Episode 16 – Anna Klinger on Perfect SAT Scores, Test Prep Strategy, and Cracking the College Admissions Code

In this episode of the SupportED Learning Podcast, Dr. Joe Sebestyen sits down with Anna Klinger, a UC Berkeley PhD student and perfect 1600 SAT scorer, to break down what it really takes to achieve top SAT scores and stand out in today’s competitive college admissions landscape. Anna shares how she approached the test strategically and why most students rely on inefficient study methods that limit their results.

Dr. Joe Sebestyen and Anna Klinger explore the psychology of high performance, the inefficiencies in traditional test prep, and how the digital SAT is reshaping the competitive landscape for students. From time management and pattern recognition to strategic studying and avoiding costly prep programs, this conversation reveals what actually works when aiming for top-tier scores and competitive college placement. The discussion also highlights how self-directed learning, access to the right resources, and understanding the structure of the test can dramatically improve outcomes.

This episode is especially valuable for students, parents, and educators looking for effective SAT prep strategies, stronger academic performance, and a smarter path to college admissions success.

Free SAT resources mentioned in this episode:
Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/sat
College Board Bluebook (Digital SAT Practice): https://bluebook.collegeboard.org/
SAT Subreddit (r/SAT): https://www.reddit.com/r/Sat/
Desmos Calculator (Digital SAT tool): https://www.desmos.com/calculator
Anna’s Universe (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/@annas-universe

Thanks for tuning in to the SupportED Learning Podcast with Dr. Joe Sebestyen. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe for more insights on education, critical thinking, and AI integration in learning. Visit our website at supportedtutoring.com

Remember to share this podcast with fellow parents and educators who are passionate about reimagining education for tomorrow's world. Until next time, keep supporting learning! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You're listening to the Support Ed Learning Podcast, where we challenge the status quo of education and reimagine what learning should be. I'm Dr. Joe Sebastian, and in every episode we dive into critical thinking, Bloom's Taxonomy, educational innovation, and how AI is shaping the future of learning. Whether you're a teacher, parent, policymaker, or lifelong learner, you're in the right place to rethink, reshape, and revive education. All right, in the next hour, Anna Klinger is going to walk you through exactly how she scored a perfect SAT 1600 and why she's now giving away those strategies for free to over 40,000 students on YouTube. No theory, just what actually works. Welcome back to the Supported Learning Podcast. I'm Dr. Joe Sebastian. Families often ask me how to navigate the maze of college prep without wasting thousands of dollars and years of time. The answer usually involves finding the people who have figured out the rules of the game that schools aren't telling you. This is why I'm thrilled to have Anna Klinger here today. Anna is a chemical engineering PhD student at UC Berkeley, a perfect 1600 SAT scorer, and the creator of Anna's Universe, a YouTube channel with over 40,000 subscribers, where she teaches SAT strategies, does real-time digital SAT speedruns, and shares college emissions advice. We're going to dive into what actually takes to crack the SAT at the highest level, why most families are overpaying for test prep, and how the digital SAT has changed the game. Anna, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Hello, thank you so much for having me on. It's my pleasure to be here.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

I've given them the highlight reel, but I want to hear from you. We're going to give them the 60 seconds snapshot of who you are, what was the specific problem you solved for students and families, and how you've accomplished that over the past uh years with education.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Yeah, so my name's Anna. Um I'm a PhD student at UC Berkeley right now, but I'm probably more known in the SAT world for my YouTube channel, Anna's Universe. Um I started it way back in middle school, but it really transitioned into an SAT prep source in high school after I scored a 1600. Um I basically try to provide every single tip I have, all of the advice that I've gained from preparing for so long and tutoring students over the years. Um, I can really gather the tips that work best for me and the tips that work for both the average student, the very high-performing student, a very broad range of students. So I really try to make my test prep content very accessible for the average student, maybe somebody who has never seen the SAT ever before, or somebody who's really wants to get that 1600. It's targeted towards all of those.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

Everyone sees that perfect 1600 and the Berkeley PhD, but I want to deconstruct the engine behind that. So let's start with act what actually got you there.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

So 2020 then is the pandemic, and you're a high school senior in Ann Arbor, Michigan. And um, when did you take the SAT?

SPEAKER_01 3:32

So I took it during the school SAT. So in September, like during the school day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

So T minus uh six months before the or was that during the shutdown? No, that was no before the let's see.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

It was six months after the shutdown.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Okay, after the shutdown, because we shut, yeah, because it was 1920 school year that was the shutdown. So we came back in 2020. I mean, I it's crazy. Like now it's like history, but it's uh okay, so what did they do during the pandemic?

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Oh yeah, they stayed closed until basically my graduation. So I missed the last.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Did you even go back to in-person at all during that time?

