7 Effective SAT Practice Tips
SAT is a college entrance exam taken by more than one million students each year. One of the most important tips for getting a good SAT score is to study for the exam, which is specifically designed to assess your college readiness.
Most of your SAT prep should be done months before the exam and experts generally don’t recommend relying on last-minute preparations. Each day of preparation should focus on arriving at the test center on time and feeling energized for the long day ahead.
Studying for the SAT is a big assignment and you may not know where to start. A good way to start is to know the structure of the test and the different ways you can adapt your strategy to improve in each section.
Effective SAT Practice Tips
Below, we will explore some tips, techniques, and strategies for improving your overall performance in the exam.
Create A Study Plan
Many students take a few practice tests and call it a day. A schedule, however, can keep you on track and ensure you’re studying regularly.
Create a strategic study plan based on your test content strengths and weaknesses, also focus on learning the material you haven’t performed well on while you keep practicing the material you’ve learned.
To create your curriculum, start by choosing a date for the SAT. Once you know when the test will be, you can start planning regular study sessions. Try to schedule at least 23 hours per week. You want to keep the material fresh in your mind without running out of it before test day.
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Use Quality Preparation Materials
The quality of the materials you use to study can affect the score you get and how prepared you are on test day. The College Board website should be your first resource. You can also use Khan Academy, a College Board partner to access hundreds of official SAT practice questions and video explanations. Other resources include top-notch SAT prep books, apps, online prep courses, and private tutors.
Increase Your Reading Speed
In the Reading section, in particular, you want to skim through long passages quickly without losing sight of key points. By decreasing the time it takes to read the questions and test passages, you will have more time to contemplate the answers.
Being a more effective reader means having more time for critical reflection and answering questions.
Reading and practicing SAT questions will help you become familiar with the structure and language of the question. You can also look for ways to increase your reading speed and comprehension. For example, you can try a technique like words chunking or practice limiting the urge to reread sentences.
Answer Questions You Know First
With around 48 seconds to answer each question, you don’t have time to read in-depth. Begin to scroll the passage to understand the main idea and identify the style. When you encounter a question you don’t know, skip the question and move on to others.
Eliminate Incorrect Answers
When working on SAT questions for which you are not immediately sure of the answer, try to eliminate answers that you know are incorrect. If you manage to eliminate some of the four possible options, your chances of guessing correctly increase.
Even if you have no idea what the correct answer is, sometimes you can delete answers depending on the context of the question.
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Save Longer Questions For The Last
In addition to the underlined segments scattered throughout the passage, you’ll also see actual question stems that might ask you about the position of a sentence or paragraph. Alternatively, they may ask you to determine whether the passage fulfills the author’s intended purpose and why or why not. Since these questions are based on the passage as a whole, it is best answered after reading the entire passage.
Don’t Leave Any Questions Unanswered
Do your best to answer each question. Figure out how long it will take you to get back to the questions you skipped and don’t be afraid to start filling in the circles if you’re running out of time.
Even if you don’t know the answer, you should at least guess. Your score will not be penalized for incorrect answers, but rather added to correct answers. This means that your score has a 25% chance of being correct if you guessed correctly, while you have no chance of getting points if you leave it blank.
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