Building a strong vocabulary is crucial for success on the SAT. The verbal section is filled with difficult words that appear not only on vocabulary questions, but also in passages and even answer choices. You’ll also want to use advanced vocabulary in your essay. How can you make sure you’re prepared?
First, it’s critical to get hold of an excellent vocabulary list. Avoid lists that just offer advanced vocabulary for high school students – make sure you get a vocabulary list specifically tailored to the SAT. The list should be drawn from words that have frequently appeared on former tests. This should be explicitly noted. One good example of a list of this kind is Barron’s, which contains as many as 3,500 words.
So what do you do now that you’ve gotten hold of all these words? Decide how many words you’re going to learn before you take the test (the more the better) and then figure out how many you need to learn each day to reach your goal. The key is to space your learning out over a long period of time – neuroscience research has shown that you remember and understand better when you do a little learning each day over a period of days than when you cram all your learning into one day.
Make flashcards so that you can test yourself on the words. Not only do we learn best by being actively tested, but it’s too easy to fool ourselves into thinking we know the words otherwise. Consider using Anki, a powerful free flashcard tool that spaces flashcards in a way designed to help you best retain them.
As you study, try to think of unique ways to remember each word. For ignominy, which means shame, you might think of a group of shameful gnomes who have been tearing up people’s yards. The more striking and sensory the image, the more likely you are to remember the word.
Studies have also shown that the more you recall and use the new words you’re learning, the more likely you’ll be to remember them. When you’re in the shower or going to school, try to recall the words you’ve recently learned. Then put them to use in sentences. Use them in conversation, in your papers at school, and in your practice essays for the SAT. Make these words truly your own!
If you follow these steps, you’ll be on your way to building the type of vocabulary you need for success on the test. In addition, you’ll be building core foundations for future academic and professional success.
What happens if you don’t know a word on test day? Here’s what to do.
You may have heard it before: take the SAT in December because the curve is easier. Students are taking it for the first time and will be less prepared. Avoid the October test, because rising seniors will be taking it and therefore the curve will be very difficult. While these claims hold the promise of an easy way to improve your score, the truth is that they’re simply not true.
The scoring table for each SAT does vary somewhat. 52 raw points in math might translate to a 720 on one test and a 700 on another, for example. This variability, however, is due to question difficulty rather than student performance. Question difficulty is determined independently of student performance. How is this done? First, before the test is even administered, the College Board creates a preliminary scoring table based on what they believe to be the difficulty of the test. Then, after the test is administered, they adjust the difficulty scale slightly based on student performance coupled with a complicated mathematical process called “equating.” In equating, the test makers test the students taking the exam on some of the same exact material they have tested past students on. They do this in the experimental section, which does not count toward the official test score. This to determine if the current group of test takers is performing better, worse, or at the same level as the average historical test taker. Why do they do this? To make sure that they’re not basing the scoring table on variations in student ability. So if students miss more questions than usual, but they discover via equating that the students are weaker than average performers, the test makers will not make the curve significantly easier. This is because they can tell that students are missing questions because of student ability rather than question difficulty. You can read the College Board’s lengthy technical description of this process here:
Historical SAT data bears this truth out. Erik the Red, a New Jersey based tutor, has compiled historical scoring tables for all tests administered in recent years. If certain test dates had more favorable curves than others, we would expect to see this borne out with some regularity. Instead, however, the distribution of scoring tables is highly random and not tied to any particular test dates. You can see Erik’s compilation here:
Why doesn’t the College Board grade the test on a conventional curve that adapts to student ability? Because if they did, test results would be inconsistent and thus less reliable to colleges. If an October 650 was equivalent to a June 700, colleges would have much less use for the SAT. They depend on it to assess student ability in a consistent and objective manner.
So when should you take the SAT? Whenever you’re thoroughly prepared to do well. Pick an administration that will allow you ample time to prepare, whatever the test date.
The SAT essay is unique exercise. It requires you to develop a coherent and well-written argument on a random topic within just 25 minutes. In order to do well on the essay, it’s important that you not only write well but that you know what the test makers are looking for. Thanks to the numerous graded essays the College Board has released, it’s possible to learn exactly that. I’ve put together some of the most important guidelines to help you write a winning essay. With these tips and a little practice, you’ll be on your way to a stellar score.
