10 Steps to ace the SAT

Before we get started, what is the SAT? The SAT is an aptitude test administered by the Collegeboard.
Universities, particularly those in USA, use your SAT score primarily to compare you to the rest of the
applicant pool. It comprises of two mandatory sections, Mathematics and Critical Reading (read- Hell),
and an optional essay. Take a moment to convince yourself that the SAT is NOT a devilish exam which
will ruin your morale and make you hate the English language forever. The SAT is designed to be a
measure of your smartness. Meaning, working smartly will lead to great results!

1) The Resources
Here in Bangladesh, were in a troublesome situation regarding SAT resources. You should know that,
unlike our traditional O/A level system, Question Papers and Mark Schemes are not available for the SAT
test. Also, since the new SAT has just gotten around, the book stores in Bangladesh are not stocked with
a variety of books. Its a general suggestion to purchase the Collegeboard Official SAT Guide along with
the Barrons SAT Guide. Personally, Id suggest learning from Khan Academys online SAT Course.

2) Vocabulary
Frankly speaking, this is more of a life hack in the long run. Adding to your word stock will help you
professionally and socially as you interact with all parts of the world in the course of your life. As far as
your SAT prep is concerned, Collegeboard has tried desperately since the inception of the new SAT to
underplay the role of SAT. Ask any student whos appeared for the new SAT and theyll let you know how
everyone lies. Admittedly, you will not explicitly be tested on your ability to recall ridiculous words like
Pulchritudinous, but a good work stock is still quintessential for you to fully comprehend the passages
on the test. Id suggest learning as many words as you can from Ivy Global or Majortests.

3) Reading Comprehension
It should be noted that the SAT is not a test which has to be prepared for in our traditional sense, mostly
because it doesnt assign a fixed syllabus to study from. Your ability to comprehend English passages
should have developed over the course of your school life. And for that to happen, READ! Read as much
of every genre you can. Read about history, about the sciences, about modern issues. I believe NYTimes
and Scientific American are two great news portals you should follow. Also, read as many books as you
can find. My personal favorites are The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom and Roots
by Alex Haley. Over time, youll find yourself developing a natural intuition and a better understanding of
all types of material.

4) SQ3R
SQ3R stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review. This technique is prominent due to the fact
that it helps you understand what youre reading from the get-go. A detailed explanation of this method
would extend longer than this post itself, ergo, I suggest you to read on this technique here.

https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/sat/new-sat-tips-planning/sat-reading-test-strategies/a/sat-active-
reading-strategies-part-1-sq3r
 5) Blurbing
This is a technique specifically suited for the longer passages in the Critical reading section. The blurb is
the small initial description a passage is accompanied with. When you start the passage, read the 'blurb'
and the first paragraph/ or first 15 lines. Then, go to the questions and look at the ones which refer to
specific lines. On the passage, Mark 2 lines above and below the region specified in the question. Read
that question again and read the marked part of the passage and find your answer. Leave the ones which
are about the overall passage for the end. This technique has done wonders for me and my friends!

6) Punctuation and Grammar Rules

Do you feel yourself becoming the subject of your 7 th grade Grammar teachers scorn? While they may
seem irrelevant, small punctuation rules can the death of you in the writing sections. Look out for the
Dash [-], the Colon [:], the Semicolon [;], the Apostrophe [], and the Comma [,]. Learn about how they
can trip you using independent clauses and the Comma Splice mistake. Also, make sure you know how
Pronouns and Possessives work. To fully understand these, go through Barrons section regarding this and
also Khan Academy.

7) Silly Mistakes in Maths

Nearly everyone is prone to making careless errors in the Maths section. If youre facing the same
problem, slow down. The math questions on the SAT are mostly not as nearly challenging as the usual
questions we face in O/A levels or the NCTB. Thats precisely why the Collegeboard gives questions
which elicit the kind of mistakes that are frequently made by students who are rushing or trying to cut
corners. Additionally, you should be aware of the fact that the Test Booklet belongs to you. Write
wherever and however you require for your working. Get out of your brain and put it on the page! Finally,
before moving on from a question, always review it again.

8) Time Management
The Two Passes Strategy is a method you can use to structure your time strategically while working
through a group of questions. It can help to ensure that you don't run out of time before you have had the
chance to work on the all of the questions that are easiest for you. Basically, you start by identifying the
easiest group of questions in a section, and work your way up to the hardest ones. This is the first pass of
the section. Then, you should look at the remaining questions and judge how many you want to approach
with the time left. In these cases, choose your battle wisely. If you just do not understand how a geometry
question should be approached, answer it on a hunch, which gets me to the next point.

9) Know How Scoring Works & Educated Guessing

This is paramount for your success in a variety of ways. Picking up from the last advice, in the new SAT
you are NOT penalized for a wrong answer, unlike the previous SAT. What this means for you is that if
you skip a question, you lose 1 mark. However, if you answer a question on a completely random guess,
you technically get 1/4th of a mark (1/4 chance of getting it correct).
Educated Guessing, as I like to coin the term, is the situation when youre not 100% of an answer choice
but you can certainly bring down the number of possible answer choices to less than 4. Always take full
advantage of this. If you are confused over 2 answer choices, mark any one of them anyway. You have a
chance of getting a correct answer, which means you can get upto 5 marks for every 10 questions you
guess smartly!

10) TLDR; Practice!

I believe this goes without saying. Regardless of which exam youre sitting for and what your aptitude is;
the more you practice, the better you get. As you keep practicing, youll learn more about which exam
technique suits yourself best and, at the same time, youll find out a bit more about the common mistakes
which you can make on the test. Personally, I solved almost 30 practice tests before my SAT I exam last
year. It took my score from an 1880 to 2240.