{"id":81,"date":"2016-05-03T04:36:58","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T04:36:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/?p=81"},"modified":"2022-02-15T20:06:47","modified_gmt":"2022-02-15T20:06:47","slug":"why-high-school-math-teachers-arent-necessarily-great-sat-and-act-tutors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/why-high-school-math-teachers-arent-necessarily-great-sat-and-act-tutors\/","title":{"rendered":"Why High School Math Teachers Aren&#8217;t Necessarily Great SAT &#038; ACT Tutors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-94 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/abacus-3-1529685-638x434-300x205.jpg\" alt=\"abacus-3-1529685-638x434\" width=\"300\" height=\"205\" \/>Over the years, I&#8217;ve talked to countless parents who have decided to hire\u00a0their student&#8217;s high school math teacher for SAT or ACT prep. <strong>\u00a0In most cases, I think that&#8217;s a mistake<\/strong>. \u00a0I&#8217;m going to explain why.<\/p>\n<p>First, let me be clear: there are some high school math teachers who really are good SAT and ACT tutors. \u00a0However, I&#8217;m of the view that they are fit for SAT and ACT prep due to their specific knowledge about the SAT and ACT, not because their role as a high school math teacher has particularly good crossover into the test prep world.<\/p>\n<p>High school math and test prep math &#8212; especially SAT math &#8212; are very, very different beasts. \u00a0In general, high school math:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Covers more difficult content than test prep math<\/li>\n<li>Is more likely to involve following steps than test prep math<\/li>\n<li>Requires less critical thinking than test prep math<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>These points are a big enough deal that a lot of students who are great at high school math struggle with test prep math. \u00a0Their struggles aren&#8217;t due to them being bad math students. \u00a0They are often due to the wrong approach. \u00a0<strong>Test prep math cannot be solved in the same way high school math can.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I think very highly of high school teachers, and math teachers are no exception. \u00a0However, students who are preparing for the SAT and ACT must prepare in a very different manner than they prepare for tests in high school. \u00a0The clearest way to demonstrate this might be to show you two representative problems:<\/p>\n<p>Here is a calculus problem an advanced high school student might see on a test:<\/p>\n<p><em>Find the derivative and simplify: f(x) = 3x\u22122x + 2x\u2212\u03c0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Here is an SAT problem a student might see:<\/p>\n<p><em>Three consecutive odd integers have a sum of 117 and an average of 39. \u00a0What is the largest number?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Which question was harder? \u00a0Well, it depends on where your strengths lie. \u00a0If you are a good calculus student who has been paying attention in class, the first problem is actually pretty easy. \u00a0The only catch is that you need to know how to find a derivative, which is a calculus tool. \u00a0If you don&#8217;t know anything about calculus, it doesn&#8217;t matter how clever you are &#8212; you will miss the problem. \u00a0The second question, meanwhile, presents a very different challenge. \u00a0The only actual math skills required to solve it are division and a knowledge of what &#8220;integer&#8221; and &#8220;average&#8221; mean. \u00a0Most middle schoolers have that knowledge, yet I&#8217;d venture to say that most middle schoolers would have zero chance of solving this problem.<\/p>\n<p>The trick is that the second problem requires a very different set of skills &#8212; skills that aren&#8217;t exactly <em>pure <\/em>math skills. \u00a0You must be able to figure out how to actually get the answer using these very basic math skills. \u00a0Therein lies the challenge presented by test prep math: a student not only needs to have math skills, but he or she must be able to figure out how to get the answer using those skills. \u00a0That is what makes hard problems hard in test prep math. \u00a0<strong>The hardest problems on the SAT and ACT often\u00a0test very basic concepts, but they do so in a very tricky way.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>High school math teachers spend very little, if any, time doing this sort of thing with students. \u00a0It simply isn&#8217;t needed for high school math, and their job is to teach students new concepts and help the students develop proficiency with those concepts. \u00a0SAT and ACT tutors view content as only a necessary component that a student needs a certain amount of proficiency in, but it\u00a0is only the start. \u00a0The real improvements come from helping a student improve his or her ability to take a given set of information and figure out how it can be manipulated to get to the goal. \u00a0It is much more like a riddle than calculus.<\/p>\n<p>I spend a lot of time training tutors on how to best hone these skills in students. \u00a0I consider it one of the core competencies our tutors must exhibit. \u00a0This often involves asking the right questions in an effort to lead the student to the answer. <strong>\u00a0Our entire curriculum is built around improving these skills in students.<\/strong> \u00a0We address content deficiencies as needed, but we consider that just the beginning. \u00a0While I love high school math teachers dearly, they have a very different job than I have. \u00a0My job can&#8217;t replace theirs, and theirs can&#8217;t replace mine. \u00a0When you consider how relatively little time a student actually ends up spending on SAT and ACT preparation, it makes sense to use the right tool for the job.