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Wow! Big wins on the September SAT Today!

Mr. John's Test Prep

Mr. John's Test Prep

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Wow! Big wins on the September SAT Today!

Dear MJTP families,

September scores are rolling in, and I'm going to be honest with you: they're amazing, to say the least. I'm so proud of the work these students put in, and I want to share what they did.

Across both lists, thirteen students posted Reading and Writing gains averaging close to 60 points, and seven of them finished at 750 or higher. DJ jumped 100 points to a 770, Marcus climbed 90 points to a 750, and Dimitre raised his total score from 1000 to 1290, a 290-point jump that I still can't stop looking at.

My inbox has been blowing up all morning, so I put some of the messages together below. I've kept names private, but the scores and the words are theirs.

Why stacking tests works

The August results were already strong, but the September results show something I talk about all the time: stacking tests back to back improves outcomes. George, DJ, and others didn't treat August as a finish line. They took what they learned from one sitting, kept drilling, and walked into the next one sharper and more familiar with the pressure of test day. One went from a 720 in August to a 760 in September. Two siblings did the same thing, taking the August 22 SAT and the September 12th, and they both walked out with a 1550.

When the test dates are only a few weeks apart, you don't lose momentum, the strategies stay fresh, and the nerves shrink because you've just been through it. That's exactly what these students did, and it paid off.

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It's also a testament to the difficult questions they practice every week on passthegauntlet.com. When you train on questions that are harder than the test typically asks, the real thing feels manageable.

The PSAT is right around the corner

The PSAT/NMSQT window runs October 1 through 30, so don't let off the gas. Your school picks the exact day, so check with your counselor if you don't know yours yet. Juniors, remember that this is the sitting that counts for National Merit, and Reading and Writing counts double in the Selection Index.

Keep using our ISEE technique and predict your answer before you ever look at the choices. Then use PROVE-IT to eliminate the wrong ones.

Also, work through the very hard grammar drills on Gauntlet. They're built to show you the exceptions to the fake TikTok "hacks" that will cost you points on test day. Not every semicolon and period can be eliminated just because they appear together, since a complex list can require either one. Not every title or name gets to skip punctuation, because a nonrestrictive name needs commas around it. And the "odd one out" trick for verbs doesn't always hold up, since sometimes the real question is whether the sentence needs a finite verb at all. If you haven't read my post debunking these hacks, you can read it here.

College apps are well underway

For seniors, college applications are heavy right now, and I know how much is on your plate. Be sure to find balance in your routine. Sleep, eat well, and give yourself solid breaks, because burnout doesn't help your essays or your scores.

If you need a second look at any of your college essays, let me know. We've got students at Stanford, Emory, NYU, and other great schools. If you'd rather work with someone else, I've built a network of dedicated college essay specialists with a strong track record of success.

My colleagues Maggie Finn and Jacklyn Angell of Summit Academic Support are a great option. They're full-time high school teachers with twenty-five combined years in the classroom, they've supported more than a thousand students through college applications, and their students have a strong track record at top-twenty schools. Every student works directly with one of them from start to finish. Some of you may remember their June webinar, How to Write an Unforgettable College Essay, which I shared back in May.

Another is Dr. Kellie Coppi, CEP, the founder of Say Yes to the Essay with Dr. Coppi. She's an NYU Tisch graduate with a master's and doctorate in higher education, a professional member of IECA, and a certified educational planner.

She works asynchronously in a structured Google Docs process, so students can move through brainstorming, drafting, and finalizing on their own schedule, and she offers a free 20-minute consult to start. She also takes on students in September and October, so it isn't too late. You can reach her at kjm366@nyu.edu or 631.626.8572 (she prefers an initial text). If you missed my interview with her from May, you can read it here.

Keep the momentum going

The Gauntlet series on Amazon is complete, and all three books are built from the same hard, human-written content our students train on.

The Gauntlet SAT Series -- Now on Amazon.com

Buy any Gauntlet book and get $50 off your next tutoring session. Just forward your Amazon order confirmation when you book.

Studying Vocabulary Delivers Results!

I've also added the September 2026 vocab surveys to the free quiz library. There are two US versions and one international version, each with flashcards, matching, and SAT-style context questions. My vocabulary trends page is now updated through September too, covering 27 official administrations and the 38 words the College Board reuses most. Idiosyncratic showed up again in September, and it's now appeared on eight tests.

Congratulations again to all the students who took the September SAT! Keep going.

Mr. John

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