The other day, my friend Rob reminded me of something I told him just before we both took the SAT nearly thirty years ago. As we trudged into our high school that Saturday morning, I said, “Oh yeah, never guess C.” I’d done well on the PSAT, as he knew, so he nodded in agreement.

Afterwards, over sandwiches at Claymont Steak Shop, he asked me what I thought of the exam.

“Huh. I saw a lot of C’s.”

Rob, if I’ve never quite apologized for my bad advice, let me do so now. “Never guess C” represents what a lot of people think “test prep” is — a mishmash of tips and tricks, some possibly valid, some not, all in an effort to game the test and scrape out extra points. Earlier today, when the College Board gave its presentation about the 2016 SAT, Sal Khan of Khan Academy mentioned these stereotypes.

That is not what test prep can or should be. It’s not what great test prep is. I proudly work in test prep. I think about grammar and algebra—and how to teach them—all the time. My wife jokes that she should launch a show called “Test Prep Wives.”

I have other titles with Manhattan Prep, but my first and most important one is Instructor. I started teaching in 1991, and in some shape or form I’ve been doing this job ever since. Teaching is my calling. And I have learned that preparing students for standardized tests, including the SAT, is a path of true teaching.

The College Board has just announced a number of changes that will happen to the SAT in 2016. I and my colleagues welcome the spirit of these changes, which are being done to make the test better. Like any other measurement tool, the SAT is imperfect, but it measures real, valuable skills. And the scientists and engineers of the College Board and ETS are trying to improve the instrument—they always ought to be, after all.

A little while ago, David Coleman (the president of the College Board) described how he wanted the SAT to reflect more accurately the work that students do in their high school classrooms. It’s not yet clear to me that all the planned changes will actually work in this fashion—for instance, do the data analysis requirements of the new math section line up with what Coleman hopes is taught in high school or what is actually taught in high school? Having taught high school chemistry and physics for several years, I’m very interested to find out more.

Regardless, I agree with Coleman 100% that the process of getting ready for the SAT ought to be real education. It shouldn’t be just tips and tricks. It should be more than training. What it should be is actual transformation. In preparing for a truly tough contest such as the SAT, you as the student change—or you ought to. You don’t just learn new things. You learn how to do new things, maybe things you never thought you could do before.

Finally you might say to yourself, “Hey, I can do math.” That is, you’re really saying to yourself, “I’m now someone who can do math, and that means I’m a different person—and I’m glad about that.”

We’re glad about that, too.

When our students gain new identities this way, when they become confident and courageous test-takers and problem-solvers, we know that test-prepping has actually educated and transformed those students.

Transformational education requires three things, in my opinion.

1. An amazing teacher. He or she must effectively diagnose, explain, engage, challenge, encourage, and motivate. Of course, the teacher needs to have excellent tools at hand, but first of all the teacher needs to be excellent as a coach and in fact as a person. Teacher quality is what really matters, and not surprisingly this is where our company places its bets. We are obsessive about recruiting, training, and retaining the best teachers in our field.
2. A working partnership between teacher and student. Achieving true change requires deep, lasting commitment from both sides, as well as from parents, counselors, and other school staff.
3. Rigorous goals. In particular, external standards of excellence can provide authentic challenge.
   This is one way in which the SAT is so valuable—it provides authentic challenge. It’s a real contest, like the ones we just had in Sochi. Watching the recent Olympics, I had to bow down before the crazy achievements of the skaters, the skiers, and especially the curlers.

Isn’t the Olympics a standardized test? Or a set of standardized tests, each specialized around particular skills that we want to measure? We celebrate the athletes as they measure themselves against legitimate tests of strength, speed, and skill. We should do the same with our students, as they measure themselves against legitimate tests of reading, writing, and math. And just as these athletes train for the games, students should train for the SAT; by doing so, they have the best chance to showcase their skills.

Of course, we shouldn’t only have tests like the SAT. We value many qualities that can’t be bubbled in with a number-2 pencil. And we should make appropriate use of standardized tests in our education system. But appropriate use includes acknowledging that these tests are tests. And no one should take a test for which he or she is not well prepared.

It’s terrible that, for some people, the SAT terrifies. Much like David Coleman, I want the SAT to be akin to the Olympic arena—an arena in which students are not afraid, but rather feel challenged “to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield,” as Tennyson might put it.

We shouldn’t hide our children or ourselves from contests. The world demands choices: which device are you reading this on? Whom did you vote for in the last election? As consumers and citizens, we impose contests on others. Our kids ought to be authentically prepared to succeed in those contests.

The rigor of an external standard can also benefit the relationship between teacher and student. K-12 teachers are often in the position of being both coach and judge. That’s a paradox. I want all of you to succeed in my class and will try my hardest to help you… but I can only give so many A’s, because I’m supposed to have a spread of results. If I give all A’s, I’m seen as too easy and just giving participation medals.

This is why I loved teaching AP Physics and AP Chemistry, despite the drawbacks of these tests. If my kids get 4’s and 5’s on the AP, we’ve all done great—in an authentic way.

By training our students to handle real contests, such as the SAT—old or new—we truly empower our students. In fact I believe we’re helping the world, which needs every one of our kids to find his or her great purpose in life.

My first son is due in six weeks. I hope and pray that my wife and I can help him figure out what he’s really here to do and be.

The world faces gargantuan problems and huge opportunities. We need every kid to pitch in and help solve the problems and seize the opportunities. We should prepare our children to tackle genuine challenges, such as the SAT—indeed, by test-prepping them in the best sense of that word.

Chris Ryan is the Vice President of Academics at Manhattan Prep. Chris holds an A.B. in physics from Harvard University and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business (Duke). He is an alumnus of Teach For America and McKinsey & Co.

The College Board on Wednesday announced the biggest changes to the SAT in nearly a decade. College Board President, David Coleman, says that the new test will offer “worthy challenges, not artificial obstacles,” making it clear that the difficulty level of the SAT is about to be raised.

Here’s what you need to know about the new SAT:

1. The new test will not be implemented until 2016. If you plan to take the test before 2016, these changes will not affect you.
2. Instead of arcane “SAT words” that often are not used outside of the SAT, the vocabulary words on the new SAT will be ones commonly used in college courses and in the real world such as “synthesis”.
3. Scoring will return to the 1600 scale, based on a top score of 800 in verbal and math. The essay will have a separate score.
4. Points will no longer be deducted for incorrect answers.
5. The essay will become optional. For students who choose to write the essay, they will be asked to read a passage and to analyze how the author used reasoning and evidence to build his or her argument.
6. The Math section of the new SAT will contain complex equations, or functions; linear equations; and percentages, ratios, and proportional reasoning. Calculators will only be permitted on small parts of the math section, requiring that SAT takers in 2016 know how to work out equations by hand.
7. On April 16^th, 2014 the College Board is going to release the blueprint for the new SAT at deliveringopportunity.org.
8. The new SAT will include a reading passage from either one of the nation’s “founding documents,” such as the Declaration of Independence, or from one important document that is a part of a contemporary global discussion.
9. The core skills of reading, writing, and math will continue to be tested.
10. The changes are not just cosmetic, but once sample problems are released by the College Board, the scope and impact of the changes will become clearer. No matter how extensive those changes are, you can prepare for them.
11. Discipline and focused effort will pay off. As you practice with representative problems and rehearse your skills, your performance will improve.