 48th percentile – that means they performed better than 48% of students who took the test.

So instead of asking “is 110 points a lot,” we can ask what it means to go from the 28th to the 48th percentile. Getting a score of 960 means you scored higher than approximately 500,000 students whereas getting a 1070 means scoring higher than around 865,000 students. So going up 110 points in this situation would mean you passed an extra 365,000 students – that is a lot of students to pass!

So first things first, we want to focus on score improvement from the perspective of how many students we are passing, and that does not necessarily take very many points. That means as test takers, we can feel really good about what feels like small improvements.

By the way, if you went from 960 to a 1010, just 50 points of improvement, you still would have passed over 180,000 students! 

GOAL OF THE COURSE

Given that idea, we want to make sure we create a separation between what improvement means in school and what it means on the SAT. In school we tend to think about our grades not so much by the small percentage improvements, but rather by the letter grade we are achieving. Meaning if we end the semester with an 88% vs an 82% in a class, usually we feel like either way my grade is a B – as opposed to focusing on the big difference in score.

Because of that, sometimes that same logic can sneak in to our thoughts about the SAT – that only big jumps matter. But as described above, that is not true. The SAT is graded in 10 point increments on a scale of 1600 total points, and every 10 points really matters. So we want to have the understanding when studying that even things that seem insignificant in terms of our learning can actually have a really big effect.

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THE COURSE

The best advice we can give students is that getting the most out of the course does not mean understanding and mastering literally every single thing taught in the course. These classes are meant to expose you to dozens and dozens of new ways to look at the test and new methods to utilize to improve. But that does not mean that every single student is going to find every single idea incredibly helpful.

Sometimes a lesson may be reviewing things you already know. Or sometimes it will be presenting an idea that you simply can’t understand. Please know that either of those situations is totally okay! You don’t need to find ALL of it helpful – remember what the goal of this course is. We want to learn as much as possible to create improvement in your score. To achieve improvement does not require that every idea taught be understood.

Go through the course, take good notes and make sure to PRACTICE! That is what is required to see improvement. You want to actually be presented with all the information, pay good attention and take notes for retention and understand that SAT classes are not magic. Students have to put in time studying to make sure you really know how to utilize the material.

THE VIDEOS

Finally, below you will find the video lessons. These videos are available to you 24/7 so you can start and stop, you can binge watch, you can rewind or fast forward and you can rewatch videos. Bottom line is that you have extreme flexibility to make this work within your schedule and your learning style.

To view each video, please click on the links below:

Video 1: In this video, we cover an overview of the SAT including structure & scoring of the test.

Video 2: In this video, we cover the Tier One “Core Skills” we use to approach the test thoughtfully and efficiently.

Video 3: In this video, we cover overview of and approach to the Reading section.

Video 4: In this video, we cover a few more specific skills for the Reading section.

Video 5: In this video, we cover the overview of the Writing & Language section including question types, before starting the grammar review.

Video 6: In this video, we pick up our Grammar review with Subject-Verb agreement on page 30 and continue through Parallelism on page 40.

Video 7: In this video, we finish up the Writing & Language Section, including review of Punctuation & Revision questions.

Video 8: In this video, we get an intro to the Math section including how to read graphs & tables.

Video 9: In this video, we cover tools for the Math section including Backsolving, Choosing Numbers and how to properly use your calculator.

Video 10: In this video, we cover the Math Concept Review including Imaginary Numbers, Integers, Order of Operations, Absolute Value, Consecutive Integers, Factors & Multiples (pages 64-70).

Video 11: In this video, we continue with the Match Concept Review including Fractions, Decimals, Proportions, Percents (pages 70-75)

Video 12: In this video, we continue with the Math Concept Review: Probability, Rate, Mean, Median, Mode & Range, Slope & Midpoint, Linear Equations & their Functions (pages 76- 83 of the coursebook)

Video 13: In this video, we continue with the Math Concept Review: Systems of Equations, Exponents & Roots, Pythagorean Theorem & Distance Formula, Monomials, Binomials & FOIL (pages 83 – 90 of the coursebook).

Video 14: In this video, we continue with the Math Concept Review: Quadratic Equations, Translations & Function Properties, Rational Functions & Equations, Conic Sections (Parabolas & the Circle Equation), Direct & Inverse Variations (pages 91 – 97 of the coursebook).

Video 15: In this video, we continue with the Math Concept Review: Solving & Graphing Inequalities, Intersecting Lines & Transversals, Interior Angles of a Polygon, Triangles (pages 98 – 105 of the coursebook).

Video 16: In this video, we continue with the Math Concept Review: Trapezoids & Parallelograms, Circles, Volume, Basic Right Triangle Trigonometry, Radians, and a quick note on the Essay and Preparing for Test Day (pages 105 – 112 of the coursebook, with an overview of pages 113- 131).

If you’d like to take a full practice SAT before and after you complete our program (which we heartily recommend to track your progress), you can also make use of this proctored exam video with instructions and directions, complete with timing warnings, to guide you through the experience: