Tutoring For All Ages

I get calls every year from parents who want their children to start studying as soon as possible for their college entrance examinations. Occasionally, I also come across an exceptionally motivated student who is willing to spend years studying and practicing for the SAT. Since nowadays most sophomores take the PSAT as a kind of rehearsal for the real thing the following year, many of those assiduous students feel their 10th-grade PSAT is a natural place to start.

Recently, a sophomore from Ohio posted a question to this effect on the Yahoo! Answers boards. Here is what I wrote in response:

Unless you are going for a National Merit Scholarship, there’s no need to study specifically for the PSAT. And since you’re a sophomore, I actually wouldn’t recommend that you start working with an SAT or ACT prep book now. The reason is that people who study for the SAT/ACT tend to peak anywhere from 3 to 6 months after they start studying specifically for the test. If they take the test at their peak, they tend to get the highest score they possibly can. They do even better if that peak coincides with the peak of their class studying, which is why a lot of people take the SAT (Reasoning and Subject tests) in the spring and summer of their junior year, right as they’ve finished studying for finals.

But, if you start studying specifically for the SAT or ACT right now, you could be shooting yourself in the foot. If you peak too early, you’ll burn out before you actually have to take the test, and you don’t want that.

Right now, what I’d recommend is that you do one thing: read. Read as much as you possibly can. Read books you’re interested in and hopefully that challenge you, and also start reading the newspaper every day. You don’t have to read the whole thing, but just pick a few articles you’re interested and read them. It only takes a few minutes a day — make it part of your routine — and over time, you will vastly improve your comprehension. If you pick a good paper/magazine, you’ll also improve your vocabulary. There are many high-level publications out there, but in my opinion, the New York Times and the London Times are two of the best for high-level writing and vocab, and they’re big papers so there are a lot of articles to choose from — even if it’s just the movie reviews!

This is exactly the same advice that I give to parents who call: the PSAT isn’t a crucial test by itself, and the sophomore pre-PSAT has even less impact on a student’s chances of college admission, so why worry? For sophomores, general improvements in reading comprehension, vocabulary and analytical skills are far more important than preparing for any specific test.

If you’d like me to give you a free analysis of your PSAT scores, or to help you draw up a reading list that will be educational and enjoyable, please feel free to contact me; I’m happy to help.