Jared Nguyen - The SAT Tutor

Jared Nguyen - The SAT Tutor https://www.facebook.com/groups/increasesatscores

Founder of Geometry Gurus College Prep

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09/08/2026

Parents, the August SAT results just came back and we had multiple students score above 1500 and even more increase their scores by at least 150 points.

Here's the exact three-step method we used with them that you can do for your teen as well.

STEP 1) THE EFFICIENCY INDEX

A lot of your students are practicing just to practice. No direction, no targeting. Just a bunch of test prep books or Khan Academy, whatever.

What we had to do first was a comprehensive diagnostic process so we could see exactly which of the 64 SAT concepts they actually need the most help on. Not just what they're getting wrong, but why they're getting these things wrong.

There's really only three reasons why your teen would ever get something wrong on the SAT.

1) They just don't know how to do the problem. Maybe it's a concept issue where they never learned it, or forgot it since grade school.

2) Timing. They know how to do the problem, but they don't know how to do it in 30 to 60 seconds.

3) Fatigue. They spent so much time on the beginning of the module that by the time they got to the end, they were completely fried.

Your teen probably does a bunch of AP classes, extracurriculars, and internships. They do not have time to practice 4 hours a day on every single SAT concept, it's not realistic.

And here's the part most families miss: If all you're doing is practicing the concepts your teen got wrong, you're missing two-thirds of the data.

Let's say your teen got a problem correct. You might not think they need to work on it. But what if that problem took them 5 minutes to do? All of a sudden, it's not really a strength, is it?

And let's say the next three problems, they only had 10 seconds each and got them wrong because they burned all their time on that previous problem. Are those three necessarily weaknesses? We can't possibly know. So does it make sense to just drill those ones down endlessly?

No! What you should have been working on is that problem that took 5 minutes because it took away from their ability to give a fair attempt at the last three. That one is the real constraint.

Track every single test, every single practice problem. If you run analysis on just one diagnostic exam, that's not enough of a sample size to make any real decisions. You risk having false positives (weaknesses disguised as strengths) and false negatives (strengths disguised as weaknesses).

STEP 2) THE PRESSURE PROTOCOL

Once we understand exactly which of the 64 concepts your teen needs help on, we give them real SAT problems that mimic the same types they're missing except we make them timed and slightly harder than the real SAT.

Yes, your teen needs to learn concepts, strategies, techniques, of course (especially if they have never taken the exam before). But they need to apply these in an environment slightly harder than the real thing... so by the time they see the real SAT, they're just like, “Yep, done this a million times.”

A lot of students understand the concepts without the timing, which is half the entire game of the SAT itself.

STEP 3) TEST SIMULATION

Students use tests that are way too easy compared to the real thing.

You have no idea how many students come into my program scoring 1500-1550 on Bluebook exams, then take the real thing and score 200 points lower. They were never able to diagnose weaknesses because they weren't getting anything wrong. They didn't think they had a problem until it was too late.

We use tests that are slightly harder than the real thing. That way, when your teen sees the real SAT, they clock in and clock out. It's like any other Saturday.

And it gives us enough data to reset the process and start again from the Efficiency Index. It is impossible to diagnose weaknesses off a test that is way too easy.

If your teen is unable to do front to back the entire exam without fatiguing, I don't care how much conceptual or strategic knowledge they have, they're not going anywhere.

Think about it this way: your teen probably does sports or music. Before game day, how many times do they scrimmage? How many times do they do dress rehearsal? Over and over and over again.

It's not enough to blindly do test prep books. It's not enough to blindly do one-on-one sessions with no aim or goals.

If your teen is taking the December SAT, they still have just enough runway to get this right.

If you need help starting your teen's SAT prep journey, send me an email or a DM. No obligations.

Jared

09/08/2026

Parents, we just got August SAT results back and we had multiple 1500+ scorers and even more students who increased by 150+ points

Here’s the 3 step method that we used to get them there….

09/08/2026

How your teen can accomplish a top 5% SAT score

09/07/2026

How this student scored a 1560 in less than 12 weeks…

09/02/2026

Parents, please don't make this one mistake.

