Was the March SAT® Harder than Usual? - 3 theories and advice for May/June
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 ก.ค. 2024
- People are saying the March SAT was much more difficult than the Bluebook practice tests. What do you think? I’ll share some theories as to why it might have been (or felt) harder. This includes advice to help you prepare for the May or June exams so that you don’t make the same mistakes.
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![[August SAT Math] These 3 Questions were JUST added](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/37YoPXLGAk4/mqdefault.jpg)
Test 4 I got 800 math with like 10 minutes left in module 2 and I had to guess for 3 questions on the test yesterday they were nowhere near similar. I feel like the hardest questions were similar but it was just so much more dense like I found from the practice tests that usually the last 5 were the hard ones, whereas yesterday from like question 10 on they were all very difficult, which made the time factor so difficult.
Interesting. And you took Test 4 without having seen similar quirky questions on other practice sites? I’m still curious if there’s something to my Theory #3.
Exactly
agreed
same
Similar to my son’s comments.
It was certainly much harder than the practice tests especially the 2nd module of maths section. There was some question like f of x is a quadratic function that passes through points blah blah what is f(-2)+f(0)=? Never have i ever seen such a question ever before 😭. Additionally, it was a student produced response one so no guessing possible either. 😓
bro literally forgot abt english mod 2 too quickly
Sounds to me like you’d have to use the points to find the equation of the quadratic. If one of those points was the vertex or the y-intercept, then it would just be about Plugging Points Into Equations. I’m not saying that was an easy question, but it sounds like a good example of the way the SAT “twists” the basic formulas and rules into questions that are unrecognizable. Our job is to get good at untwisting the questions.
@@SetteleTutoring ikr !!! I know I just know I had all concepts I def would've been able to figure it out ONLY IF I HAD THE TIME and a calm mind. As you said in the video, the adrenaline rush got me shaking and lost once the "5 mins left" appeared. And this guy next to me was done like 10-12 mins earlier and was observing me and my wrecked nervous system isn't capable of performing well under such circumstances. I felt HORRIBLE. ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE. Now I've got some patience knowing most of the students had it that way.
@@abdullahkhalid160 you're too real for this 🫠
You can use Desmos to solve this question in a minute or so. Use the table function to input the three points that are given. Get the equation of the quadratic function f. Get desmos to calculate f(-2)+f(0). No thinking needed here.
For me, I got through the English module just fine. Math section of module 1 is very easy. Math module 2 was very hard in my opinion as I took the test.
Yes, that seems to be the consensus!
In my honest opinion most sections were hard
Everybody I know (including myself) agrees that the second math section was stupidly difficult. You aren't alone.
what was your score
@@leyla9664 I got an 1180
I think theory 1 sounds plausible. I gave practice test 4 and had 770 in maths but i had to guess 5 questions in march SAT.
Yes, 5 skipped seems higher than normal, but I think we’ll start to see that skipping 1 or 2 becomes the norm.
i got a 1450 on practice 4, it was pretty easy and alignef with the other tests. however, second module math was insane. had to guess multiple.
That’s good to know. Seems like it was genuinely more difficult.
Yo bro i have a question, our SAT got delayed because of whether conditions we are going to take it on March 23, are the tests going to be the same? or is it going to have diff questions.
@@drywater3340 same bro mine also got postponed to the 23rd
@@drywater3340 I honestly don’t know. I think it’s likely that you’ll get some similar questions to the ones that other people got, but it’s hard to say. With the paper exam, you would have gotten a completely different test. The digital SAT is much more flexible, though, so they can do all sorts of things to vary the overall test while reusing some questions.
I just wanted to say Ive loved ur videos these past few days! Just a tidbit bit, I think you should think about making a desmos crash course now 😅, that seems extremely useful with like using the sliders and such. Im lowk an old woman when it comes to desmos and graphing calculators. This wouldve been so much help!
Thanks for watching! I’ve already done a short Desmos lesson, which I definitely recommend for everyone. I have plans to make another with some more advanced tools too. Here’s the original:
th-cam.com/video/wPGnsqhEPBk/w-d-xo.html
In my experience the maths was harder because there were more student response questions than normal. Once we got an answer, we had no way if knowing how accurate it was, unlike the mcqs
I noticed that too
I wonder if that was a deliberate choice by the College Board or just a coincidence. It’s definitely nice to have MCs so that we can Guess & Check. The CB might have been taking away that powerful strategy.
You are the best and most underrated channel in the game! Keep it up❤
Haha thank you! I hope to be making videos and lessons more often over the next few months.
I agree!
@@TutorlliniThanks, as always!
I did Practice Test #4, the supposedly hardest one, a few days before my test, and it was way easier than the real thing (esp for math). For context, i finished m2 math (on the practice test) with only one question taking some time from me (which I still answered correctly with a few mins left as well).
Yeah, there will always be 1 or 2 completely unpredictable, very weird, very hard questions. But it seems like this March SAT had more like 4 or 5.
I would say the second math module was definitely harder than expected but it was not impossible. I think some of the questions were just unorthodox and required math strategies that don’t normally show up in a regular classroom. For instance, there was a question where you had to analyze an exponential function with 2 unknown constants and an unknown for x. This was in the form a^x + b. You were given a two points such as (c, some number) and (2c, some number) and were required to solve for the y-intercept of this function.
i got the same question!! i had to guess on that one
could you use desmos for that ?
@@jymsyi yes! i used regression and got the value of B in like 30 sec
@@akashM423 How do you do regression?
@@akashM423 how did you do that ??
For me I think the SAT #4 hard Math Module 2 was much easier than this test timewise. On this march SAT, I was able to get all of the math questions on the hard module 2 double checked and correct except for the last one due to timing. I felt there were a lot more difficult questions/time consuming questions on this test than any of the practice tests. This was the only test where I did not have at least 4 or 5 minutes after finishing module 2, simply because the questions took a lot more reasoning out to solve. I also noticed that the harder questions on this test were a lot more free response than I have seen on any of the practice tests I have taken.
