Let’s look at your situation. You’re an underclassmen (or incoming) and Junior year is inching closer and closer towards you. You have a lot of grades and extracurriculars to work on, but one of the most important things you start to think about is how to prepare for the SAT or the ACT.
Luckily, this post is your chance to start preparing. You have 1-3 years of highschool to look forward to prior to fully immersing yourself into the national tests. This post outlines details and strategies you could do to prepare for the SAT and/or ACT. As a senior who has taken both with the essays multiple times, there are many things to unpack for each test. Additionally, if your test is around the corner, this post helps you on what to do and what not to do.
Deciding on Whether to Take Either Test
There are many pros and cons that associate with each test. Sometimes, you could research either of the tests’ history. The best way to factor in your decision on whether to take either, neither, or both tests is finding out about the general content and guidelines of the exam. This table below provides the benefits and doubts about each exam.
SAT/ACT
Price (without fee waiver)
SAT: Normal - $52 /With Essay - $68
ACT: Normal - $55 / With Essay - $70
Sections and Amount of Questions
SAT
Reading - 52 Writing - 44 Math (No Calculator) - 20 Math (Calculator Allowed) - 38 Experimental 5th Section (not graded) - 20 ACT
Reading - 75
Math (Calculator Allowed) - 60 Reading - 40 Science - 40 Experimental 5th Section (not graded) SAT Section Time and (Time per question) Reading - 65 min. (75 sec) 10 min break Writing - 35 min. (47 sec) No Calc Math - 25 min (75 sec) 5 min break Calc Math - 55 min (86 sec) 2 min break Essay - 50 min
Total Time Normal - 2 hrs. 55 min. With Essay - 3 hrs. 35 min. ACT Section Time and (Time per question) English - 45 min (36 sec) Math - 60 min (1 min) 10 min break Reading - 35 min (52 sec) Science - 35 (52 sec) 5 min break Essay - 40 min Gather Resources and Get Prepared
Now that you’ve finally come to a decision on whether to take the SAT or ACT, you need to start knowing what resources you need to prep yourself for these tests. Because more and more students are settling themselves on an online environment, I think the best and free resources are as follows:
These two resources are utmost the most reliable and free websites you can use in order to study and prepare yourself for the tests. All you need to do is make a free account, select your class (in this case, SAT or ACT) and you’re ready to go.
Khan Academy provides a fully personalized practice for you and shows what you need to study, providing videos for hints and mini-quizzes that have a set timer. Additionally, they provide 8 free and full practice tests that allow you to accommodate yourself into the testing environment.
ACT Academy doesn’t have a personalized practice set for you, but they do provide quizzes and the same questions in order for you to improve. They also provide videos from all sources in YouTube for instruction and have a multitude of practice tests you could do.
These two resources have actually helped me improve my own SAT and ACT scores dramatically in a span of 2 weeks with 30 minutes per day. Now there are other resources that have helped me, but these resources are the premium (stuff you gotta pay for) options.
Use the Princeton Review books: those $30 books have given me a lot of strategies and study tips in order to strengthen my experience when knowing the exam. However, they won’t help you succeed if you don’t start reading them.
If you registered for the tests, buy the books CollegeBoard and ACT recommends: those books have updated information about the upcoming tests. The tests change every year with new questions and new grading systems. So it’s good to use a few extra $20 to extend your learning.
Register for the PSAT or the PreACT: Many schools give opportunities for high school (and even middle school) students to take the PSAT. You could probably get the opportunity to even take it at your own school during a school day. The PSAT is a great way to get yourself acquainted with the types of questions you’ll find on the SAT. The PreACT is also pretty similar, but you’ll most likely have to find out what school to register for in order to take it; my school didn’t offer the PreACT so I had to find schools on the ACT website in order to take one. These tests won’t impact your high school resume, but they are great for preparing you on what’s to come.
Tips and Tricks
Now you have your resources, so let’s plan some strategies. This bulleted list outlines general guidelines that many of the resources I recommend provide:
Process of Elimination: when in doubt, the choices have to go out! But seriously, if you’re stuck on a question you should find out which ones are obviously wrong.
