10 Tips to Prepare for the SAT
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You’ll take a lot of tests throughout your high school career, but the SAT is different from your standard high school tests. For one thing, just about everyone your age all over the country is taking it; for another, it can have a major impact on your college application; and finally, unless you hire a tutor, you may not have anyone to help you prepare.
Fortunately, there are some tried and true strategies that have helped many past students earn excellent SAT scores. Here are 10 tips on how to demystify the SAT, and ensure you put your best foot forward on the big day.
10 Tips to Maximize Your Score on the SAT
1. Know What to Expect on the Test
While the SAT has been around for almost a century, the test has changed over the years. Well before test day, you should become familiar with the SAT’s current format and content, so that you don’t encounter any surprises when you sit down for the test.
Today, the SAT is taken digitally and consists of two sections—Reading and Writing and Math—with a 10-minute break between sections. Each of these sections contains two equal-length modules. In total, the SAT is 134 minutes long, not including the 10-minute break.
The Reading and Writing section is 64 minutes long (two 32-minute modules) and contains 54 questions and tasks. The Math section is 70 minutes long (two 35-minute modules), with 44 questions and tasks.
2. Know Where You’re Starting From
Understanding what you need to study is essential to preparing for the SAT successfully. Very few students need to study for all parts of the SAT equally. Consider your experiences, strengths, and coursework to determine the content you’re most comfortable with, and what will need further review.
For example, if you already possess strong STEM skills, you’ll likely want to devote more time to preparing for your weaker section, Reading and Writing. Conversely, if you flourish at Reading and Writing, you’ll want to focus on Math when preparing for the SAT.
As you progress in your studying, you’ll also want to focus in on particular areas within the broader SAT sections. For example, maybe you’re strong in geometry, but fractions are difficult for you. Or, maybe your vocabulary is refined, but you need to brush up on your punctuation rules.
3. Take a Practice Test
Practice tests provide a lot of value. They allow you to get accustomed to the pacing and format of the test, and call attention to areas of strength and weakness. They can also spotlight errors you may not even be aware you’re making—for example, making careless mistakes because you’re rushing or not understanding what questions are asking.
There are a variety of resources available to students who want to take a practice SAT. The College Board—the organization that administers the SAT—offers practice tests that use the same interface, format, and scoring as the digital SAT for free through its Bluebook App. Practice SATs are also available from websites like Varsity Tutors, or in digital prep books from publishers like Barron’s and Kaplan.
4. Make a Concrete Study Plan
Set a target score based on the middle 50% SAT data for your top-choice schools, which provides the 25th percentile and 75th percentile scores for accepted students. This range is more useful than just a raw average, as it gives you a broader sense of what kinds of scores are considered competitive.
As you prepare, you’ll want to use your target score as a guide. The results of your first practice test will show you how you stack up against admitted students at your top-choice schools, which will in turn help you pinpoint how to spend your study time and energy most productively.
5. Study the Content
Many students are tempted to simply review as many practice questions as possible, but it’s important to develop a deep understanding of the skills being evaluated before putting them to the test. For example, the SAT requires you to know grammar rules, possess active reading skills like using context clues, and have a short list of math formulas memorized.
Reading challenging articles from publications like the New Yorker or Scientific American is an excellent strategy for building reading and writing skills. Look up and learn unfamiliar words, note key details, and discuss the article with your friends and family to test your overall comprehension. In addition to organically refining your SAT skills, you’ll learn a lot about the world around you—from politics and culture to science and technology.
When it comes to memorizing math formulas, it’s hard to beat good old-fashioned flash cards. Practice every day and, once you’ve committed the formulas to memory, begin applying them to problems. After all, knowing the formulas is only half the battle; the other half is being able to identify the correct formula needed to solve a particular problem.
