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The SAT is one such huge exam that opens the gate of various top schools and universities for high schools students across the globe. It is a full-fledged entrance exam that not only evaluates your academic knowledge but also gauges your critical thinking and logical reasoning. In a nutshell, the SAT is a complete test that demonstrates students’ strengths and weaknesses and makes it easy for schools and universities to assess students’ capabilities for their college programs. The bigger the exam, the tougher the nut to crack. Hence, it is very important for you to prepare for the SAT exam quite efficiently. And, if you’re new a beginner who doesn’t know much about the SAT test, you must start preparing for the SAT test from scratch. The first step to ace any entrance exam is to be familiar with the exam format. So, let’s take a look at the SAT test format first!

1. SAT Exam Format

Another important thing that students must be aware of is the type of questions they will be facing while taking the SAT test. So, let’s take a look at the SAT test syllabus here!

2. SAT Exam Syllabus

The SAT test will have three sections for which students will get three hours to solve the whole examination. In addition to that, students will also get 50 extra minutes to solve the Essay section. Notably, the Essay section is completely optional in the SAT exam; however, we advise you to opt for the Essay section too as it will strengthen your college application. Take a look at the section-wise exam syllabus for SAT Test!

Evidence-Based Reading Section

The Evidence-Based Reading Section will assess students’ reading skills. This section will contain multi-paragraphs passages and multiple- choice questions (MCQs) that assesses students’ aptitude for comprehension and reasoning. Students will get 65 minutes to solve the Reading section.

Evidence-Based Writing and Language Section

The Writing and Language section evaluates students’ ability to write, edit and revise the content without any punctuation or grammatical mistakes. This section requires students to improve the content and make it more meaning with the appropriate usage of words, phrases and vocabulary. Students will get 35 minutes to solve the Writing and Language section.

Mathematics Section

The Mathematics section in the SAT exam will contain multiple-choice questions based on the Mathematics subject. This section will have questions that students, generally, have learnt during their high school years. Students will get 55 minutes to solve the calculator permitted questions and 25 minutes to solve the questions for which the use of the calculator is not allowed.

The Essay Section – Optional

The Essay section in the SAT exam will require students to read and analyse the whole passage and write an effective response using their analytical skills and critical thinking ability. Students will get 50 minutes to solve the Essay section.

Now that you are familiar with the type of questions you will face in each section, another important step to prepare well for the SAT test is to check out the good study material for the exam.

3. Best SAT Test Preparation Books

Before checking out the SAT prep books, we’d like to tell you that we are not getting paid to promote these books; hence these are the well-researched books that we got for the SAT preparation.

Buying any of these – or any other – books is just the first step towards the preparation for the SAT test. However, what makes it count something is your seriousness towards the preparation. The internet is flooded with a lot many help books, sample papers, practice tests and reference books. All those innumerable study material are worth nothing if you are not serious about preparing well and acing the exam by yourself. These above-mentioned books cover pretty much everything that you might be asked in the SAT test. Hence, you must create a study schedule and strategize your SAT preparation as per your strengths and weaknesses and the time you are left with before the examination.
 

All About the SAT Subject Test

4. SWOT Analysis

The best way to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses is by taking online tests. There are a number of SAT preparation practice tests available on the internet. Besides, the conducting body of the SAT – the College Board – offers six free practice tests for students who are preparing for the SAT test. These practice tests are a great option to analyse your weaknesses and work on them primarily. However, the most common mistake that students often commit while taking such practice tests is they don’t take these tests seriously. We suggest you create such an environment where you can take the test with utmost seriousness and try to give your best within the stipulated time. This way, you will not get to know which areas you need to work hard in but also your speed and accuracy.

5. Improving Your Performance

Once you’ve successfully taken the first SAT practice test, you must analyse your performance by yourself. Most practice tests provide students with the scoring guidelines by which they can figure out the quality of their performance. Considering your current scores, set up a goal for the improved SAT scores and work towards achieving that goal. Rather than setting up a higher and unrealistic goal, set up a more realistic goal that you may achieve gradually. Once achieved the second, go for a bit harder goal for the next time and so on. These short-term goals will keep your morale up and encourage you to work even harder to achieve your next target.
 

The Meaning of SAT Scores

6. SAT Strategies and Planning

One thing that you must keep in mind is that the SAT test assesses your creative thinking and logical reasoning along with academic knowledge. Hence, you must learn the SAT tricks and strategies to perform well in the SAT exam. These SAT strategies include managing your time as per each section, which questions to attempt first and best ways to read the passage (SAT Reading section) etc. In addition to that, you must be aware of the time you have to prepare for the SAT exam and schedule your study timetable accordingly.

7. Practice Makes the Person Perfect

Finally, we will go by the famous saying, “Practice makes the person perfect”. You must take as many practice tests as you can in order to get the full understanding of the types of questions you might face during the SAT test. Taking as many tests will not only make you familiar with the wide range of questions but also improve your speed and accuracy required for the SAT test. This way, when the actual SAT question paper comes to your desk, you won’t be surprised by the types of questions as you might have already solved them in one of your practice tests.
 

SAT: Frequently Asked Questions

The last but surely not the least, sleep well before the exam day and have a balanced breakfast. Prepare your SAT kit (stationary) night before the exam. Be confident and give your best! Good luck!