Process over Power: The Top Factors for SAT Success

Hello MJTP families!

I’ve been mulling over a topic for about a week now. With finals at school fast approaching, tutoring sessions, and the endless work of developing what I hope will be the most effective SAT tutoring app ever built, I finally have a few moments to spare while my students quietly study for their finals.

I love to read, and I’m halfway through a new book called Do Hard Things by Steve Magness. It’s been a good one, so far. Steve puts into words what many of us struggle with, those inner battles and voices that tell us toughness is just bravado, when, in reality, mental flexibility, embracing discomfort, and responding with thoughtful action are better gauges of toughness.

One of my favorite quotes from the book comes on page 154, where the author recounts battling through the fatigue of a tough cross-country race in college:

“Faced with fatigue, discomfort, and the pressure of obtaining only one of four spots to qualify for nationals, I didn’t resort to powering through. I processed through. True toughness is about navigating. It’s paying attention to the voices in my head, and making adjustments to address or overcome them. Not blindly pushing through them, but taking the time to see what works in the moment.”

This is exactly what I teach my students, especially when it comes to the SAT. Process always triumphs over brawn. But what do I mean when I say brawn?

The Problem

Many students who come to me have exhausted all of their resources, taking test after test, question after question. They run through all the material they can get their hands on — free College Board material, paying for self-help guides at PrepScholar, and so forth; then, once they plateau, they are left wondering why. Powering through more and more questions will only get you so far, leave you fatigued, and ultimately left scratching your head as to why quantity practice isn’t producing quality results.

Here’s why that happens (it’s all centered around process):

Most student’s lack proper instruction. Answering question after question doesn’t move the needle if we don’t have an understanding of the test’s structure and patterns. It’s not enough to know that every correct answer has to have “evidence.” Most students already understand this. What they don’t understand are the patterns of wrong answers and how to identify them. Further, not every student is willing to put in the slow, targeted work of becoming acquainted with these patterns.

How do we overcome this?

My PROVE-IT method is the work of 1000s of hours of dissecting the SAT into its patterns. It gives students a framework with which they can filter wrong answers in real time.

Let's look at the "V" in PROVE-IT.

The “V” in PROVE-IT stands for “Verify the location.” It is a reminder that even though an answer choice may contain a 100% true statement about the text, it doesn’t target the area of the text we need for the prompt. Here's a real College Board SAT question that uses this pattern:

That’s just one example of how process becomes the true “power play” in test prep. Without knowledge, practice, and mastery of the underlying process, we’re all just left to the mercy of our whims or best guesses.

Now, let's talk about self awareness.

Understanding patterns and practicing techniques are only part of the equation. What separates a good test-taker from a great one is often their ability to reflect mid-test—to pause, self-correct, and shift strategies as needed. This is where true resilience and toughness emerge.

Too many students rely on momentum or instinct, thinking, “I’ll go with my gut.” But effective test-taking is rarely instinctive—it’s responsive to your training. That means learning to check yourself in the moment, recognize when you’re falling into a trap or reverting an old "untrained" bad habit. This is something we build deliberately through drills, mock tests, modeling, and most importantly, reflection.

Reflection Over Repetition

After every mock test or practice section, I don’t just ask students how many they got wrong—I ask why they got them wrong. Did they misread the question? Fall for a trap answer? Skip a verification step in the PROVE-IT checklist? These insights are golden. They move the student out of reactive thinking and into metacognition, the awareness of one’s own thought processes.

This level of self-awareness is what leads to long-term success—not just on the SAT, but in life. Exams become less about proving how smart you are, and more about how you respond to challenge.

The Real Definition of Success

Too often, we define success in test prep (and education in general) by raw scores or percentiles. But what about:

• A student who learns to slow down and catch their own careless errors?
• A student who used to panic under time pressure but now regulates their pace with confidence?
• A student who used to think, “I’m just bad at reading,” and now says, “I know how to work through this”?

That’s success. That’s process over power.

Wrapping Up

As finals approach and summer SAT prep kicks into high gear, I encourage every student and parent reading this to lean into process. Embrace the messy middle. Don’t worry if things don’t click right away. The goal isn’t to be perfect—it’s to be deliberate, aware, and adaptable.

The PROVE-IT method isn’t just about getting questions right. It’s about building the kind of mental toughness that lasts far beyond any single test.

Wishing you all a strong finish to the semester and a summer filled with growth, reflection, and yes—plenty of process.

All the best,
Mr. John