Category Archives: Test Taking Tips

Imagine that you’re at a train station, and you see an unlabeled train that you think is heading in the right direction, but you’re not sure. Would you board it, potentially riding it for all eternity, and never arriving at where you want to be?

Strangely, this is exactly what many test-takers do when it comes to preparing for the SAT (or the ACT, GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT, etc.). They study blindly, only thinking that their studies will move them in the right direction of improvement. But, like the riders on that unlabeled train, their path is fated toward the antithesis of glory: failure, the tragic fate of the goalless.

One of the best pieces of advice for achieving anything, whether it be running a marathon or getting your perfect test score, is to set a goal. A goal is, of course, the end point of your path, the final destination of your metaphorical train ride. We already talked about your starting point (when we discussed the need for diagnostic testing), and with an end point in mind, you’re just connecting the dots. Thus, when you set a good goal, you’re putting yourself on a trajectory to success; you’ll have a path to follow, namely the line that connects your starting point to your final goal. But, of course, not just any goal will do. Your goal needs to be specific to you. Heed this advice to set the perfect goal.

First, Find Your Starting Point

We’ve said this practically a billion times now, but it bears repeating: take a diagnostic test and find out where you are.

Figure Out What Score You Need

Open up a college guide, and find out what scores last year’s admitted students got on their SAT and ACTs at your dream colleges. Your goal score should be a score in the same range.

Set a Specific Goal

But don’t just aim for a goal that is within a certain range. Rather, set a specific number. Vague goals lead to vague results, so don’t merely aim to improve by some ambiguous point in the future; rather, aim for a specific score by a specific date.

Make the Goal Realistic

A perfect score overall is probably not going to happen. But a perfect score for you is possible, so long as you’re willing to do some hard work. As a general rule (remember “general” means it works for a lot of students but is not guaranteed to work), you should be able to improve by about 10% of the difference between your baseline score and a perfect score, per month of focused study. For example, let’s say a student scored 1600 on his/her SAT diagnostic and has three months of study time. The difference between 1600 and a perfect score is 800 points, so that student should be able to improve by about 80 points per month to score around 1840.  A hypothetical student starting at 2100 with two months of preparation would be able to improve by about 60 points total (30 points per month). Either student would ideally set a goal just above that so that both students had something even higher—though still realistic—for which to strive. The first student should aim for a 1900, and the second student 2200.

Obviously, this is somewhat subjective, and you’re a much better gauge of your abilities than is anyone else. So remember to think of how much time you can devote to studying for the test and what seems realistic to you.

Keep Checking in on Your Goal

Finally, with your goal made, write it down, and keep thinking about that number. Eyes on the prize, right? More than that, though, keep re-testing yourself to see if your train is still on track to your goal score. If it’s not, reevaluate your study plan.

Glossary:
These key SAT words are expertly identified by Sentia tutors

Antithesis: the direct opposite of something
Trajectory: path taken by a projectile
Heed: pay attention to
Ambiguous: lacking clearness or definiteness

Last week, we told you that the best way to avoid test-day anxiety was to be prepared for the test (which should make sense, right?) and suggested a few tips on how to stop procrastinating and start studying today. Those who perused the posting carefully may recall that our second tip was to make a study plan. We’re sure you’ve been trembling with anticipation about just how to approach such a seemingly difficult travail, but now you can relax, for today’s post is all about making the best study plan possible—and in just 7 short steps!

Step 1: Take a Practice Test Right Away

Regardless of which test you’re studying for, your first step should be to take a sample test. Treat it like you would the real thing—take the test in one sitting (yes, it makes for a long day) with proper timing on each section. This way, the score you get will be an accurate reflection of your abilities.

After you’ve taken the test, score it and look at the questions you got wrong. The trick is to make this test a diagnostic for what you need to study. Thus, identify your strengths and weaknesses. For example, if you noticed that you got all the questions on geometry right but continually missed questions about percentages, you would know that geometry is a strength area and does not need as much focus as percentages do going forward.

