Award-Winning SAT Courses & Classes in Cambridge, MA

Varsity Tutors can help college-bound high school students like you get ready to take the SAT through an in-depth SAT course. Taking one of our SAT classes could help you get more efficient use out of the time you had already planned on devoting towards preparing for this exam. The easiest way to get started with SAT courses is by reaching out to Varsity Tutors through this website or by phone. We can help you select the SAT class that make the most sense for your specific academic needs. Or you can continue reading to learn more about how an SAT prep course could positively impact your test preparation process.

The SAT is one of the most widely taken college admissions exams in the United States. The test was created to address the need for colleges and universities to have a common data point they could use to evaluate and compare applicants from around the country and even around the world. They use the SAT as one tool to determine how well prepared each applicant is to succeed in a college environment. Admissions committees use the SAT and other applicant information to make decisions on which applicants they accept to their post-secondary programs. This is the main reason the quality of your SAT prep course is so important.

You can choose to spend time during an SAT class investigating the colleges you want to apply to, learning their requirements regarding SAT scores, if any, and looking up whether the programs you're interested in require you to take the "optional" Essay section of the SAT. The effectiveness of your SAT course can be enhanced simply by knowing the score you need to reach and setting that goal. Then your SAT prep class tutor can help you develop your plan to reach, or even exceed, that goal. The higher a score you earn, the better your chance to get into your top choice colleges or universities. A strong, focused, and realistic study plan may be essential to help you work towards your goal, and Varsity Tutors can help you build that type of study plan through an in-depth SAT prep class.

What kinds of SAT courses near me can I sign up for through Varsity Tutors?

Varsity Tutors gives you two primary options to consider when deciding which SAT preparation plan is right for you. First, you could sign up for SAT prep classes with a private tutor. This choice may be right for you if you place a premium on getting personalized feedback from your educator throughout your entire test preparation process. Studying with a one-on-one SAT course tutor puts the entire focus of each SAT class session on your study needs.

You might want to choose the private tutoring option if you're much stronger on some subjects than others, or if you're really struggling with one or two particular subjects. In either case, you can appreciate the opportunity for dynamic and customizable lessons in which you spend widely different amounts of times on different subjects. In large-group SAT prep courses, each subject is generally covered in a predetermined amount of time. If you're completely proficient in reading and writing, but struggle terribly with math, a group class could be a problem. You're basically getting no benefit from the valuable time you spend in class while they're covering subjects in reading and writing. When the class covers math subjects, you may end up feeling lost because you don't have the foundational knowledge necessary to follow along. By working with a private SAT class tutor, you have the opportunity to spend your entire SAT prep time on meaningful work that can help you enhance your personal study skills and content knowledge.

The other SAT prep courses Varsity Tutors offers involve studying with a professional instructor in a small-group setting. This gives you the opportunity to learn alongside a small group of peers who are all going through the same thing you are, almost like you would in the traditional classroom SAT course learning environment, only with fewer classmates. You're able to interact with both your instructor and fellow students during each SAT prep course session. If you're the type of student who finds it helpful to share ideas and encouragement with fellow test takers, this may be the right choice for you. In case you do run into a particular difficulty, be reassured that when you sign up for small-group SAT prep classes, you always have the option of adding as few or as many one-on-one lessons with your instructor as you need to spend more time or receive additional guidance on a concept you're finding especially challenging.

Whether you sign up for individual or small-group SAT courses, you have the benefit of online study sessions. The flexibility for both you, other students, and your instructor is increased by eliminating issues with travel time and availability of transportation. Varsity Tutors makes it a priority to provide you with SAT prep courses that meet your and your family's scheduling needs, and we provide access to our Live Learning Platform where you can meet with your tutor individually or with your small-group SAT class peers and instructor.

What content can an SAT prep class near me cover to help me feel confident when I take the test?

The main point of any SAT course is, of course, making sure you're ready to answer any question in any subject that you face on the exam. The SAT is made up of three required sections that test skills in Reading, Writing and Language, and Math, along with an optional Essay section. As mentioned above, depending on the program you're applying to, the Essay section may not actually be optional if you want to be accepted.

The Reading section covers the everyday skills and knowledge that you've been learning throughout high school. These questions were developed to evaluate how you take in information, and how you think about and make use of it. When you and your SAT tutor cover this section, it won't be a matter of memorizing facts and figures. Instead, you'll work to enhance your thought processes as you evaluate information in order to make practical use of it. The Reading section provides you with text passages, some of which include informational graphics. Each passage is followed by a handful of questions used to determine how well you can use evidence to support your answers, understand unfamiliar words through context, and analyze passages in history, social studies, and science.

