You’ve been preparing the SAT for a couple of months. Your test scores have been moving forward. You’re feeling confident. The night before the test you stay up a little later, lost in an endless succession of YouTube videos. The next morning your eyes feel as though someone put 30-pound sandbags on them. You barely get up in time and aren’t even able to eat a proper breakfast. 10-minutes into the essay you realize three things: I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I have no idea what the <expletive> I’m writing.
Yep, all that prep up in smoke because you didn’t have a game-day plan. Sounds pessimistic? Well, a similar morning happens to millions of students across the country every time the SAT rolls around. Here are a few ways to avoid getting caught unprepared.
• Start going to sleep at a reasonable hour a few days leading up to the exam
Choose a time that will give you about 8 hours of sleep. 10 to 10:30 pm is a good time to go to bed. Don’t overdo it and start sleeping at 8 p.m. only to wake up at 4 in the morning, since that’ll mess up your body clock more than anything. Pick your target time a few days before the exam just so your body is used to the routine.
• Have your morning planned out
Whatever you need to bring to the testing center, have it set aside the night before in a convenient location (your backpack is usually a good idea). Know what you’re going to eat for breakfast and have it close at hand. Make sure you have a ride. And if you’re driving, make sure that you know exactly where the test is being held.
• Don’t cram the night before (or the morning of)
Trying to stuff a bunch of information in your head may only make it more difficult to sleep. It won’t make a much of a difference—and it may only hurt. The SAT test is based on cumulative knowledge, so cramming will only give you superficial knowledge. You may very well end up second guessing yourself. While you may want to warm up your brain by reading a news article or two, trying to learn all the words beginning with “V” will likely tax your brain.
• Don’t start freaking out because you forgot a fact
For some reason, this phenomenon usually occurs on the SAT math section. So you may very well find yourself pulling into the parking lot, suddenly freezing up, realizing that you forget how to find the area of a trapezoid. Remember that most of the math formulas you’ll have to use are provided at the beginning of each math section. To see which ones and also to learn a few more, look no further than the Magoosh SAT eBook.
This post was written by Chris Lele, resident SAT expert at Magoosh. For more advice on SAT prep, check out Magoosh’s SAT blog.
> For more test prep advice, visit NextStepU.com.