You have no idea how many families I talk to every single year who neglect their SAT prep in the first semester, and then by the time it's too late, they start wanting to get prep.

This is the best time for your teen to get the SAT prep they need: First semester.

Why? Because first semester is way easier than second semester.

There are no AP exams, school is a little lighter in the course load, and for a lot of students, unless they're doing a fall sport, extracurriculars don't really pick up until next semester anyway.

Right now is the absolute best time to make sure your teen has a good foundation for that December exam.

A lot of students tell me, “Jared, we don't need help right now. The SAT is so far away. I'm just going to take my first attempt in March or April, whenever the school offers it.”

There's a big problem with that.

If you do not prep properly up until that March or April exam, guess what? You have to take the exam again AND prep again during AP season, during summer vacation, during college application season.

Every single year I get seniors who neglected their SAT prep the entirety of their junior year. They do the first test in March or April, but then they have summer vacation, they have AP season. By the time they can take the test again, it's already August or September. And by that time, it's way too late (especially if you want to get into schools Early Admissions).

The SAT is so important for your teen's college admissions. If you just leave it on the back burner, you're missing a core piece of what colleges are actually looking for. You're potentially sacrificing tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships, not just admissions into your teen's favorite schools.

And for the students who think they can do it all on their own, maybe you can eventually. Every single year I get students who tell me, “Jared, I'm going to try this on my own,” but they don't even know where to start, they don't know how to structure their practice, and they don't know how to diagnose their own weaknesses.

So they work on the wrong things for months and months. Their score stays about the same forever.

Here's exactly what you need to be doing for the December exam.

Step 1) The Efficiency Index

Your teen needs to understand exactly which of the 64 concepts they actually need the most help on. Not just what they're getting wrong, but WHY they're getting it wrong.

Is it a concept issue where they never learned it or forgot it? Is it a timing issue where they understand it but can't do it in 30 to 60 seconds? Or is there a fatigue aspect where they spend so much time on the easier front of the module that by the end, they're too fried to demonstrate what they know?

Only then can you create a strategy centered around those specific areas.

So many students just blindly go into Khan Academy, Bluebook, or a bunch of random test prep sites. That's not going to get them anywhere without structure.

Step 2) The Pressure Protocol

A lot of students just study just to say they studied. It may work on their weaknesses, it may not. It's a lot of busy work.

Your teen needs practice problems that are slightly harder than the real thing, and timed. They need to mimic the same types of problems your teen is missing right now.

But even if they learn the concepts and strategies, if they can't apply them in a pressured environment, I don't care how much of that you do. You're never going to get to the point where you can say, “Yep, done this a million times.”

Step 3) Test Simulation

You need to use tests slightly harder than the real thing. So by the time your teen sees the real thing, they clock in, they clock out. It feels like any other Saturday.

You cannot diagnose weaknesses off of tests that are way too easy.

I just got off a call with a family whose teen scored a 1220 on the June SAT. On practice exams, he was scoring 1450 to 1500 on Bluebook and Princeton Review with the tutors he was working with.

That ended up making him work on the wrong things because the tutor couldn't identify anything he was getting wrong consistently or spending too much time on... because the tests were too easy and there was no data to actually analyze. So they were doing a bunch of generic 1-on-1s just for the sake of doing 1-on-1s.

By the time that student took the exam for real, there were so many things he had never seen before. He crashed and burned.

That's why it's so important that you use exams slightly harder than the real thing. You can actually diagnose the weaknesses and simulate the front-to-back pressure of the whole thing.

That's it, family. That's all you need to know from now until the December exam.

If you guys need help applying this to your teen's unique situation, send me an email or a DM. No obligations.

Jared

09/02/2026

Parents, please don’t make this most common SAT mistake that I see every year…

First semester is always the smartest time to prep… don’t wait until the last minute

09/01/2026

It is impossible to diagnose SAT weaknesses off of tests that are just way too easy…

08/27/2026

If your teen’s SAT tutor does this, you need to run for the hills

08/26/2026

Your teen just bombed the August SAT and as a parent, now you're wondering where to go next.

