Top Ten Tips for SAT's!

The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a not-for-profit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still administers the exam. The test is intended to assess a student's readiness for college. FirstPoint USA is one of the only companies who actually host the SAT exams in the UK. With many of our clients taking their SAT exams just now, we thought we would bring you ten of our best tips to score high on those exams! Best of luck!! 1. Be Equipped! Make sure you have everything that you need the night before you sit your SAT exams.  You will need the admission ticket, a valid form of photo identification,  several #2 pencils, a calculator with fresh batteries, a watch, and snacks or refreshments for your breaks. 2. STUDY! STUDY! STUDY! Try to study for your SAT under real testing conditions.  Make sure your study area is quiet and without distractions and try to aim to study for at least 1-2 hours each time.  Get used to taking a long exam!  The SAT is 3 hours and 45 minutes long, and it's usually administered in the morning, so some good advice would be to recreate these conditions by taking several practice tests. 3. Eliminate! Get rid of as many wrong choices as you can on the SAT before answering a question.  Wrong answers are often easier to find.  You are penalized 1/4 point when you get an answer wrong on the SAT test so the smartest thing to do is use the process of elimination to get rid of two or three answer choices first.  However, bear in mind that you will get zero points for a blank question, which is better than a quarter point reduction for guessing incorrectly so eliminate wisely and make educated guesses! 4. Choose which questions to answer first! In every section, except for the Critical Reading section, the questions are ordered from easy to difficult.  Choose your own order of difficulty and answer the questions you find easiest first.  If you are in the final third of a section, beware of the obvious answer choices - they're probably distracters!  Remember, each question is worth the same number of points - move on if you find a question too confusing or time consuming, you can always come back to it! 5. Scribble! Write in the test booklet.  No one is going to read what you have written in the test booklet, so use this to your advantage to scribble out formulas, solve math problems, outline or paraphrase. 6. Learn the SAT Vocabulary! Several months before you even look at a practice exam, begin learning the words on the lists of SAT vocabulary words.  You can find an SAT vocabulary application for your smartphone or ipod, and online programs to help create your own flashcards to help you learn. 7. Exercise and eat healthily If a healthy body leads to a healthy mind, it would certainly make sense to prepare yourself for your SAT physically as well as mentally.  Make sure you exercise regularly and eat properly on the days, weeks and months leading up to your exam to ensure you are at your peak in terms of fitness and energy. 8. Transfer! You could always write your answers in the test booklet and transfer them over at the end of every section/page.  This may save you time from going back and forth and reduce the amounts of mistakes you may make. 9. Take your time! You will get a better score if you only answer 75% of the questions on the test if you take your time and answer them correctly, rather than if you rush through and guess.  Remember, a blank answer = 0 points, a wrong answer = -1/4 points!!! 10. Cross-Check! Make sure you plan ahead in managing your time during the exam.  Allow yourself some time at the end of every section to cross-check all your answers to make sure you have not made any mistakes or missed any questions out! It is an important exam and you should really work hard to achieve the best possible mark you can!   However, remember, it is an exam you can take again! Best of luck to all those who are sitting their SAT's