SPEAKER_01 4:10

No, we did like a hybrid the last month of school for me. But I basically spent a year and a half secluded in my home, lots of time on my hands, okay. School from bed, probably not the best idea.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Okay. So were you a senior or were you junior that when you got the perfect score?

SPEAKER_01 4:28

I was a senior, like just starting senior year.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Okay, so like no idea what the the landscape looks like. You schools closed, world turned upside down, and you go into your SAT. Did you take it in person? Was it digital?

SPEAKER_01 4:43

Yeah, so I took it in person, like before they switched to the digital SAT.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

It was a little bit different because of COVID, and I think this actually helped me a lot. I was surrounded by not strangers, but like my classmates and friends. So I think that helped lower my anxiety a lot, which I think is one of the biggest things in succeeding is just controlling your mindset day of. We were also all um a little bit separated, like six feet apart. So the room was a little bit less crowded, which I think also helped me.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Right. Did you do like traditional prep for it? Was prep different? What did it look like?

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Yeah, so I did actually quite a lot of prep, um, but maybe not as much as some people think.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

So basically, in middle school, I learned that the SAT was like an important test that you should do well on. So I started with like the 2016 SAT prep content, um, which looked much different than what you should use now or what's even good to prep with. But that's what I started with, just like learning vocabulary and just expanding my vocabulary a little bit very early on. But I didn't really start preparing until maybe my sophomore junior year of high school. And and that looked like um I took a lot of the Khan Academy, all the eight practice tests that College Board offered, and like doing the Khan Academy free prep first. Then when I exhausted that, I actually went on the SAT subreddit. That was kind of my my haven for a while. Okay. Um, they had these things called QAS, which it was when people take a test, they can pay to get the all the all the answers and like the explanations. So a lot of people like had those on Reddit, and um there was like a whole Google drive of them. So I got like a lot of extra prep that way, just like seeking out a lot of extra resources. And then finally, or yeah, then finally I used Prep Scholar because I I actually begged my parents. I'm like, I really want to get as high a score as possible on this. I was very self-motivated, and I ended up using Prep Scholar as like their online program, and that was very helpful for me, I think.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

So you were pretty self-motivated, it sounds like to do that much reps. So it sounds like you got literally thousands of reps at SAT questions.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

I wouldn't even say that much. I think total, it sounds like a lot, but it was maybe 50 or 100 hours total of prep throughout the year.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Still a lot.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

And I think it it's you have to be self-motivated. I think that's the key thing to take away is like you need to find as a student why you're motivated to do well. You need to become like obsessed with the SAT, obsessed enough to make a YouTube channel afterwards and keep keep going with it. But yeah, so I think that's that was helpful for me doing well.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

Um Yeah, before we get into the YouTube channel thing, so I guess you get your score report back, you open it up, and you see a 1600. What was your reaction?

SPEAKER_01 7:57

It was insane. So I actually I had my dad open it for me because I was scared. This was like my last chance. It wasn't that high stress of a situation because I had already taken it a couple times before and done well on it. This was just the free one offered by my school, so very low stakes. Um, I said, just I'll give it a shot. And my dad was like, okay, open your eyes. I opened them and I screamed, I think. It was an insane moment that I'll always remember.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

That's really cool. Um so I guess then what happened? Like you were already you've already sent out applications, I assume, or were in that pro or you weren't in prize.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

No, it was just in time for me to start sending out applications to school. So that was very good timing. That was probably the September, the October SAT your senior year is like the last chance you get before college admissions.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Okay. So did that change anything for you? Did that like what what was the strat how was the strategy different after that?

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Yeah, I felt a lot more reassured and relieved. I think in the long run, it didn't help as much as I thought it would. Like I still got rejected by a fair amount of schools. It's not the make or break of an application at all. So like once you get above a certain score, you shouldn't worry too much about getting a 1600. That's not necessarily a good use of your time, but it can be helpful. Like I think it got me a lot more scholarships than I probably wouldn't have gotten. But I think more important was what I did after the 1600, like doing the teaching and the more outreach portion of it, I think really resonated with some of the like scholarship programs.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

So you got into Michigan, right?

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Is that where you wanted to go? I mean, you literally right down the street from there.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

Yes, that was one of my dream schools for sure. I also got into UC Berkeley for undergrad, and that was another one of my dream schools. Yes, it was just not financially a viable option being an out-of-state student.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

But you know, did they give you scholarship money to potentially go there?

SPEAKER_01 10:09

No. So Berkeley didn't do any scholarships, which was a little unfortunate. So Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

And I assume Michigan, Michigan gave you probably a lot, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:18

They gave me a full ride. So that was paid to go to school basically in my undergrad.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:25

So it's definitely worth getting a high score, right? Like can save a lot of money financially and just lead to some really good opportunities.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Well, I have to I have to ask just because of what we do, but do you did you do well on your AP exams as well?

