The 3-Pass Protocol: Why Finishing the SAT is a Losing Strategy
Here’s an uncomfortable truth about doing well on the SAT:
The goal is not to finish each section.
The goal is to maximize your points. For most students, racing to the finish line is exactly what kills their score!
Q: How do I know if I have a timing issue?
Do you get questions wrong and then look back at them during review and wonder how you could have possibly missed it?
If so, you likely have a timing issue. This is especially true if this happens more at later points in a module (assuming you are taking the test in order).
So, what does this mean for our strategy?
Rule: Don’t answer hard questions until you have nothing better to do.
Adopt a 3-Pass Protocol on your next exam:
Pass 1: Super easy problems only
Pass 2: I know how to do it, but it will take a little time to work out
Pass 3: Very hard problems
Why does this help?
By starting with the easier questions, you ensure that you will always complete them before time runs out. These are guaranteed points.
Hard questions are not guaranteed points, so if we need to guess on a handful of questions with 30 seconds left on the clock, I want to be guessing on the hardest problems in the module.
Say easy questions take 1 minute and hard questions take 2 minutes to complete. Even if we assume I will get the hard problem right, my opportunity cost is 2 correct answers on easier problems. My net loss during that minute is 1 correct answer (1 correct answer in 2 minutes instead of a potential 2).
If we also factor in the probability of getting a question right, the argument is even stronger. If I spend 2 minutes on a hard problem and get it wrong, I just wasted 2 minutes. I may as well have spent those 2 minutes hoping for a miracle.
Question: won’t saving the hardest questions until the end make it less likely I get them right due to the lack of time left?
Answer: Yes! And that’s okay.
Even if your goal is to get a 1600, the primary focus must be to get as many correct answers as you can as quickly as possible.
Full Disclosure: I regularly score 1550+ on practice exams and I typically have to guess on 2-3 Reading + Writing questions in module 2. I’m a really slow reader. I still score 750+ on Reading and Writing because I prioritize the problems I know how to do well, and I don’t worry about the very hardest problems.
Math vs. Reading and Writing:
The math modules are generally organized from easy to hard, but use your judgement.
It’s important that you judge questions subjectively when deciding whether to skip a question or not.
A couple ways to speed up your math:
Learn to use the demos calculator effectively and practice actually typing things into Desmos - especially for graphing solutions and regression
Use mental math - many students don’t practice this skill because they are scared to make a mistake. The more you do it in practice, the more confidence you will have to do it on the actual SAT, and your ability will increase!
Look for shortcuts - I will do another blog post about this, but many of the dSAT math problems have shortcuts to solving that can massively speed up your process. If a math problem takes you more than 1 minute, you are not solving it as efficiently as you could, and you should challenge yourself to find a faster way.
I’ve seen other tutors say every math problem can be solved in 30 seconds. This is more ambitious, but doable if your mental math and problem solving skills are sharp.
On the Reading and Writing section, the problems always go in the following order:
Craft and Structure: fill in words, function of underlined, main purpose, 2 texts…
Information and Ideas: text completion, inferences, main ideas, dense reading comprehension
Standard English Conventions: grammar
Expression of Ideas: bullet point problems and transition words
In my opinion, the latter 2 are generally much easier to answer quickly than the first 2 sections.
For this reason, I encourage all my students to start Reading and Writing modules around question 15 (the start of Standard English Conventions).
You start there, work your way to the end, and then go back to the beginning. This approach, for most students, ensures that they are able to answer the easier questions before the harder questions.
I have seen this technique of starting in the middle boost students' scores by up to 100 points by itself.
When you have 60 seconds left and you still have a few problems to go, guess.
Note: College Board says that they use technology to detect when a student is guessing - so it’s probably best to spend at least 5-10 seconds on guesses and not do the same letter for every guess instead of spamming ‘C’ on every remaining question.
All that said, any guess is better than leaving a question blank.
Here’s a full protocol to follow on your next Practice Test:
On scrap paper, write out the numbers of the problems for each module. I recommend a column for each of the 4 modules.
For the 2 reading modules, that’s 1-27. For the 2 math modules, it’s 1-22.
“Which Pass Number”: As you go through the test, next to each problem, write 1, 2, or 3 to indicate whether you are doing it on your 1st, 2nd, or 3rd pass (easy, medium, or hard).
“Hindsight Number”: After completing each question, next to the “which pass” number, rate the difficulty 1, 2, or 3. This is meant to be subjective - how hard was it FOR YOU?
By the end of the test, every problem should have 2 numbers: one to indicate your first impression and decision about when to do it and another to indicate what you thought of it in hindsight.
After you’re done, look over the problems where your “which pass” number didn’t match with your hindsight number. These are the ones that you had trouble identifying correctly.
Try to figure out why your impression was wrong about these problems. This will help you get more accurate in honing your process going forward.
