Top 5 Steps to Better Educated SAT Guesses

In a previous article, I touched on the Top 5 Landmines of the SAT test.

However, avoiding landmines is not enough: the general fog of questions

and concepts and the overwhelming amount of information to be processed

calls for more proactive strategies. Aim your SAT preparation at

mastering a few simple tricks and tools—this will minimize distractions,

cut down on careless errors, and enable you to show what you know.



1. BECOMING A PACE-MAKER

Taking the SAT test is like running a marathon: no matter how

gifted or well-trained you are, you have to pace yourself. Strive to

work steadily, neither so quickly that you'll miss critical information

nor so slowly that you don't have enough time for the questions at the

end of a section (which, you'll recall, are typically more difficult).

Keep your cool and maintain focus. Gauge at the beginning of a section

the average time per question, and periodically check your progress: if

your time is halfway up, are you at least halfway through? Taking

practice exams will also help you develop a sense of your pacing before

you actually sit the test.

2. ELIMINATING FALSE CHOICES

You likely know by now that most sections of the SAT test (all but

the student-produced-response math questions) contain a so-called

"guessing penalty" of a quarter-point per wrong answer, versus no gain

or loss for a question left blank. What this means is that whenever you

can eliminate even one answer choice, you have eliminated the penalty;

eliminate more than one and the probability of a successful guess

increases significantly. Looking for clearly impossible answer choices

and quickly trying out others can narrow the available options in a hurry.

3. ESTIMATING AND SUBSTITUTING

This tip applies especially to the math sections of the SAT test.

Utilize common sense and identify the range of plausible answers. For

questions involving algebraic expressions, substituting numbers for the

variables can sometimes speed up the process of finding the right

answer. Be careful, though, when substituting numbers with unique

properties such as 0 and 1.

4. BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

I can't stress strongly enough the value of making and marking

diagrams to represent information presented on SAT test questions. This

strategy also applies more to the math sections, yet any question

involving logic is a susceptible to it. Your SAT test booklet gives you

plenty of scribbling room for a reason – use it. Render the data in

concrete form, and you're more likely to get the right answer more quickly.

5. ANTI-CARELESSNESS DEVICES

Simply resolving to be careful is not the most reliable approach

you can take: you should instead go into the SAT test with specific

strategies for avoiding careless mistakes. For example, whenever you

skip a question (which will likely happen if you are to maintain a

steady pace), circle the number of that question. You can also mark

questions of whose answers you're unsure. As long as you're already

checking your progress against the time remaining, it doesn't hurt to

double-check that the line you're bubbling in on the answer sheet

corresponds to the question you're on in the SAT test booklet.



Make sure your SAT study plan gives you not only an automatic

familiarity with the directions and landmines of the SAT test, but also

a set of tools to enhance your quest for the right answers. Supplement

your knowledge by enhancing your ability to reason your way through the

questions. There is nothing wrong with guessing, only guessing randomly.



Bruce L. Smith is an experienced SAT content creator for
href="http://www.satprepplan.com"> SAT test prep site

www.satprepplan.com