15 Types Of SAT Prep Students And Parents:
What type of SAT prepper are you?
In my time as an SAT prep tutor I’ve met a lot of different families, and every single one has been different, so there’s no way that my list can do justice to the incredible variety of SAT prep students and parents we meet.
That said, I didn’t think anyone would appreciate an article called “The 1200 Types of SAT Prep Students” and therefore I’ve tried to narrow it down to around 15 broad, common categories of students and parents we see every day at Love the SAT!
So what type of SAT prepper are you? Here we go…
1. The Crammer:
These students show up 3 weeks before the big test asking for help. And - we will do everything we can to help them be ready for the biggest test of their lives in 3 weeks. But you have to understand… it’s asking a lot - of the student and the tutors - to try and cram so much information into a few short private lessons.
If our tutors had their choice, we’d always prefer to start work on the SAT months in advance, so that kids never feel like they’re cramming… which tends to decrease overall confidence and performance on the SAT test that pretty much determines their future!
2. The Procrastinator:
Now, this category of SAT prepper, the “Procrastinator,” is closely related to the first category, the “Crammer.” However, the “Procrastinator” has no intention of ever cramming, but hasn’t started studying yet. “Will start tomorrow.”
(Yeah, or next month.)
With the best of intentions, Procrastinators will keep saying “I’ll start that before I become a “Crammer…” until one day.. they wake up… and they are Crammers! (thunder and spooky movie music: duh-duh-duh…)
3. The Too Busy:
Typically a lot more active than Procrastinators, the “Too Busy” type of SAT Preppers are a type who know how much they need to do SAT prep, but simply can’t find the time in the day. Or the week.
Now here’s the problem - in our years of experience, students don’t suddenly get more time. Families don’t suddenly stop “being busy.” Finals only seem to get harder, and summers are always more busy than you would expect.
If anything, students’ lives only get busier each year. So being “too busy” for SAT prep right now is typically a really bad strategy, because it’s only going to get crazier if you wait… please contact us today!
4. The Too Lazy:
Ok - a few families are “too lazy” to get started on SAT prep. Harsh, I know! But it’s true, and I’m just here to help. Some families and students are too LAZY when it comes to SAT prep! Guys - come on! We can’t just ignore real life while it happens to us!
High school isn’t forever! We need to get our butts in gear when we are young, so that our years are fun and rich with the success we want and need. The SAT is an important test of our work ethic… and a way to develop our ability to focus and complete a task. So let’s get to work!
SAT prep requires a lot of personal effort to do well. And that’s also true in college, career, business, medicine, the arts, law, anything you can think of - personal effort, not laziness, is key.
5. The Enthusiastic:
Here’s a great type of family or student for SAT tutors to work with - the Enthusiastic SAT prepper. Often willing to wake up bright and early for SAT prep tutoring (just like us!) the Enthusiastics are quite fun to work with and often see huge increases in their SAT scores.
We treasure each of these private tutoring students that we work with. It’s easy to get them to do homework, and they sometimes even come in with extra homework! Or cookies… hehehehe.
Positivity, willingness to try, and a sense of confidence and humor all make SAT test prep a lot easier. But, even these amazing qualities can be taken just a little too far in rare cases…
6. The Over-Enthusiastic!
The “Over-Enthusiastic!” is a type of SAT prep mom or dad who means well, but who overcommits their very tired and worn-out kid to a few too many activities during the week. We love to help these families of course, but it might be worth considering… while you’re doing SAT prep tutoring or classes, are there any other side activities that you might be able to take a break from?
Over-Enthusiasm can lead to burnout, scheduling problems, stress, and a lack of success despite a huge amount of effort. Take it from me, it’s best to pick a few things to focus on, so make sure the timing is right to commit to SAT prep for a while… because there’s also homework, practice testing, reading and SAT vocabulary to study, and so on.
7. The Completely Unaware:
The “Completely Unaware” families have no idea about the looming SAT prep issue and haven’t set aside any time or energy into considering their plans for SAT prep tutoring or classes.
It’s great that you’re not one of these category - they have a long road ahead of them. SAT prep starts with awareness, so the Completely Unaware better wake up… soon!
Although we doubt any of the “Completely Unaware” category are even reading this article, you never know… it could happen.