This is very good to know. Thank you!
the person you are talking about in 8:00 is Hayden Rhodea. However, it was good that you did not tell his name. Your videos are amazing, btw. I watch every single one of them.
Thanks for watching my videos! I’m glad you like them. There are a bunch of other tutors who spoil the Bluebook questions, so it’s more than just one person. But I promise I’ll never spoil them!
The March test module 2 for English and math were almost nothing like the 4 practice tests. I guess the reading was a certain level harder, but the math module 2 got insanely hard from question 10 onwards. Hopefully there is some sort of curve that they give out. And don’t worry it is NOT ALL IN OUR HEADS, a lot of people who took this test along with me said it was very hard, even the students who found the practice test very easy.
Yes, it seems like there’s a good consensus that it was noticeably harder. That’s why I wanted to make this video. I wanted to hear what everyone thought. Thanks for sharing!
I think we can all agree we were test pigs for the new test and that reading section some of those words were like wtf… and the math dude 💀 that second module fucked everyone up especially bc you couldn’t just guess on them you had to fill in the blank ts was insane
Yeah, losing the multiple choice would limit your strategic options. But remember that the digital SAT has been around for a year outside of the USA, so the CB has already tested it a lot, which makes the very hard math all the more surprising!
My friends and I all took the March SAT and didn’t finish m2 (my friend got 5 on AP calc and I qual for neml12) math isn’t impossible but it requires a new thought process and time, for me I had to take time to think about how to solve some of the questions. Overall, there’s only some that are hard, and I only guessed one. I would say a tip is don’t let your guard down when the first 15 questions are super simple and try to practice as much quadratics as possible (parabolas, polynomials, asymptotes, etc). Don’t worry about trig as it’s going to be super simple, (just the basic sohcahtoa) and other than that it’s really just knowing how to make two equations have no solution, 1 solution, or 2 solutions. (Found using b^2-4ac)
Yes, this is very good advice! The best way to be prepared for the really hard weird questions is to nail down all the predictable hard questions. Number of solutions is definitely one of those topics that is much easier if you’ve studied the rules.
Theory 1 sounds the most correct in my opinion. Also, how do you suggest preparing for this unpredictability? In general for all tests I’m best when I know what I’m preparing for, but the twists are what get me. Thanks!
You’re asking one of the hardest questions I grapple with as a tutor. How do you prepare for unpredictability? That’s almost a contradiction! My main advice is always to get in the habit of using simple, flexible strategies. For example, my main Math strategy is Plug Points Into Equations because it’s so straightforward and versatile. If I see points and equations, I plug the points into the equations. If I see only points, I go through the list of equations I’ve memorized, like y=mx+b and the OPEN formula, to see if I can plug my points into any of them. If I see only equations, I try Guessing & Checking or Arithmetizing (making up my own points) to plug into the equations. There are no guarantees, but I find that these simple strategies work often enough that you can reduce the unpredictability quite a lot. With the remainder, it’s just about maximizing the time you have to tinker with the weird stuff. I’ll try to make more lessons that focus on this question. It’s a good topic.
@@SetteleTutoring Thanks so much, you’re a great help to all of us! Anyways, that is kind of a contradiction 😂. I tend to struggle most when teachers or any test in general try to make me think outside of the box, rather than just going through the same motions over and over again. It’s something I really have to improve on!
@@user-fu4hx7pz6n I’ll try to make some new lessons on thinking outside the box, since it’s such a big part of the test!
Heeyy, can you do a video on taking the entire practice sat? I wanna see how you approach each and every question, i might be able to learn more tips and tricks like that
I actually already have this for Bluebook Test #4. I put the link below. If we get more practice tests at some point, my first videos will be the same thing where I do the whole test first to show the pacing, then I’ll release the individual more detailed explanations later.
th-cam.com/play/PLlvPF6rDVN_uAqpHKG5hCR_6AgQ5yWGYm.html&si=magDWEiA8jMLNcbi
@@SetteleTutoring ok ty i didnt see it
In the practices, the quirky hard questions were only a few of them. But most if not all module 2 questions were like that, a lot of them being FRQs. Even if you were prepared to answer the quirky hard questions, with a majority of the questions being like that given the same amount of time is what held many people back (and the shock that they just kept coming).
Also not sure if this is normal but module 2 had a precalc question which seems odd?
If you hear people say mod 2 was very easy it is possible they did not get the harder module
What was the precalc question about? If it’s the Unit Circle one, then it’s not actually precalc. The Unit Circle is just a bunch of 30-60-90 and 45-45-90 triangles, which are given in the reference chart. I need to make a lesson on these!
English was great! I felt so confident-hoping that means I scored high. I already had a 720 from the paper test, it would be awesome if I got an 800 on this one. Math module 1 wasn't too bad. I did almost every problem twice. Feel pretty confident that I got all of them right. Module 2 of math was insane, though. I was reading the other comments and I didn't have the issues with the functions since I learned some life-saving tips on how to use that with Desmos. BUT there were questions with 4 variables besides x and I had to guess. I have never seen such crazy math problems! Hoping I got at least 700 but I did have to guess on 3-6 questions for Math Module 2.
Oh wow this is very helpful. I wonder what those 4-variable questions were. My instinct without any other information is to Arithmetize (make up my own numbers). For me, that’s a very natural SAT strategy, but it’s not something people learn in school, so it would make sense that people would struggle.
Do you have any tips on how to approach the unpredictable twisted questions? Are there certain strategies you use only for specific topics in math or can the same strategies be applied to all topics in math?
I’ll try to make a video on to answer your question in more detail. The short answer is that Plug Points Into Equations is a very solid starting point for most questions. Even the very twisted questions often have at least one of the two-either points or equations. You can usually figure something out from there. Make up your own points/numbers to plug into the equations. Pull an equation out of your memory, like y=mx+b. Or put the equations in the calculator. There are almost always further steps that are more specific to the question, but “Plug Points Into Equations” is a nice mantra when you’re stuck.
