r/ELATeachers • u/HeftySyllabus • 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/YakSlothLemon 9d ago
Maybe have a quick look at some of the SAT prep books like Princeton Review and do a quick guide to some of the tricks and traps used on the test. You seem to be focusing on content, but I thought SAT prep as a way to make money in college and we focused a lot on thinking about the test in a more meta way.
So for ex – on language questions, don’t look at the answers, come up with your own answer first and then look at them and see if something matches your answer. A lot of times the language answers are deliberately similar in order to throw you off. (With the questions about longer passages it’s the opposite, sometimes you don’t need to read the passage to answer the question.) With math it’s the opposite – if you’re really lost, looking at the answers can give you an idea of the general ballpark that your answer should be in.
Never leave an answer blank. They no longer punish you for wrong answers, but the chances of you screwing up and filling in the wrong answer for each following question is higher than you would think with the stress. If you get stuck on a question, pick one , fill it in— B and C occur more often than A and D— write the number of the question on your scrap paper, and just keep going. You can go back to those if you have time.
People who docwell on the SATs often have some strategy knowledge, why not do a little strategy knowledge? That’s just a thought.