For the last three years, Mishawaka High School (MHS), has offered two SAT preparation courses, mathematics and English. The course costs twenty dollars for one, or twenty-five dollars for both. Students eligible for free or reduced lunches are able to attend for free. The courses begin the week of March, 26th, 2018. Each class is two hours a night for five weeks. MHS English teacher Christie Buchmann teaches the English course every Monday, and Brian Baumer teaches the math course every Wednesday.
The course instructors’ most important goal is to familiarize students with the SAT format. The course begins with a pre-test to see where students stand. After the five week course, students will take another test to examine their growth. “I’ve seen growth anywhere from ten percent to sixty percent,” said Baumer, “It’s not about the math. It’s about the strategies to help you beat the test.”
Buchmann has seen score bumps anywhere from twenty to forty points. According to Buchmann. These score bumps “could go a long way as of being accepted into your dream school or obtaining a scholarship. We learn to read questions and understand text, as well as how to find an answer in text using inference and how to find evidence to support that answer.”
MHS junior Tyler Blackmar saw his SAT score improve by 120 points after taking both courses. Blackmar did not find the English course to be helpful. However he expressed that he found the math course to be valuable. “We were taught good math strategies,” said Blackmar.
Other students did not find the program helpful at all. MHS Senior Arianna McGee found the course to be “unorganized,” and “unhelpful.”
To register for the SAT, go online to collegeboard.org. Or you register in person. Registration forms will be handed out in junior and senior advisory classes in March. Completed forms should be returned to the guidance office.