If most people get an answer wrong, does that mean the scoring on that would be lenient? As in module 2 of math i probably guessed around 7-8 questions and the last 5 ones i just put random numbers cuz i didnt have time left
It doesn’t quite work like that. I say “curve” because it’s a convenient shorthand, but it’s not like a curve on a school test, where the teacher adds a certain number of points to everyone’s score. Instead, the SAT normalizes the scoring for a test through some elaborate mathematics and statistics. Long before Saturday’s test was given, the CB calculated the values for each question and how the number right would affect the score out of 800. Basically, if it’s a harder overall test, the CB makes it so that you can get more wrong to get the same score that you’d get on a more average test. The performance of students on test day shouldn’t affect the scoring. It was established before the test was given. It’s been this way for a long time, and it’s how someone who took the SAT in 2014 can have a score that is comparable to someone taking the SAT now.
The second module of reading & writing was considerably more difficult. I had given practice test 3 a day prior and got a 1600. Very unlikely I'll be able to match that. There were a large number of dense texts and some words I did not understand. But that might just be me.
Do you think it was harder because of any type of Reading question? Vocab? Passages? Grammar?
Did you give the test based out of India? This is the experience my son had too, giving the test, that the English module 2 was extremely difficult
My daughter opined the same "There were a large number of dense texts and some words I did not understand". The module 2 in both reading and math were very hard. From what I recollect discussing with her after the SAT, it looked like one question was inferring from a science based thesis passage from a Master's level program.I have a MS myself , hence I could deduce that from the question. She took the test in the US.
Passages is what I recollect when my daughter mentioned it.@@SetteleTutoring
There was one question on module 2 where a couch has a pressure of 349 evenly distributed among the 4 legs, if there’s 12 pressures in a square inch, what is the area that a leg makes contact with the ground, I thought it would be just 349/48 but it didn’t let me enter it (I think due to a character limit), it would stop at 349/4, so I turned it to decimal and rounded, I got so confused there.
I got that question too. I think you remember the number incorrectly or did your math wrong because I'm pretty sure I got an integer or at least a simple fraction.
I’m not sure how you’d solve, since I don’t know the full question. Sounds like unit conversion might be a part of it too.
I don’t usually comment but I feel like I have a unique perspective on this as I am an international student and also took the digital SAT in November. Personally, I didn’t find the second Math module any harder than it was in November. I’m not saying it wasn’t hard but the previous ones were also really difficult. However, this might just be because I am better prepared now than I was before. I’m surprised no one is talking about English module 2 as I found that one really difficult. My advice is to not lose hope and don’t cancel your score or anything because the curve could get you a higher score than what you would expect. This happened to me last time and I ended up getting about 40 points higher than what I had predicted for myself after taking the test. Gl guys!
This is very helpful information! Thank you for sharing! What you might be providing more evidence for is the possibility that the new SAT is just meant to be very very hard to finish in time. And that might be okay if a few wrong still gets you 750+, which would be an improvement on the old scoring at the top of the scale.
My daughter mentioned module 2 in English was super hard. She is with you :). This was her first attempt though, so she has no comparison.
@@at19771 Yes! I find the Reading very hard to finish too. I think most people who don’t are actually falling for trap answers without realizing it.
2 experimental questions per module that don't count towards your score? Is that true, and if so, where is it written?
I’m not sure if it’s on an easily accessible part of the College Board website, but it’s definitely true. It’s clearly stated in lots of College Board documents about the digital SAT that have been released. Mostly stuff that only tutors would read. The College Board calls them “pretest questions”, and yes, there are 2 in each module, but you’ll never know which two.
Could you please clarify for me what you meant when you said the linear tests released by the college board before the dsat are not good to study from? Is it because it is non-adaptive? I wanted to use those questions to study from, not necessarily to take the timed tests. Your thoughts? I am a sophomore, preparing for next year. What's the best way for me to start, please? Thank you
By “linear tests”, I mean the nonadaptive tests that the CB has released recently alongside the digital exams in Bluebook. For some terrible reason, the CB released pdfs of these linear tests without warning people that they would spoil all the digital practice tests, so people are taking the linear tests accidentally. They are not the same format as the digital exam, so you waste the questions without getting to practice the style and pacing.
If you’re talking about old paper and pencil exams from before 2023, then you’re fine to use those as practice. Just note that the Reading section is very different, and the Math now allows a calculator on every question. My main advice is to only use the old Math sections and have Desmos available for all of them. The old Reading is too confusing to use effectively.
But big picture, I don’t think you need to be doing much SAT prep as a sophomore. If you’re taking a PSAT, it’s okay to just show up and take it. Use it as a baseline for future prep. You should start preparing for your SAT about 2-3 months before you plan to take the actual test, which could be as early as August before junior year starts. In the meantime, you shouldn’t waste any of the Bluebook practice tests. I don’t know if we’ll be getting more any time soon, so you should save them for when you get close to your actual SAT exam.
@@SetteleTutoring Tremendously helpful advice, thank you so much. I didn't know about the linear tests. I only knew of the 8 released paper tests from CB and the 4 on Bluebook. Thank you for clarifying. I'll be careful to steer clear from ruining the practice tests and I'll continue to follow you. Thank u so much.
I have gotten 800s and 790s on practice, and I already have a prior 750 on math (I'm calc AB/AP Stat)... HOWEVER, this test was significantly more difficult than anything else. From truly difficult geometry to purely busy work, this test was honestly unforgiving at all times. The math curve and english curve should be nice, and if it isnt, I think that every student and parent should go at the college board with pitchforks.
I‘m so confused because I was able to do all the questions from module 1, maybe 1 or 2 that I’m not so sure, but my module 2 doesn‘t look the same like many people I‘ve talked to and mine seems not that difficult, so I‘m not sure what‘s going on. 😢
Yeah, so you probably got placed in the easier second module because you got too many wrong in the first module. It probably means that your score in that section will max out at 600. Here’s an explanation of how the adaptive modules work:
th-cam.com/video/2aiVO9FoGg4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=dmvc6xACYa06IXwK
I talked with a lot of people #1 makes the most sense tbh.
