Sat Test

The College Board, the entity that administers the SAT, calls this section of the SAT Student Produced Responses, because this isn’t multiple choice and you have to come up with the answer yourself. Sounds simple enough, right? It’s also referred to as a Grid In. You’re not given answers and must find the answers yourself and enter them in on a grid.

As always, there are five sample questions on the College Board website that will give you an idea of what you’re likely to face during the actual SAT exam. Another helpful item that you can view at www.collgeboard.com is an actual SAT answer sheet, complete with directions. Again, you should familiarize yourself with the directions on this portion of the math SAT before taking the exam. This will save you time that can be better spent figuring out the answers and gridding them in.

Even if you don’t get the answers correct, you still get points if you show your work and get the answer wrong. So be sure to show your work and mark your answer in the grid. If your answer is not in the grid, you will not be given any points. Know where you’re going to place your answers on the grid before you start. If you don’t know the answer, try to make an educated guess. If you make a mistake and want to erase it, be certain to completely erase it or the machine may pick up your partially erased answer and cause an error to be made. If your answer doesn’t fit on the grid, you’ve made a mistake in your calculations and you’ll need to go back and refigure your answer. Again, make sure of your answer before you grid it in so you don’t have to erase things on the grid.

The advice I gave you in my last post about finding ways to study for the multiple choice segment of the SAT hold true for the Student Produced Responses portion of the math SAT. Barter with a friend for some study/tutoring, look into online courses on math, ask your math teacher for help, and keep at it! You can be successful and if you take the time, study hard and know what’s coming, then your chances for success are greatly improved.

Let’s talk mathematics for a bit. You know that the SAT has math questions on it. This segment consists of two 25 minute sections and one 20 minute section. These are multiple choice questions as well as questions that you will have to answer yourself. The math section of the SAT is 70 minutes all told.

Don’t panic, it’s not as long as it seems. That’s just a little over two Simpson episodes! You can do this and I have some helpful hints and ideas for you to help you on your way.

There are 44 multiple choice questions. We all know what a multiple choice question looks like, right? A good way to approach this part of the SAT is to know what is coming and what types of question you’re likely to see given. Again, check out www.collegeboard.com for some very good information on this subject. You can take a practice math test and it will give you some excellent hints for getting the best possible score in the math section of the SAT.

If math skills aren’t your strong suite, then you may want to consider buying an online course to help you prepare for this segment of the SAT. There are online courses you can take, or books you can purchase that promise to cover every aspect of math in preparation for the SAT.

The math prep tips that are given on www.collegeboard.com include knowing the directions on the math segment beforehand. You might think it odd that you can know the directions to a portion of the SAT before you actually take it, but you can. This is good advice, because knowing the directions before you take the exam can save you some time and frustration. For instance, knowing that you are not required to memorize formulas will save you time and energy in the long run by allowing you to concentrate your focus in other areas. In this segment you may use whatever space you have available as scratch paper for this part. You’ll fill in the little circle when you have determined which answer is the correct one. You can use a calculator on this portion of the SAT, which should alleviate some of your anxiety.

If you’d like to take some free SAT math tests, go to http://www.takesat.com/problem.php . There you’ll find ten tests that you can practice on.

Once you familiarize yourself with the type of questions, and do some practice runs on tests, you should feel more comfortable with actually taking the test itself.

If you feel you need even more extensive help in studying for the math portion of the SAT, then I would consider finding a personal tutor.

One idea for finding a tutor that you don’t have to pay for is the barter system. Perhaps you are a whiz at English, but feel you are lacking in Math. If you have a friend at school that excels in math but doesn’t know a verb from a pronoun, then you might be able to work out a deal whereby you can study together and tutor each other. No money needs to be exchanged and you’re both getting a great bargain.

Another study resource would be your high school math teacher. Some math teachers are available for help during lunch time or after school. Depending on your teacher’s schedule, you may be able to get some extra help from him as well.

Don’t exclude your parents as being too old or too far gone from school to be able to help you with your math studies. My uncle has a degree in math, which meant that his kids were well tutored in all things math during their school years. I was also able to take advantage of his expertise when there were things I simply didn’t understand during my math class. So remember, identify and use all of your available resources to get ready for the math portion of the SAT.