Free Study Plan — McGibbon Tutoring

Free 8 Week Study Plan

This 8-week curriculum includes which materials to use every day of every week. All of them are free. My kids are a little young but it’s the same one I’ll give them when they are older, based on my nearly 20 years of experience as a tutor. If you follow the plan, you’ll see significant increases. You might even finish your SAT/ACT work entirely.

This is the basic philosophy behind the plan: the same skills show up over and over on standardized tests. You won’t see the patterns if you only take a couple tests. But if you take lots of official practice tests and master the ones you miss, the test makers will run out of questions to ask you. At that point, you’ll recognize 90%+ of the material, just like on a regular school test you’ve prepared for. We’ll spend the first couple weeks deciding between the SAT and ACT, then the rest of the time improving your scores.

Week 1

Monday: Take SAT Test 1. Make sure it is strictly timed! It’s okay to take 5-10 minute breaks between sections. Skip the essay.

Tuesday: Grade your test.

Wednesday: Review the reading questions you missed. Explanations here. Try to understand why the right answers are right and the wrong answers are wrong. This is what you should do every time you review.

Thursday: Review the grammar questions you missed.

Friday: Review the math questions you missed (both sections).

Week 2

Monday: Take ACT 74F. Make sure it is strictly timed! It’s okay to take 5-10 minute breaks between sections. Skip the essay.

Tuesday: Grade your test (answer key is in the back of the booklet).

Wednesday: Review the English ones you missed. Lots of free explanations on the web (see notes below).

Thursday: Review the Math ones you missed. Some of them may be a little hard to understand right now. That’s okay. Just figure out the ones you can.

Friday: Review the Reading and Science ones you missed.

Week 3

Monday: Use this table to compare your scores. If one is 100 SAT points higher than the other, go with that one. If the scores are close, pick the one you’re more comfortable with. See this video for further guidance. From now on, “test” refers to whichever test you picked. See below for a list of tests. Sign up for a free Mathchops account. Get your level up to the score on your practice test. (You can use another math resource if you have one you prefer.)

Tuesday: Take section 1 from practice test 2. Grade it. Review it. Mathchops (15 minutes).

Wednesday: Take section 2 from practice test 2. Grade it. Review it. Mathchops (15 minutes).

Thursday: Take section 3 from practice test 2. Grade it. Review it. Mathchops (15 minutes).

Friday: Take section 4 from practice test 2. Grade it. Review it. Mathchops (15 minutes).

Week 4

Monday: We need to start redoing your wrong answers, which means we need to have them all in one place. Use this google sheet or make your own. We’ll call this your ‘error log’. Make sure you note the test form number, the section number, and the question number. In the future we’ll note whether you got these right or wrong when you redid them. Now fill the sheet with every missed question from the two tests you’ve taken so far (you don’t have to include the ones from the test you decided not to take).

Tuesday: Take section 1 from practice test 3. Grade it. Review it. Write the missed or guessed questions down in your error log. Mathchops (15 minutes).

Wednesday: Take section 2 from practice test 3. Grade it. Review it. Write the missed or guessed questions down in your error log. Mathchops (15 minutes).

Thursday: Take section 3 from practice test 3. Grade it. Review it. Write the missed or guessed questions down in your error log. Mathchops (15 minutes).

Friday: Take section 4 from practice test 3. Grade it. Review it. Write the missed or guessed questions down in your error log. Mathchops (15 minutes).

Week 5

Monday: For one hour, redo missed questions from old practice tests. You must redo them on blank copies. Pull them up on the computer, print them out – just don’t look at what you did the first time. Note the result on your error log in a new column (i.e. ‘Redo #1’).

Tuesday: Take practice test 4 all at once, like a real test.

Wednesday: Grade test 4. Mathchops (15 minutes).

Thursday: Review the first two sections of missed questions from test 4 and enter missed questions into your error log. Mathchops (15 minutes).

Friday: Review the last two sections of missed questions from test 4 and enter missed questions into your error log. Mathchops (15 minutes).

Week 6

Monday: For 45 minutes, redo missed questions from old practice tests. If you have redone them all once, go back and redo them again, focusing on the ones you missed the second time. Do this over and over until you know them all. Mathchops (15 minutes).

Tuesday: Take section 1 from practice test 5. Grade it. Review it. Write the missed or guessed questions down in your error log. Mathchops (15 minutes).

Wednesday: Take section 2 from practice test 5. Grade it. Review it. Write the missed or guessed questions down in your error log. Mathchops (15 minutes).

Thursday: Take section 3 from practice test 5. Grade it. Review it. Write the missed or guessed questions down in your error log. Mathchops (15 minutes).

Friday: Take section 4 from practice test 5. Grade it. Review it. Write the missed or guessed questions down in your error log. Mathchops (15 minutes).

Week 7

We’re going to treat this like you’re taking a final the following week. Review every missed question from previous tests and make sure that if something similar shows up, you’ll get it right.

Monday: Redo all Section One missed questions from all tests so far (45 minutes). Mathchops (15 minutes).

Tuesday: Redo all Section Two missed questions from all tests so far (45 minutes). Mathchops (15 minutes).

Wednesday: Redo all Section Three missed questions from all tests so far (45 minutes). Mathchops (15 minutes).

Thursday: Redo all Section Four missed questions from all tests so far (45 minutes). Mathchops (15 minutes).

Friday: Redo any question you missed this week (45 minutes). Mathchops (15 minutes).

Week 8

Monday: Review missed questions and work on Mathchops (one hour total).

Tuesday: Review missed questions and work on Mathchops (one hour total).

Wednesday: Take test 6 like a real test: all at once, at 9am.

Thursday: Grade test 6. Compare these scores to your first scores. Review the ones you missed.

What's Next? If you’re happy with your scores, sign up for a real test! If you’d like to keep practicing, stick to this basic routine of taking practice tests and reviewing them.