Does the thought of SAT preparation and the high fees of private tutors or expensive classes make you shudder? Don’t you wish there was a way for your child to optimize his or her SAT score that wouldn’t seem like a waste of time and money? Shouldn’t there be a smarter way to prep?

With three SAT test dates on the near horizon – March 14, May 2, and June 6 – your child could be better prepared than ever by dedicating just 30 minutes per day for one month to a new brain training technique.

The SAT focuses to a large degree on measuring your child’s problem-solving and analytical skills. The College Board insists it’s not an IQ test, but scoring well requires innate intelligence rather than just applying practice and strategy. Until recently scientists thought that intelligence couldn’t be changed, but last year a team of university researchers turned this idea on its head by demonstrating that a person can increase his or her fluid intelligence and general problem-solving ability with a novel kind of brain fitness training exercise.

A joint research team from the Universities of Michigan and Bern demonstrated that intensive training of working-memory increases fluid intelligence. The scientists devised a novel training protocol that progressively stretches and strengthens visual and aural working-memory with a single exercise. With just 19 days of training, the fluid intelligence scores for each student in the trained group increased by at least 40% more than those in a control group. This kind of cognitive improvement will lead to a significant benefit for anyone taking the SAT.

Since the study was published less than a year ago most test takers won’t be aware of it yet. And, not only will working-memory training give your child an edge on the SAT, it will help them in school, too, boosting attention and general problem-solving skills, and increasing their chance of academic success.

But before you rush off to buy brain training software, make sure you’re looking for the right kind. The working-memory training protocol used in the study is called “dual n-back” working-memory training. (To make your search easier, and in the interest of full disclosure, I was so inspired by the team’s findings that I incorporated the dual n-back training method into the Mind Sparke brain training software, Brain Fitness Pro.)

With the economy reeling and the job market becoming increasingly tight, improving your child’s chances of getting into their school of choice is a very smart move. Training their working-memory to prepare their mind for the rigors of the SAT is doubly smart.