SAT Tips?

**shawshank62** · October 1st, 2003, 09:13 PM

Im a junior this year, so this is my first attempt at the SAT. ill be taking it october 11. Im not planning any hardcore studying for it...just taking a practice test or 2. I just want to get an idea where i fall, and this will be the first of 3 times i plan on taking it this year. and 1 more time my senior year if im still not pleased with my results. can anyone offer up some tips for the first time?

**vass0922** · October 1st, 2003, 09:38 PM

Don't guess
in SAT you marked off for each WRONG answer, but you're not marked off for unanswered questions.

in the ACT its best to guess answers, but not in SAT.

Other than that, I never took SAT's they weren't required for my school (in MI most schools use ACT)

**Mike** · October 1st, 2003, 09:42 PM

I never bothered to take the SAT or ACT. (Well not officially at least.

) Just be sure to go in after getting a good night's rest, eat breakfast, and have an open mind.

Just do a practice test or two. You never know what will be thrown on the SAT anyway.

**chipbgt** · October 1st, 2003, 09:45 PM

http://www.admissionsconsultants.com/college/sat.asp

some highlights:

Ascending order of difficulty

The SAT questions become more difficult as you go through each section. If you are nearing the end of a section and you can not figure out the last few questions, your time will be better spent to review the questions in the beginning and middle of the section. Keep in mind that all the questions are weighted the same. Furthermore, a few blank answers will not make a material impact on your score.

Avoid Random Guessing in the Multiple Choice Sections

The SAT's scoring formula has been "tweaked" to penalize you for incorrect answers. As a result, you will not be aided by random guessing. If you have no idea what the correct answer is to a question, we suggest that you simply skip it and move on. The only exception to this is the problem solving without multiple choice. There is no clue for guesses in this section, so it will behoove you to write down a number for each question.

It will be advantageous for you to guess, however, when you can eliminate at least one incorrect answer. Usually you will be able to identify at least one choice that is clearly wrong. Eliminating even one incorrect choice will improve your odds.

from my understanding most people do better the more they take it, so keep trying if your not happy. Usually colleges will accept your highest combined score.

oh, and spell your name right

**Gomer** · October 1st, 2003, 10:13 PM

remember the 3 R's

relax relax relax.

Get all wound up about it and it will only hurt your score.

Eat a good meal, do something fun the night before.

Never panic.

Run through a practice test (an entire test if possible) just to get a taste of what they'll be serving.

**WingWizard** · October 1st, 2003, 10:34 PM

Here's another tip...

Bring a sweater or something. When I went, I somehow got put in a big gym which was detached from the main part of the school i was taking it at. It was probably around 50 degrees in there, and I spent the entire time trying not to chatter!

**daveleau** · October 2nd, 2003, 12:16 AM

Practice tests. Take plenty of practice tests from previous years to get a feel for how the questions are asked. This will be more valuable than anything else. With enough practice, you can raise your score drastically because you'll know how to guess a lot better on the items you aren't sure of.

**Martoch** · October 2nd, 2003, 12:26 AM

Remember, your FIRST instinct is usually correct...that was always my biggest problem taking tests, I would look over the test and change answers too much...most of them were right in the first place.

**super gerbil** · October 2nd, 2003, 12:40 AM

drink coffee

**Theophylact** · October 2nd, 2003, 08:21 AM

It will be advantageous for you to guess, however, when you can eliminate at least one incorrect answer. Usually you will be able to identify at least one choice that is clearly wrong. Eliminating even one incorrect choice will improve your odds.

Your score is based on the number of right answers minus one-fourth the number of wrong answers. If you can eliminate one of the five choices, guessing is a break-even proposition. If you can eliminate two as being obviously wrong, guess: you'll be ahead of the game.

**osprey4** · October 2nd, 2003, 10:45 AM

How I would love to go back and take the SAT again and see how I'd do.

That would knock my ego down a few notches.

**DPA** · October 2nd, 2003, 12:48 PM

i just took it... all i can say is:

don't just brush up on your math, polish it!

your english... if you don't have a good vocabulary [which you seem to do just fine here at techimo] then you're screwed already

the SAT consists of 3 math and 3 english sections alternating throughout the test.

i answered every single question on the test as i figured that statitically speaking, i had a better chance of getting more points by answering them all than i did if i left them blank... because lemme tell you, i was positive that i was correct on about 10% of the questions.

i came out with a decent score, only 15 points higher than i wanted without becoming a statistic

1050... and i hadn't had math or english in 2 years, and i drove 2 hours just to get to the test center... i arrived officially dead to the world

prepare for the most rigorously boring test on the face of the planet... oh wait, nevermind, that test is on TV, its called ripley's believe it or not

**shawshank62** · October 2nd, 2003, 05:09 PM

thx for the respone....and thx dpa, its good to get some first hand encouters. Ill start working on my math...its not excellent to begin with...so i better get going. If i could get above 1050 on my first try that would awsome. but my final goal is to get above 1200...so i guess the best thing i can do is just be prepared...and from what most of you are saying...relax...ill try to keep that in mind.

**shawshank62** · October 10th, 2003, 09:34 PM

TOMORROW!!!!

WOOT WOOT!!!

ok, off to get some sleep.

**Mike** · October 10th, 2003, 09:37 PM

G'night shawshank. Good luck with that!

Are you sure you want to say w00t w00t?

**shawshank62** · October 10th, 2003, 09:39 PM

hmmmm....

well....trying to stay positive here.....so yeah....im gonna say woot woot and hope i get a 1600

**Mike** · October 10th, 2003, 11:36 PM

Good luck with that 1600 goal.

**Nighthawk** · October 12th, 2003, 11:12 PM

I hope it went well!

One of the things that helped me was that one of my english teachers made us learn prefixes and suffixes. That helped a bunch on the analogy section.

**sao95** · October 12th, 2003, 11:20 PM

my advice is, if there's a hottie sittin right next to you, and after she sees you tapping your pencil she asks if your a drummer, don't lie and say you are, then just fill in the blanks so you can hit on her, you'll not do well.....

**shawshank62** · October 12th, 2003, 11:34 PM

im not sure, but i think i left a lot blank....the math was ok....and the reading was ok....oh hell....i dont have a clue how i did. how long does it take for this stuff to come back?

no hottie sitting next me....just a rather large teenage male...and im not making any passes on men!