As a teacher, you know just how important it is to prepare your students for standardized testing. SAT scores are a hot topic for high schoolers. Most colleges and universities around the country require SAT scores for admission, but they have other uses for them as well. 

Colleges and universities also use SAT scores to:

• Award scholarships
• Recruit students to their schools
• Determine what advisor to place you with
• Offer academic support
• Determine class placement during freshman year

And while most community colleges and trade schools don’t require them for admission, your students can use SAT scores to improve their applications to these programs as well. Proper test prep will prepare your students for success on the SAT.

When you take a look at the format of the SAT, you’ll notice that there are four distinct sections:

1. The reading section focuses on comprehension of passages from literature, history, social sciences, and natural sciences
2. The writing and language section focuses on grammar, vocabulary, and editing
3. The math section focuses on Algebra I and II, geometry, and trigonometry
4. The essay section focuses on writing a persuasive argument

So you might be thinking that your students’ English and math classes are the only ones that really matter when it comes to SAT prep. In fact, having a strong technology curriculum can also position your students for SAT success.

Here are 11 ways technology can prepare students for SAT testing:

1. Motivation

Students are naturally drawn to technology. From using apps to creating slideshows to watching videos and messaging their teachers and peers, technology in the classroom is a motivational force for getting students to learn simply because it’s fun. 

2. Participation

Kids are very self-conscious—particularly during the tween and teen years—so it’s not uncommon for some students to avoid participating in class activities simply because they don’t want others to focus on them. But with the help of digital tools, students can actively participate in class without feeling like the center of attention. When they’re actively participating, they’re learning.

3. Engagement

Engagement is the most important factor in the learning process. Without it, students’ minds tend to wander off. But when students are engaged, they begin to understand the material on a deeper level, and they can see real-world applications for it. With a strong technology curriculum, student engagement increases exponentially because it uses multimedia resources to present new information, and the result is that students are able to retain it long-term.   

4. Focus

Focus is what helps students stay on task while taking SAT prep courses and taking an SAT practice test before the big day. Completing dynamic activities in their technology classroom certainly does. And it’s developing their ability to focus that will help your child raise their average test score.

5. Supplementation

Technology curriculum doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It often draws from other subject areas with cross-curricular material. From English to math, science, and social studies, technology is often used to supplement material from other disciplines by using digital resources to expand on existing knowledge. So when you’re wondering how to prepare students for the SAT, consider all of the ways technology can help your student do that.

6. Differentiation

Technology use in the classroom is another great strategy teachers use to differentiate learning. Let’s say the goal is for your child to learn how to create a slideshow, and he or she is really into a certain author or genre. The teacher can simply ask your child to design a slideshow biography. Taking their personal interests into account while teaching a new skill helps a student retain information. So when certain literature questions come up on the SAT test, it will trigger what your child has already learned about this author and their genre and prepare them to answer those questions correctly.

7. Information

The point of building a technology curriculum isn’t about students memorizing the history of technological advancements. Rather, it’s about learning how to use digital tools to access information quickly and easily. And when high school students reach proficiency in accessing materials, it helps them with SAT preparation in more ways than you can imagine.

8. Simplification

A strong technology curriculum has an incredible way of taking overly complicated information and simplifying it through interactive lessons that make sense. And the more students practice applying new information and building new skills, the more their confidence grows and the more they remember later on.

9. Review

Running through flashcards for three days straight before test day is not the best way to practice for the SAT. But reviewing smaller bits of information over a longer period of time and developing a deep understanding of that information certainly is. With a good technology program, students are already gaining experience studying this way (for example: posting answers on a class whiteboard.

10. Preparation

A strong technology curriculum familiarizes students with how to use apps and other tools online. There are a ton of good SAT prep apps and resources on the market that can help them get the SAT math practice and SAT reading practice they’re searching for.

11. Simulation

Lastly, students enrolled in technology classes are proficient in using simulators in the classroom. And that can really come in handy when it’s time to use the College Board’s test simulator to gain SAT prep online.