8. The “Our Counselor Recommended SAT prep…”
A step past the previous “Completely Unaware” category, we meet many “Counselor Recommended” families who got the word from their high school or college counselor that they should seek out SAT tutoring to be ready for… you know… the SAT.
We have plenty of these students and love working with them. Often enthusiastic and willing to give a good effort, “Counselor Recommended” students often have a great deal of success if they work hard.
On the other hand, we do meet students whose counselors recommended them because the kids aren’t trying hard in school - and that doesn’t always go so well. SAT prep demands effort from students, so it’s typically a little easier to get results with the enthusiastic and curious type of “Counselor Recommendation” students.
9. The Secret ACT Prepper:
More and more families are really on the ball, and are considering preparing their kids with tutoring for both the ACT and the SAT tests. The “Secret ACT Prepper” is a student or family trying to prepare for both tests at once - and I’ll warn you, this can be fairly difficult in practice, even if it makes perfect sense in theory.
We’d encourage you to contact us if you think you’re an ACT prepper and we can set you up with some help for this tough standardized test as well as for the SAT. Also, get on over to our ACT Prep articles category for more articles you might like!
10. The Competitive Student:
Another great category of student (or family!) to work with, “Competitives” are dedicated to lives of achievement and success. SAT prep comes naturally to these families and they often look for SAT tutoring on their own. Often, the student will ask parents for SAT tutoring!
If you’re a member of this group, consider yourself fortunate, for not everyone takes so naturally to the competitive aspect of the SAT. Use it to your advantage and drive your energy into practice and analysis of your SAT mistakes, and you will do very well if you study for several months.
11. The OVER-Competitive Student:
The previous category, “Competitive” students, can sometimes go a little too far and become a little bit self-destructive. Competitiveness is all good, but “OVER-competitive” can cause pressures and negative emotions that don’t really help anyone.
In general, setting realistic goals, starting early, and being happy with the results of honest hard work, are the best ways to set OVER-competitiveness aside when it comes to SAT prep. My advice for you is, take advantage of the energy you have to compete, but make sure you don’t punish yourself for failing, or put others down when they don’t live up to your own expectations.
12. The Curious Families:
The “Curious” family of SAT prep is a great category to be in. Curious families tend to start SAT prep early and want to learn what the test is all about before diving in to SAT tutoring.
Also, the SAT questions themselves require a “Curious” style of exploration and experimentation in order to get them correct. So curiosity, overall, proves to be a very powerful skill in SAT prep.
If they get a good instructor that fits their style, Curious kids make incredible SAT prep students, and are often the MOST self-motivated of students. We love “Curious” families!
13. The “To Be On The Safe Side…”
Yet another wonderful category - the “Safe-Siders” start SAT prep early. By purposefully starting early, these parents avoid any panic or cramming. No worries here, they may have their kids begin as sophomores and be completely prepared for fantastic SAT scores when test day comes (up to two years later!)
We’ve noticed that these are often parents with several kids, on second or third siblings going through the college application process! The secret these families seem to know is that it’s easier to be safe than sorry.
14. The Super-Early
The Super-early category of SAT prep families are only acting out of enthusiasm, we know. However, there is such a thing as too early for serious SAT prep - we think any early than Freshman year of high school is “too early.”
Before 9th grade, almost no one has taken the basic high school courses they need to succeed on the SAT. So, although you can always ask us any question you like, we’d recommend pushing back the start date just a little, and focusing on life and school outside the SAT until then.
15. The “Realistic.”
Plain and simple, the “Realistic” category of family or student is a solid, dependable match for great SAT tutoring results. “Realistic” families start early, practice hard, set aside time for review, and generally prove themselves to be very effective.
The SAT test is all about being realistic and working with what you’re given. Realistically, you’re going to need a lot of time and practice to beat this test - that goes for 99% of us.
Also realistically, you’re going to do very well on the SAT if you put in your time and practice. So the “Realistic” category of students are usually successful because of their inborn nature.
Did You Find Your Type?
We’ve tried hard to make a good list of the different types of SAT prep families and students, but it’s tough to be complete with so many different types out there!
It’s been fun making this list, but we know it’s incomplete. No matter what type of SAT prep family you are, we want you to contact us!
Please send us a quick message and we will let you know exactly how we can help. Talk to you soon!
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Additional Resources:
Conquer SAT Vocabulary Video Course
Winning College Scholarships Video Course