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/sat-vs-act.html?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=blog_highlight\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"324\" src=\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Diagnostic-Test-Banner-7.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4078\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Diagnostic-Test-Banner-7.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Diagnostic-Test-Banner-7-300x95.png 300w, https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Diagnostic-Test-Banner-7-768x243.png 768w, https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Diagnostic-Test-Banner-7-800x253.png 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the years, I&#8217;ve talked to countless parents who have decided to hire\u00a0their student&#8217;s high school math teacher for SAT or ACT prep. \u00a0In most cases, I think that&#8217;s a mistake. \u00a0I&#8217;m going to explain why. First, let me be clear: there are some high school math teachers who really are good SAT and ACT tutors. \u00a0However, I&#8217;m of the view that they are fit for SAT and ACT prep due to their specific knowledge about the SAT and ACT, not because their role as a high school math teacher has particularly good crossover into the test prep world. High [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[191,193,190,192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-act","category-act-general","category-sat","category-sat-general"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why High School Math Teachers Aren&#039;t Necessarily Great SAT &amp; ACT Tutors - Test Geek Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/why-high-school-math-teachers-arent-necessarily-great-sat-and-act-tutors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why High School Math Teachers Aren&#039;t Necessarily Great SAT &amp; ACT Tutors - Test Geek Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over the years, I&#8217;ve talked to countless parents who have decided to hire\u00a0their student&#8217;s high school math teacher for SAT or ACT prep. \u00a0In most cases, I think that&#8217;s a mistake. \u00a0I&#8217;m going to explain why. First, let me be clear: there are some high school math teachers who really are good SAT and ACT tutors. \u00a0However, I&#8217;m of the view that they are fit for SAT and ACT prep due to their specific knowledge about the SAT and ACT, not because their role as a high school math teacher has particularly good crossover into the test prep world. High [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/why-high-school-math-teachers-arent-necessarily-great-sat-and-act-tutors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Test Geek Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-05-03T04:36:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-15T20:06:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/pexels-cottonbro-4778611-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zack Robinson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zack Robinson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/why-high-school-math-teachers-arent-necessarily-great-sat-and-act-tutors\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/why-high-school-math-teachers-arent-necessarily-great-sat-and-act-tutors\/\",\"name\":\"Why High School Math Teachers Aren't Necessarily Great SAT & ACT Tutors - Test Geek Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-05-03T04:36:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-15T20:06:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3f1c33b12ddb8fe473291b56b3e87e17\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/why-high-school-math-teachers-arent-necessarily-great-sat-and-act-tutors\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/why-high-school-math-teachers-arent-necessarily-great-sat-and-act-tutors\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/why-high-school-math-teachers-arent-necessarily-great-sat-and-act-tutors\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why High School Math Teachers Aren&#8217;t Necessarily Great SAT &#038; ACT Tutors\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Test Geek Blog\",\"description\":\"SAT &amp; ACT Prep &amp; Tips\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3f1c33b12ddb8fe473291b56b3e87e17\",\"name\":\"Zack Robinson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b020d7c3dca61b486bc5e06ec82515d695d4fbae3d6da5aad22745310509785c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b020d7c3dca61b486bc5e06ec82515d695d4fbae3d6da5aad22745310509785c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Zack Robinson\"},\"description\":\"Zack is the founder and Chief Geek at Test Geek. He is passionate about building the most effective test prep program on the planet.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/author\/zacktestgeek-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why High School Math Teachers Aren't Necessarily Great SAT & ACT Tutors - Test Geek Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.testgeek.com\/blog\/why-high-school-math-teachers-arent-necessarily-great-sat-and-act-tutors\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why High School Math Teachers Aren't Necessarily Great SAT & ACT Tutors - Test Geek Blog","og_description":"Over the years, I&#8217;ve talked to countless parents who have decided to hire\u00a0their student&#8217;s high school math teacher for SAT or ACT prep. \u00a0In most cases, I think that&#8217;s a mistake. \u00a0I&#8217;m going to explain why. 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