Ace the SAT

As you prepare to begin a new chapter in your life known as “College”, you are surely wondering what to expect when you sat score calculator. We can’t do it for you, but we can give you some information so you can better prepare. We can help you help yourself. Ultimately, it’s all about preparation.

• Come prepared. Make sure you have more than one pencil with the correct lead – which happens to be #2. Also make sure they are sharpened and ready to use. You will also need ID, a calculator, a watch and of course your ticket, which allows access to the exam site.
• Many insist that the key is to follow your first choice, not guess yourself or scrawl for the third choice. It’s a psychological trick we do to ourselves, but it works for many. You’ll spend most of your time in the critical reading sections, so it makes sense to turn off the obvious ones first.
• Make a deal with yourself: only spend “X” time on each question. This may seem like more pressure, but again, it’s a psychological ploy that many insist on. We definitely support it.
• Check from time to time that your answers are to the right questions. It’s easy for the lines to blur. A quick check to make sure you’re still on the right track is usually enough.
• Allow that natural trust; But don’t underestimate a good night’s sleep, a clear, open mind and a power breakfast in the morning.
• Play through the “worst-case scenario” in your mind. So often we ask ourselves, “What if my result isn’t what I hoped it would be?” What’s the worst that could happen? You would probably take it again, right? So your worst case scenario is to just repeat it.
• Be aware of the time, but don’t let it overwhelm you.
• If you don’t know the answer; guess. Your chances of picking the right one are actually pretty high.
• To breathe!

Need a little more detailed information? Check out the help boards on college.org or collegeboard.com

Sure, it can be a bit overwhelming, but you’ve worked really hard. You deserve the doors that open as a result of a college education. When you look back at your life, you will surely regret the things you didn’t do far more than the things you did.

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SAT Math Strategies – Part II

In the first part of this article, we discussed the three core elements of a basic strategy to increase SAT score, specifically timing, omissions, and responses . A solid knowledge of these three methods will provide the prospective college-bound high school junior or senior with an effective way to boost their SAT math score by at least 50-100 points. Here we go into the details of these strategies and the best ways to implement them.

The mathematics part of the SAT consists of three parts: two consist of pure multiple choice questions, 20 and 16 questions respectively, and one consists of 8 multiple choice questions and 10 ” fill-in ” types, where the student chooses the Answer by filling in provides in the corresponding grid. These three sections total 54 questions, for which the student has 70 minutes: 25 minutes for the first multiple-choice section and the grid-in section, and 20 minutes for the last section, which has 16 multiple-choice questions.

The timing strategy involves building a ” time bank ” in which the student accumulates time for the later problems or for reviewing completed problems to ensure accuracy. Since students are given approximately one minute and fifteen seconds per question, each time they answer a question in less than that time, they will be making deposits into their time bank. Since the first 10-15 questions in the two multiple choice sections and the first 5 and 7 respectively in the multiple choice section are relatively easy and can be completed quite quickly with enough practice, the student can make significant deposits in the time bank for later payouts, which helps with the harder questions and review of completed tasks; The result of this strategy is an overall increase in score.

For the stronger students, this time bank strategy helps to get high scores. To achieve a score in the 700+ range , a student must answer 48 (51 for 740) questions correctly without having more than two wrong answers. Each incorrect answer counts as a negative 1/4 point, reducing the total score used to calculate the final score, which ranges from 200 to 800. Students need to be aware that they need to get through the early part of the test in order to tackle the more difficult problems at the end. Questions are ranked by difficulty, from easy to hard, allowing this strategy to enter the realm of top scorers. The time bank strategy thus enables entry into this area and also allows questions to be checked for correctness, since incorrect answers reduce the total number of points .

Next we have the omission strategy , which is my favorite of the three. My students have increased their scores by over 30-50 points just with the knowledge of this one technique. The premise is simple: each time an incorrect answer is selected, 1/4 point is subtracted from the raw score. So I advise my students: Don’t guess. If you don’t know the answer, leave it blank. Omission equals a higher score. To see how this works, consider this: You answer all 54 questions. You only knew how to do 24 and you guessed the other 30. Let’s assume the ones you guessed were all multiple choice since you don’t lose points for wrong answers on the grid-ins. (Hence, you should always guess at the grid-ins, even though the probability of correctly answering any of these questions this way is extremely small.) Since the probability of correctly answering a question just by guessing is 1/5, you would be expected to get 6 of those 30 correct. So you would have 24 + 6, or 30 correct (assuming those 24 you can were done correctly, which is often not the case); However, you would lose 24*(1/4) or 6 points from your raw score if you guessed. Out of the 24 you know of, you may have made some sloppy mistakes and gotten some of them wrong. Rather than wasting time on unfamiliar issues guessing what, as you saw in the example, at best hasn’t changed your raw score for the better, invest your time only in the issues you know and make sure you enter them correctly. It also relieves you of the time pressure, knowing that you will only invest your time in the problems that you have a high probability of solving correctly. This strategy works very well in practice.