As I’m writing this, the April 10 ACT is only 2 days away. While this site is called SAT Success Secrets, I tutor a lot of kids for the ACT as well (it’s just less popular here in Los Angeles where I’m currently located). In order to help students around the country who are preparing to take the ACT, I’ve modified my popular “6 Tips for Last Minute SAT Preparation” post in order to give you the … [Read more...]

The real goal of reading a non-fiction book is to learn something. You want to spend less time reading and learn more, which means remembering and understanding more of the information. While learning to read faster certainly helps, a big part of it is reading less. It's usually not a good idea to read the book cover to cover. Remember, you own the book. The book does not own you. Before you … [Read more...]

As I’m writing this, the October SAT is only 4 days away. Whether you’ve left everything until the last minute, or you’ve worked hard and want a few last minute pointers, here are the essential last minute SAT prep tips to help you make the most of your remaining time before the exam. … [Read more...]

The biggest thing you can do to improve your SAT Critical Reading score is to focus on the main idea of the passage. If you can really get this concept and apply it when you’re taking the SAT, your score on the Critical Reading section will increase dramatically. In fact, if you combine this one tip with my Sentence Completion method, your Critical Reading score will go up by 50 to 100 … [Read more...]

In my previous post, Mastering the SAT Essay - Part 1 , we talked about the importance of planning what you’re going to write before you begin your essay. Did you try it for yourself? If so, take out your notes and look back at them as we go through each step in the process. We’ll use the essay question from the first practice test in the “Official SAT Study Guide, Second Edition.” … [Read more...]