Franklin Yard Q+A: Phenil Shah
Phenil, a junior in Texas who scored a 36 on the ACT and a 1580 on the SAT, sits down for a Q+A with Joohyun Kim, his tutor at Franklin Yard.
You studied for both the ACT and the SAT, which is somewhat unusual. What made you want to take both tests?
I took a practice ACT early on and got a 34 without ever studying. So I thought, this is definitely something I should look into. I seemed to naturally be better at the ACT than the SAT. But I feel like, although they both have the same merit when you get into college, the SAT has more options when it comes to scholarships. So that was one of the reasons I wanted to take both — practice for the SAT and maybe get a scholarship with my score.
Since you’ve been through the process for both tests, how would you compare them?
They cover the same subjects, but the difficulty is different. For the ACT, it wasn’t really the questions — it was the timing. I had to really learn how to structure my time. But the questions themselves, I didn’t have that much trouble with. Meanwhile, the SAT had these huge paragraphs with more complicated vocabulary, and each one only had one question based off it. And for math, the SAT covered a wider range of topics, like geometry, and the second module was noticeably harder. I really liked the science section of the ACT, though — that’s one of the reasons I wanted to take it, because I thought it would boost my score.
Which test was harder to crack into that 99th percentile range?
Honestly, the SAT. After the ACT, I could kind of guess that I did good. But after the SAT, I had no idea. Like, no idea.
You’re obviously a really bright, motivated student. What do you think are the benefits of working with a tutor versus trying to figure it all out on your own?
Structure. That’s the biggest thing. When I was studying on my own, I didn’t really have a direction. I was just kind of doing practice tests and hoping for the best. But with Franklin Yard, there were PowerPoint lessons on specific topics, and the practice tests we took were really similar in difficulty to the actual exam. That helped a lot because I wasn’t caught off guard on test day. And then after each practice test, we’d go through every question I got wrong and figure out why. It wasn’t just “oh, you got this wrong” — it was like, here’s the concept, here’s why you missed it, here’s how to approach it next time.
In terms of mindset, what advice would you give someone just starting the process?
Know your goal. Like, have a number in mind and work toward it. One thing I did early on — I remember this — I took a practice test at midnight just to see where I was. I did bad on those tests, but it gave me a baseline. And from there, I could actually track my progress. I think a lot of people just start studying without really knowing what they’re aiming for, and that makes it harder to stay motivated. So yeah, set a goal, figure out where you are, and then it’s just about closing that gap.
Was the study schedule manageable? You started over the summer, which can be tricky
It was actually really flexible, which helped. I had a volunteer program and I went on a cruise, so there were weeks where I couldn’t do as much. But you still managed to provide me resources, and whenever I could study, I could. Whenever I was motivated, I’d take practice tests. I liked how we could go from once-a-week lessons to twice a week. I also had access to all the resources online — like the portal and everything — so even when I wasn’t in a session, I could still practice on my own. That made a big difference.
What about the sessions themselves — was there anything about how they were run that you found particularly helpful?
The constant feedback. Like, every session, you would ask me what I had trouble with, what felt hard, and then we’d go back and revisit those concepts. It wasn’t just moving forward all the time — if something wasn’t clicking, we’d spend more time on it until it did. And the pacing was good too. It never felt like we were rushing through material just to get through it. It felt like everything was tailored to where I actually was, not where some generic curriculum said I should be.
It was a privilege to work with Phenil, and we’re incredibly proud of his accomplishments. If your child needs support on the SAT or ACT, please reach out for your free consultation.