Introduction to Gainaccess.cz SAT/ACT Online Course

Welcome to the gianaccess.cz online SAT/ACT course. We have developed this course to give you the most important content of the SAT and ACT as well as the tools to help you get the best scores possible. We have created lessons, materials and techniques that will help any student wanting to take the tests. To get the most out of the lessons, you’ll need to follow our timeline and advice to achieve the scores you want.

Content of course- Our SAT/ACT course focuses on the most important content and techniques to increase your test scores. We are located in Prague and specialize in teaching non-native English speaking students. Our course is designed to help students deal with difficulties on the test without being fluent English speakers, although any student preparing for the SAT/ACT will benefit from our course.

Ideal timeline of lessons- You should start with the introduction lesson and then continue on to the first content lesson immediately. You should then watch a new video approximately every two to five days. You should watch each video as many times as you need to understand the lesson. The course is most effective, if you start it 5-10 weeks before your actual SAT or ACT test. Consistent practice is best. Don’t wait until a week or two before the test and try to do all the preparation right before the real thing.

How to watch the videos- Each lesson has a pdf with the questions for the lesson. Print out a copy of each pdf before you watch the videos or have it open on another device. Paper is better because the actual tests will be on paper. The videos will not make sense without the sheets. There are points in the videos when you will want to pause and rewind. Watch as many times as you have to, to understand the content. Write down notes while watching. If the teacher writes it on the board IT IS IMPORTANT.

Order of the lesson- Watch the videos in order. They build on the previous lessons.

Homework- Each lesson has a quiz at the end to help you review the content of the videos. After you complete them, you should go and apply what you learned to a real SAT/ACT test from the test makers. Each lesson introduction will have a list of questions for you to do. Although most lessons use the SAT, everything you do applies to both tests unless otherwise stated.

Practice tests- Home work will come from the tests that can be found here:

SAT:

https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/practice/full-length-practice-tests

ACT:

https://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/Preparing-for-the-ACT.pdf

Let's get started!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT INTERNATIONAL ACT TESTING CHANGES:

As of September 2018, the ACT will no longer be offered on paper out side the USA. International ACT tests will now all be computer based. All content and structure will remain the same and everything within this course still applies to the test. This also means that some cities no longer have an ACT test center, so make sure you know where the nearest test center is before you start preparing.

Instructions-Math Lesson 1

Purpose: Basic Algebra and most important math technique

Most important concepts: Algebraic manipulation and using your own number and the answer choices to solve a problem

Pre-work: Before you watch the video, do the Algebra pre-work quiz. You should be able to do basic high school level algebra.

Extra practice: SAT Practice tests

Collegeboard Test 1, Section 3- Questions- 1,3,5,7,8,9,13,14,16,20

Collegeboard Test 1, Section 4- Questions- 2,4,8,11,16,18,20,29

Collegeboard Test 2, Section 3- Questions- 1,4,5,7,12,13,15,17,20

Collegeboard Test 2, Section 4- Questions- 1,6,7,12,21,29

Teachers note: When doing the extra practice, use the techniques you learned in the lesson whenever possible. The principals in this lesson are the most important and useful for the tests. Continue to apply these techniques in the future as well.

***In certain parts of the questions and quizzes, you will see things that look like this: 2^3. This means 2 to the power of 3. We use it because in some places we can't display exponents.***

Instructions-Reading Lesson 1

Purpose: Understand the structure and most common question types found in the reading sections

Most important concepts: Technique for dealing with difficult or boring passages, knowing the most common questions types, identifying common types of trick answers 

Extra practice: SAT Practice tests

Collegeboard Test 1, Section 1- Questions- 1-31, 3 passages

Collegeboard Test 2, Section 3- Questions- 1-21, 2 passages

Teachers note: When you start practicing from the tests, you will see some question types that we won’t discuss until the second reading lesson. This is fine. What you need to focus on in the homework is applying the techniques you learned in the lesson. The reading section is generally the hardest part of the tests for most students. Most students don’t have time to finish the whole section properly. Focus on getting as much done as possible in the time limit.

Instructions-Math Lesson 2

Purpose: Understanding how the SAT/ACT will test functions and graphs in the x/y coordinate plane

Most important concepts: Slope-intercept form of lines, how to calculate slope of a line, parabolas and quadratic functions, how functions work

Extra practice: SAT Practice tests

Collegeboard Test 1, Section 3- Questions- 4,6,10,11,12,15,18

Collegeboard Test 1, Section 4- Questions- 9,10,15,17,24,25,28,30,36

Collegeboard Test 2, Section 3- Questions- 6,9,10,14

Collegeboard Test 2, Section 4- Questions- 3,9,10,25,26,28,33,35

Teachers note: This is one of the most heavily tested concepts on the SAT, so make sure you understand this lesson. It will also be tested on the ACT, but not as much.

Instructions-English Lesson 1

Purpose: Most common grammar mistakes tested and basic techniques

Most important concepts: How the questions are structured. Grammar: subject/verb agreement, parallelisms, verb forms, pronouns, run-ons and fragments.

