Las Vegas local offers advice for students taking newly changed SAT
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Las Vegas native who got a perfect score on the SAT is offering free tips this weekend to help students prepare for it.
There is a monumental change coming to the SAT. For the first time in almost 100 years, it is going from paper to pixel.
“It’s long overdue,” Shaan Patel said. “Look at graduate exams, they’ve been online for a really long time. The SAT and ACT are just now catching up.”
Patel is the Founder and CEO of PrepExpert. He taught himself how to ace the exam and said his perfect score changed his life. He attended medical school at USC, completed residency in Philly, and received his MBA from Yale.
Patel partnered with Mark Cuban after pitching his idea on “Shark Tank” and now has one of the fastest-growing test prep companies in the world. He said test-optional college admissions policies, put in place during the pandemic, are changing.
“Yale just announced last week, MIT, Georgetown, Dartmouth, Purdue, and dozens of other universities are bringing the test score requirement back.”
He said these standardized tests are worth taking for several reasons. Students with SAT and ACT scores are getting accepted at higher rates. Taking these tests is sometimes the only way to get your hands on scholarships as eligibility for consideration requires test scores.
The new SAT promises to be user-friendly.
“When you and I took it, it was four hours long. Now, it’s only a two-hour exam, they’ve really shortened it down. It’s no longer 200 questions, it’s 98 questions. You can use the calculator on all sections, no more hard vocabulary.”
He said parents and students can do the following to prepare.
“Download the college boards bluebook application. It is the official digital SAT testing application, pre-loaded with practice exams for free. Get familiar and see content ahead of time.”
Patel is hosting a free workshop this Sunday. Those who wish to participate have to register online in advance. Visit this link to register.
The workshop will be on Sunday, March 3 at 3 p.m.
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