Plugging In Strategies

When I first started out as a tutor 20 years ago, I focused primarily on content. Over time, I began to realize that the way subjects are taught in school is often quite different from how they need to be taught in test prep sessions. This is so for one simple reason: time. Of course we are striving for accuracy and correct answers, but for a student to do well on the SAT exam, she needs to move fast (the average time per question must be 75 seconds or less). Therefore, shortcuts and time-saving techniques and strategies are essential.

One such strategy is called "plugging in". Now this is different from "guess and check," where you choose one of the multiple choice answers and test it, and if it doesn't work you try another one. Here I am talking about "plugging in," where you choose your own values, plug those in, and solve the problems that way. In this video, I show you exactly how to do it.