Are the experimental questions a real disadvantage? I will take the Digital SAT school day on 21 march. And I read some that say that on the exam were questions of new concepts and probably there were the experimental. But what if I just skip the experimental (new topic) and focus on the topic that I know that are on the digital SAT? Then if the time allows me I do the experimental.
Is that a plausible strategy?
I wouldn't do that because some of the hard questions that seem weird are taking the same concepts to the extreme. It doesn't say "this is experimental" or else everybody would skip it. Especially with many questions being difficult, it will be hard to pinpoint, so just treat every question equally. However, if you get stuck just move on and come back to it.
@@benbazarian8069 this "strategy" (skip the experimental) are also remember another question, what is worse, get a1 difficult bad or more medium bad?. I can see if the question is going to take me a lot of time or not; so, where should I spend my time?
@@benbazarian8069 I read ones on the Reddit where the exam ask for the unit circle, and I don't have seen that on any practice
So you can’t intentionally skip the experimental questions because they’re not labeled, and they will blend in with everything else. But I do think you should be prepared to guess randomly on a few hard questions if you’re running short of time. At the second half of the hard math module, just skip around and find questions that you feel confident with. The goal is to get as many questions right as possible, even if that means giving up on a few so you have more time where you think you can get points.
And for the unit circle, everybody is wrong. The unit circle is basically given to you in the Reference Chart. The main angles of the unit circle are 30º, 45º, and 60º, which are the same angles in the special right triangles. Pretty much every unit circle question can be solved using the special right triangles.
The Reading modules was easy and went smooth. The first part of Math was easy, now the second module wasn't evil but it was much much harder than the first module; I had to guess on 4 of the problems towards the end that I had never seen in my practices/sessions. Yes, I took Bluebook 4. My practice scores were coming back high 1400 mid 1500's
This is helpful feedback! I’d love to know if you end up getting a similar score to your practice tests, despite the harder module. My prediction is that the curve will be more forgiving so that those extra guesses don’t hurt you too much, but I could be wrong about that.
Reading was way easier than the old paper one. Math was 10x harder.
I was getting mid 1500s on practice tests, and scored 1410 :(
@@lilnuggieandlilscoop9794 How do u have your score?
@@lilnuggieandlilscoop9794 Oh no! That’s still a great score, but I understand the frustration. I think the pacing felt tighter on the real test, which many people weren’t expecting. The key for next time is to practice being flexible. For me, that means using strategies like Plug Points Into Equations that give me a starting point for lots of questions, even when they seem completely different from everything I’ve practiced.
Ive given the december international digital SAT and had 790 on the math section, i found it very very easy but this one was nowhere near the same difficulty level
Thank you for this feedback! It’s good to know that the previous digital SATs didn’t feel this way either. This is actually something that’s always been true about the SAT - the difficulty varies from exam to exam, but the overall scoring is consistent.
It was definitely much harder, but that's really just for module two of math. I do believe the culprit is exactly what you said about the new types of questions, but college board should've at least implemented some of them in the practice tests. There were also some concepts and question types I never saw before that caught me off guard.
Yeah, it’s hard to know exactly what happened until we see more SAT administrations. What worries me most is what you said about completely new concepts that you hadn’t seen on the practice tests. We don’t have a large sample size of official questions, so it’s possible we aren’t seeing everything in the practice materials yet. I definitely want to know so that I can make the right lessons!
Im noticing that the general consensus shared amongst people I know who took it, people on the internet, and myself, is that the second module of the math section was WAAAAY too difficult. It was all doable, but it would have required easily 1 to 1.5 hours to actually work through every problem despite the test giving you only 30. I made complete blind guesses on at least 5 or 6 of them and im usually really good at math. It wasnt just one or two ahrd questions. Easily 8-10 of the 22 questions I would label as "difficult" with 4-5 of those being "you literally have to be einstein to solve these in less than 2 minutes" difficult. Reading/writing was considerably easier than the paper test though because the passages were much shorter and on some questions you didnt even need to look at the reading to get it right. So im gonna have a 700+ reading score and probably a 550-600 in math if im lucky. Not looking good for a prospective engineering major.
Don’t panic just yet! A hard test might mean a lenient curve. This used to happen on older versions of the SAT too.
@@SetteleTutoring I hope so. But a part of me also thinks they wont. College board, despite whatever bs they say, is very much a profit-oriented company. It wouldnt surprise me if they intentionally try to force people to take the test multiple times
Will the two questions that don't count towards your score also be applied to the in-school US March SATs? Mine is not on March 9th, it is on March 20th.
Yes. Every digital SAT will have 8 total experimental questions - 2 per module. There will be no way to know which ones don’t count, especially since you won’t get your answers back from the test.
I haven't taken the test yet. Do they let you know which questions are experimental? They haven't in past SATs. I figured they probably don't let you know, otherwise people would skip them.
Nope, every question looks like it "belongs". The experimental don't stand out in any way
The experimental questions will look just like all the others. You’ll never know! That’s why it’s important to keep moving. You don’t want to spend 5 minutes on any question because it might not even count.
the march one was my second time taking it, but after that math section i dont feel too confident. I would get above 1550s for every practice test, but I domt think ill get above a 1400 and i really dont want to take it a third time. I think too many retakes might make it look bad when i apply to colleges
No, the colleges really don’t care about multiple tests. In fact, most of them “superscore”, which means that they’ll take your best Reading and combine it with your best Math from a different test. I’d say that 2-3 SATs is very normal for most people to take. You can take 4 if you genuinely think you’ll improve. Beyond that, it might be time to admit that you’ve hit a ceiling and focus on other aspects of the application.
Maybe this could be a ploy by College Board. Make harder questions compared to the practice test, so people who strive for a better score would want to take the SAT over and over again. More money for them :|
Really tho. It really was much harder than practice 😢
I got the 2nd modules messed up.
