My Dad used to say that anyone can sculpt an elephant–just take a block of marble and cut away everything that doesn’t look like an elephant.  Multiple choice questions on the SAT/ACT are similar. Just eliminate the wrong possibilities.  Ah…. but how? By getting and practicing what works for you.

When we work together on test prep my student does test sections at home–parents don’t pay me to watch their kids take tests.  We carefully analyze why right answers are right and why wrong answers are wrong. I’m looking for clues about how the student “sees” the question and responds to it. Sometimes there are patterns to the questions a student struggles with, sometimes I recommend a different test, etc. There are so many ways and reasons a student will choose one answer or another.  Fortunately, I’ve had the opportunity to see and hear a lot of them. Yes, I have some basic techniques I teach students, but I try to make my advice very personal, as well. Those personal elements are based on the clues the student gives me when they talk about how they approached and performed on the test segment.