Don’t Try to Outsmart the SAT
The case against tips and tricks, and a better way to think about test prep
After thirteen years of private SAT tutoring, I’ve seen just about every approach to test prep. Some work. Some don’t. Yet many of the ones that don’t remain stubbornly popular — perhaps because they feel productive, or because people want to believe in shortcuts, or simply because old myths are slow to die. Whatever the reason, flawed strategies give students a false sense of security while quietly costing them points.
Today I want to talk about one such category of strategies. I call them “Vegas Tactics,” and understanding why they fail will tell you a lot about what actually does work on the SAT and what to look for when considering a tutor, course, or prep book.
What Are Vegas Tactics?
Vegas Tactics are rules of thumb based on superficial features of the answer choices themselves. Things like:
“Avoid strong language.” The idea that answer choices containing words like “always” or “never” are usually wrong. (The truth: they’re wrong when the passage doesn’t support them, and right when it does.)
“Eliminate the first and last options.” The belief that correct answers cluster in the middle. (Answer placement is randomized.)
“Pick the longest answer” (or the shortest). Both versions assume that level of detail correlates with correctness. It doesn’t.
“Avoid value judgments.” The idea that words like “should” or “shouldn’t” are tells that an answer is wrong, as though the SAT only traffics in neutral, opinion-free statements. In reality, passages regularly advance arguments, and correct answers often reflect those arguments.
“Avoid the ‘obvious’ answer — it’s probably a trap.” If an answer seems too good to be true, don't assume there must be some trap you’re overlooking. Instead, verify.
“It’s been a while since I picked C.” Sequences are randomized. If you're allocating attention to this type of stuff during the test, you’re losing.
Why Vegas Tactics Are Harmful, Not Just Unhelpful
The danger of Vegas Tactics isn’t merely that they’re unreliable. The more serious problem is that they actively work against good test-taking.
First, they cause second-guessing. This is a scenario I see often in practice: a student identifies the correct answer through solid reading and reasoning, then backs out at the last second because the answer “sounds too strong” or “seems too obvious.” The student had the right answer. The Vegas Tactic took it away. You hate to see it.
Second, they shift a student’s attention to the wrong place. A student applying Vegas Tactics is scanning answer choices for surface-level “tells” instead of doing the actual work the test requires: carefully evaluating each choice against what the text actually says. This is a fundamental misdirection of attention. It trains students to approach the SAT as a game of odds rather than a skills-based assessment.
But the SAT is a skills-based assessment, and its very, very good at obtaining the information it seeks. You’re not going to outsmart the College Board into believing your skill level is higher than it actually is. Those tempted to go the Vegas route would do well to remember: the house always wins.
Three Approaches to Test Prep
When I look at the broader landscape of SAT preparation, I see three general approaches, each with a different relationship to the test itself.
The first is the Vegas Tactics approach. It treats the SAT as a poker opponent to be gamed rather than a set of substantive skills to be mastered. It’s the most superficial of the three, and the least likely to help students achieve their highest potential. At its worst, it actively decreases a student's test taking skills.
The second is the long-term skill-building approach. This means things like building vocabulary through wide reading, improving reading comprehension by working through challenging books and articles, or developing deeper critical thinking ability. These are genuinely valuable pursuits to be encouraged for any student regardless of testing. But they’re inelastic, slow to mature. Most students work with a prep timeline of one to four months, and on that short a runway, going deep and wide is unlikely to translate into a substantial score increase. The skills are important, but the payoff horizon extends beyond most students’ test dates.
The third approach runs down the middle. This is the one I take. It focuses on building substantive, test-relevant skills that are rigorous enough to hold up under pressure but targeted enough to produce significant gains within a realistic prep window. This isn’t “tips and tricks” but neither is it “just read lots of great literature.” It’s disciplined work on specific reasoning methods, question-type strategies, and verification techniques that directly address what the SAT is actually testing.
One of the central frameworks in my approach is what I call the Cross-Examiner’s Toolbox: a set of concrete verification tests that students learn to apply to answer choices. These tests aren’t shortcuts or schemes for exploiting loopholes. They’re structured methods for evaluating whether an answer is genuinely supported by the passage or whether it’s subtly introducing something the text doesn’t actually say. The goal is to train students to read and reason with precision, which is exactly what the SAT rewards.
When Guessing Is the Right Call
There are of course moments during the test when a student genuinely has to guess. You’re running out of time. You’ve hit a question well beyond your current skill level. Fatigue or anxiety has made it impossible to think clearly. In those moments, it’s fine to make your best guess and move on. In fact, it’s strategically imperative you do so.
But there’s a critical difference between “I’ve exhausted my tools on this question and I’m making a strategic guess” and “I’m going to eliminate answer choices based on whether they contain the word ‘always.’” The former is pragmatic. The latter is superstition wearing the costume of strategy.
What This Means for Your Student
If your child is preparing for SAT Reading, one of the most important things you can do is make sure they’re building real skills, not filling up a bag of tricks. While effective test prep does focus on relatively “elastic” skills, it should still feel more like actual learning than cramming with a cheat sheet. The methods your student practices should consistently bring their focus back to the relationship between the answer and the text. Understanding of that relationship is exactly what the test is designed to measure, and the best way to meet that challenge is head-on.
That’s what I focus on in my courses and in my one-on-one tutoring: equipping students with a disciplined, repeatable approach to the SAT Reading & Writing section that holds up on test day because it builds the skills the test rewards, not luck.
My SAT Reading & Writing Crash Course for the June 6th administration starts May 20th. If your student wants focused, skill-based preparation, not tips and tricks, this course was built for exactly that. Enroll by midnight on May 14th and use code EB626 at checkout to save $50.
You can find the full curriculum, schedule, and enrollment details here: https://walkerprep.podia.com/june-2026-sat-crash-course
~ Dave