6. Study Test Strategy
To perform well on the SAT, you need to know not just the material on the test, but also how to take it. Make sure to read the instructions for each section, and even each question, carefully–you don’t want to get a question wrong because you thought you were supposed to answer a different one. Other SAT test-taking strategies include:
- Answer every question—there’s no penalty for wrong answers
- Try eliminating wrong answers if you’re struggling to answer a question
- Develop a reading strategy like skimming the passage to get a general sense of what it’s about, or reading the questions first to guide your reading
- Answer easy questions first and come back to more challenging questions
- Don’t overthink your answers—go with your gut instinct
Don’t wait until test day to implement these strategies. Rather, try them when taking practice tests to find out what works best for you.
7. Know Your Calculator
You can bring and use your own calculator on the SAT, provided that it’s on the College Board’s list of acceptable calculators, which includes most graphing calculators, all scientific calendars, and all four-function calculators.
The digital SAT also features a built-in calculator. If you don’t already have a calculator you’re comfortable with and want to test this one out, you can do so while taking a practice test on the Bluebook app, or on its own dedicated website.
Remember, being familiar with your calculator is much more important than having one with as many bells and whistles as possible. The SAT tests your mathematical knowledge, not your calculator skills, so your main priority should be choosing a calculator that you can efficiently enter simple calculations into, or use to quickly double-check your work, not picking one that you think will raise your score.
8. Ask for Help
Since when did studying become a solo activity? Working with other people can give you new insight into the concepts you find tricky and make studying simply more enjoyable, so don’t exclusively study alone.
Try to find a study group at your high school, local library, or through a community college. You can also ask for help from mentors, family members, teachers, or advisers. Even a family member who isn’t familiar with the test might be willing to quiz you if you can provide them with some practice questions. Varying how you study can help ensure the knowledge sticks, in part by making the learning more fun.
Finally, consider a formal SAT tutor. Although you’ll likely have to pay for the service, working with an expert can be the single most effective way to ensure you’re prepared on SAT day. There might be options through your high school or local community, or you could check out CollegeVine’s marketplace, which hosts dozens of expert college admissions advisors, some of whom specialize in standardized test prep.
If finances are a limiting factor in your search for a tutor, search online for your city name and the term “pro bono SAT tutor” to see if you can find a service that offers free SAT prep.
9. Plan Ahead for Test Day
Not showing up for your SAT on time or showing up unprepared can submarine weeks or months of preparation. Make a list of everything you’ll need on test day and pack it the day before the test.
Other things to think about include:
- When you’ll wake up–make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get ready before leaving your house
- What you’ll have for breakfast (something nutritious to fuel your brain!)
- How you’ll get to the testing facility, and how long that will take
Have plans and backup plans—in case everything doesn’t go smoothly on the morning of the test, you’ll want to have a plan B in mind ahead of time so that you can remain calm and mentally focused.
10. After the Exam, Take Notes
As soon as you are done taking the SAT, write down as much you can about content that surprised you or tripped you up, pacing issues you ran into, or even specific questions that stumped you. Just like you learned from mistakes on the practice SATs, you should learn from your experience on the actual SAT too.
If you’re like the majority of college applicants, you will take the SAT more than once, especially if you’re applying to competitive schools. Generally, scores increase on a retake, but that increase won’t happen automatically—you need to learn as much as you can from your first test-taking experience. The notes you take while the test is still fresh in your mind will become important study tools for you to review both on your own and with your study group, mentors, or tutors.
The Impact of the SAT on Your Chances of Acceptance
Even with the expansion of test-optional policies, the SAT still plays a significant role in the admissions process at many schools, especially more selective ones. And, of course, many schools do still require test scores.
If you’re wondering what kind of SAT score you should aim for, check out CollegeVine’s free chancing engine, which evaluates a variety of factors like grades, course rigor, extracurriculars, and standardized test scores to estimate your odds of being accepted at over 1,600 schools across the country. You can even enter hypothetical SAT scores, to see how well you’ll need to do to boost your chances at your top-choice schools.
