Why and How to Prepare for the SAT

Why Prepare for the SAT?

The CollegeBoard maintains that the SAT measures reasoning abilities(skills) developed gradually over the years of schooling preceding college. We all have heard of, or know a student(s) who got a 2400 without preparing for the test. This may be true, but 99.99% of the students who score 2400 put a tremendous amount of time and effort into preparation. Applying reasoning and critical thinking skills to the SAT takes practice for mere mortals.

Would you go into the most important athletic event, music recital, theater production of your high school career and say to yourself, "I have been preparing for my whole life for this event and I don't need to prepare any more in the months, weeks and days leading up to the event?" or, "Nothing that I do to prepare will make a difference in my performance."

Let's get real here. The College Board has an online course, they sell millions of prep books. Why would they claim that preparing for the test doesn't make a difference? They are concerned that students who don't have access to test prep materials would be at a disadvantage so they go to extraordinary lengths to demonstrate that test preparation makes a minimal difference in scores. See my 5/21/09 blog titled, SAT Prep, Is it Worth the Time and Money? You Decide. Maybe it is the CollegeBoard's capitalistic aspirations to provide future test takers with materials that will build revenue.
Never the less,it isn't worth the risk not to prepare. At the very least refer to my blog entry of 4/28/2009 titled, What You Can Do to Raise Your SAT Score the Week Before the Test.

If you want to give yourself the opportunity to have an outstanding performance read on.

Preparing for the SAT and ACT is like training for a marathon. You want to start months, even years in advance, (sophomore year is ideal), practice consistently, build up slowly over time to develop your technique, strategy, timing, endurance, speed, and composure.

Technique- Only take real SAT tests. Read the CollegeBoard Guide to the SAT at a minimum, also read Grubers, Complete SAT Study Guide, and Up Your Score. These books will give you ideas on how to tackle SAT questions.

Strategy- Try the techniques in the above books and identify the ones that work the best for you. If you want help sorting through these books, take a class on the SAT from a reputable teacher or find a reputable private tutor.

Timing- Take practice test to develop a sense of how long you can spend on each question in the different sections. Figure out the order that you want to answer the questions within each timed section.

Endurance- Take practice tests starting with one or two sections and adding sections over time until you can comfortably complete an entire test without mental strain. Meaning that you are still alert and thinking clearly at the end of the test.

Speed- Take enough practice tests until you recognize the question as being similar to ones that you have answered in the past and know the fastest most efficient way to answer the question correctly.

Composure- Take enough practice test so that questions won't rattle you, you won't be taken off of your A game by any question. You want to be calm and confident enough to sink the winning free throw with time running out on the clock. That is composure.

Stay tuned for the next blog for a training plan. It is never to early to start preparing.