I don’t think that’s part of it. Trust me, I’m not a huge fan of the College Board, but I don’t think they’d engineer some conspiracy. More likely, they just didn’t do the proper testing of the difficulty and curve before they released the practice tests. They had to release those tests prior to the exam being given, so I kind of understand it. But that’s why I’m so angry that they haven’t released more practice tests now that the digital SAT has been live internationally for a year.
I just took it! I can't tell if my studying paid off or if the test was just easier for me, but it didn't seem EXTREMELY hard
That’s great! Congratulations!
@@SetteleTutoring I was carrying this big SAT prep book to school because I didn't do too well on my PSAT in the math section, but when I took the SAT on the 9th, I actually understood the material a lot better ^^
@@theyfw_nai Yup! Practice pays off!
I have gotten a lot of question spoiled hopefully they release more exams
What?
The CB has only released 4 practice tests, which isn’t enough for most people to practice thoroughly, especially if you need to take the test again. And because of a lot of bad resources on the internet, a lot of people had seen the practice test questions before they actually took the practice test, making the test much easier than it would have been.
My son appearing for it as an international student found the English module 2 section the hardest. He is a math guy no doubt so even the hard math section was fine however back here in India, quite a few found the module 2 of the R&W section extremely tough. Is that just our experience as I don't find many comments here for that. Would like to understand if there was any disparity in this.
I’m actually surprised that very few people are commenting on the Reading too! Historically, the main complaint after every SAT is that the Reading passages were insanely difficult. The digital exam relies less on the passages, so that might be part of the relative silence on it this time around. But I think what’s actually happening is that students are less aware of their wrong answers in Reading. They pick choices confidently, even when they’re wrong. So it’s possible that the Reading was just as difficult but nobody noticed they were making mistakes. Math has a finality to the answer that Reading doesn’t, so it’s easier to notice when you’re not solving the question.
@@SetteleTutoring this certainly makes sense yet it's unnerving that no one in this comment thread has this experience of English module 2 being insanely tough. (except a solitary comment which seems to be an Indian name)
My son was quite disturbed that module 2 was this tough. He said it was tougher than any blue book test he took or any of the practice tests he has taken. He has been preparing for a few months now, for DSAT format, and this experience of English module 2 has not been a happy one. It would be reassuring to know others have had this experience too as it will mean the scaling curve will be done accordingly. I would also like to understand how the scaling curve works
I wanted to say this as well. Although math troubled me a little, what mainly bothered me wasn’t the difficulty: it was the time it took to solve those easy yet time-consuming questions. English Module 2 was the one that truly ended my whole mentality. I’ve never seen so many (at least 6) long, complex, vague passages IN A ROW.
@@Heidinosaur Yes, this is my experience with the Reading Hard module, even on the practice tests. I think it’s just harder to tell when you’ve got a tricky reading question. Since you practiced, you got good at noticing them.
@@savitharth I wish I knew more about the scaling curve too. The College Board has not been very forthcoming about how the new system works. All I know for sure is that getting stuck in the easy module limits the score significantly, and more right answers means more points. I don’t know how the international and USA versions of the test compare. We’ll never see the questions, so it’s hard to tell how much the tests overlapped. Seems like the hard math module was a universal experience, though.
I took practice test 4 and got a 1470 on it. Only 2 or 3 qs were really that hard on it but math module 2 contained a loottttt. I’m not saying they can’t be solved,it’s more of that they need muchhhh more time to solve because they contain lots of steps and substituting which takes time,leading to running out of time. In this exam even though i got a 1470 on the practice test i honestly dk how and what to expect maybe a 1300(i hope).
EXACTLY how it was
Definitely let me know if the real score ends up similar to the practice scores. My prediction is that the curve will be more forgiving, allowing you to get more questions wrong without deducting as many points. But this is just guess. We’ll find out on the 22nd!
Did anyone else have a math Q on Mod 2, about a 96 sided polygon. And the angle was 180p, find p?
Oh wow that sounds crazy! Was it the interior angle that they wanted, like how the interior angles of a rectangle are 90º? Or did they divide the polygon into a bunch of triangles at the center, where they wanted the angle for each triangle at the center?
I got that question
Can someone tell me what kinda questions yall got on module 2 math?
I think there was a lot more geometry than people thought. Not that there was more overall geometry than usual on this test, but that the geometry was in the hard section of the test, so people hadn’t practice unraveling the twists in geometry as much.
@@SetteleTutoring thank you for replying🙏🏽i love your videos
Math module 2 was found to be extra hard across the world. The entire M2 maths bordered on being experimental.
I’m still a bit skeptical, but it seems like everybody who took the test agrees. I just took the two new practice tests, and there were definitely some questions that I think people would find very difficult, but weren’t too bad if you’re using the right strategies and know all the formulas.
How well you do in the first module dictates the challenge level of questions for the 2nd module.
@@crumbsonthefloor195 Only to an extent. It’s not like if you’re perfect in Module 1 you get insanely hard questions in Module 2. There are only two paths, so the hard module is the same overall difficulty for everyone who clears the threshold in Module 1. This March SAT sounds like it had a harder Hard module than usual, but everyone who got around 15 or more right in module 1 got the same thing.
all I can say is it was one of the most stressful experiences of my life.
I'm def working harder for my next two😂😅☺
That’s okay! The first test is always very stressful. At the least, you now know what the experience feels like so it won’t be as bad next time. You’ll know what to expect.
I took the test and I believe it was jest fine. English was ok, math section 1 was rlly easy, however the 2 section was insanely hard!! I did bluebook practice 4 two days before the 9th of march and I agree, both of them were like “different”
Yes, even I struggled with Test #4 when I timed myself doing it for a video. They might be designing the test to be unfinishable on purpose.
Oh, I hope those were expermental questions!! 🙏
Me too!