This is the exact three-step method I use with our students to make sure that by the time they take the November or December exam, they absolutely dominate.

Once you get that August score report back and you're not happy with it, the first thing you need to do is accept radical accountability for your teen's score.

It's not their school's fault. It's not their tutor's fault. It's not their sports or extracurriculars' fault.

It is your fault and it is their fault equally.

The reason this matters so much is because if you blame everything else besides your teen and yourself, then all of a sudden it's not in your ability to fix it. Everything else is causing the problem, not you.

The minute you take radical ownership for that exam, you have the power to actually fix it.

Your teen scored what they scored for a reason. Either they didn't do what they were supposed to do or they didn't have a plan to actually get to where they needed to be.

Step 1) The Efficiency Index

So many students blindly go into SAT prep not knowing what their weaknesses are. They just do Khan Academy, Bluebook, rinse and repeat.

The problem is it doesn't focus on WHY they got the concepts wrong.

There are only three reasons your teen ever gets something wrong on the exam.

1) They just don't understand it. Maybe they never learned it, or maybe they forgot it from grade school.

2) Timing. They know how to do the problems, but they can't do them in 30 to 60 seconds.

3) Fatigue. They spent so much time on the beginning or easy part of the module that by the time they got to the hard part, even if they knew how to do it, they didn't have the brain power left.

If you don't know exactly why they're making mistakes, I don't care how many practice problems your teen does, they're never going to get to the underlying issue.

We just had a student, Abhiram, go from a 1300 to a 1500 in less than 12 weeks.

He thought he had an issue in geometry because he was getting those questions wrong. He told our team, “Coaches, I actually know how to do these problems. I just keep getting them wrong and I don't know why. I keep practicing geometry, but I feel like that's not the right thing.”

And he was right.

The real issue was ALGEBRA. He was spending on average 3 minutes on those questions, so by the time he saw the harder geometry problems, he didn't have enough time to do them (even though he knew how!)

Once we understood the real issue, we retargeted that area over and over. That shaved 90 seconds per problem off his algebra and he transferred that time into geometry and trigonometry, finally being able to finish those problems because he had time.

That's the importance of working on the correct things.

Step 2) The Pressure Protocol

Once we know exactly which of the 64 concepts your teen needs the most help in, we give them real SAT problems that mimic the same types of issues they're having right now.
Except we make them timed and slightly harder than the real SAT.

So many students just go through an entire test prep book or packet with no real structure that attacks the pressure/fatigue of the exam. They have unlimited time to do them, and couple that with untargeted practice, it's a recipe for disaster.

Even TARGETED material needs to be slightly harder than the real thing so it simulates real pressure. If it's not timed, and it's not slightly harder, then even if your teen knows how to do it, by the time they see it on the real test they're going to freeze up.

We want your teen to just be like, “Yep, done this a million times. It feels like nothing to me.”

Step 3) Test Simulation

Here's where a lot of students go wrong. They use easy material like Bluebook or Princeton Review. Then they take the real thing and score 100 points less than what they were scoring on those practice exams.

Because the practice tests aren't hard enough.

You need tests slightly harder than the real thing. So by the time your teen sees the real thing, they're just like, “Clock in, clock out. Just another Saturday.”

You don't know how many parents I get on calls who come in thinking their teen doesn't have a concept issue. They think it's a timing issue or something completely different, and that's because it's impossible to diagnose weaknesses off tests that are too easy... so they end up working on the wrong things.

Once you finish step three, you go back into step one and run the process again. Rinse and repeat.

You still have runway from now until the November or December SAT, assuming you're doing the correct things and you start soon.

If you need help applying this to your teen's specific weaknesses, send me a DM. Send a screenshot of where they're scoring right now and I'd be more than happy to point you in the right direction. No obligations.

08/26/2026

Your teen just bombed the August SAT and as a parent, you’re not sure what to do. These 4 steps are how my students are dominating their November or December exam

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