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Yeah, so I did um I did pretty well on them. I got fours and fives on all of them, mostly fives.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

I think a couple fours, and I got a lot of AP credit that I could use in college for that as well.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

So help you get through um your degree faster. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Not faster, because that my degree specifically, they make you take all four years basically. It's not possible to graduate early, but I got to take a much lighter load than all my classmates. I got to do two minors and a concentration and just do a lot more with my time, I think. And it was made college more fun and like more enjoyable for me.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Sure. So, okay, so then we get through college. So when when did you start your YouTube channel?

SPEAKER_01 11:26

I started it in middle school way back in the day. And if you go back before the SAT, so I was always really into like the skits on YouTube. I loved making little animations and stop motions. So that's actually how it started. It's not really educational content, yeah, but um just more like fun content. And then in high school, I think it took a little change. I started making like geology animations, and I figured out I really like teaching and like sharing with people just about things I'm passionate about. And then after I got the 1600, I did have a moment where I needed to get my moment on Reddit and post a screenshot of it to Reddit. And that's when it exploded. The cut there were like a hundred comments, everyone was asking for my tips and like how did I do it? And I just kept typing like paragraphs and paragraphs to people and kind of trying to think through like, how did I do this? And I ended up getting so overwhelmed trying to answer everyone that I just made a series of videos on YouTube to direct people to um for like if they needed advice on the SAT. And those videos took off way more than I ever thought they would. It turned into um a couple million views total with that series, and people in the comments were reaching out saying their scores were increasing from like a 1200 to a 1500 just by watching one video and just like diligently applying those tips. So that to me was like a moment where I I knew I wanted to keep making SAT content and helping people.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Well, that's really, really cool because like that's the heart of a teacher. You're you're a giver, you want to give things away. Um, and it's it's funny because your impact is so large, you're 40,000, right? And I it and I know you obviously you do have uh you do help kids, um, you do charge a little bit for tuition, but um, do you find when we give things away, people pay attention to what they say. It seems like they've actually put that in action on your YouTube channel if they're if they're making those comments.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Yeah, so I'd say a lot of people, hundreds of people, have like implemented the tips, put them to use, and seen increases in their scores that like the private SAT tutoring companies are offering, like 150, 200 points.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Right. That's crazy. So I guess what makes your approach to SAT different from Kaplan from Princeton Review or like a $200 private hour tutor?

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Yeah, so that's still I'm still trying to grapple with that. I think the main thing is I make SAT prep more approachable for people and very close to the actual content of the test. I think I've had a lot of experience. I've spent many hours looking at these questions, kind of picking them apart in a way that maybe some of these bigger test prep companies don't always do really diligently. Right. Um, and especially with the digital SAT, you can break it down question by question and master every single question. So I think like some of the content I do helps people to do that better and really just like gives them the toolkit. Because a lot of it is just the strategy of test taking and not um not the actual knowledge.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

I gotcha. Okay. So you figured out the system, kind of like let's break it down for potential parents um listening. So if a student came to you today with like a 1300 and was like, I want to get a 1500 plus, what's the first thing you diagnose and where do you start?

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Yeah, so it I'd ask them which section is their weakest section. So reading or math. Usually it's reading for people, which I like to hear because reading is my stronger section, I think. Um, and I'll basically have them take a practice test if they haven't taken one yet. If they have taken one, I'll have them break it down section by section. College board classifies kind of how good you are at every single subsection of the reading section in the math section. And usually if somebody's getting a 1300, there's gonna be like one or two weaker sections. We're gonna focus on those exact sections, go through, and I'll I'll watch them do Khan Academy prep. Like it's nothing super novel. Like, I'll just have them go through Khan Academy, have them walk through what they're doing to me. And usually we'll find flaws in their thought process, or just like they won't be able to walk through how they're doing it. So then I'll walk them through how I would approach that question. They can then by having to teach it to somebody, it kind of implements like you have to know what you're doing if you're teaching it. So I think that kind of helps people the quickest. I'll give them like some rapid-fire tips on the specific questions that they struggle most with. And then usually within like two minutes of hearing a tip, they're getting all the questions right in that section instead of getting them all wrong. Like you can go from getting them all wrong to all right in the specific question category just by understanding what it's asking and making sure you're not falling into the common pitfalls that people make. And it depends, it's student dependent a little bit. So that's where like the more private tutoring approach can help. But I think you can do this your on your own as well.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

Yeah, I I got you. Um that's I think that's key for parents to hear, but also like important to pause in that because you know, ultimately, I guess, excuse me. Excuse me. Um if you broke down your framework, right, what would be the key pillars in how you approach SAT prep? This episode is brought to you by Supported Tutoring, where we don't just help students get better grades, we help them become critical thinkers. Whether it's mastering AP exams, maximizing college applications, or building lifelong learning habits, our expert tutors focus on critical thinking, confidence, and real growth. Head to supportedtutoring.com to find the support your student deserves. If you broke down your framework, right, what would be the key pillars in how you approach SAT prep?

