Interactive Web Sites and Software Earn High Scores for SAT Prep

I hate to admit it, but I was a pretty mediocre high school student. I desperately wanted to get into UCLA even though I didn’t have the grades. My savior was the SAT.

Back then you got an automatic pass into any University of California campus if you scored high enough on the Scholastic Assessment Test. But when I took the test, I came up a couple of hundred points short. My parents and high school counselor congratulated me for trying but told me to drop my UCLA fantasy and start looking for colleges that would accept me. That’s when I found one lonely book on how to prepare for the SAT.

After a few weeks of study and practice, my score went up dramatically. I got into UCLA, later transferred to Berkeley and eventually got a doctorate degree in education. Who knows what would have happened had I not stumbled onto that book.

Today, students across the country spend millions of dollars on classes, books, software and even one-on-one counseling all aimed at preparing for entrance exams and improving their chances of getting into the school of their choice. At $750 to $850 for a hands-on class, some students pay more to study for the SAT than I paid for a year’s tuition at UCLA or Berkeley.

My college days are behind me, but my 15-year-old daughter, Katherine, is in the early stages of qualifying for and choosing a college. She’ll soon take the PSAT and next year will take the SAT and begin searching for a suitable college.

Instead of using a book, Katherine has been working with a software program, the Princeton Review’s Inside SAT ACT and PSAT Deluxe (Mac and Windows, $39.95), published by the Learning Co. (a division of Mattel). I don’t yet know how she’ll do on the tests, but the software is getting good marks from her for keeping her relatively interested while preparing for these important exams.

Studying for college entrance exams isn’t exactly Katherine’s highest priority. But the program is genuinely entertaining as it steps her through her paces with general strategies and specific instructions for both the math and the verbal portions of the exam. The software interface is laid out like a school building, with various rooms for different tasks. With the package there are also videos with young on-screen hosts to help guide you through the steps. The program has a healthy dose of irreverence for the tests themselves, pointing out that the SAT doesn’t necessarily measure how well you’re likely to do in college, just how well you do on the test itself.

One key to acing SAT, of course, is to practice, which is why the Princeton Review’s program has three practice SATs and a practice PSATs. In addition to the tests that you take and score on the computer, there is also a printed test, which has the same look and feel as the one you’ll take for real.

But another high school student, a friend of the family, who has tried this same software program has some caveats. Beeri Moalem from Palo Alto is using both the Princeton Review software and a book (“The Unofficial Guide to the SAT,” by Karl Weber) to study for the SAT. “The attractiveness of a multimedia presentation is much easier to concentrate on then just plain reading,” he said, “but you have to be sitting at the computer in order to use this program. With a book, I can study while my mom’s driving me in the car or when I have a few minutes before going to sleep.”

In addition to software you can buy, there are a number of free test preparation resources available on the Internet. Start with https://www.collegeboard.com, the organization that sponsors the SAT. There you’ll find the “SAT Question of the Day” as well as a “Skill Builders” section to help you fine-tune your math and verbal skills. There are also sample questions from past tests along with an explanation of the correct answers to each question.

Vocabulary is extremely important in SAT exams, and you can brush up on yours at https://www.reevocabulary.com. The site won’t win any graphic design awards but it is thorough and does have 5,000 words (each with a brief definition) that you might encounter on an SAT.

You can find still more words and SAT test-taking advice at https://www.WorkmanWeb.com/upyourscore. For more free advice and vocabulary words, check out https://www.number2.com and try the free diagnostic test at https://www.testtakers.com.

You’ll find free math help at https://www.gomath.com, which uses simple animation to bring problems and solutions to life. And the Ask Dr. Math area at Swarthmore College’s Math Forum (https://forum.swarthmore.edu) provides answers to hundreds of math-related questions and is a well organized site. You’ll find many more math links at https://www.tc.cornell.edu/Edu/MathSciGateway.

There are a number of sites that let you take free practice exams. Horizon Software has a complete online SAT practice exam (https://www.tescaliber.com/OpScr.asp) that includes hints and reference tools. Princeton Review (https://www.tester.review.com) offers a free version of the 30-question diagnostic test that it has on its CD-ROM. You have to register, but there is no cost or obligation.

Another free site, https://www.lessonhelp.com, offers free practice questions and test-taking tips. Although it’s not specific to the SAT, the University of St. Thomas Study Guides and Strategies (https://www.iss.stthomas.edu/studyguides) page has some excellent advice and tips. Another extremely useful resource is Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators (https://school.discovery.com/schrockguide), which has a “homework helper” section, with links to all sorts of educational resources.

None of these resources will completely remove the anxiety of taking the SAT tests, but they will familiarize students with what to expect and give them a fighting chance to succeed.

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Technology reports by Lawrence J. Magid can be heard between 2 and 3 p.m. weekdays on the KNX-AM (1070) Technology Hour. He can be reached by e-mail at larry.magid@latimes.com. His Web site is at https://www.larrysworld.com.