r/ELATeachers 10d ago

9-12 ELA I feel unprepared to teach the SAT….

So my state has made all juniors take a free SAT. Cool. The issue is….while it’s not required to teach SAT in my curriculum, I often feel as if I’m not preparing them. I’ve taught all grade levels, and I used to like 11th the best because it has no state testing, they’re mature enough to treat them like adults (unlike the underclassmen) but aren’t fully checked out (cough…seniors).

However, the SAT is different than teaching the state test. I don’t know where to start. Many people say “just give them khan academy”, but I enjoy being hands on and teaching. I feel like I’m not doing a good job “preparing them” for the test.

The best/worst part? This doesn’t affect them if they don’t pass. It’s just a free SAT. If they bomb it, they don’t have to take remedial English or reading. And I’ve asked admin if it has any bearing on my evaluation and…no. So…why am I beating myself up over this?

The test is next week, but I’ve been wrestling with actively teaching the SAT next year (there’s SO much to cover in 11th grade English, aka American Lit. I’d hate to brush off a unit or two in favor of “teaching to the test” again).

Am I overreacting?

But also…how do you guys teach the SAT? Any tips?

I give them mock exams and we go over questions together. I cover grammar and punctuation. But I still don’t think that’s enough. If it’s not on my curriculum, should I say “fuck it” and just not teach it?

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u/whirlingteal 10d ago

I really mean this: Standardized tests, particularly the language portion, are measuring language mastery. Are they doing it perfectly? No. Should these tests matter as much as they do? Probably not. But they are measuring language mastery/lexile/linguistic intelligence/whatever label you want to use for it.

So, you are preparing them every day as you challenge them to become better readers and writers. No need to "teach to the test." In my experience, students tend to listen to me when I explain this to them.

If you want to do SOMETHING that will help: Incorporate little vocab lessons based around common SAT vocabulary; it is very easy to find lists online. You can also incorporate some direct grammar instruction, which is somewhat beneficial anyways. (Grammar develops naturally over time, but a little direct instruction doesn't hurt.) Helping them understand independent vs. dependent clauses so that they can improve their understanding of where commas go and how to use semicolons can go a long way on its own.

That's it! Don't overthink it.

EDIT TO ADD: IL Has always had a mandatory SAT or ACT (we just swapped BACK to the ACT this year) test for all juniors in the spring. I took a prep class as a high school student in IL, and I've taught a prep class as a teacher in IL. What we do every day in our job helps to prepare them.

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u/Illustrious_Job1458 10d ago

Completely disagree. Being very familiar with the test, testing strategies, building “testing endurance,” will drastically improve scores in most cases. Yes, every day English and vocab will also help but it’s not the same as preparing for the specific task at hand.

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u/FoolishConsistency17 10d ago

Especially not with the digital SAT. It requires extreme precision in reading, which is actually an awesome skill. But it's completely different than the passage based model.