SPEAKER_01 18:18

Let's see. Um like one-on-one or like to a broader audience? Because I think it kind of depends.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Okay. So what uh so I guess if a student comes with it comes to you, can we get a little specific, I guess? So you mentioned the reading the writing section or the um meet reading and math section. Um if a student comes with you, comes there scoring 700, how do you get them to an 800?

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Um for the math section you said?

SPEAKER_00 18:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Yeah. So I would break down what category they're making the most mistakes in. So very targeted prep. You're not gonna waste your time studying the things that you already know, because you already know seven eighths of the test, right? So you only really need to get really good at that one-eighth and then pr prevent yourself from making careless mistakes. One of my pillars, I think, is preventing careless mistakes, like making students walk through in their head why they're saying a certain answer choice and making sure they eliminate every single other choice. Because that's the only way you're gonna guarantee to not fall into the trap answer choices. I think also um one of my pillars is having students um classify their mistakes. So a mistakes tracker is very important. You can do it with a spreadsheet, a notebook. Um, some platforms have this built into it, but honestly, a good old spreadsheet works well. You just classify it, you write down the question, the answer choice you picked, the answer choice that's correct, and then you think about it. And you think, why did I make this mistake? How can I avoid this in the future? This might be something that AI can help with now. You can like go over all of your mistakes, type it into Chat GPT or something, have it output um like the exact concepts that are relevant for those questions, and how you can avoid personally making that mistake. But it's really a self-reflection thing. And I think a lot of uh SAT prep is just being internally motivated. So like having somebody externally to help you, that's great, but it's it really comes from within, and you have to find a way why you're motivated to do well.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Okay. Is this same true for the uh English part of it?

SPEAKER_01 20:51

Yeah, I would say it applies probably it's easier to fix mistakes with math and with grammar. Like the grammar section of reading are the easiest points to pinpoint. Like when someone comes to me and is like, oh, I'm horrible at grammar, I'm like, yes, that's the easiest part to fix extremely quickly. Like we can get you up like 150 points in one session, basically.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

So you have something called a speed run through the SAT. Like, what what is that? What actually is it? What is that and why does it work so well?

SPEAKER_01 21:27

The speed runs, that's very funny. So that's basically my clickbait title for it. But basically, it's a my attempt at a real-time walkthrough of an SAT. Sometimes it runs a little longer because I'm explaining, but I think they're effective because it shows students exactly how I would think through it. Like as somebody who's very familiar with the SAT, like, how do I think through this? What mistakes did I almost make as I'm going through this? And that's probably going to be a very common mistake because all the questions are designed for people. Make mistakes on. That's how you get variations in score. Like there's going to be trap answer choices, there's going to be misleading phrases in the question. So the key is to avoid falling into those. And seeing somebody walk through start to finish a question or a whole section can really help you do that.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Gotcha. Okay. So the um the SAT went digital after you've already got your perfect SAT, and now you're helping kids with that. Um, how does this change the strategy? Are there things students can't exploit in the digital format that they couldn't before?

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Definitely. So I am actually pretty excited that the SAT changed. I think it's easier in some ways and harder in some ways too. It's harder because the question, you have less time for question now. So you have to kind of speed run through it, borrowing from my series name. Um, but it's easier in a lot of ways too. I think the reading is easier because you no longer have to read those very, very bulky passages. There's only like a short paragraph max, or sometimes two short paragraphs maxed per question. And each question has a different passage associated with it. So that means if like back in the day, the historical passages were everyone's worst nightmare. Like that is where people lose points because of the archaic language. Like you can just not understand some of the words and miss questions because of that. I think that's harder to do now. It's made the SAT more inclusive, I think. And it's just better overall. I think there's less jargon. It's more in line with news articles, like things that are going to be relevant to the majority of people. So I think it's easier to study for just by reading normal things, the news. You don't need to be reading crazy historical passages to prepare. There's only going to be a few questions like that now, instead of a whole fifth of the reading section like that, and another fifth on like very heavy literature. I think for the math section, um, you can now use Desmos on it. And that is a huge win. That is the biggest thing. It basically makes the whole math section very easily solvable, even if you don't have the graph and calculator software. So again, making it more inclusive, um, making it just lower barrier to entry. But I would say one of the biggest things is just learning when to use Desmos and when not to use Desmos. A lot of students get really caught up on overusing Desmos now, when sometimes it's not as useful for a question. It's easier to do it by hand, but it's always good for um like the linear equations, just different types of questions that used to take minutes to solve now take seconds. And once you catch those tricks, you can save that time and spend them on the hardest questions. I would say also for the math section, the last few questions in the section have gotten a lot harder than they used to be. So they're actually like pretty challenging. Even for a chemical engineer graduate student, sometimes I have to think about it a little bit. Right. I get humbled occasionally.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

