Today we’re looking at a very useful online subscription for SAT Prep students and tutors alike - the UWorld SAT Prep Question Bank.
Right away, I should tell you I have been compensated for my attention to this product. However, I specifically requested to remain independent and give an honest review.
I also don’t receive a sales commission on this product. This is just my review, as an experienced SAT prep tutor, of the UWorld SAT Prep Question Bank.
The Quick Version Of This Review:
If you’re a professional SAT tutor, you can easily find a good use for the UWorld subscription in your teaching style. It will give you plenty of extra practice questions to work with that can supplement the Official SAT Study Guide.
If you’re an SAT prep student who’s ready to level up your SAT test score with diligent and self-directed practice, then the UWorld SAT Prep Question Bank may be the perfect subscription for you. But, you must be mature enough to understand that hard work is the foundation of a great SAT score.
What Is The UWorld SAT Prep QBank?
UWorld’s SAT Prep Question Bank is an online subscription that lets SAT prep students and SAT tutors create customized practice tests from a bank of over 1,400 SAT-style practice questions.
It also helps you drill your weak spots and overcome the pressure of the SAT time limit.
With a simple but powerful custom quiz builder and highly accurate SAT practice problems, this subscription is an effective supplement for your overall SAT prep.
Even if you only have a few minutes to devote to SAT prep in the day, these online practice sets would be a great way to use that time.
Both SAT prep tutors and students will easily find uses for the UWorld QBank, and will understand its value from the moment they log into the 30-day free trial.
Essential Features of UWorld SAT Prep
One thing you’ll instantly appreciate about this product is the great quick guide. There are instant instructions on what to do and how to set up key features. With these simple and clear pop-up messages, students and SAT tutors easily see how to use the software.
The primary feature of the UWorld subscription software is the practice SAT quiz generator. These quizzes can be personalized to focus on SAT Reading, SAT Writing, or SAT Math.
Furthermore, you can also narrow down the subsections. For example, in Reading you can focus on “Career and Humanities” or “History and Social Science”. In the Math section, these options will change to a breakdown of SAT Math topics.
The settings are based on the official SAT breakdown, and are detailed and professional-looking. You can go broad with your category selection - “Heart of Algebra,” for example. Or, you can be more specific - “Systems of Linear Equations,” which is a smaller sub-topic within Heart of Algebra.
You can easily set the difficulty of the SAT practice questions (random, easy, medium, or hard) from the setup page. Using simple controls, you can also mix and match question types into combinations that further personalize your SAT practice sessions.
Cool! This definitely could help students who know *what* they need to practice.
Additional Features
When you get into the SAT quizzes, you can easily see answer explanations and even create online flashcards from key concepts.
Overall, the basic settings are well-thought-out and usable. More options include timed or untimed modes and a “Tutor” mode which explains the questions right away. All these options are available for all sections from Reading to Math, which is quite nice.
The Math section even includes an online calculator (unless you’re on a “No Calculator” question).
UWorld also keeps detailed statistics on your performance history, which gives you excellent and useful stats to review. This will teach you much more about your strengths and weaknesses on the test, which you can then use to focus your practice sessions even further - forming a positive feedback loop of improvement.
Accuracy of SAT Practice Questions
One of the most important aspects of any SAT prep product is the accuracy of the practice questions. Do the problem sets accurately and clearly reflect the content and style of the official SAT?
I’ve written hundreds of practice problems myself, so I can say with some authority that it’s harder to create realistic practice sets than you might think. When it comes to writing authentic practice SAT questions, many have tried, and many have failed.
So, how does UWorld SAT QBank stack up for accuracy?
Well, it’s my opinion that no one has ever perfectly replicated the exact mix the SAT test uses… not perfectly. But UWorld has done a great job of providing very accurate, realistic, and useful practice in all sections of the SAT test.
I would have no misgivings about recommending their practice sets to high school students and other SAT tutors.
I think the Math and Grammar sections shine, with the Reading section close behind. If I had to pick the weakest spot for their SAT realism, it would be the Reading Questions and Answer Choices. Something just feels ever-so-slightly “off” to me; perhaps the question-answer combos are slightly too simplistic, with the ‘trap’ Reading answers feeling slightly obvious.
Still, I would give the Math an A, the Grammar an A, and the Reading an A- for overall realism compared to the official SAT. By my standards, that is excellent - a high degree of accuracy in the practice problems.
The answer explanations are deep and generally excellent. It’s always a bit hard to convey this sort of information in written form, or on a screen, but I think UWorld has done a good job of explaining the process and reasoning behind the correct answers.
Using UWorld SAT Prep Day-to-Day
So, how practical and usable is UWorld SAT QBank on a day-to-day basis?
Well, there are a lot of good uses here, both for SAT tutors and for their students.
For example, a tutor could easily create some great SAT homework assignments for their students with a minimum of time and effort on the part of the tutor.
Or, if you’re a motivated high school student but can’t afford a private SAT tutor, then this is a good supplement to the Official SAT Study Guide.
(I usually recommend completing and correcting at least half of the Official SAT Study Guide - 4 official practice tests - before working with any supplemental materials from a 3rd party.)
Overall, it’s very easy to find (or imagine) a place in your SAT prep workflow for UWorld’s SAT QBank.
It’s an excellent set of SAT practice problems and explanations, and very nicely organized. The personal statistics on student performance are the icing on the cake.
Pricing for UWorld SAT Prep QBank
The UWorld SAT QBank offers a generous 30-day free trial before you have to enter any credit card info - more than enough time to discover if it’s right for you.
There are no restricted features during that time so you can fully explore (and your SAT score can benefit from) this online SAT prep software.
I encourage you to take advantage of the SAT practice you can get for free in those 30 days!
After the free period, you’ll have to pay to keep using the software, but pricing is reasonable for a dedicated SAT prep student. The subscription packages range from $49 for 90 days, up to $99 for 360 days.
Sign Up for UWorld’s SAT Prep QBank Today
If you want to try out UWorld’s SAT Question Bank for free (and I highly recommend you try it out), then follow this link and head over to create your free account.
Remember, you’ll have 30 days to try it out for free and you won’t need to enter your credit card number.
If you’re looking for a higher SAT score, and have some extra time to spend on your practice problems, then you only stand to benefit from signing up for UWorld.
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Talk to you next time! 🙂