LAMORINDA WEEKLY | THE APP RAP


Alex Pawlakos enjoys biking, weightlifting, and tutoring in his spare time. He is a reporter on Express Yourself!(tm) Teen Radio.

App: Virtual SAT Tutor by Ivy Standard

Ace the SAT by Emrecan Dogan

SAT Vocab - MindSnacks by MindSnacks

For: iPhones and Android phones

Price: Free-$4.99

For many high school students, the arrival of spring is a reminder that the SATs are coming and preparations must begin. Luckily, there are some very useful apps that enable the dedicated student to get in a little extra studying in their spare time without having to lug around bulky SAT practice books. Although it is hard to find a good SAT study app that works on both iPhones and Android smartphones, there are good apps for each. For the Android phones, Virtual SAT Tutor-Vocabulary and Virtual SAT Tutor-Math are both excellent apps for SAT vocabulary words and math problems. For the iPhone, Ace the SAT is excellent for math and Mind Snacks does the job for vocabulary. In the free versions of Virtual SAT Tutor, there are over 100 different vocabulary words and over 75 advanced math problems all of which have been used on actual SAT tests. The MindSnacks app uses really fun games to help you learn vocabulary, and Ace the SAT shows detailed step-by-step solutions for their math problems. For a small charge of $1.99, the Virtual Tutor apps can be upgraded to include many more words and problems. For $4.99, MindSnacks can be upgraded to include 25 lessons. Although studying for the SAT tests may not be fun, these apps definitely make it more interesting!