So then, okay, so there's there's there's families that are gonna invest, there's families that are not gonna invest, right? There's there's families that need free resources, um, and there's a bunch of stuff out there, right? What are worthwhile? What are the what resources would you recommend? You mentioned a couple earlier, but I guess just what what are some resources that this is really good if you don't have money to invest, if you're not gonna invest, um, what should what's what is what's the playbook basically?

SPEAKER_01 26:00

Yes, so the free playbook is my favorite to recommend because I really don't think it's really necessary to invest in outside resources that often, unless you've really used up everything that's free. Because the free resources are the most accurate. Khan Academy was created by College Board. It has the section breakdown exactly how you're gonna see in the actual test. Um, the blue book exams, I recommend taking the tests exactly in the the real condition that you're gonna be taking the test in. So download Blue Book, that's a their free software that the SAT is offered on, and then take all of their practice tests somewhat spread out, and use Khan Academy's SAT prep program, which is also free and sponsored by College Board, basically. So it's the most accurate resource, and learn all of the topics based on what you're struggling most on on those real exams. You'll figure out pretty quickly if time is an issue, if there's like specific topics that are challenging. And if you're motivated enough, you can look into extra content for some of those really tricky sections. Um, but yeah, that's my favorite thing to recommend for people. It's pretty basic, but it's it works.

SPEAKER_00 27:23

Okay, cool. The the then there's families that are going to invest in SAT prep. Where should they put it? Like what's worth paying for, what's worth investing in?

SPEAKER_01 27:33

Mm-hmm. So this is tough. I haven't tried out all of the like paid resources, but I know that Prep Scholar worked well for me in high school, for the non-digital SAT at least. And I have seen people be really successful with it for the digital SAT as well. And it gives you they do a very good job of emulating the College Board style of questions. I think a lot of test prep companies don't do that very well. Like they don't put enough effort into matching the exact question style, and you're just going to be wasting your time if it's not the exact things that College Board is testing you on. That's it's you really want to be studying for the test, which is sad. Like you should be building your skills. I mean, it's a little bit stupid that it's is that way, but but you can basically study for specifically for the SAT with the free resources. And I would say Prep Scholar is a good resource.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

So why do people pay money for it if you can do it for free?

SPEAKER_01 28:36

I think it's it's easier to kind of throw money at a problem than really diagnose what's what's going wrong. And so people who have money can use that as a as a method to succeed when maybe it's not really necessary or doesn't really help everybody as much as it's maybe advertised.

SPEAKER_00 29:03

People pay attention when they pay though.

SPEAKER_01 29:06

They do. That's another thing, is I think it adds a level of external motivation for students. If their parent is paying $1,000 for a private class or a private tutor, they're gonna feel a little bit more pressured to study. And I think that is kind of the most that private tutoring and like the really expensive prep programs offer people, which can be good. Like if you have that money and you need that motivation to succeed, I think that is a good option for people. But I don't think it's necessary.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

So that's essentially the system. You kind of walked us through that. I guess what let's talk about what doesn't work. What's the biggest mistake you see students making when they prep for the SAT?

SPEAKER_01 29:55

Um, let's see. I would say studying what they know already. It's very easy to do that because you feel really good when you're answering all the questions that you do really well on. Like, say you're really good at grammar, you can go through ace the entire grammar section of the reading test, but then maybe you really don't want to study the geometry section of math. And people will put off the sections that they don't like for as long as they can. And I'm guilty of that too, like in my schooling for sure. But I think you really have to be uncomfortable, like get comfortable with being uncomfortable and not knowing things and trying to figure out a way to learn that in a way that you can understand.

SPEAKER_00 30:42

Interesting. I see, I keep I keep seeing the the pattern that you're describing. Like there is there is a it's a very iterative process, which is very similar to what we do for test prep, right? Because but there essentially is you're putting in a high volume of work, but you're being reflective in your practice, and you're at least you're self-correcting and being able to measure where you are to where you want to go. Kids also kids just don't do that. Like most most of the time. You're you are unique in that way, but I mean it is a very good process what you're describing.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Yeah, I feel like the biggest pitfall for people is taking all the practice tests as fast as they can in not the real conditions, and then they're out of prep. You really kind of want to savor the closest resource you have to the SAT. It's a little bit you gotta um, you gotta kind of plan it or take some gambles if you're like, oh, am I gonna take an SAT after this? But you wanna kind of be strategic with how you take the actual practice test and don't waste that. Like, you're only going to get as much out of it as like what you're learning from each one. Like if you just take it, get a 1300 and say, okay, I got a 1300. Like, that's not helpful. You're still gonna score 1300 the next time. You really have to make the most out of every single practice test that you have.

