On June 6, 2026, Yaroslav sat the SAT with a score estimate of 1540. It came back 1440. A hundred points short.
Plenty of students would have let that number knock them flat. Yaroslav went back to work, on the topics that cost him and on one hard question he asks after every mistake.
Eleven weeks later, on August 22, he scored 1530, with a perfect 800 in Math. He was in 10th grade.
He had started in January at 1280. Here is how he climbed 250 points, told with his own study data and in his own words: a routine that fit into his commute, a brave, honest look at a miss, and the one question you can start asking in your next session. His interview is one of our favorites ever: it has drums by the sea, a chocolate strategy for module 2 and Oscar Wilde.
1530 on August 22
Scores came out on September 4. Yaroslav was in the car with his parents, refreshing the score page again and again.
When I finally saw the 1530, the only thing going through my head was, “I DID IT!” I immediately turned to my dad, and we proudly high-fived.
- Math: 800, a perfect score, up 40 from June
- Reading and Writing: 730, up 50 from June
- Total: 1530, up 90 from June and 250 from where he started
His score report showed full bars in every category except Craft and Structure, the one with the vocabulary questions. His biggest jump from June was in Information and Ideas, and he felt it during the test:
I could feel the difference during the exam, and it showed up in my score too.
Here are both of his SATs beside the estimate Aniko showed him the day before.
In June he came in 100 under. In August he beat his estimate by 40, after one rough module on July 31 had pulled it down, and he matched the two full-length practice tests he took in July, which scored 1530 and 1540. Yaroslav reads it like a scientist:
In my experience, the prediction was very accurate when I was scoring around 1500, but at the very top of the score range, the difference of just a few questions can have a much bigger effect, making the final result more exam-specific.
There was no progress bar
In January, Yaroslav was at 1280. He did what determined students do: searched for strategies, watched YouTube videos about the exam and solved College Board questions.
I was definitely making progress, but I had no clear way to track it. There was no “progress bar,” so to speak.
He found Aniko through an SAT community, where the founder of a prep site recommended us, and tried the free trial. What won him over was seeing everything at once:
I could clearly see my mastery of each topic, my predicted score, and, most importantly, the topics I was weakest at.
That last part changed how he practiced. Instead of random study sessions, he went after the topics he struggled with. Analytics showed him exactly which ones.
15 questions on the way home
Yaroslav never had a timetable. He calls his routine “quite chaotic”:
I commuted daily from school back home, and when I wasn't overwhelmed by my studies, I took time for a practice session of at least 15 questions.
Chaotic, maybe. Slow, not at all. His first estimate, on January 13, was 1280: 720 in Math and 560 in Reading and Writing. By February 15 it was 1480. Reading and Writing alone climbed 150 points in a month, in sessions he fitted in whenever he had time.
Here is his estimate all the way to August, with both SATs on it. Switch to Reading and Writing to see the climb.
Yaroslav's score estimate from January to August 2026, from his Aniko profile. The crosses are his June and August SATs. The estimate ends at 1490, after a tough Reading and Writing module on July 31, so the chart counts 210 points up to it.
Then came a gap: from February 15 to April 4, seven weeks without a single question. He came back in April, picked up right where he left off, and by April 27 his estimate was 1530.
The June miss
May was his steadiest month: 16 study days, most of them 40 to 60 questions. Then June 6, and the 1440. Math was close. Reading and Writing came in 80 under.
A miss like that can knock a student's confidence for weeks. Yaroslav's answer was a question he asks after every mistake: not just reading the solution and nodding, but putting himself on trial:
“Given this very problem, would I make the same mistake again?”
Reading a solution tells you why the right answer is right. His question asks something harder: whether you have changed. If the honest answer is “maybe”, the mistake isn't fixed yet. He calls revision one of the most influential parts of his whole prep, especially for Information and Ideas.
On Aniko, that question has a button: a Review Lab brings back the questions you missed, so you find out whether you'd make the same mistake again.
His data shows where the work went. After June, he built his own study sessions: 41 of them, and half went to Craft and Structure, his weakest Reading and Writing domain. Math got just a handful. It was already close to done. Here is his Reading and Writing accuracy before June and after it:
- Craft and Structure+9Before June72% of 365June to August81% of 455
- Standard English Conventions+9Before June83% of 348June to August92% of 158
- Information and Ideas+3Before June84% of 222June to August87% of 178
- Expression of Ideas+5Before June88% of 178June to August93% of 67
Every Reading and Writing domain went up. Craft and Structure went from 72% to 81% right, and Standard English Conventions from 83% to 92%. Information and Ideas moved least here, from 84% to 87%, and still gave him his biggest jump on the real SAT. That's the domain he credits revision for.
Six days in July
Here are the days Yaroslav studied on Aniko, up to his August SAT. The darker the square, the more questions he did.
Number of questions answered per day.
That's 56 study days and about 2,700 questions in seven months. Most of his days were short: about 40 questions on a typical one. Then came July 20. In six days he answered 769 questions, nearly half of them in practice tests: two full-length ones, on July 20 and July 24, and a stack of Reading and Writing sections in between. On the full tests he got 92 and then 93 of 98 right, 43 of 44 in Math both times, for 1530 and 1540.
His last big session, on July 31, was a rough one: 74% on a Reading and Writing module, which dipped his estimate to 1490. After that he barely touched Aniko for three weeks. On August 22 he scored 1530 anyway, right on his first July practice test.
That's the shape of his whole prep: calm, steady weeks, one long pause, and a few days where he went all in.
Make yourself want to study
Ask Yaroslav what got him to study on the days he didn't feel like it, and he politely rejects the question:
I don't believe in forcing oneself to study. Instead, I'd force myself to want to study. That is, I'd distract myself with something like running a couple of kilometers along the sea or releasing all the remaining physical energy into thrashing drums. This refreshment, though momentarily inefficient, lets me stay much more focused and engaged than before, for a greater net gain.
Momentarily inefficient, for a greater net gain. Rest is part of the plan, not a break from it.
His test prep is just as deliberate. Sleep well, eat healthy, don't get sick, and do exactly one practice test a day for the three days before the exam. And nothing too deep the day before:
Don't overload your brain with any fruitful or meaningful events; i.e., don't read a philosophical novel that changes your whole mindset one day before the exam.
On test day he woke at 6 am, because the nearest test center was about 60 km away. And he has one tip we'll be passing on to every student we know:
Generally, I'd strongly suggest everyone bring a bunch of candies/chocolate (unless you are diabetic). Indeed, our brains need “food” to function, and if not “fed” correctly, they're going to stop working right at the beginning of the second English module.
What you can take into your next session
- Aim at your weak topics. Find them in Analytics and build your sessions around them, rather than whatever comes next.
- Put every mistake on trial. After the solution, ask yourself: given this very problem, would I make the same mistake again? If you're not sure, it isn't fixed yet. A Review Lab does this for you.
- Study whenever you can. Sessions of at least 15 questions, fitted in whenever he had time, moved his Reading and Writing 150 points in a month.
- Make yourself want to study. Run, play, refuel, then sit down focused. And bring chocolate to the test.
We asked Yaroslav for his advice to students preparing today. He answered with Oscar Wilde:
“Experience was of no ethical value. It was merely the name men gave to their mistakes.”
Yaroslav's mistakes became his experience, and his experience became a 1530. From 1280 in January to a perfect 800 in Math in August. Brilliant work, Yaroslav.