The Promised No-study SAT Tips
I saw that a lot of you wanted these~ Disclaimer: You still have to know English and the basics of math for these. This goes especially if youâre not a native speaker - your English needs to be at a pretty good level.
Read. A lot. Whenever you see a text thatâs at least a paragraph or two long, take time to practice skimming. If youâre bored and have a little time, take something, for example a food wrapper, and try to find occurrences of a word (for example âAcidâ for food) as quickly as possible. Hard mode: look for synonyms.
Practice filling out the answer sheet. This is a massive time-sink for a lot of people, so you should practice to eliminate it. Print out an example answer sheet and try filling out the circles quickly and accurately without distracting yourself a lot. Hard mode:Try doing it while not focusing only on the circles - look away or start thinking about the next question.
Check. A lot. The main goal of this strategy is to leave yourself enough time when youâve filled out an answer for each question when youâre calm, know the questions and can focus on checking. Try and go through the questions, thinking, âThis question tests this and that.â If you have the time, look at each answer and identify the error in it (harder for the math questions, but loads of fun if you can do it).
Think in patterns: Whenever youâre stuck on an example question, donât just check the answer. Try and understand how the person found it, if this question is similar to others you have seen. The SAT only uses a few different types of questions, there will rarely be something to surprise you if you know the common patterns.
Rest: The SAT is a very demanding exam. Give your brain time to relax - my advice would be not to do anything mentally strenuous the day before the test. Also, something I found out from competitions - bring chocolate. The sugar in it helps your brain work better and shrug off tiredness and eating it will draw blood away from your brain, effectively hibernating it for the break to conserve energy. Also, itâs just a really tasty snack!
Use the right format for the essay. There are a lot of easy points for using the four/five paragraph system. Introduction, Reason 1, Reason 2, Conclusion. Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence and follow up with a story from your life or a book/movie to illustrate it. This way, even without using fancy vocab or grammar, you can get the points for structure and critical thought. Now just try not to make any obvious spelling mistakes and call it a day!
Try to quickly find an argument for the essay. They donât actually rate how intelligent your argument is. So, take a minute or two, breathe deeply, and no matter how stupid your idea is, write it out. (You might still want to take caution with sensitive topics, especially if youâre an international. A dumb mistake I made in my first sitting was bashing on American charity - that definitely did not endear me to the proctors.)
Paragraphs: You have to have experience reading - look at how the topic never changes abruptly. Insert sentences that link whatâs written before and after the gap. Final sentences of paragraphs shouldnât raise more questions.
Sentence questions: Skim through the questions. Try to answer most of them, the first thing that comes to mind, and fill out the answer sheet immediately. Chances are, if it sounds good to you, itâs the correct choice. Do this quickly, then try and do the paragraphs. After youâve done this, go back to the questions and start checking.
They usually test for a few broad topics. Identify if each sentence fits one of the patterns and answer accordingly. For the others, try and think what error they might want you to make. If you know you have the time, look at each answer in turn and identify the mistake in it. The most common ways for you to change a sentence would be:
Fragments: Try and see if each clause has a subject and a verb. Example: âIn the dim light, making his way through the cave.â ->Â âIn the dim light, he makes his way through the cave.â
Subject-verb agreement: Make sure that the subject is the one actually doing the action and singular/plural match. Example:Â âGathering stones, the river was blocked by the men.â Did the river gather stones? No.
Consistency: Make sure that something introduced one way is always referred to like that (donât switch out âoneâ for âyouâ or âtheyâ). Make sure there are no extra linkers (âSince I was there, but he went too.â). Check if any verbs change tense when they shouldnât. Donât compare apples to oranges (âHis homework was as good as John.â -> âAs good as Johnâsâ).
Adverb or adjective? If it describes a verb, it has a âlyâ. Example: âShe winked playful.â -> âShe winked playfully.â
Singular or plural? Make sure not to refer to a plural object in singular. âPandas, numbering in the hundreds now, is an endangered species.â
Prepositions, linkers, all the small words Sadly, youâll have to know how theyâre used.
Word fill:Â Note the answers that obviously donât make sense. Mark the one of the others that sounds best to you (in the answer sheet, too!). If you donât know one or more of the words, aim for simplicity. After youâve quickly answered all of the reading questions, come back to these. Look at the relationships between the gap and the sentence - are you looking for a positive or negative word? Antonyms or synonyms to something before? Try and guess what unknown words mean. This way, you will probably be able to eliminate all the wrong answers.
Reading comprehension: You are not tested for understanding the text. Keep this in mind. What you are actually trying to do here is quickly find synonyms. If the question asks for âWas Annaâs family a) warm b) cold c) the spawn of Cthulhu?â, chances are that the text contains âAnnaâs relatives acted chilly.â or something like that. Read the first question. Skim the text until it comes to that topic, then look for synonyms of the answers. Donât make deductions! If you come across a âgeneral messageâ or âtone of the authorâ question, skip it and answer it at the end of the text. The other questions will be in the same order as the answers are mentioned in the text. Checking: If you have time, look at each answer and try to see what in the text could mislead somebody to make that mistake.
Calculator use: My advice would be to not bring a complex graphing calculator. They just slow you down. Try and do most operations by hand, then use the calculator only for, well, calculations.
Basic topics to know: You are expected to be familiar with how to rearrange equations (ab=1 is the same as a=1/b) and solve linear and quadratics; cosine and Pythagorean theorems; number representations of lines and their intersections; median, mean and mode.
Solve like a crab! One of the best things I learnt in âFun Mathâ classes was that problems are solved more easily if you work from the answer back. Try and see what you would need (in terms of information) to find the answer. Then look back to the text of the problem - is what you need there? In most SAT problems, it is, or you can easily find it.
Visualise: Especially for distance or geometry problems, make a small chart of whatâs happening. Make lines for the distances the cars traveled or draw that pesky cylinder. Try and see in your mind how different elements move and which stay the same.
I guess this is all that I can say for now. Of course, this is my strategy so it might not work for everyone or it might not work without practice, so donât think itâs a miracle solve-all. Iâm always open for questions about ideas or specific problems, just write an ask~ And good luck to all future test-takers!
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