1) The ideal structure to use is an introductory paragraph that clearly and succinctly states your central argument and how your examples will support it, followed by two paragraphs, each devoted to one example that supports the argument, followed by a concluding paragraph that restates your thesis and how your examples successfully supported it. While high scoring essays have been written using all sorts of different structures, the highest scoring essays most consistently use only two examples to prove their point. When I reviewed a random sample of 13 released SATs, I found that the highest scoring essays used this model 70% of the time. Two examples are enough to support a nuanced argument, but not so much that you’re unable to treat each example in enough detail. The SAT loves for you to incorporate as much detail as possible into your examples, and three examples rarely leaves enough room for this level of detail. To this end, also keep your introductory and closing paragraphs short. Your focus should be on supporting your argument through well-chosen and detailed examples.
2) Make your examples very detailed by including dates and proper names, but always make sure the examples are used to support your argument. It’s OK to fudge some of the details – the test makers are not allowed to grade you on the truth of your claims. It’s probably not a good idea, however, to declare that Pearl Harbor occurred in the 1700s.
3) Make sure each example reflects a slightly different reason for which you have chosen your argument – don’t simply repeat the exact same point twice through two separate examples.
4) Try to fill as much of the two pages as possible. An MIT faculty member has shown that there is an unusually strong correlation between essay length and score.
5) Leave 3-5 minutes at the beginning to plan your essay and at the end to review it.
6) Use SAT level vocabulary. This shouldn’t be difficult because you should be learning vocabulary for the Critical Reading section. When you regularly include this vocabulary in your practice essays, it will also help cement these words in your memory. Make sure you are using the words correctly, however!
7) Use a varied sentence structure. Don’t start every sentence with the same word, and make sure to vary grammatical structures between sentences. One trick to help is to throw in an occasional rhetorical question. “How would the early Monicaros have felt if they too lacked freedom?”
8) Make sure each new paragraph begins with a strong and clear transition.
9) Use active sentences rather than passive sentences. “I ate the cereal” is better than “the cereal was eaten.”
10) Avoid using “I.” While you’re technically allowed to use “I”, school teachers who repeatedly teach their students to avoid “I” in academic writing will be grading your essay, so it’s best to avoid it.
11) Similarly, avoid overtly political or religious arguments. Although these technically shouldn’t influence your reader’s evaluation, remember that your reader is a human with religious and political views.
12) The safest examples to use are academic ones — those drawn from history, literature, art, etc., rather than personal anecdotes. The test makers say that personal examples are every bit as good as academic ones, but remember that you’re still trying to impress someone who teaches a subject like history or literature for a living. The majority of high scoring essays use academic examples.
13) Consider refuting a possible counterargument if the opportunity presents itself. This helps strengthen your argument and is a sophisticated technique.
14) Consider using a hypothetical for your final sentence: IF the position you take was done (everything would be great) or if it was not done (everything would be disastrous).
15) If possible, consider including the provided quote in your final paragraph. This is a good way to recap your argument without sounding too repetitive. (“Benjamin Franklin’s belief that ‘life must be lived with abandon’ is a timeless truth.”)
Carless errors on the math portion of the SAT and ACT can be major point killers. To illustrate just how drastically mistakes can affect your score, let’s look at the first SAT in the blue book. If you were able to correctly solve every math question but one, you’d score an 800. Let’s say you miss two additional questions, however, because of avoidable mistakes. Your score just dropped 70 points! Because of the incorrect answer penalty, your raw score has gone from a 53 (rounded up from a 52.75) to a 50 (rounded down from a 50.25). Two simple, avoidable errors just cost you the difference between a 730 and an 800. That’s huge.
Things don’t get any better when we look at the ACT. On an official ACT practice test from 2003, missing three math questions because of careless errors, i.e. lowering your raw score from a 60 to a 57, would drop your math score from a perfect 36 down to a 33. That’s just as substantial as going from an 800 to a 730.
Why Should I Worry About A Few Mistakes?
Why is the difference between a 730 and an 800 or a 33 and a 36 so huge? Even if 70 or 3 points is a big difference, a 730 or a 33 are still both great scores, right? While these are very high scores, at some schools an 800 or 36 can make you a much more competitive applicant in terms of admission and scholarship opportunities than someone with a 730 or 33.
