Social Studies teacher Peter Loch has added SAT prep to his teaching course load, guiding students through practice questions. His class functions as a mix of lesson plans and Khan Academy assignments and he assists students with all the help they need.
“The administration wanted to focus on helping students achieve their goals when it comes to college,” Loch said. “We work on skills that students need to be successful on the SAT. We do a bunch of different stuff on the online program to improve their skills. We’re trying to build good habits, and if they do these consistently they can be successful not only on the SAT, but in their other classes too.”
Murphy Russell ’25, took the class last year and saw much progression from her past year’s scores. With an hour of dedication each day, this daily practice can help encourage students to push themselves and strive for success. Students who took the class last year see much growth.
“I took this class because I’ve never been the best standardized test taker,” Russel said. “I felt that being in the class helped me improve my skills. The class itself has helped me prepare in many different ways, whether it was a test on paper or online, and it helps you focus on a certain category like math if I needed help on that most.”
Students taking it this year, like Elle Petz ’26 are preparing for the spring SAT, which is fast approaching. The class has taken in students of all grades looking to boost their knowledge and learn skills for the big day.
“A casual day in our class consists of Khan Academy lessons, and Mr. Loch going over common questions you would see on the SAT,” Petz said. “I took this class because since it is a student center, Mr. Loch can help us, and I want to get a better score on the SAT. The Khan Academy lessons go over questions you would normally see and refresh what you have learned.”
The SAT prep class has been using many different resources to accommodate students’ needs and what they will most recognize on this test. Such as the recent new format of the online SAT. These resources help get students more comfortable with online tests.
“The main resources we used at SAT prep are NEWSELA and Khan Academy,” Russell said. “They are both great to use, especially because they are online and the SAT recently got moved online as well. Using these online resources has helped me get more recognizable with the online SAT format.”
