Hi Matt,

I see that you are an avid gamer, a dad? and a teacher, so you seem like the ideal person to answer my questions. I have twin 16 year olds who failed (miserably) the SAT in the fall test(s). I bought them an SAT board game by the For Dummies people at Christmas. Partly is was as a joke, mostly it was as a way or “bridging the gap” (meaning making them feel like I got it - the SAT is a bitch) and somewhat it was in the hopes that maybe playing a board game would actually help them prepare for the test. (guides certainly weren’t helping). The long and short of this monolog is that my kids have become obsessed with the game - to the point that their friends actually come over to play. My issue is that the likelihood that they will open a study guide at this point has gone from 30% to 0%. Please tell me that this game is actually useful and not some gimmick.

thought?

Well, I know nothing about the game.  However, there are two ways people can <somewhat> easily increase their SAT scores. 

The first, and most important, is to become comfortable with the test format.  If the game presents some questions in that format, that’s a huge bonus.

Second, people can study vocabulary words.  I can’t imagine a boardgame around the SAT isn’t exposing them to some sort of new vocabulary… that’s a good thing.  Many of my honors physics students are making notecard flash cards with vocabulary on them in the effort to possibly increase their verbal score.

My one recommendation would be to compare the game to some example tests or questions in the SAT informational booklet or even a SAT guide.  Not that they have to work through the guide, but sitting down and taking a “practice” test even once will go a long way to making them more comforatable and thus more prepared for the actual test.  (Shoot, perhaps you could make a wager and take a copy of the practice test yourself… winner(s) get to choose where everyone goes out to eat...)

Hey Matt,

Just following up. In fact, to my surprise, playing SAT Game for Dummies did not cause my teenagers to abandon study guides all together. (phew!) In fact, I found once found one of them study on the sly, so he could beat his brother at the game! Whether the game, the guides, or a combination of the two, I am happy and relieved to report that they both improved remarkably on their SAT scores between January and June.

(Now my wife and I are hooked! - who knew I had forgotten so much high school math!)

J