The Scholastic Aptitude Test or SAT can very well be defined as the gateway to better opportunities in life. Good SAT scores are a must if you want admission to any of the major academic institutions. All major academic institutions evaluate admission applications based on the students SAT scores. Inclusive of the Ivy Leagues.
Considering the facts, it would be just plain silly to ignore or underestimate the importance of SATs. Still, there are many who struggle to get a satisfactory score in the test. And then there are those who score very well, this leads to the obvious question, why is there such a wide difference?
Although subject knowledge is vital to scoring well, it alone cannot assure success. Your strategy, attitude and how you prepare has a lot of influence as well. Even students who do well in school fail to score well in the SATs. This is mostly because of a lack of preparation strategy rather than a deficiency in knowledge.
There is no miracle tip that can assure you of a good performance in SAT, however, focused and smart preparation will give you an edge. Unless you are a prodigy, without preparation it is plain foolish to even thinking of scoring 300+ in the SATs.
If you want to be well prepared, practice. If you look around, you will find that there is more than enough material for you to start learning. Regular simulation and practice tests will also help you get a feel of the real thing. Such tests will help you evaluate yourself. Once you know that, you can always put in the efforts to improve and get better at it.
Compare with the syllabi and prepare a list of your academic strengths and weaknesses. For example, some students are really weak at critical reading. If youre one of them, brushing up your vocabulary can help you improve your critical reading score. There are several books that list the most common SAT vocabulary words for you to learn.
Try this same approach to improve other areas in which you are weak. If required, hire a private tutor to coach you. There are several subject specific books that you should go through as well. Study guides also serve a similar purpose, the AP US history study guide, for example, makes studying US history easy.
Other than this, acquaint yourself with the calculator as much as possible. It can help a lot with some of the calculations. As youre allowed to take the calculator with you to the test, it makes sense to know how to use it. Finally, read the questions carefully, pay attention to the details and believe in yourself.