For the reading section of both SAT and ACT: the wrong answers are usually too specific (mention one detail in the passage and never again), too broad (the context is mentioned too much in the passage), or something not in the passage
For math and science: look at which ones are the outliers of the answer choices
For English/Writing: look for choices with too much punctuation, repetition of words, or redundancy (do you think the phrase you read was simple and declarative?)
Go with your gut: One of the many questions that get me stuck on the SAT and ACT is second-guessing myself. When I finally choose an answer, the correct answer is actually the one I initially chose. So always go with your gut.
Tips for the Reading Sections:
DON’T ANSWER THE QUOTE QUESTIONS BEFORE THE IDEA QUESTIONS. In both tests, the quote questions are there to support the idea you chose in your previous question. Look at the previous question and answer what the question is asking. When you’ve made up your mind on which idea to choose, find the quote that best supports the answer you chose.
KNOW YOUR VOCABULARY. There are always questions that ask the definition of a word. Do not use the definition you already know for that word. What the test is asking is for you to look at the passage and see the context of how the word is used.
Central idea questions are best answered if you see a specific word a lot on the passage. If you see that word in one of your answers, it may be the best answer to go for.
READ AND ANNOTATE THE PASSAGE prior to the questions. If you get a first good read, you’ll start to understand it better. Before answering the questions, read them first. Some questions have the phrase “on line . . .” on the question itself or the answer choices, so use those questions as an opportunity to annotate. I recommend annotating the passage with (parentheses) for vocab words and phrases in the question and with [brackets] for answers.
Tips for the Math Sections:
These are definite formulas you need to remember for both the SAT and ACT. On the SAT, formulas for geometry and trigonometry are provided and the ACT has no formulas. It’s best to remember them so you don’t refer back to them on the tests.
Tips for English/Writing Sections:
Choose the least redundant answer: You’ll come across this type of question often. Always choose the answer that has the least amount of words. Saying words and repeating words through so much repetition will not be absolutely correct. Notice how my previous sentences have so many words. I could’ve just said, “the correct answer has the least words”. That is the answer you’re looking for.
Know your grammar:
Clauses: Since these tests include clauses, know about them well. Some answer choices may end in sentence fragments, so choose an answer that is complete.
Punctuation
Commas: There’s a variety of uses for these. If a clause describing a person, commas should surround the description. For instance, “Dr. Brown, a professor at the University of Weinsburg, has . . .” is a good example. Another use is listing. Only use commas when there’s more than two things such as “The dish includes tomatoes, bread, and cheese.”
Semi-colons: They’re used to separate two complete thoughts. For instance, “Hellen feels lonely; she should pair up with Joe.” They’re used for questions that don’t have conjunctions.
Colons: They introduce things and lists. For instance, “Jenna brought materials to the experiment: some water, a beaker, and bromine.”
Dashes: Personally, I had to teach myself about these because I was never taught about dashes. Dashes are there to include a little description that’s relevant for the subject in the sentence. For instance, “Kyoshi–an earthbending avatar–killed Chin the Conqueror.”
Conjunctions: Only use them when they’re applicable. Never use them for
AND: this conjunction is used to group two things or two clauses. For instance, “Ken and Ryu are characters from Street Fighter. Ryu is a patient, stern Japanese fighter, and Ken is a carefree, fiery fighter.”
BUT: this conjunction is used to invoke contrast or differences. For instance, “Rainbow Dash is the fastest pony, but Twilight Sparkle is a princess.”
Tips for the Science Section (ACT only):
Go read the questions first: Because you have a shorter time frame on this section, you’ll be more accurate and responsive when you look at the questions first. Reading the science experiments and the hypotheses take a strain and too much time, so if you want to sweep through the section, read the questions first.
Look at the title and the figures: The title and the figures provide so much information without so many words. In fact, most of the questions refer to the tables and graphs in the figures, and you’re better off finding out the answer quickly.
