How do you get to Carnegie Hall (or is that Harvard?)? Practice, practice!
The SAT is offered 7 times throughout the year, and it is beneficial to take the
test as many times as you can. The lowest scores are dropped, and college
officials will not see you at your worst, so there is no need to worry about
risking an embarrassing score. On weeks you don't have an actual exam, take mock
tests at a test center or at home with a kitchen timer. Give yourself one SAT
test question a day. The more familiar you are with the test, the less you will
suffer from "text anxiety" (which is often "time anxiety") and the stronger your
test-taking skills will be.
A Few Useful Hints
The following are strategies to help you get started with taking the SAT.
First, make sure that you understand all the directions before going into
the test. If you practice adequately, this will not be an issue, but make sure
you don't waste precious test time reading the directions.
For sentence completions in the Critical Reading section, fill in the
blanks with your own words before looking at the answer choices. This will get
you started thinking about the sentence, its structure and flow. For double
blanks, solve the first blank first and then the second. Read the sentence
quietly to yourself to make sure that it sounds correct.
For Reading Comprehension, read each passage systematically. Don't
read as if you are casually perusing a magazine article or sitting back with a
novel. Think of the passage as a treasure trove of answers. To help you zero in
on the information you need, pre-read all of the questions. Divide the passage
up into sections and look for keywords that will help you find the answers.
Then, to save valuable time, answer relevant questions as you find them. Answer
the analytical questions last.
For math questions, solve the problem yourself before you look at the
answer choices. Some of the answer choices are designed to throw you off if you
are not thinking about the problem carefully. If your answer is not listed as
one of the choices, go back and try to fix your math rather than guessing. This
may seem time consuming, but, in the long run, it is worth the effort to check
your work rather than to ponder tricky answer choices.
To succeed in the Writing Section, be sure to crack a grammar book
well in advance. Some of the answer choices may "sound" correct to us because
they are commonly used but are not in accordance with the rules of Standard
English. Try to identify the reason an answer choice is correct rather than
relying on your intuition and ear. The most efficient way to write an essay in
25 minutes is to use an outline. Invest 5 minutes to jot down the main points of
each paragraph and the points you will use to support your argument, and the
remaining 20 minutes of writing should go smoothly.