Take a huge, deep breath, and then exhale as quickly as possible. Then repeat the process until you feel dizzy and fall over. So, you’ll hit your head and form a blood clot in your brain. Then, you’ll miraculously transform into a megasavant, just like Rain Man. So, you’ll get a 10,000 on your SAT. Then you will die. And then, in a few years, a Jonas brother will win an Oscar for starring in a movie about your life.
Actually, that’s probably not going to happen, so, you know, don’t do that. Instead, read these tips!
TIP #1: Self-diagnosis
Take a practice test from the College Board website and do some self-tests. Make sure the test is timed and try to reasonably emulate test day conditions by testing in a quiet room with no distractions. The goal here is to get an idea of where you are and which sections need more work.
TIP #2: The writing stuff. Ha ha!
But seriously, the essay part makes up almost a third of the total writing score, so yeah, it’s pretty important and stuff. Remember, the SAT essay is about taking a position and supporting it with a strong thesis and clear paragraphs. Make your point and support it with examples and evidence. Be decisive! Just pick a side and go with it. You’re not a politician yet, so don’t be a flip-flopper. Changing your mind in the middle of your essay is a terrible idea that will cost you not only in time but also in score. Practice writing essays with a stopwatch to get a good idea of how fast you need to write. Obviously, 25 minutes is not enough time to create your own War and peacebut if not at least better than Twilight…well, maybe you can increase your score in some other way.
TIP #3: Practice makes you ready
If you ever get a fortune cookie that says, “Practice makes perfect,” throw it away. First of all, that was a proverbial cookie, and they’re not that good. Second, “practice makes perfect” is misleading. Raise your hand if you’ve ever spent weeks practicing perfectly for a piano recital, but then get so nervous on stage that you urinate, then have a nervous breakdown, pull out all your hair, and curse at 8-year-olds. in the front row. . Well, as I lower his hand, he thinks about this: if you want to practice until you’re perfect, why not do the same section of the SAT over and over again until you get it perfect every time? Because that would be useless. Practicing with the “practice makes perfect” mentality isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it could blind you to the real benefit of practice: being prepared. You want to expose yourself to as many different question types as possible so that on test day, nothing on the SAT will surprise you. What you want is to inoculate yourself against the pressures of a timed exam by taking timed practice tests. You want to be prepared for whatever the SAT throws at you so that you can catch it, set it on fire, and throw it in its face, cackling like a wild hyena being tickled by a feathered octopus… or whatever. .
TIP #4: Take a class…somewhere
Everything you need to know for the SAT that you learned in school. But everything you learned at school is a lot. The big, big secret behind SAT prep isn’t necessarily teaching you even more stuff, but rather showing you what things you already know are the most important. Imagine for a moment that the SAT is an open book test. How would you know what to bring? If you really wanted to cover all your bases, you would want to bring every textbook you used to school, right? But that’s, like, a lot of things. A proper SAT prep program (wink, nudge) will help you throw out the books you don’t need and put stickers on the important chapters so you can refer to them quickly and easily for the test. Don’t drown in a sea of irrelevant knowledge. That will only confuse and slow you down on test day. You have six weeks before your exam. If you take a class now, you will finish one week before your exam. On the big day, everything will be fresh in your mind and you can take on that beast like a boss. Yes, like a boss. Alternatively, if you don’t want to take a class or get a tutor, don’t forget that your favorite test prep center sells a Solutions Manual for The Official College Board SAT Study Guide (2nd Edition) to help you better understand each question. . !
TIP #5: Research
Do some research on the colleges you plan to apply to and find out what their policies are regarding score reporting. Many schools like to help students by using a “superscore,” which is the combination of all the highest scores in each section. Knowing that your schools are helping you in this way can take some of the pressure off. On the other hand, if your school doesn’t accept a super score, keep in mind that the College Board now offers “Score Choice,” which allows you to choose which scores you want to send to colleges. Again, knowing this can take some of the pressure off. No problem.