The focus of the Writing and Language section of the SAT is on everyday skills related to writing and editing. You'll be presented with passages to read while noticing any mistakes or weaknesses and then fixing them. The main skills required to do well on this section are the ability to spot and correct problems within written passages. Some questions ask you to analyze a single sentence for grammar, tense agreement, punctuation, or even spelling mistakes. Other questions may require you to read an entire passage and then interpret a related graphic. You can spend time during your SAT classes making sure you have a good command of standard English conventions and use of language.

The SAT Math section is focused on questions about practical math that you'll find useful in day-to-day living. They are used to indicate your skill in problem solving and modeling you would need to use in your personal life, your career, or in college math, science, and social sciences courses. The previous two sections include only multiple-choice questions, and the Math section is mostly presented through the same. However, some of the Math section questions are grid-ins, which require you to work the problem and find the answer rather than choose it from a selection of possible answers. The main things you'll want to focus on during your SAT courses to prepare for this section are algebra, problem-solving and data analysis skills, and manipulating more complex equations.

The time allowed to complete these three required sections is three hours. You have 65 minutes to complete the 52 multiple-choice Reading questions, 35 minutes to answer the 44 multiple-choice Writing and Language questions, and 80 minutes to finish the 58 mostly multiple-choice Math questions. The Math section is further broken down to 25 minutes for the 20 No-Calculator questions and 55 minutes for the 38 Calculator allowed questions.

The table below presents additional information about the SAT's format:

Here's some more information on the SAT:

• Time Allowed: 3 Hours
  • An additional 50 Minutes is added for the optional SAT Essay
• Required Sections are Multiple-Choice
  • Scored based on # of correct answers
  • No penalty for guessing
• Sub-scores
  • Each section receives a separate sub-score
  • Provides insight into a student's individual strengths and areas of opportunity

How can SAT prep classes near me help me prepare other than just studying content?

A good SAT prep class instructor knows that there is more to studying for a test than making sure you know the subjects that will be tested. Taking a standardized exam is a skill all on its own, and not one usually taught in schools. In addition, the results of your SAT come with much higher stakes than any one classroom quiz. To be thoroughly prepared for the SAT, you and your tutor can spend time working on study and test-taking skills in addition to subject review.

For starters, since each section of the exam provides you with a limited time to answer all the questions. If pacing is an issue for you, your SAT tutor can help you improve your speed. There are a number of ways they can do this.

If you're not properly prepared, some of the wording of SAT questions seem as though they're meant to trick you. Your tutor can help you pay attention to reading questions carefully, and then help you understand what they're asking for. One example is if a question includes a double-negative. Without knowing to look for this, you could end up giving the exact opposite of the correct answer. You can spend time in your SAT classes with your tutor reviewing the trickier wording you might see in order to help you get familiar with them. This can make them less daunting, and once you're able to understand what a question asks, you can answer more quickly.

A related strategy your SAT prep tutor can help you implement is simply to trust your first instinct. You can answer a question in your mind before you check the possible answers, and if you find your answer among the choices, you can feel pretty sure that's the correct answer. On math questions, it's usually not necessary to work out whole problems (except on the grid-in questions). Your SAT tutor can show you how to work a problem, whether in your head or on scratch paper, until it becomes clear which of the answer choices provided is correct. By observing you while you complete practice sections or tests, your SAT tutor can suggest the best strategies to implement that work well with your testing style and skills and help you find the correct answer in less time. You can even learn how to increase your chances of picking the right answer when you're not sure what it is.

The purpose of most of these strategies is to improve your time management during testing. There's no penalty for wrong answers on the SAT, but there is for unanswered questions, so it's in your best interest to spend time in your SAT class working on your pacing until you're confident you can finish every question on the exam in the time allowed. If you experience testing anxiety, as many students do, your SAT tutor can also demonstrate relaxation techniques you can use during the exam to help keep your mind clear.

What do I do to start an SAT class near me as soon as possible?

If you plan on taking the SAT soon, consider signing up for SAT prep classes through Varsity Tutors as soon as possible. Contact us today to learn more about which SAT course option would work best for you. We look forward to hearing from you and getting you signed up and started preparing for your future right away.