If you couldn’t find anything for the question, speed read the paragraphs: Don’t skim through the passages–they’re actually shorter and easy to comprehend than initially looking at them–and actually read word for word. You might miss something when skimming through.
Overall, it’s a reading comprehension test: The science section isn’t there to examine your knowledge in science (although it’s better to know some general science for this section), but rather to test your analysis and comprehension of the experiment or hypothesis given.
Tips for the Essay Section (OPTIONAL):
SAT
The section provides a 600-750 word passage, and you have to write an essay about how the author builds their argument and how they use multiple devices to persuade their audience.
DON’T summarize what the passage is about. DON’T provide an opinion commenting about the author’s argument.
This is your generic, run-of-the-mill AP English essay. Have a thesis, gather evidence, and use that evidence to make some arguments and connect it back to the thesis.
The SAT is based on the RAW system: Reading (how well you’ve understood the text such as quoting), Analysis (did you choose relevant details that evaluate what the author is saying), and Writing (your grammar, organization, how well the essay flows)
Annotate the passage: Do this while reading. Make brackets that you think are important and relevant details for the author’s argument.
Make a small outline: Once you’ve annotated, dumb the passage down to what I recommend two to three points. Do two points if you’re going all out on the details. If not, it’s better to do three. Personally, I like doing two so I don’t have to write about three ideas about one argument.
The best devices for nonfiction: rhetoric, diction, and syntax. Nonfiction passages such as news articles or journal studies commonly include facts and opinions to build their argument. Notably, the word choice authors always convey their feelings about a topic they want to discuss so it’s best to discuss diction in your essay.
The best devices for fiction and literary stories: imagery, symbolism, and diction. Authors that have this narrative structure to tell a story always include these types of elements. They involve these devices to describe their feelings and reactions, which often makes their experience immersive for the reader.
ACT
The section provides a prompt and 3 different perspectives on each issue: usually supportive, neutral, or opposing. Your job is to make an argumentative essay about the prompt provided.
Scoring is based on the following criteria: Ideas and Analysis (your arguments and claims), Development and Support (your evidence), Organization (how the essay flows), and Language Use (grammar, spelling, vocabulary).
Make a plan: After reading the prompt, there’s not a lot to annotate. So instead, quickly brainstorm all the ideas that are relevant to support your essay. Dumb down the prompt and perspectives into something you understand. Make it into an outline so it’s easier to understand.
Make up examples: I know this sounds ethically wrong, but it just exemplifies how well you write your essay. Because it’s an argumentative essay, you’re prone to make misinformation no matter what. Just make sure they’re realistic though.
Use Sophisticated Vocabulary: In order to get an impressive score on the Language Use criteria, you need to learn some vocab. It will look good when you finally finish writing. Plus you’ll feel smart.
Acknowledge All of the Perspectives: Those perspectives are important to fully show your arguments. However, it’s best not to criticize the perspectives, but rather look at the value of each one. See which perspective is best to support any merits of your argument.
General Tips for Both Essays
Proofread Before Time is Called: you might find some mistakes in your essay that may be an incoherent thought, grammatical error, etc.
Make that Essay Long: it’s obvious you need the essay to be more than a page, so write as much as you can to get a good score.
Thesis in Intro and Evidence in Body: The organization is pretty obvious to do for your essay.
Use Transition Words: you can pat yourself on the back if you’ve used these words to make a free-flowing essay.
End Things Off By Briefly Restating: Just like many 40-50 minute essays, you won’t have enough time to make a conclusion paragraph. I recommend doing two sentences to finish out that essay.
You’re Done and You’re Waiting
Congratulations, you’ve done it! You’ve survived the ordeal of testing the SAT or ACT. Now you’ll just need to wait in 2-8 weeks to get your results back. Personally, a minimally good score for colleges is a 1200 on the SAT or 29 on the ACT. If you think it’s good for you, put it on your application! If not, there’s room for improvement and more money to pay! Hope you’re proud!
- By Jemil Michael Alvarez
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