I am so nervous rn. I thought the math got WAY MORE easier than the previous exam. I am really really hoping I didn’t get the lower module…like please…. The only question i didnt know at all was the triangle question (isoscele..? Smth like that) did anyone get that question? (Btw i took the asia ver)
I’m not sure what module you got put into. You’d know if you got the easy second module because it’s much easier than the first module. Half the questions would basically just be “solve for x” or “what is 10% of 480”. I think the surprisingly hard second module was a USA thing, but I don’t know. It also might be that you practice a lot and felt comfortable with the math.
i went into it without studying and it felt easy. I thought i knew mostly everything and i consider myself average at best. I do not want to brag, but i was flabbergasted at how easy some these questions were. The hardest part was waiting 20 minutes because i was done. Maybe my district had it off easy, but damn was I worried about nothing.
If you were prepared, then that makes sense. Every SAT tests the same topics over and over, so the only surprises are in terms of the specifics of each question. Did you get your scores back and were they as high as you expcted?
I worked extremely hard, scored 1600 on Practice 1, 2, and 3; 1590 on Practice 4 (800 in math); 100% on both Khan courses. Walked into the room expecting a 1580+, walked out thinking I’d be lucky if I get a 1450+. I really hope they go easy on us when scoring… I’m in such a indescribably terrible mood now.
By the way, I personally don’t think the 2nd theory applied to me. I took the December Canada dSAT without any prep and scored 1510, thinking the English and Math were both decently easy. THIS WAS NOOOOT THE CASE FOR MARCH. People were CRYING in my test centre. I was.
Genuinely! I was consistently getting like mid 1500s, maybe some high 1400s if it was a bad day, but I was SO confident on this test. I'm also almost certain theory 2 is not my case because I am a good test taker. Maybe a little sloppy in some cases and get questions wrong with stupid mistakes, but it is never the case where the question seems harder bc its "during a test". When I was doing the math module 1 I was unbelievably confident. I finished with like 18 minutes left and did the redid the test like THREE TIMES. I got through maybe half of the second module and it was unbelievable. I could see people stressing and cramming in the last like minute of the second module
@@avadakedavara6482 It seems like a common phenomenon at this point… I feel like College Board won’t just disregard it if the majority of the population got below 1100 or something. Let’s hope they adjust the scoring scale! We’ll be okay 🙏🏻
@@Heidinosaur Hopefully! I don't mean to wish anyone gets a bad score but I hope I did better than most people and get that high percentile
Oh my gosh! People were crying??? That sounds terrible. This was very helpful feedback, since you also had experience with the DSAT last year. My piece of optimism is that older versions of the SAT have also had very noticeable differences in difficulty, but the scoring gets normalized to even it out. It might have felt bad, but the score might still be good!
@@avadakedavara6482 Same here! Best of luck to you.
i personnaly think this time maths was way easir! though i got super had second module in maths again they waren't that hard. anyhow i messed up there because i didin't had an adequate sleep, well in test day i didn't sleept at all due to which i specially in last module(module 2 of maths) my brain just stopped braning and i did 4/6 wrong. upon coming back home i relized i could have done them easily . english module 2 was really hard thats somehing i can say
Yes, it’s interesting that everyone says the Math was much harder. I haven’t heard much about the Reading, but I suspect it was also more difficult but that it’s harder to notice.
@@SetteleTutoring Only thing harder about the reading were the middle 4 questions. They were quite time consuming and required a lot of comprehsion.
Math was a bit tricky i would say, but not really 'hard', or maybe it's just me. I'm really good at math. well I'm confident that I'll get 780+ on math for sure. Personally for me reading and writing portion seemed much harder (especially the module 2), I'm not that really good in this area, but I might have done good in module 1 and then got a harder module next time which was way complex for me
Honestly, I think people are saying the second reading/writing module wasn't that bad because of the sheer trauma we endured in the second math module. I'd say that you're right, the second English section was significantly harder. It had a lot of lengthy and hard-to-comprehend questions that would take an excessive amount of time to answer.
This is good feedback. Even on the practice tests, the hard Reading module doesn’t SEEM much harder than mod1, but it is. Since I have so much experience spotting the trap answers, I can tell for sure, but students don’t have as well-trained of an eye for that kind of thing. I’m curious how the Reading scores turn out for everyone.
@@avadakedavara6482 I think this is a great point. The Math was last, so it was also more memorable. Plus, it’s easier to tell when you are getting math questions wrong because you aren’t getting one of the answers. Reading forces you to pick, and even the wrong answer choices have some merit, so it rarely feels like a complete guess.
I got an 800 on practice test 4 with time to spare but this was a whole other level. I was so dumbfounded by how to do the questions in a short amount of time that I definitely got several wrong
Also I’ve done all the practice tests, tutored (no, not got tutoring, I tutored) the SAT, and got a 1500 on the PSAT. But this was absolutely terrible and impossible in comparison. I am certain this was a unusual test
Definitely possible. Since you know the curve so well from the practice tests you took and your students took, you’ll probably have some good insight once scores come out whether the scores match your expectations. I’m still hoping that the hard math module was done on purpose to allow the curve to be more segmented. We’ll see soon enough!
I took a practice sat getting a 790 on the math. On the SAT I felt like I had done much worse
I hope that it was just a feeling and that the curve means a similar score to your practice tests!
I just got my results in, I got a 1370, 720 in reading and 650 in math. When compared to my highest on a practice test 1460, with 700 on reading and 760 on math. The math was exceedingly harder on this test, I hope that it was a one time thing as I am taking the exam in June as well.
Wow that’s a big drop in the math. So sorry! Reading is great, though! I’m not sure what the June test will be like, so I think you should be prepared for more crazy math questions. What strategies do you have when you hit something you don’t understand right away? For me, Plug Points Into Equations is an easy first move that I make on lots of hard questions.
How many correct answers did you get in 54 questions in English, my friend? And also math of course :) in 44?
@@winchenzo6924 I don’t think the College Board tells you that information. You just get the scores and the “Knowledge and Skills” breakdown, which doesn’t tell you the number right and wrong in each topic. It’s just a rough estimate of your performance. Not super helpful, imo.
@@SetteleTutoring So they just tell us our results, they don't make a statement about how many right and how many wrong we did?
