SAT help,

[sam13lfc]

Before the exam, for like a few weeks, go to bed early and eat well. Also do practice exams if you can, that way everything becomes familiar so in the real exam you'll be comfortable with doing them. Also don't study every day, take a day off or you'll explode, and study in 20 minute time slots, taking a break between each because the longer you study without a break the less alert you become and the less information you take in.

As for the stress, the practise will ease that and, on the day, be really positive, make your mates positive and have a generally good atmosphere around you. Ty breathing exercises before you go into the exam and listen to some of your favourite music before going in, it's always good to have your favourite song going through your head in an exam.

I'm studying for GCSE's (England's tests on all subjects that you do and that determine your entry into College) and I feel your pain

 

[solidstatemind]

Ok, first of all YES I am in America, and second? WHY CAN?T OUR GOVERNMENT/SCHOOLS REALIZE THE POINTLESSNESS OF TESTING THIS WHEN WE ALREADY HAVE GRADES THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL?!?!?

Actually, if you are an 'A' student, particularly if you're taking honors courses, 100 points on an SAT isn't going to keep you from getting into a school. The SAT actually helps determine which kids are smart, but slackers in class (like I was). College administrators know that a high GPA is more an indicator of whether or not a kid will be successful, so believe me, they'll take it into account.

Now if you're going for a big state school, where they have 30k students and have minimum standards that you HAVE to meet, you might be in trouble, but your OP made it sound like this 100 points will guarantee you entrance, and if you're that close, I have to say that I like your odds.

So think positive and relax. That will help you more than anything, I bet.

 

[santaandy]

In the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, it is postulated that to fly, you should throw yourself at the ground, but miss. I postulate that the morning before, you should try to freak yourself out, but miss.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Read alot, one of the most important things for the sat is good vocabulary, so read some good books and get some on cd so you can further improve your vocab while doing something else

This is the greatest piece of advice that could be given. Vocabulary (and math) is what threw me off on the test. But then again, I'm a sophomore, so a lot of the material hasn't been covered yet.

There's a site that I was told to use... http://www.freerice.com/

It's a vocabulary tester, and every question you get right donates rice to starving folk in third-world countries. Cool, no? It's really expanded my vocabulary.

 

[Chimpa]

reminds me of my finals for the 2nd year of my undergrad degree, however what works for me might not work for you. I spent about 11 hours a day for about 3 weeks in the library before the day of the exam. The day before i was totally wasted and just couldn't foucs, so i just went home, listened to music, ate food, watched movies and played games. Had an early night and woke up for the final and got a first in it. Just make sure you are super relaxed for the run up because it allows you to think much more clearly. A hectic brain can screw it for you, so just do whatever makes you happy to still your nerves.

 

[sky14kemea]

do you believe in charms and stuff?
when i did my GCSE's i had loads of charms and stuff, like bracelets made from synthetic stones that were supposed to bring me different things, like luck, relaxation, courage, that sorta thing, so i thought "with all these, i cant possibly do that badly"
good news is i did pretty well XD you just gotta convince yourself

 

[Grimm91]

Just remember that it is only a test. It can not kill you. Study everyday, get plenty of healthy food stay hydrated and think of the questions.

 

[insectoid]

Side note: How does the SAT work?

*snip*

Thanks, I had no idea (being Australian).

 

[Bulletinmybrain]

Definitely work on english..

In 8th grade, I scored 570 in critical reading, and 540 in math.. I only scored a 380 in english...

 

[Lord George]

Become narcissistic, it really helps as long as you know and believe yourself superior to everyone around you then how can you fail?

 

[Lancer723]

Square breathing technique I use to calm down. Just breathe on rhythm, In....2....3....4....Hold....2.....3.....4.....Out....2.....3.....4.....Hold.....2.....3.....4

Repeat till you stop freaking out.

Count slowly in your head, you would be amazed how fast this will slow down your heartrate.

 

[Shivari]

Definitely work on english..

In 8th grade, I scored 570 in critical reading, and 540 in math.. I only scored a 380 in english...

I'd generally give the advice to brush up on the math; sure it's pretty easy, but it's also the easiest to study for an 800. If you know everything that could come at you, you should have no problem. Next, probably just look over grammar rules for the writing section, as I felt so confident with that on my PSAT, and ended up with a 560, so I could have easily improved that with some review. The reading section, maybe just brush up on some vocab, you can't really study the passages ahead of time, as you don't know what they'll be.

So yeah, the math section is easiest to improve upon through study, so provided you got less than a 700 on your last one, you could easily improve that to an 800. Also, the test as a whole really isn't that hard or stress-inducing, it just tries to trick you a bit. If you go in knowing that it's not that bad, it won't be that bad. That's probably the only advice I can give to you about being calm, as I've never really had a problem with nervousness, so I wouldn't know how to treat anxiety for the test.