Extra practice: SAT Practice tests

Collegeboard Test 1, Section 2- Questions- 1,3,7,8,10,14,17,18,20,22,23,24,25,27,30,31,33,34,36,39,40,43,44

Collegeboard Test 2, Section 2- Questions-1,3,5,6,10,11,12,17,21,22,23,25,28,30,31,32,34,36,37,39,40,41,42

Instructions-Math Lesson 3

Purpose: Ratios, averages, percents, probability and rate. Solving the questions from the answers (math technique)

Most important concepts: Back-solving the questions from the answers and using common sense to answer story problems.

Extra practice: SAT Practice tests

Collegeboard Test 1, Section 3- Questions- 17

Collegeboard Test 1, Section 4- Questions- 1,5,6,7,12,13,14,19,21,22,23,26,27,31,32,33,34,37,38

Collegeboard Test 2, Section 3- Questions- 3, 16

Collegeboard Test 2, Section 4- Questions- 2,4,5,8,11,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,22,23,27,31,32,34,37,38

Teachers note: These types of questions are supposed to be based in the real world, so think about them logically before you start doing the math. Often, using a little common sense will be more useful than doing a lot of math. The technique taught in the lesson about working the problem backwards is sometimes strange to students who haven’t used it before. It truly is very helpful on the tests, so practice it until you get comfortable with it.

Instructions-Reading Lesson 2

Purpose: Review techniques from first reading lesson and learn less common question types. Dual passages

Most important concepts: Dual passage techniques, strengthen/weaken questions, NOT/EXCEPT/LEAST questions, comparison questions, tone 

Extra practice: SAT Practice tests

Collegeboard Test 1, Section 1- Questions- 32-52, 2 passages

Collegeboard Test 2, Section 1- Questions- 22-52, 3 passages

Teachers note: Focus on technique when practicing. Start to recognize the easy questions that you can do quickly and correctly and which are the hardest that you shouldn’t waste your time on.

Instructions: For each of the following questions, you will see a short text from a typical SAT/ACT reading section. There will be only two answer choices. Use the techniques for eliminating wrong answers to pick the correct answer. Each question is an infer/imply/suggest type question to also help you practice the harder question types.

Instructions-Math Lesson 4

Purpose: Plane geometry, lines, triangles, circles, parallelograms and basic trigonometry functions

Most important concepts: Degrees measures, area, perimeter, SOHCAHTOA, formulas

Extra practice: SAT Practice tests

Collegeboard Test 1, Section 3- Questions- 3,19

Collegeboard Test 1, Section 4- Questions- 3,35

Collegeboard Test 2, Section 3- Questions- 8,18,19

Collegeboard Test 2, Section 4- Questions- 24,30,36

2106-2017 Full ACT Practice Test, Section 2- Questions- 9,12,13,14,17,20,26,27,30,33,35,46,49,50,53

Teachers note: As you can see from the homework, the ACT tests this type of geometry much more heavily than the SAT does. You will definitely see this on both tests, but it’s much more important of you’re planning on taking the ACT. The SAT will focus more on coordinate geometry that you saw in lesson 2.

Instructions-English Lesson 2

Purpose: Punctuation errors, structure questions

Most important concepts: Commas, apostrophes, dashes, colons, semi-colons, necessary and unnecessary information, conciseness

Extra practice: SAT Practice tests

Collegeboard Test 1, Section 2- Questions- 2,4,5,6,9,11,12,13,15,16,19,21,26,28,29,32,35,37,38,41,42

Collegeboard Test 2, Section 2- Questions- 2,4,7,8,9,13,14,15,16,18,19,20,24,26,27,29,33,35,38,43,44

Teachers note: Make sure you understand how the punctuation will be tested. Both the SAT and ACT test these concepts a lot.

As of March 2021 College Board will no longer offer the essay on the SAT. It will not be required by any university. You can skip this lesson entirely. Feel free to message us if you have any questions about the former SAT essay.

Instructions-ACT Essay lesson

Purpose: Writing a clear and cohesive ACT Essay

Most important concepts: How to answer the question and structure your essay

Extra practice:

Write the essay from the official ACT 2016/2017 full practice test

Teachers note: Don’t spend two hours trying to write a perfect essay. You’ll only have 30 minutes on the real test, so only spend a maximum of 40 minutes on your first try. Handwrite the essay as you’ll be doing that on the real test. Don’t type.

Instructions-ACT Science Lesson

Purpose: Understand how the science passages will be structured

Most important concepts: Reading graphs and charts, question types

Extra practice:

ACT Official Practice Test 2016/2017- All of section 4

Teachers note: Make sure not to do the passages in the order that the ACT gives them to you. Start with the simple charts and graphs passages, move on to the experimental and save the fighting scientist passage until last. Please do the reading 2 lesson before trying the fighting scientists passage. The same technique for dual passages will apply.