I'm taking the SAT tomorrow

[dudemanpp]

I'm taking the SAT tomorrow. I am quite nervous about it. Can anyone with experience give me some tips about it or some general stories? I'm hoping it will make me less nervous

 

[4Chan]

Okay, i didnt score too high (1920 on all three: 670 reading, 650 math 600 writing), but, my tip is CHOOSE C IF YOU DONT KNOW.

And uhhmm, look out for the traps, and NEVER CHOOSE A.

I believe, they intentionally dont make A the answer because they dont want to to find the answer right off the bat when you go down the list from A to E.

Also, budget your time well, and DONT EVER fall asleep no matter what.
Take a ritalin or ADD med and drink lots of energy drink or coffee.
If you cant get some add meds, get some from friends, it HELPS alot during study sessions and standardized tests.


EDIT: sometimes the answer is A, but if you dont know, dont choose it.

 

[Lotsofsloths]

haha me too!
But I am in the 8th grade and taking them forspecial oppertunitys, not for actual colleges ahah

 

[Musturd]

Me too!
I am a Junior in High school.
I took the January 2008 SAT as practice and got a 780 on the Math section, so I'm pretty excited (but my other two scores were 640, 620)
Basically, I probably will take them in May again unless my Reading/Writing scores magically jump to the 700s

As for advice:
If you narrow a question down to 3 choices or less, guess, otherwise skip it.
If you are on an earlier numbered question it is easy, so pick the obvious answer. If you are on one of the later questions it should be tricky, so if you see an obvious answer don't quickly pick it.

 

[dudemanpp]

haha me too!
But I am in the 8th grade and taking them for special opportunities, not for actual colleges ahah

I took it in 7th grade for the Duke TIP program. It was a good experience but they still send me crap. It's 4 years later and I still get stuff in the mail.

I took the pSAT last winter but didn't do amazingly well. 1900 total. I just don't want to screw up my chances of getting into The University of Florida

As for advice:
If you narrow a question down to 3 choices or less, guess, otherwise skip it.
If you are on an earlier numbered question it is easy, so pick the obvious answer. If you are on one of the later questions it should be tricky, so if you see an obvious answer don't quickly pick it.

This is so genius! Great advice. Thank you!

 

[Musturd]

Oh, also make sure you have a list of examples for the essay.
At this moment, I am on SparkNotes remembering some books from the past few years.
It's good to understand 3 "good" books (as in ones you read for school)
Also, I am planning on going over a few historic events, and making up a few stories that could be real.
Make sure that you don't make up anything in Historical events or in books because the people who grade the papers may have read those books.

But what do I know -- I got a 620 on the writing section in my most recent practice (although I have done better)

Lets make sure we start a new topic when we get our scores back!

 

[dudemanpp]

Oh, also make sure you have a list of examples for the essay.

The pSAT I took didn't have an essay. I hope there's not an essay tomorrow. What was your essay topic?

 

[minsarker]

ok first off, do your best and time yourself

if you dont know one, dont waste time on it

and most importantly dont worry too much, I got 800 on math, 700 on writing, and like 550 on reading but I still got into like 5 or 6 honors colleges and many other places this year.

SAT's are a part, GPA is another part, Course load is another, essay quality is another, extracurriculars...and more

there is so much that goes into a college app other than the SAT

EDIT: SAT always has an essay, the topics are easy. Basically stuff like what does honesty mean to you and such like that, you need to remember to pull data from past readings, experiences, and learning

 

[dudemanpp]

SAT always has an essay, the topics are easy. Basically stuff like what does honesty mean to you and such like that, you need to remember to pull data from past readings, experiences, and learning

I'm very confident I'm going to get into a university but I'm a worry wart

Thanks for the advice. I'm looking up some past essays now. I think my problem on the pSAT was I answered every question and got some wrong. I will be sure to not waste my time or guess too much.

 

[flee135]

If you narrow a question down to 3 choices or less, guess, otherwise skip it.

