Khan Academy

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I have heard people say that Khan Academy SAT prep is easier than the actual SAT. I want to know if this is actually true, and if so, how much lower would my actual score be compared to a score using Khan Academy Prep?

Thanks!

2

By the way:

  • I am a freshman
  • I haven't started English prep yet, I am doing math now to perfect it before I start English. So all this info is about my math prep.
  • According to Khan Academy, the practices I do consist of Skill Level 4 questions, which are supposed to be the harder SAT questions. However, I keep getting like 7/10 (1 or 2 of the questions I get wrong are dumb mistakes, and the remaining one(s) I do not get how to solve) on the practices, so I guess I belong in like Skill Level 3, which would be regular SAT questions.

However, if Khan Academy prep is easier than the actual SAT, then I would be capable of only solving the easier questions of the actual SAT. If I know Khan Academy’s rigor compared to the actual SAT’s, then it would really help me formulate my position and progress in my SAT Math Prep.

Thanks!

3

Anyone?

4

It’s absolutely a matter of opinion.

But free prep as a freshman is fine, even if you later graduate to something more rigorous.

5

Khan Academy is generally a good review program. I’m sure it will work for SAT prep, though I have no personal or kid experience with it.

6

My personal experience is this: Sal Khan is a brilliant man, but he’s not a math teacher.

His SAT explanations tend to be very textbook-- not the way most of us tend to teach. So he’ll go into a 5 minute explanation of how to multiply 2 binomials, where I could say “FOIL” or “Double Distributive” to my SAT classes to get the point across. He’s also been known to make a small error, then backpedal and explain (to death!!! )why the small error is wrong. (Whereas I would have just said "Oops, that should have been positive, since it was the product of two negatives.)

I’m not a huge Khan Academy fan. But so many other people are! So it’s absolutely worth some time. It’s free and will allow you to figure out where your personal weaknesses are. At that point, I think I would turn to some other resource.

7

I found some problems I found on Khan Academy practice tests which I thought were hard (I also got these questions wrong). Can you guys tell me if they are harder than actual problems in the SAT?

Here are the questions:

Each question has to be solved by 3 minutes and is Calculator OK. Under the time limit, it would be cool if you could tell me if these questions were harder or easier than the actual SAT, and if you answered the questions, then how you arrived at your answer. Thanks!

R=-750(x-4)^2 + 192,000
A shoe company sells each pair of sneakers for $60 and expects to sell 3000 pairs at this price. Their sales analysts have predicted the revenue, R, based on the number, x, of $5 price increases using the equation shown above. Assuming the sales analysts have predicted the revenue accurately, for what price should the shoe company sell each pair of sneakers in order to earn the maximum revenue?
A. 20
B. 40
C. 60
D. 80

  1. C=40(5-s) After Hiro's family photo shoot, the photographer sells the printed photos by the sheet. Hiro has a $200 credit from a prior session, and the above equation gives the total credit left, C, in dollars, if he buys s sheets. How many sheets can Hiro purchase with his credit? A. 5 B. 8 C. 35 D. 200
  2. Crys began a workout regimen at a local health club. She began her workouts at 45 minutes each, but has since increased the workouts by 5 minutes per week. Her total workout time cannot exceed 22 hours. If Crys has workouts for x weeks until she hits 22 hours, which inequality best models the situation? A. 45x+5 <= 120 B. 45x+5 >= 120 C. 45x+5(x-1) <= 120 D. 45+5x <= 120
  3. Lúcia posted a video of her cat playing on the piano. She found that the following expression modeled the total number of people who had viewed her video t days after she posted it.

18*16^(0.0125t)

After how many days did the total number of people viewing the video double from the original number of people? Round to the nearest day.

  1. An accountant is modeling the annual tax expenditures, E, in thousands of dollars t years after January 1st, 2000 for a small business using two different models. Both of the accountant's models have tax expenditures of $5000 on January 1, 2000. Model 1 has tax expenditures which increase by $4000 each year. Model 2 has tax expenditures which increase by a factor of (a) every 5 years. If the models have the same value on January 1, 2010, what is the value of (a)?
  2. An art gallery displays a large painting in the center of a wall that is 24 feet. The painting is 10 feet. Which of the following equations can be used to find the distances, x, in feet, from the left end of the wall to the edges of the painting? A. |x-10|=12 B. 2|x-12|=10 C. 2|x-10|=12 D. |x-12|=10

Thanks!