SPEAKER_00 32:13

See, like I agree. Like, we we do that at the end of our test prep. We want to simulate the real conditions a minimum of four times because like how many students are going to actually take four full-length AP practice tests before their actual exam? And that's usually where we see the fours and fives come. It's like where I say we're not miracle workers, it's just we hold kids accountable, we create a feedback loop, we teach them the skills, but ultimately the volume of work helps them. They're just not going to do it on their own. But because the AP exam, almost 50% of the exams are subjective by FRQs, they do need that iterative process of like where they're going wrong, where they go. But you've kind of it seems like you've kind of perfected it in terms of the SAT with your volume of work. So you said AI tools will play a role in that, and they think they can. Do you have any there to recommend, or where do you see this going with AI being a thing now?

SPEAKER_01 33:10

They could. I think AI is a very good equalizing resource for people. It's helped me a lot in um in grad school. Like, I can if you use it correctly, it's a very good resource. Um I think the problem comes when people overrely on it or if they're maybe not asking the right prompts. Like, I think the way to use AI for the SAT would be getting it to explain your mistakes, not getting it to generate content for you. I don't think it's very good at that yet, at least. And I'm a little scared of AI. Hopefully, it doesn't come for all of our jobs. But um yeah, we might as well use it if it's here, right?

SPEAKER_00 33:53

Um you're in the mother, you're in the motherland for where the AI is coming from. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

I'm in the trenches. There's AI billboards all around your drive. It's like get replaced by AI. Like, oh, hopefully not.

SPEAKER_00 34:07

Yeah. Well, um, I mean, you uh I guess let's well, before we get into that, um, you know, you you've kind of lived you live this in terms of Ann Arbor, Michigan, engineering to Berkeley, PhD bound. Um for a parent, because you're like you're living the life that most of our parents want dream for their kids. Okay. Um so a kid aiming for a top 20 school, how important is the SAT really? What with test optional does it still matter?

SPEAKER_01 34:41

Yeah, so I would say it's moderately important. You can actually see exactly how important it is for each school, which is a pretty you can use the common data set. If you build any school in the common data set, that's gonna tell you exactly how it important it is in their algorithm for determining who gets in. And a lot of the times you'll see it's not as important as you might think. Like it's pretty important, but it's not the end-all-be-all factor. And it's not gonna be like the determining factor. Like I got rejected from Stanford, MIT, Princeton, like all these big schools, right? I got a 1600. That's like the dream for most people, but that doesn't help get you there. A lot of it's luck, a lot of it's just having your extracurriculars maybe stand out in a way that the school is looking for, having a really stellar, shining essay.

SPEAKER_00 35:31

Yeah, so talk about that college. So I assume your GPA was probably phenomenal too.

SPEAKER_01 35:36

Yeah, in high school, yes.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

In yeah, in college for a chemical engineer, yes, I would say I'm sure you had a right, so you so again, and this is what like you know, because obviously you you seem to be interested in college emissions too with SAT. So we we do help kids with that. We want to help kids with those journeys. We refer out to sometimes, but like the because we do get a lot of kids coming there, and it's like I start with foundationally, it is academics, you're not going anywhere without a good GPA, which what is a good GPA? A 3.75 unweighted or higher, right? Like if you want to get into the top schools, then you need a rockin' good SAT score. Um, unfortunately, with score optional, everyone's skewed up. Like now 1500s are like the expectation, not the exception anymore. Yeah, it's like, yeah, you need like a 1540 to get into Stanford. Um and you need those top AP scores too. But I think like you hit on a head, like in terms so I guess were you not? Did you not feel strong about your essay?

SPEAKER_01 36:39

Like what you I mean, you know, no, I felt very strong about my essays as well. Um, I'm a pretty good writer, hopefully. Like I did well on in all my English classes in school.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

I think I think you're gonna be fine. You're a you're a PhD student at UC Berkeley. I think you're gonna be fine.

SPEAKER_01 36:57

It turns out fine. I think the thing is there's a lot of luck involved, and I think a lot of parents are quite scared, like at the high level, if their kids get into Harvard, it's like a very status-driven thing. I think it's important for parents to remember your child will be okay if they don't get into Harvard, if they don't get in the to the crazy elite schools that you want them to get into.

