Should I take the SAT Math Level 1 or 2 or both?

What sort of topics would you like to see in a SAT II Math test prep course?

• I have been hired to develop a curriculum for the SAT II Math Level I and II for a test prep company in Boston, after more than a decade outside of the standardized test circuit.  I have my own ideas as to what would be included in my curriculum, but I want to get the opinions of people who have been in grip of the test recently. Some details about my duties: 1) The course would be roughly 6 x 2 hour lectures, held virtually (not MOOC, but I also won't physically be with the students either) once a week. 2) I would start roughly seven weeks before the test and end one week prior. 3) I will be the first instructor, and my first course is  September 2, 2014, give or take a few days. 4) I will ultimately be selling this curriculum to the company, so I will not be the only person teaching it long term but it will be proprietary to the company. I have degrees in math (BA) and physics (PhD) and a few years of expereince as a Physics TA at Stanford, so I definitely have experience teaching in general and for these subjects in particular. Feel free to ask me other questions as needed, but I am really interested in what real high school students would like to see in an SAT II Math course. Also, if you wish to answer I need to calibrate so tell me a bit about your math background and interest. So where should I spend my time? What should I make sure my students know?

• Answer:

  Many high school students have become very calculator dependent.  There are two things you will need to emphasize:  timing is an issue for most people and using your calculator may not be the most efficient method of addressing the problem.  This test likes to really dig in to whether or not students understand and can apply some fundamental principles:  the zero product rule, the relationships among the equation of a function, it's graph, and a table of values, how logarithms work, the substitution principle, etc.  You will need to review unit circle trigonometry and graphs of trigonometry functions, logarithms, vectors (some students won't have studied these before), polar coordinates, parametric equations and complex numbers.