From my experience, I would guess if you can eliminate even one choice. If you get it wrong, you will lose .25 raw points, but if you get it right, you get 1 raw point. So if you guess on 4 questions, each of which you eliminated one answer choice, you should get 3 incorrect, and 1 correct. That's .25 extra points in total.

But that's just me. Some people don't like to "play this probability game," which is quite understandable. Also just make sure you eat a good breakfast and you're mentally prepared for the test. Just don't study too much the day before the test. Loosen up and don't add unnecessary stress.

haha me too!
But I am in the 8th grade and taking them forspecial oppertunitys, not for actual colleges ahah

Uh what? You're in 8th grade? I'm a freshman, but I always assumed you were my age or older.

 

[d_sprink]

Advice

I scored fairly well on the SAT-660 in both math and reading (whatever it is) an a 600 on the essay.

My main advice is to always pay attention in class. I know it doesn't help now, but really, just paying attention and retaining things you learn in school will help.

On the math: They used really weird notation sometimes and stuff, but take what they give you and make sense of it. You gotta think outside the box and be creative. They like to test your knowledge of the concepts instead of spamming busywork, unlike most of my teachers =P.

On the English: Know your SAT Vocab words that every English teacher in the US seems to have list upon list of, and know them by heart. Don't cram; especially now, but just expand your vocabulary (again, not really good for last minute advice). Another thing is that you will be analyzing passages and pulling information from them. So on those questions, focus on WHAT the author is trying to portray, and HOW he is doing it (by what devices).

Writing: My least favorite. I don't remember it fully well, but I remember writing a concession argument. Basically the form is:

• Intro- Show problem and two solutions (yours first).
• Opposing side - Write a paragraph saying 'those who are stupid think this is correct' (but not in such demeaning words; be polite)
• Concession - 'Although they are stupid, they have one good idea, which is this.' I always used this as a lead-in to my next paragraph:
• Your perspective - Write a paragraph about how amazing your solution to the problem is.
• Conclusion - I'm awful at these. Ask someone else =P.

Well, other than that, my most important advice is to be mentally ready. Get plenty of sleep, eat a good healthy and balanced breakfast (bacon, eggs, toast, etc.), and don't show up stoned or with a hangover or anything. The people I know that did that didn't perform their best.

Oh, and bring a snack and a bottle of water. They let us have a small break. Turn off your phone, have a good scientific/graphing (if you wish) calculator, but no Ti-89 or N-Spires.

I wish you good luck, and have fun!

 

[audhulma]

I'm taking the SAT tomorrow as well...should probably have studied, but ah well. One think though-d_sprink, as well as any others, Ti-89/N-spires are allowed. Taken directly from http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/testday/calc.html , "You are not allowed to use any of the following items as a calculator:

Laptop or a portable/handheld computer
Calculator that has QWERTY (typewriter-like) keypad, uses an electrical outlet, makes noise, or has a paper tape
Electronic writing pad or pen-input/stylus-driven device
Pocket organizer
Cell phone calculator"
Just thought that some people might find that helpful!

 

[Ethan Rosen]

I hated that Baijau ocean dwellers section, or whatever they were called. Other than that part I thought it was good.

 

[Musturd]

Technically, we aren't allowed to talk about it, remember?
But I agree with you, that section was hard.
I also got 2 or 3 math questions wrong. But that's it. I'm sure of it. (I also remember the exact questions, but don't want to get in trouble for talking about it)
Hopefully, it will be a 780...
Reading - sort of hard
Writing - essay topic hard, other parts not so bad

But that's just what I thought...

 

[Ethan Rosen]

O yea the essay topic was god awful
I thought the math and the other writing parts were pretty good

 

[Musturd]

I had spent all Friday night preparing examples to use, and none of them fit the topic...

 

[deathbypapercutz]

BAHAHAHAHAHAA YES I LOVE BEING A SECOND SEMESTER SENIOR