Step 2: Set a Realistic Goal

Use your diagnostic score to set a realistic goal for yourself. Keep in mind the kinds of scores you’ll need to get into the schools of your choice, and make sure you have enough time to achieve your goal score. You are a better gauge of your abilities than anyone else, so you should be able to know what you’re capable of. But remember, don’t push yourself too hard—it’s virtually impossible to get a perfect score on any standardized test.

Step 3: Identify Short-Term and Long-Term Study Projects

With your goal set and your weaknesses identified, separate what you need to study into categories of short-term and long-term projects. If you’re taking the SAT, for instance, memorizing the most common SAT vocabulary words will definitely be a long-term project, something you should work on every week from now until test day. But other things you need to work on—like the aforementioned percentage questions—would probably be something to brush up on once, early in your studying. You always want to start your studies with your biggest weakness so you can maximize your test score right away. Then, as you get closer to test-day, start working on things you didn’t need as much improvement on, but don’t waste time relearning your strengths. If you got every geometry question right, you cannot ameliorate your geometry score anyway, so don’t waste your valuable study time on it.

Step 4: Make a Calendar

The first step to making a calendar is to pick a test date. Try to give yourself a few months to study, but also make sure to leave a second test date open after that test date so you can retake the exam (if necessary) before your college applications are due. On your calendar, mark off specific areas of study each week, and set aside at least (we mean at an absolute minimum) two hours per week of actual studying time. The purpose of the calendar is to make sure you aren’t just sitting down and opening an SAT book blindly—you should be sitting down knowing what you’re supposed to be studying that week and the weeks after that.

Step 5: Keep Testing Yourself

In your calendar, build in time for monthly checkpoints, full-length practice exams so you can track your progress and reevaluate your study plan. Make sure what you’re doing is working and causing score increases; if it’s not, reevaluate, and maybe add more study time each week to your calendar.

Step 6: Stick to Your Plan

This should go without saying! You’re making a plan to be followed, not just a plan to look at and ignore. Don’t let anything get in the way of this study plan! Make sure that each week there is time set aside for your studying, and treat that time as a commitment that cannot be avoided, a permanent appointment that cannot be canceled. Letting even one week pass without following your plan can derail the whole project, so don’t let that happen.

Step 7: Peak at the Right Time, Then Relax

Finally, on your study plan, build in time to relax, especially the week of the test. Ideally, your plan would increase the amount of time you study per week as you get closer to the test, with the acme of study time reached about two weeks before test day. After that, take one last diagnostic, and use the weeks before the test to only focus on the small details you struggled with on said final diagnostic.

Then, and this is of the utmost import, make sure to build two days of relaxation in right before the test. Don’t plan on doing any strenuous studying those days, and instead just use the time to recover before the big day and review the vocabulary words and math formulas you’ve already memorized. Make sure you’re going into test day fully recharged and rested, because you’ll need a clear head and lots of energy for the real thing.

But, if you’ve made and followed a successful study plan, the real thing should be practically old hat for you…

Glossary:
These key SAT words are expertly identified by Sentia tutors

Peruse: read carefully
Travail: painful labor
Ameliorate: improve
Acme: Peak, top, pinnacle

We’ve already given some pointers on avoiding test-day anxiety, but the number one way to avoid such jitters is to be prepared for the test. Here are the three best tricks we have for getting started on a long-term study plan and avoiding tomorrow’s anxiety.

1. Don’t Procrastinate

Everybody procrastinates, since everyone would rather put off today’s problems until tomorrow. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Wrong. The longer you put off studying for the test, the more work you’ll have to do at a later date. This means that you’re actually creating more stress for the future than you would otherwise handle in the present, because the amount of stress you’ll have the week before the test will be infinitely greater than the total amount you would have had over the months leading up to the test if you were to attack the test in small pieces instead of all at once…which leads us to Tip #2.

2. Make a Study Plan Today

This is probably the most beneficial piece of advice we have. Don’t try to go into test preparation blindly—rather, take a practice test, and see what you need to study. Then, make a plan for how to study it. Keep track of long term projects, such as memorizing and learning vocabulary words, and shorter ones, such as brushing up on grammar rules. Try to practice a couple hours a week at minimum, and expand the amount of time you need to study as the test approaches.

