Patch Picks: Ways to Prepare for the SAT

The SAT Reasoning Test is being offered at Newton South High School (and other area high schools) on March 10, and for many juniors this will be their first experience with the college admissions test. Here are some tips for not only this test on this date but also some general suggestions for successful standardized test taking.

Register for the test- Tomorrow is the LAST day for late registration for the SAT Reasoning Test (this time around, no subject tests are offered). While you will also be able to take it on May 5 and/or June 2, getting this early start gives you a good sense of what you most need to work on in order to improve your scores. Keep in mind that most colleges average your scores or at the very least consider earlier test scores in their evaluation of your application, so don’t go in without any prep whatsoever.

Get a good prep book – The College Board publishes The Official SAT Study Guide (available on their site and in stores/online), but there are several other good books readily available at the New England Mobile Book Fair, Barnes and Noble, Newtonville Books or through Amazon.com. Some publishers also have prep courses (and vice versa), including Kaplan, Summit Educational Group and the Princeton Review, and many publishing companies also have their own books. Your best bet is to take a look at the books and figure out which style or approach works best for you.

Take a practice test first – Yes, you don’t want to give up a good chunk of a weekend day to taking a test, but this will save you a lot of time and effort in the long run. If you can set up timed conditions similar to the actual test, you will have a good sense of where you need to skip questions (remember, this doesn’t count against you) and where you need to spend more time. Also, with only two weeks until the test, you can’t possibly learn everything so the practice test will give you a solid roadmap of what you should focus on.

The night before the test, have fun- No cramming, no last minute vocab review, no math problems. The simple fact is that if you don’t know it by Friday night March 9, you aren’t going to know it the next morning so you might as well relax and clear your mind. Go to a movie, read a book for pleasure, hang out with your friends- do something that will help you remember that there was life before you took the SAT and there will be life after. Just don’t stay up too late – it goes without saying that you should try to get a good night’s sleep since you have to be at the testing center at 7:45 a.m.

Eat a good breakfast the morning of the test- Most of us don’t feel like even having a glass of juice this early, but you really need some fuel to get through the marathon that is the nearly four hours of testing you will go through taking the SAT. Have something with some protein to last for the long haul and some carbs you can burn through more quickly: a homemade breakfast sandwich with an egg and an English Muffin, with that glass of juice, should do you well. And since you get two five-minute breaks during the test, pack some water (NOT soda or juice here), some cheese and crackers or fruit and a protein bar to help give you a boost.

GOOD LUCK!

Editor's note: After today, Patch Picks will be on a hiatus for a few months. We here at Newton Patch want to thank all the readers and community members who have helped provide suggestions for this weekly column. Keep your eyes peeled in the future for guest appearances from Patch Picks!