@@winchenzo6924 Correct. The score report is very bare. You’ll never see the questions again either. And even if you get a perfect “score” for one of the Knowledge and Skills sections, it doesn’t mean you got all of those questions correct. It’s fairly bad. The best way to understand your score on the real SAT is to have a good record and understanding of your practice tests. They are good predictors of what you’d get wrong and struggle with on the real exam.
to me first module was hell, i got a question of a system of equations with like 3 variables something that i wasn’t able to solve at all… each term had a number and they wanted me to solve for something giving me that y was 6… second one had very stupid and easy questions… this sat was terrible.
i saw one comment were someone said that the people in the testing center were crying… the same thing happened in mine :)
That’s crazy! I’ve never been in an SAT with people crying.
I kinda agree with theory 2
For me, the questions were the ones I was familiar with but I just didnt know how to solve them(last few questions of the 2nd module) in the quickest way so I dont lose time but I ended up panicking and wasnt able to solve them. I'm stressed cause I think I could've done it if I had time and less stress :(
Unfortunately, I think you’re right that stress has a big impact. Even slowing you down a little could mean running out of time with 3 or 4 questions left. Everybody is certainly stressed afterward, even if they weren’t stress before!
@@SetteleTutoring yes😭😭😭
I took december DSAT for the first time (got 1430). This time english felt harder, but math on the other hand was much easier (or maybe as you said previously I was stressed and abandoned my strategies and now remained calm)
Remaining calm is such a big part of it. I need to make more lessons explicitly on strategies for that. Thank you!
I don’t think it’s theory #2 bc it’s not just a few people it’s multiple people saying it was nothing like the practice
I believe it could be theory 3
@@TopMonkeyDogYeah, and I think it’s very hard for you students to see Theory #3 at work because you don’t see the behind-the-scenes way that your practice questions get written by me and other tutors. I appreciate you acknowledging it.
Hey, I got a 790 in Maths and 620 in English but that's fair I guess. I didn't expect my English score to be that bad tbh but it is what it is. I was getting around 700 in English in my practice tests and no less than 690. Overall, I can't really complain.
That’s great! 790 is amazing, and the 620 is still very good. The Knowledge and Skills section might tell you a bit about where you might have lost the 70 points that you were getting on the practice tests.
How many correct answers did you get in 54 questions in English, my friend?
reading overall felt easier, as well as math module one, however math module 2 was horrible, had to guess on quite a few
time or didnt know?
Primarily time, they were solvable just didn’t have the time needed
Yeah, it surprises me that the Reading felt easier. That’s the opposite of how the old version of the SAT used to be. There would always be a tough passage and everyone would freak out. We’ll see if it stays that way or if Reading feels harder next time.
Yea, I generally always struggle on the reading more on the practice tests and my past psats, however this was vice versa
i got math practice test 4 780, but in march's SAT i guessed 4 questions. time was insanely short
Yes, that seems like a noticeable and significant difference!
@@SetteleTutoring on bluebook practice 4 I purposefully guessed around 8 questions and managed to get around 750 maths
required pacing on practice test was most definitely slower than the real thing. They need to release more practice tests with a faster pace. I have been able to finish all practice tests first time with 5 minutes to spare in the 2nd math module, but on the real thing I needed 10 more minutes to be able to finish. The questions weren't hard there was just too much of a time crunch. This is why I'm concerned for my score, a feel that collegeboard might not factor in additional comprehension time when they lengthed the questions into the overall difficultly of the question itself. Therfore, the curve for each question might not be equitable in my opinion.
For real! I swear that I could have done all the questions and get them right, but I just ran out of time. So many questions took forever to understand, reread, and actually answer. I didn't realize when I started taking Module 2 of math it would basically be an English test.
@@avadakedavara6482 next time I will peak at the questions toward the end of the 2nd module before beginning so I have a better gauge of pace.
That seems like a smart idea! Hopefully I won't have to do another one of those @@williambradberry3036
@@avadakedavara6482Yes, you made a good analogy. Even after 15 years of tutoring, I still feel like the timing on Reading is tight. I can finish, but I always wish I had more time to look a little more closely at the passages. Math is usually a breeze because it’s so predictable when you’ve been doing it as long as I have. That’s why I’m so curious about this hard math module.
This is some great feedback. I think you’re probably right that it wasn’t necessarily harder questions. Maybe more of them. Or maybe just that there weren’t as many shortcuts as usual, so the time crunch was much more severe. I’ll be very curious to see if the next practice tests reflect the harder pacing.
Still watching...yes, I took all 4 practice tests and got a 1340
I'm getting disowned this Friday; guys pray for me please 😭
It’s going to be fine! I’m very curious if I’m right about the curve being more lenient.
It was like taking bluebook #4 sat first time
Thank you! This is more what I expected because I also found test #4 to be very hard the first time.
my theory is that mod 1 was easier so more people got placed into an "advanced" math mod two than people that were placed that high in the practice tests
Oh this is an interesting theory that I didn’t consider. The only thing that might make it wrong is that lots of people who say they’ve previously gotten 700s on practice tests also felt that this was harder, so they would have experienced the practice hard modules too. You still might be on to something, though.
Most of the test was east, but that Math module 2 was litterally brutal! It was NOT fun!
That seems to be the consensus!
Practice 4 was nothing compared to the math hard module
Literally!!!
The 2nd module was deadly. In practice test 4 I got 730 in maths. About the march 9th test I can't say much 😢. I went quite bad. I panicked so bad due to time pressure. 😭
@@sareenfatima6114 ME TOO LIKE I HAD TO WRITE A RANDOM NUMBER BRO I DIDNT HAVE TIME TO SOLVE PLUS I DIDNT EVEN KNOW HOW TO SOLVE THEM...I DIDNT SEE ANY QUESTION LIKE THESE IN PRACTICE TESTS 😭😭😭😭
@@nil2771 I feel you sis 😭
What do you think of my Theory #3, though? Did you see questions like the hard ones in test 4 before you actually took it? Maybe they weren’t as hard because you’d seen very similar questions on other practice sites?