SPEAKER_00 37:20

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

They will find a path if they're driven and motivated, and you have to be driven and motivated to get those the GPA and the SAT that uh you would probably want applying. But at a certain point, it's just luck. And it it just comes down to that. There's a lot of applicants, they're not gonna accept everyone.

SPEAKER_00 37:43

So but you still got to Michigan, which is a top, a very prestigious school. And you got into UT Berkeley as an undergrad, you just didn't go.

SPEAKER_01 37:50

That's true. I think the key, but it's again, like those are very good schools. There are other good schools that didn't admit me. No, I think like it's it's a gamble, right? Like, so you're gonna end up at a good school if you have those scores and you apply to 10 or so schools, right? But it might not be the school that you ultimately really wanted to go to, like that was your favorite dream school top choice.

SPEAKER_00 38:16

But I think sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

Oh, yeah. But I think basically once you get past a certain GPA and a certain SAT score, you should not worry about it anymore. Like it's not worth the increases, they are gonna be marginal after that. Like it's it's more of a limiting factor. If you have too low of a GPA or too low of an SAT score, that might be a red flag for schools and they might reject you. But at a certain point, you're not gonna get rejected for having a 1550. At least in my day. Hopefully, still not.

SPEAKER_00 38:51

No, it's change a little bit, but it's not crazy. So, but you got in there without did you do a passion project?

SPEAKER_01 38:58

I was a big Science Olympiad fan. I'm still involved in Science Olympiad. Unfortunately, it follows you for life. Um, but yeah, my team made it to nationals for the first time in 25 years. Okay. Um, that was kind of my big thing in high school. Um, I got first place nationally in forensics. I had pretty strong extracurriculars. Did a lot of outreach.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 39:24

Yeah. So every like I was kind of the stellar applicant for a lot of these schools, and it's it's luck. I chose to believe that it's luck. Because otherwise, it's something was up with my essays or personality. They didn't like me during the interviews, but I don't know. I find that hard to believe.

SPEAKER_00 39:44

So I guess if I could play devil's advocate, kind of getting back to your uh YouTube channel. Yeah. Um, some people might say a YouTube video can't replace a real tutor. You need someone who knows your kids' weaknesses. How do you respond to that?

SPEAKER_01 40:00

Um, I would say it depends on the YouTube video. Like, I think if you if the YouTube video is targeted towards the specific question that your child is struggling with or their specific problem on the test, I think it can get most of the way to a real tutor in most cases. There might be some exceptional cases, and I think it's faster to have a tutor because then they can kind of direct your student like where they need to be going. But it's definitely, I don't think it's a requirement at all. And I think YouTube can do a lot of what tutors do.

SPEAKER_00 40:43

Okay. Well, I hear you, I hear you. I mean, it's a great instructional tool, right? And you obviously you're doing very well with it. Um, but you've and you've created that content for tens of thousands of students. What is the most common question or fear you hear from students about the SAT and or college emissions?

SPEAKER_01 41:03

Oh, that's a good question. There's a lot of them. I feel like most of the fear comes from, and most of the views come the night before the SAT. Um you'd be surprised in the the spike that happens in my analytics the night before every SAT, which is a little bit concerning because it means people are procrastinating in their prep a little bit. It means the majority of people aren't really worried about their SAT until the night before, and then they're very worried. Then they're in the comments like, I'm gonna fail this, I'm like not gonna get the score I want to get, I'm gonna get rejected from my dream school. Then you get everyone worrying about it then. But I think the key is just to to relax, get in a good state of mind. Like, once it's the night before, I don't think too much else is gonna happen to change your score, unless you maybe apply some of the really fast grammar tips or math tips.

SPEAKER_00 42:00

Yeah, no. I'm I still uh I still have Invisalign. I'm really bad at it. I only do it at night. I should be doing it 20. I mean, my if my orthodontist is is listening, he's probably gonna yell at me. Um I just got sick. I stopped like wearing it daily, and then it's like I'm making very so like I think I I see him in like two or three weeks, and I'm like, I'm still on, I should be changing every two weeks, and I'm so behind. We're starting to be panic. And like I it's like cramming before the dentist, right? Like you're not gonna you're good, it's gonna, it's gonna suck. Like you're not doing that right.

SPEAKER_01 42:36

I mean, that's I'm so guilty of this too. Like every test, I'm like, why do I procrastinate until the night before and then pull an all-nighter? This happens with like basically every test, which is not good. I do not recommend doing this at all. But sometimes it's hard. It's hard.

SPEAKER_00 42:51

Right, right, right. Um, well, let's switch gears for a little bit and move over to our lightning round. You I break the rules every time. I give the so I basically just gonna ask you five or six questions. First thing that comes to mind, just say it. If you want to explain, you can, but there's no explanation necessary. Okay. All right. Ready?

