The time has come to take the SAT one more time before deadlines pass for college applications. One last big push to improve your score in your senior year to ensure that the letters you receive from schools in the spring say “accepted”—not “rejected.” At this point, you know your enemy, and you don’t wonder how hard the SAT is because you already know. But what are you going to do differently to succeed? What are you going to change to improve your score as you count down to the December test?
Following are a few tips from test prep website Magoosh to help ensure your last-ditch effort to improve your SAT score is successful.
Experience breeds confidence
Now that you’ve already taken the test, you have valuable experiences that will help you the next time you take the SAT. You understand all the administrative aspects surrounding the test—what to bring, breaks, administrative stuff, and the testing environment. You won’t be surprised by the test since you’ve already seen it in all its glory.
Although this may not seem like much, just the experience of taking the test can give you a confidence boost. And this confidence is just like a good night’s rest and a proper meal. It is the intangible aspect of test-taking that is often overlooked but absolutely affects performance. So even before you start your last-ditch effort to raise your score on the test, you are already in a better place than you were when you first took the test.
Engage in focused study
With at least one test experience to work from, you have a better sense of where you can improve. That is, you know your weaknesses, and you know your strengths. If you don’t, it’s time to take an honest look at your abilities and pinpoint the concepts that you struggle with. Whether it’s grammar concepts or math formulas, you need to spend your study time focused on attacking those weaknesses.
But don’t let your strengths wither. You’ll still want to spend some time reinforcing your strengths, keeping them strong for test day. Ultimately, you should use something like The Official SAT Study Guide to map out your days before the test, so you can dedicate a majority of your time to working on your weaknesses while periodically working on maintaining your strengths. You are in a great position to do well and improve your score. Take the steps to make it happen.
Make your practice perfect
When it comes to your practice, make it perfect. And I don’t mean get every question right. I mean that you need to mimic the test as much as possible when doing practice problems. Find a place to sit and study that is similar to what you had at the test. If you sat at a squeaky desk, find a squeaky desk to sit at. If your chair was uncomfortable, find an uncomfortable chair for your studies. Use a timer to keep track of time and work on pacing. Use scratch paper similar to the paper used to make the test book. Use a pencil, not a pen, for practice. The more perfect you can make the conditions, the more comfortable you will be on test day.
Stay relaxed and laugh
With little time left to raise your score, stress and anxiety are a real and scary factor that you must cope with. College applications are due soon. You worry about what a good SAT score is for your dream school and whether you’ll be able to improve your score enough to get in. This is your time to push your score just a little higher. It’s also your senior year, meaning you also have classes and all other manner of school activities to think about too. This can be a lot to stomach.
The cheapest and easiest way to relieve stress and relax is to make yourself laugh. I know that you have your ways, everyone does. So break from your studies and browse a funny sub-reddit, or if you feel yourself tightening up and stressing out, watch a video on Funny or Die. Whatever tickles your funny bone should be kept close at hand for stress relief.
The takeaway
You are more prepared than you think to succeed since you already have the experience of taking the test. You know your weaknesses, so you know what to study. And you know how to study for the test. Finally, you know that you need to laugh and relax to make this final push really count. So get out there and start studying.
