Getting a good score on the SATs is not a myth, its possible. In this article, I have compiled 10 best ways of preparing for and acing the SATs. Dont worry, after reading this post you’ll know how to put the SAT makers to SHAME!
1. Take practice tests
Nothing can effectively prepare a student for the SATs than actually taking numerous practice test. Make out time at least once a week to take a full-length, timed practice test. This method has advantages; it will help you keep track of your progress, but will also help increase your test-taking “endurance.” We all know that sitting through a 4 hour exam is grueling and tiring. You wouldnt want and the SATs test-day to be the first time you will be taking the full exam under extreme pressure. Thus, it is highly important to learn SAT strategies to cope with physical and mental exhaustion. This is very important,after taking each practice test, endeavor to evaluate your performance,mark yourself and focus your subsequent studies on your weakest areas. Practicing continually will make you become familiar with all the sections of the SAT test, as well the test’s structures and the instructions that will guide you through each section. Knowing what to expect will prepare you well for the stupid exams.
2. Understand the Test structure
Except the critical reading section, questions on the SAT are usually on the ascending order of difficulty. Which means that questions at the beginning of every section are easier than questions at the end. This means you shouldnt spend equal amounts of time on every SAT question. Run quickly through questions at the beginning of every section and attempt to answer them as accurately as possible. Although the critical reading questions aren’t arranged in order of difficulty, there are still very important strategies to master in that given section. For example, you should first tackle detail-oriented questions, saving general questions about the passage for the end.
3. Read! Read!! Read!!!
In addition to taking many practice tests, you should also read plenty news articles on unfamiliar subject matters before the exams. Always read the first two paragraphs, then stop and try to identify the author’s argument or main point. This skill will help you immensely on the SAT reading comprehension passages, which will always be strange. Most importantly,read boring articles. On the SAT day, chances are that you’ll most likely answer questions on boring texts. While reading articles, always look up any words you don’t know as they come.
4. Study the SAT vocabulary!
The SAT is not a Spelling Bee competition. You don’t need to commit every word from the dictionary into your brain. But studying vocabulary words is an extremely important step to performing well on the SATs. The book Knewton’s SAT course provides students with sufficient vocabulary words, including a list of the 120 vocabularly words most commonly tested on the exams. To make this process easy, use flashcards, carry them around and memorize them whenever you have a few free minutes—in the dining hall,in the toilet, in the bathroom, in the car and on the ski-lift. This will not only expand your vocabulary on Sentence Completion questions, but will serve you well on reading Comprehension questions. Imagine how much easier those comprehension questions would be if you knew what the words in those passages actually meant.
5. Write as many practice essays as possible
We all know planning, carefully writing and proofreading an essay in 25 minutes is not easy, but it is definitely a structure one can master in a few weeks. Be reminded that the essay component of the test will always be the first section, and it’s always 25 minutes long. The essay prompt always bother on broad issues like justice, success, failure, honesty, the value of knowledge, or the importance of learning from mistakes. Always doing test practice of the essay will help you familiarize with the essay structure and formula, ensuring you wont waste much time on the exams day. Work out out a time breakdown that’ll work for you on test day—you’ll might need to allocate time for reading the prompt, brainstorming, outlining writing, and proofreading. Make sure you have two or three relevant examples at your finger tips, they could be examples from literature, history, current events, or personal experience to substantiate your thesis, and a conclusion that strongly restates your main argument. The SAT graders will always look at your test essay as a “final first draft”which means that while your essay doesn’t have to be perfect, it should have a strong easily identifiable argument,well structured, and that shows you have a relatively decent command of the grammar.
6. Use of Calculators
In Kindergarten, you were so used to singing mental maths, but on the SAT, your calculator will be your best friend and your life saviour. The Calculator will save you time ,and will prevent careless mathematical errors— why not you use it? Practice using your own calculator while prepping, so you’ll be used to it on test day . Also learn as many shortcuts as possible yourself with any shortcut. Remember practice anything that’ll make your life a lot easier on test day and that’ll boost your score.
7. Memorize SAT rules and formulas
Although the SAT makers will give you some geometry formulas at the beginning of the test, you should by all means memorize those formulas, and others that might come handy, before exams-day. A few concepts to memorize are; the Pythagorean theorem, the average formula, special triangle rules, and exponent rules. Knowing these rules would save you alot of time .
8. How to Manipulate multiple choice Questions to your advantage
except the essay and a couple of math grid-in questions, the SAT is purely a multiple choice test. This doesn’t imply the exams is easy, but understanding the test’s format certainly offers important advantages. For instance, on Identifying Sentence Errors and Improving Sentences questions on the Writing section, you can clearly see what important grammatical concept is being tested by looking at major differences between answer choices. On math problems, you can save yourself a whole lot of time by eliminating answer choices;this you do by plugging them back into the equation in the question. This will help you understand and identify what error you should look for. And whats more reassuring is when you know the answer is definitely there!
9. Know When to Guess and When to Skip Questions
If you look at a question on any of the sections and you have absolutely no idea how to tackle it, move on!This cant be overemphasized;each question on every section is worth the same mark . You won’t improve your scores by wasting 15 minutes sweating profusely over any one question, when you could have moved on to easier questions. However, if you can eliminate even one answer choice on a any question, it is often best to make a guess. If you’ve carefully narrowed down a question to two possible answer choices, but you dont know which is the correct answer, just don’t waste time thinking and wasting time on it. Use your limited time properly , know your abilities and limitations. So guess and move on!
10. The SAT shouldnt stress you!
If you practice hard enough for the SAT, then you should worry about anything on the day of the test . The structure and format of the questions you’ve been practicinng over the past months are what you’ll encounter on the day of the SATs. So dont stress man! If you are panicking on test day — just pause, close your eyes, take a few deep breaths(in your subconcious, tell yourself you can do this!) and return to the test. The SAT does not measure intelligence—it’s all about practice, strategy and familiarity with SAT questions . Resist the temptation of cramming a few days to the test. Spend the final days relaxing, sleeping, and eating good memory and brain foods.
