sokarokamof-ga,
Thanks for the question. As you may know, studie have shown that
taking test preparation courses and receiving coaching is unlikely to
drastically improve your SAT score (if at all).
www.collegeboard.com
I am assuming that you are already well educated and capable, and
thus probably wont benefit much from this type of course. However,
there are some strategies that you can employ to boost your score a
bit and, perhaps, ensure you achieve that near perfect/perfect score.
I reviewed many websites on this subject, but found one to have
basically everything that I needed to respond. Please don't feel as if
my research was limited to the material covered in this answer. Also,
I will be happy to clarify my response and respond to concerns and
questions that you may have.
Strategies:
TIMING
One of the best ways to apply your knowledge to the best of your
ability is to make sure you allocate your time on each section
effectively.
"Even though time is strictly limited on the SAT, working too quickly
can damage your score. Many problems hinge on subtle points, and most
require careful reading of the set-up. Because high school can put
heavy reading loads on students, many will follow their academic
conditioning and read questions quickly, looking only for the gist of
what each is asking. Once they have found it, they mark their answer
and move on, confident they have answered it correctly. Later, many
are startled to discover that they missed questions because they
either misread the problems or overlooked subtle points."
http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa120100a.htm
This may seem obvious, but if you have the talent to get a perfect
score, the only way you can screw it up is by mismanaging your time,
or making careless errors. Focus and don't try and blow through the
test. It is more important to know you have marked the correct answer
than to do it in less time and hope it is correct.
While you seem confident, make sure that you are not overconfident in
your pursuit of a "perfect" score. Often people that are too
preoccupied with getting ALL the answers correct, are forced to work
too quickly and hurt their score as a result.
"To do well in your classes, you have to attempt to solve every, or
nearly every, problem on a test. Not so with the SAT. In fact, if you
try to solve every problem on this test you will probably decimate you
score (it's called negative marking). For the vast majority of people,
the key to performing well on the SAT is not the number of questions
they answer, within reason, but the percentage they answer correctly."
http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa120100a.htm
FAMILIARIZE WITH THE TEST FORMAT
Obviously, you are fairly familiar with the format if you profess to
be capable of such a high score. However, understanding the test
format is one factor that truly can be accounted for in your
preparation time. A subpar student is not going to "study" for the SAT
and cram in all that information in order to improve their score. The
test is designed to test knowledge "previously acquired" over a long
period of time.
"The SAT I measures verbal and math reasoning abilities that you
develop over years of schooling and in your outside reading and
study." - The College Board
Thus, there is really no way to "study" for the test. But, if you have
the background necessary to perform well, you can improve your score
by understanding the test inside and out. If you do, it will be one
less distraction come test time. Here are some basics on the test:
Test Format
http://collegeapps.about.com/cs/satpreparation/a/aa030903.htm
Scoring
"The two parts of the test are scored independently. You will receive
a verbal score and a math score. Each score ranges from 200 to 800.
The average for both is 500. Thus, the average total score is 1,000.
In addition to the scaled score, you will be assigned a percentile
ranking, which gives the percentage of students with scores below
yours. For instance, if you correctly answer 48 of the 60 math
questions, then you will score better than 90% of the other test
takers."
http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa120100a.htm
Order of Difficulty
"Like most standardized tests, the SAT lists problems in ascending
order of difficulty. Therefore, when trying to decide which questions
to skip, skip the last ones.
Each SAT section has subsections. Within these subsections, the
problems also ascend in order of difficulty. For example, the verbal
section has three subsections (Sentence completions, analogies, and
reading comprehension). So, for example, Question 1 will be the
easiest, and Questions 10 will be the hardest. Then, Question 11 (the
first analogy question) will be the easiest analogy, and so on."
http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa120100a.htm
The 2 out of 4 Rule
"It is significantly harder to create a good but incorrect
answer-choice than it is to produce the correct answer. For this
reason, usually only two attractive answer-choices are offered: One
correct; the other either intentionally misleading or only partially
correct (the ETS claims that this is to ensure that the student is
paying attention to the question at hand, and not staring at the
pretty girl sitting next to him). The other three answer-choices are
usually fluff. This makes educated guessing on the SAT immensely
effective. If you can dismiss the three fluff choices, your
probability of answering the question successfully will increase from
20% to 50%."
http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa120100a.htm
SKIPPING AND GUESSING
This is another situation that should come as second nature come test
time. I know you want a perfect score, but you should know when to
move on if you are having trouble with a particular question and are
spending too much valuable time on it. I would advise you to skip
those questions and come back to them later. Perhaps, you are smart
enough where none of the questions will pose this problem. However,
you should be prepared for it none the less.
"Often students become obsessed with a particular problem and waste
valuable time trying to solve it. To get a top score, learn to cut
your losses and move on. So skip the hardest questions and concentrate
on the easy and medium ones. Often you'll find that you can correctly
solve several easy questions in the time it takes to tackle one hard
one. Since all questions are worth the same number of points, don't
waste your time on something you cannot handle.
Although there is a small guessing penalty on the SAT, if you can
eliminate even one of the answer-choices, it is to your advantage to
guess."
http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa120100a.htm
TAKE PRACTICE TESTS
With these basic facts about the test structure known, the best way to
COMPLETELY familiarize yourself with the test is to take LOTS of REAL
past SAT tests as practice. Time them correctly, or have someone time
them for you. I would personally recommend bringing a stop-watch to a
quiet library or classroom and doing them there. Practice tests can
also be used, but the actual past SAT exams are probably the most
similar to what you will encounter on test day. Feel free to also take
some practice tests online to change things up a bit, but primarily
take the test in the conditions closest to what you expect on the day
of the actual test. Ideally, you will come to the testing center in a
FRAME OF MIND to take the test. You have to train your mind to adapt
to the test-taking mode. If you are able to adapt well, then your
abundant knowledge will be best applied and you will acheive the score
you are capable of. The College Board recommends that you start 8-10
months in advance. Here is an example of a book of actual past SAT's:
http://about.com.com/4004-4181_8-663747966.html?tag=txt
Additional Links
On test books
http://collegeapps.about.com/library/byb/aabyb-satibooks.htm
Vocab builder
http://collegeapps.about.com/library/satvocab/blsatvocab.htm
Time tables
http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa112700a.htm
On prep classes
http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa021201a.htm
http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa022101a.htm
Online prep
http://collegeapps.about.com/library/weekly/aa032001a.htm
The College Board
http://www.collegeboard.com/homepage/0,,,00%2ben-USS_01DBC.html
Search Terms Used:
"SAT test prep"
SAT and "gifted students"
"past SAT"
Thanks again for your question and please let me know if you need
further clarification.
Cheers,
Anthony (adiloren-ga) |