8

No one can say what you’ll find hard. Number 4, for example, can be solved in about a minute using a graphing calculator… Number 6 can be done by inspection-- once you fill in the parts you left some out ("24 feet… what? High? In length? In areas? The painting is 10 feet WHAT?) Easy for me, obviously not for you.

And there’s NO RULE saying you have 3 minutes per problem!!! The easy problems… .numbers 1, 2, 3… should take far less than that. The longer, harder problems may take a bit longer.

9

The problems were SAT problems, so one would have to solve it within the time limit. Also, I don’t think you can use a graphing calculator on the actual SAT.

By the way, I felt problems 1-3 were worded incorrectly and were not specific enough. For example, in #1, what is the $5 increases on? Problem #6 is 24 feet wide and 10 feet wide. I found #6 hard to interpret and visualize, and since I was on a time limit I could not think properly and set up wrong equations.

On #3, how do you know if Crys practiced 45 minutes in the first week? It just says she began with 45 minutes.
On #5, I did not get how to solve the problem, and it seemed hard for me.
I could not interpret the information given and set an equation correctly for Problem #2 correctly, and I got it wrong.

People keep saying that the College Board tests reflect actual tests. I saw some tests from College Board and they were WAY easier than these questions. I am very skeptical that the College Board Practice tests correctly reflect the actual SAT. I just want to know how similar the questions above are to the actual SAT, and if College Board tests really demonstrate the actual rigor of the SAT.

Thanks!

10

https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/taking-the-test/calculator-policy

11

Yes, you CAN use a graphing calculator on the SAT.

But there’s no logic to thinking that all the problems-- the easy ones and the hard ones-- should be allotted the same amount of time. Questions are ordered by their easiness; number one should take MUCH less time than number 20.

12

Also, are you sure you wrote these out correctly? I don’t see why #2 should be less than 120 minutes in every answer. That’s not equal to 22 hours?

13

And @odangles is right… that’s another typo. The right side of each of the equations should be 22(60) or 1320 minutes.

But the point is that these aren’t like regular classroom tests, where the questions look just like the ones you’ve learned. Then again, as a freshman, the odds are decent that you simply haven’t learned how to solve these problems yet.

14

The questions I showed weren’t ordered in easiness since they were from multiple practice tests.
By the way, problem #4 was actually on a non-calculator test, and I said you can use a calculator to make it easier.

Practice tests on Khan Academy give me 13 minutes and 15 minutes for 10 questions, for non-Calculator and Calculator, respectively. Since I found these questions hard, I said 3 minutes per question.

I guess my problem lies in interpreting the question. I am worse at word problems than I am on regular problems.

15

It was supposed to be 2 hours, in minutes, which would be 120 minutes. Sorry!

16

Khan Academy has a contract with College Board. i wouldn’t say it is easier. There is no reason to “perfect” your Math practice before you start to work on your “Reading” - just keep doing questions over and over. Make not of the ones you get incorrect and repeat them week after week. Best of luck.

17

Thanks, gildo!

18

Thanks, gildo!

19

I improved my SAT score by 150+ by just using Khan Academy and the Official College Board New SAT prep book. I also watched YouTube videos (there are lots of videos of people solving questions, going over math concepts etc.). I don’t think you need money to prep for the SAT. You don’t even really need to buy the prep book–all eight practice tests are on Khan Academy. The best thing you can do to prep for the SAT is take all of the practice tests you can, write down the questions you got wrong, and study the concepts that you haven’t perfected. Practice, practice, practice! The test is very formulaic. There’s only so many ways they can test you on a math concept. Learn how to think like the test. Overtime, you will do this so much that you can begin to guess what the answers are for reading/writing without reading the options. Use all of the questions on Khan Academy to prepare, and all of the practice tests that are available. Do well in your English and math classes. Study the questions you got wrong. That’s the best way to prep. You have plenty of time.

20

Right. Number 4 would have been very easy with a calculator.Still possible without one. Remember, YOU’RE the one providing us the questions. If you include typos, or leave out info (like the fact that the problem is from a non-calculator section) then it’s impossible for us to help you.