Hi, I'm Dave Siminoff. I'm the founder of Shmoop, and I used to be a student, too. I
am, however, almost fully recovered from the experience. The goal of this little video
is to help you to understand how to best use Shmoop to improve your SAT scores, have a
better life, conquer the world, and someday become president… or not. It's a bad gig,
really. Okay, on to the meat. In order to use Shmoop, here's what you gotta do. Sign
into Shmoop with your username and password. You probably created your account sometime
in the not too distant past, but if you've fried your brain watching too much reality
TV and can't remember whether your password is chocolate monkey or monkey chocolate, still
click on the Login link. Instead of putting in your username and password 47 times, hoping
that somehow that will fix things, just click the "Forgot Password?"link. We'll FedEx a
new one over, or better yet, send one in the mail. Step 2, or deux, for you people in French
class, click on SAT. Big surprise and drumroll, this is where you do your SAT training. If
you've had the good fortune to have access to more than one Shmoop test prep guide unit,
you will see everything you own listed on "My Passes." This is like a pass to a football
game or Disneyland, but sorry in advance, we are way less exciting than a good football
game or Disneyland. Now, Alice, you have officially fallen down the Shmoop rabbit hole and have
arrived in a wonderland we like to call the Dashboard. Intimidating, right? Then ours
should look simple. If SAT training were like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, this would be
your HQ. You have everything you need here: mental weights, brain weaponry, and full rations
of SAT know-how. So what do you do first? How best to tackle the beast that is the SAT?
Well, first enter the date of the SAT you're planning on taking. The number of days you
have before the exam will then appear in the top right hand corner of the dashboard and
will be your constant friendly reminder when you log in you only have 22 more days until
you face off with the SAT. Get your game face on. Your dashboard looks pretty empty at this
point, so it's time to fill it up. First things first, the diagnostic. Our diagnostic test
is like getting a little less naked checkup at the doctor. And we'll let you know how
SAT healthy you are. Don't worry if you score on the low side. That's what we're here for.
And whenever we figure out how to deliver virtual lollipops, you'll be the first to
know. You should take the full diagnostic, but for brevity of this training video, we'll
show you the math. Click here, then here sort of deal… You will be timed, and it will
be scary. Never fear, the diagnostics are shorter than the actual exams. But they are
definitely just as hard, if not harder. When you're going through the exam, if you need
to guess or come back to answer, you can mark that question. When you're done, sitting in
a flurry of eraser shavings and used scrap paper, or perhaps you've just worn down your
keyboard keys a little, click "I'm done." This will bring up your diagnostic report.
Unlike many a book report you delivered in your youth, this report is monumentally important.
It shows you which answers you got right, which you got wrong, and even how you did
over time. Cool. Most important number here is your raw score and projected score. And
if you click here, it shows you what skills you own and what skills you need to work on.
We're dropping more data than R2-D2's math teacher, which means you are now ready to
tackle the topics. You may save this report. You can also send it to your teacher. Hit
the review topics tab. Here you will find anything and everything you need to study
for the SAT. Start with the overview. Knowing exactly how the test is set up is just as
important as knowing what's on the test. This isn't the terms and conditions page on your
most recent iTunes upgrade, so read it all: the intro, the do's and don'ts, and the Q
and A section. Next, move on to the real meat of the subject. If you have trouble figuring
out how much math homework John forgot to do, you can hop right over to the algebra
numbers and word problems section and get the complete low-down. This is perfect for
topics that you covered years ago. Geometry, anyone? Be sure to check off when you've read
a section for your own records. When you feel comfortable with a topic, drill it. To access
the drills, head back to the dashboard and click "Drills." I know that's shocking. The
drill questions are set up like the practice exam, but aren't timed. Move to any skill
and drill until your heart's content. You will always be able to look at answer explanations
and save your work so that you can review past drills. Once you have reviewed, reviewed,
reviewed, and reviewed some more, then drilled up a storm, you should be ready for a practice
exam. These are full length and the real deal. Feel free to sit down and take a full one.
That'll be a whopping three hours and forty five minutes. So make sure you set your DVR
to record that episode of American Idol. We love Steven Tyler around here. Or take sections
to get your timing down. Our practice is just like taking the actual exam and may even be
a bit harder, so get ready to let your brain sweat. Let's take a section together now.
When you've finished, you can see your results, check answer explanations, and save your work.
You can even send it to your teacher or mom or best friend or dog, if he or she has an
e-mail address. If you didn't deliver a gold medal winning performance, don't worry. There
are five full-length exams, tons more drills, and more review to be done. As you get your
study on, take time to go back to your dashboard. It'll show you how many points you have earned
and how many topics, drills, and exams you've covered. It'll even show you how much you've
improved… or sucked worse. Just keepin' it real here, baby. Remember that diagnostic
exam? That was your baseline. Now that you've done a lot of practice, Dashboard will show
you how much progress you're making, hopefully, and where you still need work. Keep studying
until you feel like you can take the SAT with your eyes closed. But don't do that. Eyes
open good, eyes closed bad. Didn't Mr. Miyagi say that? Anyway, then make sure to take the
test with your eyes open. Good advice. We're here to help. This is your brain. This is
your brain on Shmoop.