SAT No Calculator challenges

Hello standardized test gurus. My son has 6-8 wrong on the SAT no calculator section on his practice tests. He is now scoring about 6 wrong. First test is Saturday. Would love for him to have a study plan to get down to 4 or 5 wrong if it’s possible. He has corrected the sections and watched videos but still seems challenged with a fresh set. Most of the ones wrong are between questions 11-20.

Is there any advice on how difficult this section is and how consistent the practice tests are to the actual tests? He can still practice test 5, 7 and 8 no calculator between now and Saturday and review all the ones he got wrong from all tests.

I would love for him to do well enough on his first test to not worry about it for the rest of junior and senior.

Thanks for any insight. I’m trying to figure out what it is about this section that practice hasn’t helped too much.

Has he gone over the wrong answer explanations so that he’s sure he knows how to do those particular types of problems on future tests? (For example, there’s typically one question using the equation for a circle - can he do those, etc.) He is a junior - is he currently taking precalc or algebra 2?

We have semester based math in our state which I really think is a big disadvantage to students, but I digress. He took integrated math 2 (10th) and math 3 (typically 11th grade math) back to back in 10th grade (so geometry and algebra II combined w/some prob and stats). He has precalc next semester 11th and then 12th grade calc. The only way for him to get to calc was to double up on math in 10th or 11th. We chose 10th so he could get his first AP science (chem) 11 with less stress.

He got an 88 and an 89 as final grades in math 2 and 3 - his only Bs so far. However, he scores in the 95th percentile and up on the state end of year math exams consistently. I am not sure if the state exams are just super easy or what.

He is going over the wrong ones, watching the video, and writing corrections in ink.

I would utilize Khan Academy’s SAT Math practice. They have tons and I mean tons of non-calculator and calculator math practice. Also, it’s free. Here is the link: https://www.khanacademy.org/sat

Ok - it might be too late between now and Saturday but maybe he will do more between now and April when he takes second test at school. I don’t want to make a huge deal out of it but the new average math scores at NC State and VT are 710.

If he wants to have engineering as an option he is going to have to be at least at 680. I am in shock and awe at how many kids are acing these tests. Thanks for advice. Both schools told me they do weigh SAT heavily in admissions - they want gap and scores together to be in range.

@heliraptor Where did you find the NC State average math of 710? I can’t find it. It doesn’t sound quite right considering the average composite of 1308 for class of 2021 (an increase over the Class of 2020 average of 1261) and prior year math middle 50 of 600-690 (CDS 2016-17), both for enrolled students. (The Class of 2021 profile may be artificially inflated if it includes Old SAT scores concorded to New before being averaged; ACT middle 50 remained unchanged.)

Similarly, the VT middle 50 for math for the prior year (CDS 2016-17) was 560-680. Presumably VT has used the concordance tables, so maybe that’s where their number comes from - I couldn’t find that one either. One wonders how many college adcoms are aware that new percentiles were issued by the College Board that have cast significant doubt on the validity of the 2016 concordance tables.

All this monkeying around with the concordance tables - it’s going to be interesting to watch this admissions season.

Sorry - meant GPA, not gap.

Hi, evergreen. The averages in math are related to the specific College of Engineering admissions. When you apply to Tech or NC State, you apply to a college. The engineering colleges have higher math averages that other colleges. I confirmed this when I made the appointments to visit them in Dec/Jan.

Many students have a harder time with the no calculator math than the calculator math. Once reason might be that it’s a shorter section and therefore more time-sensitive section. How does your son do with time on the section?

A few pieces of advice that might help …

In addition to re-doing his incorrect problems, and re-writing them in pen, I’d suggest he re-write the entire problem – question and solution – into a looseleaf notebook, one problem per page. He can later arrange the pages by topic (put all circle equations together, for example), and then review the notebook regularly. This will help him really absorb and master the problems he had difficulty with.

If timing is a continuing issue, he might consider doing problems 16-20 first. These are the grid-ins. The reason I sometimes like students to do these first is that if they end up running out of time, it would be impossible to guess on questions 16-20, but if problems 11-16 were not yet addressed, he could guess (multiple choice) and have a 25% chance of getting each one correct. This technique might end up saving 1-2 points, possibly.

He should bubble the answers after every 2 pages of problems (i.e., bubble right before he turns the page). This will save time versus the approach of bubbling after every answer, plus it will increase accuracy of bubbling. Of course, during the last 5 minutes or so, he should bubble after every question.

Make sure your son looks carefully at WHY he gets each of the incorrect answers wrong. If it’s because he doesn’t know how to do the relevant math, he needs to learn the math (obviously). However, odds are there are OTHER reasons why he’s missing them. Did he answer the right question? Believe it or not, this is the cause of many errors. The SAT might ask “what is x + 10” and students focus so much on solving for x that once they do, they just select that answer (say, x=6). The SAT knows this and will always have “6” as one of the answer choices. Every student should re-read the question asked right before choosing the answer. Other common errors are to mess up units or confuse “less than” and “more than” etc. It’s important that your son look at ALL the reasons he is making errors and treat each error as serious as the error from not knowing how to do the math. He should also consider whether he is writing out the solutions in his book. Many students are so confident in their ability to do work in their head that they don’t write it out, thinking that they are saving time. They are not. It’s impossible (or extremely hard) to double-check work if you haven’t written it out. I tell students to show their work well before they think they need to.

Don’t know if any of this will help, but good luck!

The above is awesome and he will be using the strategy for take 2 in April if he needs one. He has been able to trace the issue back to forgetting the math and lack of practice in general w/no calculator skills. Kids in NC have been using calculators since elementary.

He felt OK on time in that section consistently. He might get a slight advantage in ACT because it is all calculator math - but this test will be tough for him in terms of speed. On the ACT PLAN in 10th grade he told me he never got to the last 10 math. He was so used to having 3 hours for math in his state EOY courses that he didn’t understand how fast he had to work.

He took the SAT test Saturday, Dec 2 and said he thinks he lucked out with an easier math section (by far) than what he had been practicing.

Ironically, the reading/writing, which he was in 700s, he said was far harder than the practice test and College Board went out of their way to write tough to understand questions with vague answers. We checked the reddit SAT board after the test and the teens there all seemed to agree with his take on it (easier math, much tougher reading tests, writing about same compared to 8 practice tests).

Has he tried the ACT? it is less math.

He is going to in feb. It is mandatory in NC. Less math but speed is important - and he is not speedy. He liked that he didn’t feel rushed in SAT. He said the PLAN 10th grade Pre - ACT felt very rushed and it stressed him. I am hoping that prepping for SAT will pay off for ACT?