3. Make Studying Fun

To be frank, there is nothing fun about studying for exams like the ACT or SAT. However, you can motivate yourself to study by making your brain associate it with something else fun. Get in the habit of rewarding yourself after a lesson by doing an activity you like, preferably something you wouldn’t normally get to do, something that is a treat for you. Treat yourself, because you deserve it: after all, you’ve shown initiative in preparing for a successful future by not procrastinating. In doing so, you’re tricking your brain into associating something you don’t want to do (SAT prep) with something you do want to do.

Food can be a great motivator too. I (in my tutoring career) once had a student whose mother bought him his favorite snack food before every lesson with me, thus triggering in his brain that studying for the SAT meant getting his favorite food. As a result, he was more motivated to study because studying had an immediate upside instead of just the usual boring long-term upside of a perfect score. Little tricks like this work wonders, which is why I champion them so much.

In the future, we’ll give some more pointers about what sorts of steps should be included in your study plan , but for now, just remember our first tip—don’t procrastinate. Start your studying today by taking a practice SAT test and beginning to learn vocabulary. Also, remember, studying for the test should be a marathon, not a sprint. If you can wrap your brain around that fact—that mastering the test will take a seemingly interminable amount of time and cannot be crammed for—you’ll already be more relaxed about the process than your friends who don’t understand that.

Glossary:
These key SAT words are expertly identified by Sentia tutors

Procrastination: the act of putting off or delaying something that requires immediate attention
Beneficial: helpful, useful
Champion:  support militantly
Interminable: monotonously continued or unceasing

Have you ever “gone blank” or felt paralyzed by fear while studying or taking a test? If so, you may have experienced test anxiety. Although it’s normal to feel nervous before a big test (mild excitement can even keep you alert and adrenalized), sometimes healthy energy gives way to distracting distress. This blog entry will identify a few symptoms of and provide some suggestions for managing test anxiety.

Common Symptoms of Test-Anxiety:

— Physical symptoms: sleeplessness, headaches, nausea, diarrhea, lightheadedness
— Thoughts of Worry and Dread: Uncontrollable, self-deprecating and overdramatic thoughts like “I’m bad at taking tests,” “I can’t do this,” or “I’m going to fail.”
— Impairment: Inability to focus, “going blank” and confusion

What to do if you’re experiencing test anxiety:

— If you are having troubling thoughts, accept them and try to move on: Automatic thoughts like, “I’m bad at taking tests,” “I can’t do this,” or “I’m going to fail,” may feel fleetingly good, since they provide an excuse to not try, but they are ultimately useless and untrue. If you find yourself bombarded by such thoughts, accept their presence, and then try to refocus and move on.
— Remind yourself that you are more than your score: Your test score is not a measure of your talent, abilities or worth as a person. It only measures your knowledge and how hard you have studied. If you are not doing well, simply use this as a wake-up call to work harder in the future.
— Prepare for the Test: This should be obvious. It is highly unlikely you will do well on a test for which you are unprepared. Thoroughly review test directions, format and covered material so you know what to expect on test day.
— Do NOT compare yourself to others: However well or poorly others are doing is not relevant to your own performance. In fact, comparing yourself to others will only give you a false sense of security and/or dread. How about using some of this contemplative energy to prepare for the test?
— Take a break: If you become anxious while studying, go for a walk, call a friend or watch TV to calm down. If you start to panic during the test, take a break while in your seat. Close your eyes and try some deep breathing, or repeat a relaxing and encouraging mantra. Don’t worry about wasting time: you will use your time more effectively if you are able to calm down and focus.
— Set realistic goals: Be mindful of the tremendous space between perfection and failure. Just because you didn’t get 100%, doesn’t mean you haven’t succeeded or done well.
— Finally, remember that there is always a second chance: There is always hope, even in the most seemingly bleak situations. Don’t forget that you can (and most people do) retake college entrance examinations if something went wrong, if you were unprepared, or if you just feel you can do better.