For anyone who bought the James Lu “The 1550+ Formula” course, is it worth it?
u/jumptodagny — 3 days ago
▲ 0 r/satprep
Claude feels smart, but it still doesn’t understand how the SAT is actually taught now
I’m trying to use Claude Fable 5, or Claude in general, as an SAT tutor, and I keep running into a weird problem.
It knows the SAT.
It knows algebra.
It knows grammar rules.
It can explain questions step by step.
But it often does **not** understand the actual way people are learning to beat the SAT now.
Especially math.
There are tons of TikTok / YouTube-style Desmos strategies that are basically standard SAT hacks now: plugging equations into Desmos, using intersections, tables, sliders, regression, turning word problems into graphs, testing answer choices visually, using Desmos to avoid doing algebra by hand, etc.
Claude can explain the “proper” math solution.
But when I ask it to teach the Desmos method, it either:
gives a generic Desmos explanation,
does the problem the long algebraic way,
misses the trick completely,
or confidently teaches a Desmos workflow that doesn’t actually work on the SAT version of Desmos.
So my question is not really “is Claude good at the SAT?”
My question is:
**How do I make Claude study the SAT the way real high-scoring students and tutors study it?**
Because right now, it feels like Claude has textbook knowledge, but not “modern SAT tutor” knowledge.
I want it to understand things like:
when to use Desmos instead of algebra,
which question types are fastest with graphing,
which Desmos features are allowed and useful on the digital SAT,
how TikTok tutors solve these questions in 20 seconds,
and how to explain that method clearly without hallucinating a fake shortcut.
Do I need to feed it transcripts from good SAT TikTok/YouTube videos?
Should I build a custom project with examples?
Should I give it College Board questions plus the Desmos method for each one?
Is there a way to make it stop defaulting to “school math” and instead teach “SAT optimization math”?
Because for English, Claude is usually pretty good.
But for Math + Desmos, it feels like there’s a missing training layer.
Not intelligence.
Not reasoning.
Just the specific culture of how the digital SAT is actually being gamed and taught.
Has anyone here successfully trained Claude/Fable to act like a real SAT tutor, especially for Desmos-based solving?
And if so, what did you give it?
Prompts?
Videos?
Transcripts?
Worked examples?
A custom knowledge base?
I don’t want it to just solve questions.
I want it to teach the fastest SAT method that a top tutor would actually use.
u/jumptodagny — 4 days ago
▲ 0 r/digitalSATs
Claude feels smart, but it still doesn’t understand how the SAT is actually taught now
I’m trying to use Claude Fable 5, or Claude in general, as an SAT tutor, and I keep running into a weird problem.
It knows the SAT.
It knows algebra.
It knows grammar rules.
It can explain questions step by step.
But it often does **not** understand the actual way people are learning to beat the SAT now.
Especially math.
There are tons of TikTok / YouTube-style Desmos strategies that are basically standard SAT hacks now: plugging equations into Desmos, using intersections, tables, sliders, regression, turning word problems into graphs, testing answer choices visually, using Desmos to avoid doing algebra by hand, etc.
Claude can explain the “proper” math solution.
But when I ask it to teach the Desmos method, it either:
gives a generic Desmos explanation,
does the problem the long algebraic way,
misses the trick completely,
or confidently teaches a Desmos workflow that doesn’t actually work on the SAT version of Desmos.
So my question is not really “is Claude good at the SAT?”
My question is:
**How do I make Claude study the SAT the way real high-scoring students and tutors study it?**
Because right now, it feels like Claude has textbook knowledge, but not “modern SAT tutor” knowledge.
I want it to understand things like:
when to use Desmos instead of algebra,
which question types are fastest with graphing,
which Desmos features are allowed and useful on the digital SAT,
how TikTok tutors solve these questions in 20 seconds,
and how to explain that method clearly without hallucinating a fake shortcut.
Do I need to feed it transcripts from good SAT TikTok/YouTube videos?
Should I build a custom project with examples?
Should I give it College Board questions plus the Desmos method for each one?
Is there a way to make it stop defaulting to “school math” and instead teach “SAT optimization math”?
Because for English, Claude is usually pretty good.
But for Math + Desmos, it feels like there’s a missing training layer.
Not intelligence.
Not reasoning.
Just the specific culture of how the digital SAT is actually being gamed and taught.
Has anyone here successfully trained Claude/Fable to act like a real SAT tutor, especially for Desmos-based solving?
And if so, what did you give it?
Prompts?
Videos?
Transcripts?
Worked examples?
A custom knowledge base?
I don’t want it to just solve questions.
I want it to teach the fastest SAT method that a top tutor would actually use.
u/jumptodagny — 4 days ago