At elite engineering schools like MIT and Caltech, for instance, nearly all accepted students have perfect or near-perfect scores. The 75th percentile of SAT scores for accepted students at both is 800, while the 25th percentile is 750 at MIT and 770 at Caltech. MIT’s 75th percentile for ACT Math is 36, but a 33 would put you below the 25th percentile of 34. Submitting an application with scores below the 50th percentile—let alone below the 25th—would make your application considerably less competitive than those of your perfect or near-perfect scoring peers. That’s the damage a few silly mistakes can make!
OK, you might be saying, but I’m not applying to the nation’s most elite engineering schools. What do I care about a couple points on the math section? Because you ideally want to aim for the median SAT or ACT score or above at a particular college to submit a competitive application, picking up as little as 30 points by avoiding just one careless mistake can sometimes give you the boost you need to get there.
Avoiding a single careless error can also pay off big in terms of scholarships. This is because many schools employ score cutoffs to determine scholarship eligibility. One studyrevealed that half of all states surveyed used specific test scores as cutoffs to determine merit-based aid. At Louisiana State University, falling even a single point short of a 1250 on the SAT or a 28 on the ACT—only one careless error—could cost you up to $7,600 per year, or $30,400 over four years. $30,400 is a lot to lose over one careless mistake!
What Can I Do?
Unfortunately, avoidable mistakes happen with great frequency on SAT and ACT math. The truth is that it’s difficult to answer 54-60 challenging math questions in a 60-70 minute, high-pressured scenario without making any mistakes. The good news, however, is that there are many things you can and should be doing to minimize if not eliminate trivial errors on this part of the test.
So, what exactly can you do to avoid making mistakes on SAT and ACT math? First, you need to figure out why you’re making careless mistakes. Often, the reason is simply working too quickly on a section.
You Don’t Need To Rush
While it is true that there is very real time pressure on the SAT and (to an even greater degree) on the ACT, this does not mean that you should rush through the questions. The test makers have deliberately built enough time into the test for you to solve each question without rushing.
How can you tell if you’re rushing? On any given SAT or ACT math section, take the total amount of time allotted and divide it by the number of questions. This will give you the average amount of time you have for each question. You should, on average, spend a little less than this on the early questions (which are easier) and a little bit more on the later questions (which are more difficult). If you’re spending less time than this and making a lot of careless mistakes, then it’s probably time to slow down.
What if you’re unable to complete the section on time when you don’t rush? If this is the case, you either haven’t learned the best way of solving the problems yet or you just need more practice to help speed things up. Many problems have two solutions: a fast one and a lengthy one. This is true on both exams, although the SAT typically features more shortcuts than the ACT. Once you learn the methods for solving these problems quickly and begin to look for shortcuts, you’ll cut down on the amount of work and time you need to get through the questions.
One caveat: don’t spend too long on any given problem. While it’s important to take your time and avoid careless errors, you also want to avoid burning all your time on a single question. If you haven’t figured out a way to solve a problem after a little more than the allotted amount of time per problem, mark the question so that you can come back to it if you have time at the end and move on to the next question.
Ease Any Anxiety
Another problem closely related to rushing is anxiety. The SAT and ACT cause everyone to experience a little anxiety, but if you’re overwhelmed with it then it might be causing you to make mistakes. It’s easy to make careless errors when your thoughts are elsewhere and your heart is racing.
If you think anxiety might be distracting you, you can combat it by taking practice tests often and under realistic conditions. Take these tests as they are officially administered – timed, whole, and with the officially allotted amount of breaks. Practice taking the test at the same time you’ll actually be taking it on test day. For paper tests, use an official bubble sheet to fill in your answers and the same type of pencil you’ll be using on the test. Try taking some of the practice tests in unfamiliar locations. The more you’ve simulated the pressures of test day, the better prepared you’ll be to handle them.
There are a number of other techniques you can use to help combat testing anxiety. If you’re still feeling overwhelmed or you suffer from severe anxiety, consider discussing your anxiety with a psychiatrist or other health care professional.
