The Missing Middle in Test Prep
There's a large gap between the standard math curriculum that students learn at school, and the additional skills that show up on standardized exams like the SAT, ACT, etc. We're working to fill it.
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This “inscribing” trick is a perfect example of the kind of skill that shows up on the SAT, but most students won’t learn it even if they ace all of their math classes at school.
There is a gigantic “missing middle” on these exams, a chasm between the standard curriculum and what’s on the test, the purpose of which is to raise the ceiling of the test’s ability to measure
- cognitive advantage (IQ, generalization ability, etc.) and
- willingness to put in the work to train up their skills outside the standard curriculum.
But unfortunately, most SAT prep resources either address little to none of this “missing middle,” and whatever is addressed is typically presented with so little pedagogical effort that even highly capable and motivated students find it difficult to process.
As a result, the “missing middle” primarily serves to measure (1) and not (2).
Our goal is to change that. We are putting a full-assed, full-nerd effort into identifying this gigantic missing middle and adding it to our finely scaffolded knowledge graph, so that we can put hardworking students in the best possible position to succeed on these exams.
By the way, we’ll be doing this for the ACT too, and all the other common exams. And it’s the same idea for competition math, where the missing middle is even bigger.
(H/t to Jason for describing the chasm between the standard curriculum and exam tricks as “missing middle.” The phrase really drives home the idea that you can visualize the standard curriculum as a smaller subset of knowledge within the space of knowledge tested on these exams.)
Follow-Up Questions
Are y’all thinking about tackling the math relevant to the MCAT, GMAT, etc?
Yep, we’ll be coming after all the common exams. But SAT/ACT is the first step. There’s quite a bit more for us to do to fully get our arms around exam prep – there’s a large missing middle (much larger than anyone would expect), and then on top of that fundamental skill-building arena there also needs to be a full-blown test prep practice arena, and in that test prep practice arena we’ll need to estimate your current score and project how much practice you’ll need to nudge your score another rung upwards.
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