 

[PasDeChat]

Practice writing essays, memorize the format, or even better practice speaking in a standard essay format. This will improve your grammar (if you have someone there listening and commenting), vocabulary (get an editor, someone else who's taking the class?) and help you control stress (maintaining calm while public speaking helps to teach one how to keep composure).

 

[epaulet]

High school is a measure of how worthless your high school education was or not (mine was practically pointless; the school was completely terrible). SAT is a better measure of your general knowledge of fairly easy material and your test taking capabilities. Neither of which help you very much in your university to be honest. At least it never helped me. People are very competetitive in university, multiple choice tests are usually twice as hard as open question, and success is determined 70% by your time management.

Of course they can't test that. But they have to have some sort of test since not everyone went to the same high school.

 

[Bulletinmybrain]

Definitely work on english..

In 8th grade, I scored 570 in critical reading, and 540 in math.. I only scored a 380 in english...

I'd generally give the advice to brush up on the math; sure it's pretty easy, but it's also the easiest to study for an 800. If you know everything that could come at you, you should have no problem. Next, probably just look over grammar rules for the writing section, as I felt so confident with that on my PSAT, and ended up with a 560, so I could have easily improved that with some review. The reading section, maybe just brush up on some vocab, you can't really study the passages ahead of time, as you don't know what they'll be.

So yeah, the math section is easiest to improve upon through study, so provided you got less than a 700 on your last one, you could easily improve that to an 800. Also, the test as a whole really isn't that hard or stress-inducing, it just tries to trick you a bit. If you go in knowing that it's not that bad, it won't be that bad. That's probably the only advice I can give to you about being calm, as I've never really had a problem with nervousness, so I wouldn't know how to treat anxiety for the test.

But you see.. If you brush up on your English.. You will have an incredible essay, and a decent-high score. That said.. I didn't know 90% of the critical reading.

Context clues, and careful elimination of answers.

That said.. Definitely caffeinated beverages or something like it. You have a few breaks.. Use them.. By the time the first few sections are over... You will start getting sluggish.

 

[Ago Iterum]

I was always calm in my tests, never studied, never listened in class, and I walked it.

There's your tip. Never listen.

Start with not listening to me.

 

[Deguasser]

You do need to study you spelled college wrong. But it's not that hard of a test I got a 2190 and on my ACT a 32. And you know what's the kicker? I have so low of grades I can't get into the school I want. But it's fine I'll just go to Macomb Community College.

lol, WOW, you are right, you know the funny thing... I ALWAYS misspell it, but only when I type. When I hand writing I get it right. It's because I typed it WRONG too much and now it's like programmed into my brain. I NEED to fix that... lol.

Anyway I REALLY do know how to spell College, I SWEAR!!! lol...

Thank you for pointing out why I'm an idiot. lol

Well I didn't mean it like that.

 

[Same River New Water]

But any other suggestions on how to squeeze every point out that I can are good too.

A quick tip from psychology is that you remember things best when you're in the same state of mind as when you learnt them. So if your test is in the afternoon, study mainly in the afternoon. If you're going to drink coffee before the test, drink coffee before you study. And so on.

 

[super_smash_jesus]

GET A FULL NIGHTS REST!!! Can't stress how important it is for doing well on tests. Things do not get committed to your long term memory without sleep, so make sure you do it. Other than that, create a set of cue cars with random questions, and the day of, go over them right before hand, just to make sure you got it imprinted.

 

[JMeganSnow]

Ok, so I?m looking for suggestions on how to knock the SAT out of the park.

Take the Kaplan course on the SAT and make sure you know general ABSTRACT stuff like what analogies are and how to diagram a sentence. Concrete knowledge basically does you no good whatsoever. There are a few general guidelines, too. Since the questions are multiple choice, they usually go like this (in random order, of course):

A. Stupidly Obviously Incorrect Answer
B. Right Answer
C. Incorrect Answer
D. Incorrect Answer that Kinda Sounds Correct-ish on first glance.

Always try to identify the Stupidly Obviously Incorrect Answer and the Incorrect Answer IMMEDIATELY, this gives you a 50/50 shot of picking the right one off the bat even if you just flip a coin.

In addition, the questions (particularly on the math side) are meant to be done quickly and mostly without scratch paper. If you find yourself having to write a bunch of shit down to answer the question, you're approaching it wrong. Go back and try to figure out if there's an easier way to do it that you missed. If you can't get it (the easier method), skip the question and move on--come back to it if you have time at the end. Don't waste time chasing wild geese.

In addition, since speed is a factor DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FIGURE OUT THE CORRECT ANSWER BEFORE YOU LOOK AT THE OPTIONS. This will slow you down and will make it harder to differentiate between the Incorrect Answer that Kinda Sounds Correct-ish on First Glance and the Right Answer, because on many of the questions (in the verbal portion, anyway) they won't be identical to your answer and this can throw you off. You're more likely to be able to tell which is which immediately if you let your mind *react* to input rather than *act*.