SPEAKER_01 43:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:09

All right. Uh, most overrated SAT prep strategy right now.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

Oh, this is an old one. Picking all C's. People just used to pick all Ts.

unknown 43:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:22

One thing parents overthink about their kids' test scores.

SPEAKER_01 43:26

Um past a 1550, it doesn't really matter. Prof past a 1500, it probably doesn't really matter. I don't think you should be stressing your kid out to get a 1600. That's my hot take.

SPEAKER_00 43:40

One thing parents underthink.

SPEAKER_01 43:43

Um, I think uh students' internal motivation.

unknown 43:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 43:49

Your student has to want to do well. So like explaining why the SAT is important, like making like a goal sheet with them, like what will this help me accomplish?

SPEAKER_00 44:01

Okay. What is um if you could whisper one piece of advice to a parent of a freshman right now, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 44:09

I would say get them started early. Get them thinking about the SAT early, but don't make them stress about it.

SPEAKER_00 44:16

Okay. Best free resource for SAT prep that most people don't know about.

SPEAKER_01 44:22

Ooh. I would say I don't know if I have any. Khan Academy is the big one, but everyone knows about that. I would say maybe the SAT subreddit. They have a lot of good tips there. You can go there, get advice from other students who are struggling in the same boat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:45

Sure. Okay. Uh best free uh sorry, one book or resource every high high achieving student should have. I like this question.

SPEAKER_01 44:56

One book or resource. See, I don't know if there's any. I don't think I would like put people in boxes. Like, I don't know if you need any of the like you don't need to buy a book to do uh you like Princeton though?

SPEAKER_00 45:12

Do you like the print? I'm like, wait, we're a big, we're a big advocate of Princeton. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 45:16

I don't super love Princeton. I've never really bought the like Princeton books or tried them. Okay. I used to use the Barons in high school.

SPEAKER_00 45:23

Barons? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:24

Those were pretty helpful for a lot of subjects.

SPEAKER_00 45:26

So funny, because like um Barron's is I feel like Barron's is a weaker AP material than Princeton Review.

SPEAKER_01 45:35

Really? See, I never tried Princeton, so I don't know. But I remember they were always much harder questions than were on the actual exam. So that's why I don't want to recommend them. Because like I feel like there is more effective, especially like if you just do the multiple choice questions that your teacher gives out, that's way more effective than doing the Barons multiple choice questions. I don't know about Princeton. I can't speak on them as much, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:58

No worries. Okay, cool. Well, um, Anna, this has been incredibly valuable. I know parents are gonna want to go deeper, but if I guess, you know, if they are if they're interested, where where is the best place for them to find you? Because you do have your YouTube channel, um, but what else should they check out?

SPEAKER_01 46:16

Yes, so I have my YouTube channel. I'm in the process of making a website, it's not done yet, but possibly Anna'suniverse.com eventually. Um, and I have a TikTok as well. Um Anna's Universe on TikTok for like shorter form content. And you can always reach out to me directly at anna's universe business at gmail.com, and I'll be pretty responsive some of the year unless I'm dying with schoolwork.

SPEAKER_00 46:45

Well, you it's uh very impressive that you're juggling this plus your PhD at the same time. So thank you. Um and before we wrap up, what's one thing you want people to remember from this conversation?

SPEAKER_01 46:56

Um I think don't be too stressed about the score you have. A lot of students get very anxious. I was one of them, about their AP scores, their SAT scores. Just remember it's going to work out in the end for you, no matter what happens. You have the motivation to be listening to this, to be seeking out this content. It's going to be okay if you just take that motivation throughout life and and use it.

SPEAKER_00 47:27

Amazing. Anna, thank you. I appreciate you sharing the playbook, um, the quick tips, the the strategies, uh, your YouTube channel. Um, for everyone listening, remember you don't have to play the game the way the system set it. Uh, you can find the foundation, you can build the skills, and you can get the results without the burn up burnout. Anna certainly had the self-motivation to hack that system, and she's turned it into uh an opportunity to give away a lot of that uh through her passion. So um we're gonna put all the links that we discussed um in the show notes, and it'll be on our YouTube channel as well. So thank you for joining the Supported Learning Podcast, and we'll see you next time.

SPEAKER_01 48:08

Yes, thank you so much for having me on. It was great talking.

SPEAKER_00 48:12

Great talking to you, and good luck. Um, thank you. Thanks for joining us on the Supported Learning Podcast. If today's conversation inspired you, challenged you, or sparked a new perspective, be sure to subscribe and share with a fellow change maker. We'll be back soon with more voices, more insight, and more ways to elevate the future of learning together. Until then, keep learning and keep pushing the conversation forward.