Don’t Do Mental Math, aka, Increase Your Cognitive Horsepower
Even if you’re not anxious or rushing, it’s easy to make careless errors on the SAT and ACT when you don’t do things like writing out your work. Not only does this make you more likely to make a careless mistake, but it also makes it more difficult to solve a problem. By writing your work down on paper, you free up short-term memory (a limited resource), thereby increasing the amount of cognitive horsepower you have available at any given time.
Instead of solving problems in your head, always write each step of your work down, making sure that your writing is legible, clearly ordered and easy to follow. It’s just too easy to make mistakes by attempting to solve problems all or in part through mental calculations. Also, if you find that your answer isn’t the correct one, having a clear record of your work will allow you to quickly backtrack and see where you may have made a mistake.
Along these same lines, don’t be afraid to use your calculator. All too often students feel that in order to save time they need to do the math in their head rather than on the calculator. This often results in calculation errors that could have been easily avoided. The actual time it takes to enter an operation into the calculator is usually very little. Use the calculator for all but the simplest of calculations. If you do find yourself making mental mistakes on basic operations however, such as 3×3, then you should be using your calculator for these as well.
Force Yourself To Pay More Attention To The Questions
SAT and ACT math questions can be trickily worded, and it’s the wording that often leads test takers into avoidable mistakes. If you find yourself missing questions because you misread them, then underline all key pieces of information in the question. The makers of the SAT and ACT love to sneak important details into the questions that are easy to overlook. (That said, don’t forget that the test writers will also occasionally include useless information in order to mislead you.) As soon as you start reading, you should begin underlining all important words, values and conditions. This also helps get your brain into high gear and forces you to tackle the question with focus and critical awareness. Make sure to underline each individual piece of important information separately – if you are asked to find a “positive integer,” for example, make sure to use two distinct dashes, one for “positive” and one for “integer.” Otherwise, you risk only looking for an “integer” or a “positive” answer choice. The test makers often hide important details this way. Lastly, don’t avoid underlining key information just because you’re going to be copying that information into a geometric figure or transcribing it into algebra. It can be even easier to make mistakes when transcribing is involved, so it’s important to always underline the specified values and conditions first.
Keep Things Organized
If you can’t make sense of your own notes, chances are you’re going to have a problem at some point during the exam. Keep your work structured and organized. This goes for all problems, but it’s especially relevant on geometry problems. When solving a geometry problem, label all relevant values on the geometric figures, even if this involves repetition. It’s very easy to make mistakes on geometric figures if they are not thoroughly labeled, especially because they must often be broken down into smaller, more complex figures.
If there are multiple possibilities for the values or arrangement of a geometrical figure, draw out the various possibilities rather than relying on the sole illustration provided in the question. Often the correct answer will be hidden in a second iteration of the figure that the test makers haven’t shown you.
Check Your Work
If there is time at the end of a section, always check your work. Work backward from the last question to the first. Because the later questions are more difficult than the first ones, there is both more room for error and more hidden tricks on these problems. Because you may not have enough time to review the entire section, you want to make sure that these mistake-prone questions get reviewed before the others. The more practice you do, the more likely you’ll be able to finish sections with additional time left over. This is the ideal to aim for, if possible.
You can also check your answers by trying to solve the problems a different way and checking to see if you end up with the same solution. This can be time consuming, but it can also help ensure that you’ve found the right answer.
Learn From Your Mistakes – Even Careless Ones
This might seem counterintuitive since these types of mistakes are only careless, but you can actually learn from them. When reviewing questions, always study the questions you missed because of mental errors and mistakes. That means that you should always make a note of questions you miss because of mistakes, and make sure to include what the mistake was. Re-work these problems each time you review the material you’ve already covered. This will both highlight your mistake patterns (you’d be surprised at what you’ll find) and reduce the likelihood that you will repeat the mistakes you’re prone to make.
Recap
Careless errors on SAT and ACT math can cost you valuable points and dollars. If you find yourself making them, first try to figure out what’s causing them: is it rushing, anxiety, mental math, or something else? Once you know the problem, implement the relevant suggestions in this article to minimize them. You’ll be glad you did.
Want a Free List of All the Math Topics That Have Recently Appeared on the SAT or ACT?
For a free list of all the math topics that have recently appeared on the SAT or ACT, and/or for answers to any other questions, you can reach me at robertkohen@koheneducationalservices.dream.press or 212-658-0834.
