Do you spend time staring at your ceiling and trying to trace the intricate plaster carvings or waiting for the stars to suddenly appear poking through it? Are you nervous about the upcoming SAT exam or your previous SAT testing scores? Well, it is only natural that you are because we know that this is a crucial exam and the SAT scores will determine your future education and career.
However, it would be really sad if you let these anxieties effect your performance on the D-Day. Many students have been known to succumb under the anxiety and thus score lower marks. Parents regularly search for stress management programs or take their children to the counselors in order to relax their mind.
The good news is that now you, the soon-to-be SAT test taker, can maintain your composure and defeat the demons of your anxiety right before the exam. A research that was published in the Science journal on January 14, 2011, has confirmed that writing about your anxieties and stress 10 minutes to 30 minutes before the SAT exam can work wonders for your mind. You will be able to answer your SAT test in a better way than you would have if you had gone loaded with all the tension and apprehensions.
The research has been carried out extensively by Sian Beilock, Assistant Professor, Psychology, University of Chicago and Jonathan Pletcher, Assistant Professor, Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital at Pittsburgh. Read more…
Parents and students are often heard asking, “When is the best time to take SAT?” In all earnest, it is not a very tricky question to answer but various free tips and strategies doing the rounds in the school campus and on the internet often complicate the matter. There are various myths attached with the “when” of not only real SAT exam but also with the preparation. So much so that ambitious 7th graders start taking this aptitude exam on the behest of their overly ambitious parents. Are you wondering at what age do they start their preparation? How does 5th grade sound? Even if you were inclined to do it, you would not call it the trait of a highly motivated student to begin preparing for an aptitude and critical reasoning exam as early as this.
SAT exam is conducted six to seven times in a year and every exam on the SAT Curve is as good or as difficult as the next exam. SAT paper setters do not make variations in the difficulty level of paper in accordance with the time of the year. It is only a myth that exams conducted during the fall are tougher than those conducted in the spring are. Though there are a few suggestive strategies for the students in the sophomore year, but they are only founded on the ground of re-testing, should the need arise.
How early is too early?
Basically, sophomores are advised to take the test in December or January of their senior year. This will give them the opportunity to sit for April/May exam if their scores are less than what are required to get into the dream institution. Those giving the SAT exam of April/May will surely have their results in time for the university application process. There is nothing worse than not being able to apply for admission to a college just because your SAT scores are still not declared. Even if at a later date you realize that it is your highest score SAT till date, it will hardly be of any use to you for that particular academic year.
Good time to start the preparation is around six to seven months before your SAT exam date. During this period, you will not only need to brush up your mathematics, vocabulary, grammar and critical reasoning skills, but also undergo thorough SAT testing.
Three hours of misery are apparently not enough. Now the makers of the SAT want to shape what kids learn throughout four years of high school. True, students have always had to brush up on vocabulary and take practice tests before the SAT, but now the CollegeBoard, which owns the test, is developing the “New SAT,” an exhaustive revision largely intended to mold the U.S. secondary-school system to its liking. So they make sure that we are provided by credible questionnaires during the SAT examination day.
But making the SAT exam is harder than a student can think. Months of preparation is needed to assure its credibility and validity. After all, those questions lie the future of a college student. Read more…
