SAT prep

Published by: jack 2009-01-07

What's the best method of SAT prep for someone capable of getting a perfect or near perfect score?

sokarokamof-ga, Thanks for the question. As you may know, studie have shown that taking test preparation courses and receiving coaching is unlikely to drastically improve your SAT score (if at all). www.collegeboard.com I am assuming that you are already well educated and capable, and thus probably wont benefit much from this type of course. However, there are some strategies that you can employ to boost your score a bit and, perhaps, ensure you achieve that near perfect/perfect score. I reviewed many websites on this subject, but found one to have basically everything that I needed to respond. Please don't feel as if my research was limited to the material covered in this answer. Also, I will be happy to clarify my response and respond to concerns and questions that you may have. Strategies: TIMING One of the best ways to apply your knowledge to the best of your ability is to make sure you allocate your time on each section effectively. "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." http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa120100a.htm This may seem obvious, but if you have the talent to get a perfect score, the only way you can screw it up is by mismanaging your time, or making careless errors. Focus and don't try and blow through the test. It is more important to know you have marked the correct answer than to do it in less time and hope it is correct. While you seem confident, make sure that you are not overconfident in your pursuit of a "perfect" score. Often people that are too preoccupied with getting ALL the answers correct, are forced to work too quickly and hurt their score as a result. "To do well in your 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." http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa120100a.htm FAMILIARIZE WITH THE TEST FORMAT Obviously, you are fairly familiar with the format if you profess to be capable of such a high score. However, understanding the test format is one factor that truly can be accounted for in your preparation time. A subpar student is not going to "study" for the SAT and cram in all that information in order to improve their score. The test is designed to test knowledge "previously acquired" over a long period of time. "The SAT I measures verbal and math reasoning abilities that you develop over years of schooling and in your outside reading and study." - The College Board Thus, there is really no way to "study" for the test. But, if you have the background necessary to perform well, you can improve your score by understanding the test inside and out. If you do, it will be one less distraction come test time. Here are some basics on the test: Test Format http://collegeapps.about.com/cs/satpreparation/a/aa030903.htm Scoring "The two parts of the test are scored independently. You will receive a verbal score and a math score. Each score ranges from 200 to 800. The average for both is 500. Thus, the average total score is 1,000. In addition to the scaled score, you will be assigned a percentile ranking, which gives the percentage of students with scores below yours. For instance, if you correctly answer 48 of the 60 math questions, then you will score better than 90% of the other test takers." http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa120100a.htm Order of Difficulty "Like most standardized tests, the SAT lists problems in ascending order of difficulty. Therefore, when trying to decide which questions to skip, skip the last ones. Each SAT section has subsections. Within these subsections, the problems also ascend in order of difficulty. For example, the verbal section has three subsections (Sentence completions, analogies, and reading comprehension). So, for example, Question 1 will be the easiest, and Questions 10 will be the hardest. Then, Question 11 (the first analogy question) will be the easiest analogy, and so on." http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa120100a.htm The 2 out of 4 Rule "It is significantly harder to create a good but incorrect answer-choice than it is to produce the correct answer. For this reason, usually only two attractive answer-choices are offered: One correct; the other either intentionally misleading or only partially correct (the ETS claims that this is to ensure that the student is paying attention to the question at hand, and not staring at the pretty girl sitting next to him). The other three answer-choices are usually fluff. This makes educated guessing on the SAT immensely effective. If you can dismiss the three fluff choices, your probability of answering the question successfully will increase from 20% to 50%." http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa120100a.htm SKIPPING AND GUESSING This is another situation that should come as second nature come test time. I know you want a perfect score, but you should know when to move on if you are having trouble with a particular question and are spending too much valuable time on it. I would advise you to skip those questions and come back to them later. Perhaps, you are smart enough where none of the questions will pose this problem. However, you should be prepared for it none the less. "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. Although there is a small guessing penalty on the SAT, if you can eliminate even one of the answer-choices, it is to your advantage to guess." http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa120100a.htm TAKE PRACTICE TESTS With these basic facts about the test structure known, the best way to COMPLETELY familiarize yourself with the test is to take LOTS of REAL past SAT tests as practice. Time them correctly, or have someone time them for you. I would personally recommend bringing a stop-watch to a quiet library or classroom and doing them there. Practice tests can also be used, but the actual past SAT exams are probably the most similar to what you will encounter on test day. Feel free to also take some practice tests online to change things up a bit, but primarily take the test in the conditions closest to what you expect on the day of the actual test. Ideally, you will come to the testing center in a FRAME OF MIND to take the test. You have to train your mind to adapt to the test-taking mode. If you are able to adapt well, then your abundant knowledge will be best applied and you will acheive the score you are capable of. The College Board recommends that you start 8-10 months in advance. Here is an example of a book of actual past SAT's: http://about.com.com/4004-4181_8-663747966.html?tag=txt Additional Links On test books http://collegeapps.about.com/library/byb/aabyb-satibooks.htm Vocab builder http://collegeapps.about.com/library/satvocab/blsatvocab.htm Time tables http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa112700a.htm On prep classes http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa021201a.htm http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa022101a.htm Online prep http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa032001a.htm The College Board http://www.collegeboard.com/homepage/0,,,00%2ben-USS_01DBC.html Search Terms Used: "SAT test prep" SAT and "gifted students" "past SAT" Thanks again for your question and please let me know if you need further clarification. Cheers, Anthony (adiloren-ga)

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