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SAT Preparation Tips
 
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The purpose of the SAT is to predict how well you will do in college. It does not test your intelligence. A high SAT score doesn't make you a brain: a low score doesn't make you a bonehead. Keeping a few tips in mind before and during the test can help you secure good score.

BEFORE THE TEST

Know how the test is scored
Students earn one point for each correct answer. They lose a fraction of a point for a wrong answer on a multiple-choice question. They don't gain or lose points if they omit a question. No points are deducted for wrong answers on the student-produced response questions in the math section.

Practice, Practice, Practice
Beside these stated tips or test taking strategies, we strongly encourage you to practice using the actual questions from previous exams prepared by the College Board and those written by the SAT prep companies.
Finally, while we believe every test taker will benefit by reviewing each SAT exam section, we encourage you to spend the most time studying and practicing questions in your weakest subject area. This will provide you with the most efficient use of your test-prep time.

The day of the test
Make sure you have gotten a good night’s sleep the night before the test. Do not get more sleep than usual, however; that might make you more tired. Eat whatever kind of breakfast you usually eat not so much that you will want to sleep your way through the exam and not so little that all you’ll be able to think about is food. Some people like to bring a piece of fruit or a roll with them to eat during the breaks.
Bring all your supplies to the test site four Number 2 pencils, one or two good erasers, and an accurate wrist watch. The proctor will be timing the test, but you may want to know where you are every ten minutes. Get to the exam site at least fifteen minutes early you will not have to worry about the time and you will start the test in a more relaxed frame of mind. When it is time to begin, take three deep, slow breaths before you even pick up your pencil. This will help you to relax and focus on the work ahead. Finally, be confident! These tests count, but it is not a doordie situation. You will be amazed later in life at how few people ask you what you got on your SATs! Just do your best and do not worry.

DURING THE TEST

Timing yourself
This probably sounds self explanatory. Even though time is strictly limited on the SAT, working too quickly can damage your score. Many problems hinge on subtle points, and most require careful reading of the set-up. Because high school can put heavy reading loads on students, many will follow their academic conditioning and read questions quickly, looking only for the gist of what each is asking. Once they have found it, they mark their answer and move on, confident they have answered it correctly. Later, many are startled to discover that they missed questions because they either misread the problems or overlooked subtle points.

To do well in your preparation classes, you have to attempt to solve every, or nearly every, problem on a test. Not so with the SAT. In fact, if you try to solve every problem on this test you will probably decimate you score (it's called negative marking). For the vast majority of people, the key to performing well on the SAT is not the number of questions they answer, within reason, but the percentage they answer correctly.

Avoid Random Guessing in the Multiple Choice Sections
The SAT's scoring formula has been "tweaked" to penalize you for incorrect answers. As a result, you will not be aided by random guessing. If you have no idea what the correct answer is to a question, we suggest that you simply skip it and move on. The only exception to this is the problem solving without multiple choice. There is no clue for guesses in this section, so it will behoove you to write down a number for each question.

Skipping and Guess smart
Some questions on the SAT are rather hard. Most test takers should skip these questions. If students can rule out one or more answer choices for a multiple-choice question as definitely wrong, their chances of guessing the right answer improve.
Often students become obsessed with a particular problem and waste valuable time trying to solve it. To get a top score, learn to cut your losses and move on. So skip the hardest questions and concentrate on the easy and medium ones. Often you'll find that you can correctly solve several easy questions in the time it takes to tackle one hard one. Since all questions are worth the same number of points, don't waste your time on something you cannot handle.

Ascending order of difficulty
The SAT questions become more difficult as you go through each section. If you are nearing the end of a section and you can not figure out the last few questions, your time will be better spent to review the questions in the beginning and middle of the section. Keep in mind that all the questions are weighted the same. Furthermore, a few blank answers will not make a material impact on your score.

Know your answer sheet
It has four pages and students need to know what answers go in which section. Don't make extra marks on the answer sheet. The answer sheet is machine-scored, and the machine can't tell the difference between an answer and a doodle.

SPECIFIC SECTIONAL STRATEGIES

VERBAL Section --- SENTENCE COMPLETION:
  1. Before looking at the answers, try to complete the sentence with words that make sense to you.
  2. Don't rush your selection. Consider all the answers to make the best choice.
  3. Use the context of nearby words to figure out unknown words.
  4. Don't overlook the reversing effect of negative words (like not) or prefixes (like un-).
  5. If you're really stuck for the meaning of a word, try to think of other words that have similar prefixes, roots, or suffixes.
  6. Eliminate choices in double-blank questions if the first word alone doesn't make sense in the sentence.
  7. Let transition words (like although and likewise) help suggest the best answer.

VERBAL Section --- ANALOGIES:
  1. First: create a sentence in your mind that uses the two capitalized words.
  2. Learn to recognize common types of analogies.
  3. Eliminate answer pairs that are clearly wrong.
  4. Beware of possibly correct answers that appear in reverse order.
  5. If more than one choice appears possible, analyze the words again.
  6. Consider alternative meanings of words, as well as alternative parts of speech.
  7. If you don't know the meaning a word, try to recall if you've ever heard it in an expression. The context of the expression may suggest the meaning of the word.
  8. Beware of obvious answers! They may be there only to mislead you.

VERBAL Section --- READING COMPREHENSION:
  1. You should base your answers to the questions solely on what is stated or implied in the passages.
  2. Read the italicized introductory text.
  3. Skip questions you don't know. Return to them after answering other easier questions.
  4. First and last sentences of each paragraph are critical.
  5. Find the right spot in a passage by using any line reference numbers that appear in the questions.
  6. Answer questions on familiar topics before unfamiliar topics.
  7. Read the passages before reading the questions.
  8. Don't waste time memorizing details.

MATH Section --- STUDENT PRODUCED RESPONSE (GRID):
  1. Guess if you can't figure it out. There is no penalty for wrong answers in this section.
  2. Negative numbers are not possible as answers in this section. If your answer comes up negative, do it again.
  3. You may begin to enter a short answer in any column. For instance, .6 can be entered in columns 1-2, or 2-3, or 3-4.
  4. If an answer is a repeating decimal (like .33333333), just enter as many decimals as will fit in the grid (.333).
  5. You may enter an equivalent decimal for a fraction as your answer, but why waste the time evaluating the fraction?
  6. Do not try to enter mixed numbers. For example, if your answer is 3 1/2, enter it as 3.5 or 7/2.

MATH Section - STANDARD MULTIPLE CHOICE:
  1. Read the question well. Be sure to select the best answer for the variable, value, or expression that is requested!
  2. Learn in advance all of the critical definitions, formulas, and concepts that appear in common questions.
  3. Remember to use the test booklet for scratch work, as well as for marking up any diagrams/graphs.
  4. Early questions in this section are easier. Spend less time on them.
  5. Don't get carried away with detailed calculations. Look for a trick or a shortcut if the question seems time consuming.
6 -When a question contains a weird symbol, just substitute the accompanying definition when figuring out the best answer choice.

MATH Section - QUANTITATIVE COMPARISONS:
  1. Don't ever guess at Choice E. There are only four choices!
  2. Always consider values that are fractional (between 0 and 1), zero, negative, or non-integer.
  3. Factor out, then cancel, any common expressions or quantities in both Columns A and B. Remember that you are just trying to make relative comparisons.
  4. Questions are simpler and should take less time than the Standard Multiple Choice. Look closely. The answer is often apparent without any calculations.
  5. Write on any diagrams to help clarify any values, angles, sides, etc.
  6. Compare; don't solve!
  7. Simplify one or both sides whenever possible before comparing.
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