If I ask high school students what the worst part of applying to college might be, many of you will tell me it’s standardized testing.  I guess that nobody--or very few people anyway--really enjoy taking ACTs and SATs.  Well, like most things in life, with a simple attitude shift, taking a test can also become something not-so-horrible if you plan for it ahead of time.

Math was my worst subject in school, but fortunately for all of you, I’m not going to try to teach you anything about numbers.  Mike McClenathan, on the other hand, is a genius at math--and even better, he’s a genius at the math portion of one of the tests that a lot of you take:  the SAT.  And if you know a genius, the best thing you can do is to take advantage of that relationship.  (That’s a good life lesson actually.) 

So, this week, I want to introduce you to a genius (that’s Mike in the photo above), and draw your attention to a very cool way to get ready to tackle the SAT. 

I bought Mike’s book PWN the SAT Math Guide so that my students could have access to some pretty awesome test prep.  And after looking at it carefully--and even trying some of the problems myself, I’m here to tell you that EVERYONE who takes the SAT should be buying this book.  If you want to do better on the math section, then here’s the book that will show you how to do  it.

What I like is that Mike explains right from the outset that the SAT math section isn’t so much about how much math you know as it is about how smart you are about taking the SAT. 

He gives you amazing insight to attitudes and strategies you can adopt in order to do really well on the SAT math section.  Did you know, for example, that you can skip up to five questions and still score in the 700s?  Very cool.  Did you also know that you can do algebra problems without actually doing the algebra?  Lots of very useful advice here--and what’s best is that it comes from someone who has actually scored 800s on the test.  You won’t get that from me, my friends!

Make no mistake:  there is plenty of real math in the book, and you won’t be able to get away without knowing a lot of it.   But the great advantage that his guide has over many others that I’ve seen is that the explanations about how to do the math actually make sense and are organized into specific sections that related directly to the kinds of math questions on the SAT. 

Math this way--or better yet, math test prep this way--becomes exciting. 

So, this week’s blog is brief, but important.  If you’re taking an SAT, and if you want to score really well on the math section, then buy PWN the SAT, the Math Guide.  Here’s the link: http://amzn.to/xH3gMw