I got a 1510 on sat 4 bruh I had to guess multiple in the actual dsat module 2
Yeah I think a lot of people agree with you!
It was much harder period!!!!!!
Definitely possible!
Much easier than practice test
Me when I lie
Ig he's letting us know he got the easier module@@martyd2110
College Board has overengineered the SAT! Just give everyone the same test!!
I think they kind of are. It’s just that the questions are jumbled. The only thing that seems very different is the two possible adaptive modules.
Does khan academy spoil the practice test or are they new questions
For me, I've actually gotten an exact same question and a similar question from khan academy on the latest SAT exam :>
Khan shouldn’t spoil questions as far as I know. They are the same as questions from the Question Bank, I’m pretty sure. I could be wrong, though, since it’s hard to go through every single Khan question.
The similar question doesn’t surprise me, since lots of math and grammar will be very straightforward about the same topics. But something exact scares me. If you track down what it was, let me know!
For the first module of math I actually had a few questions that were similar to the bluebook exams. I actually had one that was exactly from one of the exams I took. It confused me because people said it was not similar to the bluebook tests at all, but the first module of math had very similar questions for me. @@SetteleTutoring
@@shachardanielle7400 Exact? Maybe very similar but with different numbers. I doubt they would use an exact question. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re asking almost identical questions since some topics are just very straightforward, like finding the mean of a set.
This test is a way to even the curve. There is no way this test is fair especially since it’s adaptive… how can everyone get a different test and it be considered a fair indicator of your ability in comparison to others. It also is messing with kids minds who are high performing. It is giving them very difficult questions which were never encountered which then ruin confidence sets in anxiety and then makes your brain shut down. Very very unfair to high performers who worked hard all through their schooling years. This was all a way for the SAT to make more money. Now all the kids must take this over and over.
The test is adaptive in a very specific way. Everyone gets the same first module, which is an even mixture of easy, medium, and hard questions. Then if you get enough questions right in that module, you get the hard second module, which is skewed to have more difficult questions overall. If you get too many wrong in the first module, you get the easy second module, which is skewed to have easy questions. But there are only two options for any given test. The digital format makes it so students have the questions in different orders so it’s harder to cheat, and there may be some questions swapped out from different tests, but most people who took the test on March 9th had the same bundle of questions.
As for the confidence and anxiety issues, that’s something you can control with practice. Some people get nervous in high pressure situations. Practice tests are a great way to get ready for the nervousness. And no matter how long you study for, there will always be questions that you’ve never seen before, so it’s important to use strategies that let you be flexible. My main advice is to memorize the rules and formulas that you need for the easy and medium questions so that you can lock in those points confidently and quickly. Then you use as much time as you have left to work through those hard ones. Strategies will make some of them much easier than they look, but there will always be a few that require a lot of effort. If they made the test too predictable, everyone would get 1600s, and they definitely don’t want that!
math module 1 was much easier than practice, math module 2 was wayyy harder
did not take practice #4 though
That’s good to know because my biggest fear heading into the test was that the Module 1s would be very harsh and too many students would get stuck in the easy module, limiting their scores.
@@SetteleTutoring I'm fairly condfident I got a maximum of 2 wrong on the first module. Its really easy especially if you know how to use desmos. I had 6 minutes to kill and check over my answers
@@williambradberry3036I agree! Mod1 should be easy if you’ve studied. But of course, that lulls you into a sense of security right before you get slammed with Mod2.
@@SetteleTutoring update: 730 on math
feels like they really curved it, I guessed ~3 questions on module 2
Shouldn’t you have taken the SAT if you are teaching others. Cracks me up how people who claim to know how to teach to a test don’t take it.
You don’t know what you’re talking about. I take SATs all the time. I just did the two new practice tests. They don’t let adults sit for the actual exams anymore, so this is the closest I can get:
th-cam.com/video/6UJqvcB5asA/w-d-xo.html
Yes much harder
I’m sorry! But I think what I said about the curve is probably true too.
I’m an international who scored a 1540 (800 math) on dsat last year and scored all 790+ math on both paper and dsat.
This is just my theory. I took the dsat twice last year and found the difficulty to be very similar to the practice tests. Even on the math, some of the harder questions were new but have similar levels of twist to them compared to hard ones in bluebook.
Also, the international community was going crazy abt how easier the dsat was. But internationals generally struggle on the verbal portion (cant focus well on long passages) and do really well on math, so there wasn’t many complaints on math. Having taken both the dsat and paper, I do find dsat math to be harder but has a much much better curve. Maybe this whole reaction was just because yall were surprised to the change, but i don’t think the scores themselves will change that much.
This is excellent feedback. Thank you! You’re probably right that the change in the USA is driving a lot of the discourse. I do think that the DSAT is easier overall than the paper test. It’s just better to focus for less time, have shorter passages, and use the calculator for the entire math section. We’ll see what happens when the scores come back, but I predict they won’t be as bad as everyone thinks.
I got a 760 on the practice test 4 math overall if it counts for anything, and I thought that was challenging but overall doable. I studied for many months doing all kinds of practice math questions, I don’t thinks anything could’ve prepared me for that math module😞
I’m sure you did well! The curve might be more generous than you think. I’ll make some lessons on how to prepare for the unpredictable questions before the next test.
i took test 4 it was nowhere the question i got in module 2 of math . it was reallly really hard. hard in. a sense that it was very time consuming there were last 4-5 i had to take take wild guess becuase i had no time left one was about geometry which was easy but very lenghty the second hardest question was of function and that question i did not see in all of my practices even the ones of i did on khan academy and lastly was the circle of equations which was also hard overall module 2 of math was the hardest out of all the modules
Yes, I’m hearing that there were more hard geometry questions than usual, which might explain why it seemed harder overall. Since geometry is such a small portion of the test, we don’t get much practice with it through the practice tests. I’ll be making more lessons on it for sure!
@@SetteleTutoring sure that would be great for students taking SATs in future