Some SAT Tips

I thought I would do a follow up post for my desperate SAT one on Friday. I took the test. An email I got said that I won't get to see my grades until the end of March, but that's not as bad as it was for the PSAT. I'm not too worried about it now. It was tough, and I'm sure I got a lot wrong on the Math portion, but overall I think I did okay.

One thing that I'm very grateful for is that they allow you to bring a snack, and give you several breaks to eat or go to the bathroom or just stretch your legs. I know that when I haven't done any of those things in a long time, my mind tends to shut down. I'm fairly certain that it's the same for most people. I have also heard that drinking plenty of water is important when you're taking a test because it hydrates your brain or something like that.

There was one thing that I did which I think was a fairly good idea and might help anyone else going to take a timed test. On one of the math sections, when the man announced that there were only five minutes left for that section, I could clearly see that I wasn't going to be able to finish all the problems. So, I very quickly filled in C for all the answers on the ones that were left, then went back and worked out every problem that I could in the time that remained. I finished all but two, and I still have a chance of getting those two right.

Something I would suggest for anyone preparing to take the SAT is to really study vocabulary. In the reading and writing portions there were a lot of words I had never seen before. Since I'm fairly good at that sort of thing I was able to use the process of elimination or the context to figure most of them out, but I know that a lot of people don't have the same skill set. So if English stuff is at all difficult for you, definitely look into that. If you go to dictionary.com there are some word games and activities that I think would be helpful.

Khan Academy can be a useful tool when studying for the math portions, or really for any math thing. I know that they also have other subjects, but I haven't explored anything but math on their site. But the math part alone is incredible. It's been my greatest resource in figuring out how to do different kinds of problems. He adds videos regularly, and already has a very wide range of topics.

Anyway, that's all I have to say for now. I hope that was helpful for anyone who needs it. And thank you to everyone who gave me advice when I needed it!

The Math Portion of the SAT...

So, I'm taking the SAT tomorrow... I've been doing some practice problems and realized that I have no idea what I'm doing. It's not like I'm a stupid person. I've never gotten anything lower than a B as my final grade, even in my math classes. I can figure the problems out if I know the process. But I just can't seem to retain the information of how to do every problem I've ever been taught. The formulas and little tricks and things just seem to disappear right out of my head the moment I stop needing it. Oh sure, I remember lots of things, like dividing polynomials, how to solve a quadratic function, and rise over run for the slope of a line. But I guess there are things I've forgotten too.

Take, for instance, one of the practice problems I was trying to do just a few minutes ago. "A 3 by 4 rectangle is inscribed in circle. What is the circumference of the circle?" I stared at it for a few moments, then exclaimed, "What does that even mean?!" I could understand the individual pieces of it, but when I tried to put it all together or make a formula out of it, I was completely lost.

Does this mean I'm really stupid? Do I lack skills that everyone else has? This is very scary for me. If I don't do well on this SAT, sure I can take it again, but I feel like there's not much I'm going to be able to do about this issue. I just don't have the capability to retain all that knowledge. And if I can never get a good score... Does that mean I won't be able to go to college? Will I not be able to get a good job or support my family?

I don't even want to work with math equations like these. The two career options I'm considering right now are creative writing and psychology. Math is not my strong point, and I don't want a future based around my weakness. But, with the SAT, is my future already based around my weakness?..

If any of you have any suggestion of ways I can fix this, please let me know. I'm going to go through the Khan Academy website for now and try to cram in anything that might be useful.