A semester SAT Prep class, one quarter English and one quarter math, has been offered to help prepare students for the SAT at South Windsor High School since 2019. However, standalone English classes will be new this spring.
Part of the high school graduation requirements is that in order to qualify for graduation, South Windsor students must demonstrate completion of the district’s performance standard through the following criteria: Demonstrate competency on the literacy, math, and science sections of the required high school state assessment (i.e., SAT).
If the required state targets are not met (i.e., scoring 480 on Evidence Based Reading & Writing) the alternative criteria to determine completion of the district’s performance standards is designated that they will take at least 1 English class in their 12th grade year.
Currently, the SAT Prep course is offered to juniors as an elective for one semester. There are two main components to this course, the reading and writing section and the math section. Students complete one quarter of the math and then switch teachers to complete the English section.
This course is something that is relatively unique to South Windsor, and the school has spent a lot of money and time organizing and purchasing materials to make this class as successful as possible.
Most students will pay between $50-200/ hour to take an SAT prep class because their school doesn’t offer one. Luckily, South Windsor High School has textbooks and online platforms to use for students in this class for free, thanks to our on-campus prep course.
Since this course has been running for a few years now, adaptations are being made to help boost the course curriculum as well as get more students to take the course.
This type of test prep is very important because the SAT can open or close doors for students’ futures. Getting a good score on this test can make you eligible for the National Merit Scholarship as well as get you scholarships for college. Therefore, preparing and doing everything one can to study for this will help benefit them significantly.
As part of the course, students get two math and two English workbooks to keep in order to help them maintain their skills and keep studying once the course is over.
This course has been very helpful for students to learn more about the SAT.
“We are learning lots of new strategies on both the ELA and Math sections. This class helps a lot, and we are given lots of time to use new material and practice techniques on our own,” junior Kailie Girard told The Prowl.
Aside from students finding the class helpful, teachers also recommend this class and think that it’s very helpful for students and is almost guaranteed to help raise your SAT score.
“If you are willing to put in the effort you have no choice but to improve your overall SAT score. The SAT often has a negative connotation associated with it, and I am trying to change that. The SAT should be seen an opportunity for students here at South Windsor High School showcase their talents. During the course, we look at how to save time by recognizing the different types of questions and how to break them down and answer them in the most efficient manner,” a history and SAT prep teacher at SWHS, Kevin Quinn said.
Similar to the textbooks, you are also able to take practice tests on College Board’s BlueBook, which is the same site students will take the actual SAT on. With access to this platform, students are able to familiarize themselves with some of the tools and the website itself.
In addition to using the BlueBook platform, you can also take practice tests on the ready platform. Once you complete the test, it will give you a score and link you to specific videos and practice questions to help you improve in your weaker areas.
Overall, this class is a great way to help prepare for the big test. The course is offered as pass or fail which also helps to relieve students from stress and allows them to better focus on the material without worrying about a grade.
Currently, traditional SAT prep is only available to juniors, but next school year, sophomores will have the ability to take the course as well.
The standalone English class is for sophomores, and will be starting next semester. This way they still have the opportunity to take a type of SAT course.
“Spring semester with a focus on evidence-based reading and writing skills and targeting the information and ideas content domain in the reading and writing section of the digital SAT,” English teacher Jen Necci said.
The focus group of students for this course will be students who were in the approaching band on the PSAT from fall 2023, which is a score of 460-470. This is the selection score that is within 1 year’s academic growth of the benchmark.
This course is not in place of the American Lit course. This course is considered a humanities elective course that will NOT count towards an English credit.
“There are two units I have planned for this course,” Necci said. “Unit 1: Reading for Information and Ideas: This unit focuses on the information and ideas content domain in the reading and writing section of the SAT.”
In this unit, students will use comprehension, analysis, and reasoning skills and knowledge as well as what’s stated and implied in texts to locate, interpret, evaluate and integrate information and ideas
Additionally, Unit 2: Evidence-Based Writing, Application of Learning:
“In this unit, students will apply their learning of the previous unit to write evidence-based claims, as well as develop their own test preparation material. Students will also learn high impact test taking strategies and engage in repetitive practice to hone their test taking skills. Students will engage in daily writing about reading practice.”
Putting in an English specific SAT course for underclassmen is a great way to get students prepared earlier on in their high school career.
SWHS hopes that the SAT prep classes will grow and more students will get involved in utilizing this opportunity.
