SAT's

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Hey All,

I'm taking the SAT tomarrow (Saturday). I hope I do good. Anyone here like to share their experenices?

[Uesugi Kenshin]

They're not that bad, but they aren't really a measure of intelligence either. Just make sure you've slept well beforehand, don't fall for their tricks, and have everything you need (snack, calculator, pencils) and you'll be okay. It's about as much a test of endurance as it is anything else.

Good luck and may the SAT fall out of favor soon!

[TinCow]

Don't second guess your answers. You are more likely to make a mistake when going back and changing something than by keeping your original answer, even if you're unsure of it. Read the question, mark down what seems like the best answer and move on. Don't go back over answers you have already completed. If you're really, really unsure, just leave it blank and come back later, no point spending 5 minutes on a question if you have a lot left to work on. Just make sure that at the end of the test all ovals are filled in with something, even if it's a blind guess.

[Strike For The South]

Relax. Its not the be all end all test.

[Ice]

1790 the first time (about 1200)

1930 the second time (about 1300)

The math is all logic. It isn't straight forward. Think about every problem.

The reading sucked. I got a 590 and 580 on there so I'm not help.

8 and 10/12 on the essay.

[Ramses II CP]

I took the old one, so I doubt I'd be much help to you, but TC's advice is solid. Set a steady pace, stick with your answers, and it's just like any other standardized test. Personally I loved the SAT, took it 3 times and probably only got into college because of my score (I had given up on school and stopped caring around 7th grade).

Like most tests the SAT primarily measures your ability to take tests. If you're a good test taker you only need the minimum of actual knowledge to cruise through.

[seireikhaan]

I second TinCow's advice. Don't second guess yourself.

Other than that, do NOT, under any circumstances, stress about it. Stressing only makes you perform worse, imo. I took the ACT once, went in loose, calm, and confident, and ended up getting a 30, which translates to a 1980 on the SAT.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

I know that if you leave a answer blank, they take no points off. I hope to God I do good. I think I will .

[TevashSzat]

2300 First time (800 Math, 800 Verbal, 700 Writing)
2340 Second time (800 Math, 800 Verbal, 740 Writing)

I was really screwed over by the essay the second time. I did really well on the multiple choice section, only 2 wrong I think but then utterly bombed the essay. I think it was because 25 min was too short for me and I tended to want to digress on the essay a bit too much and just ended up seeming like I was rambling on b/c I didn't finish up the essay and tie up my thoughts togeather in time....

Just remember to check, double check, and triple check. Seriously, what else are you going to do? Play calculator games? I've found that I usually make more mistakes due to careless reading or just plain stupid mistakes rather than due to that I didn't know the right answer.

Just some random thoughts here:

For the dual passages in the verbal section. I've found it helpful to read passage 1 first, do passage 1 questions, read passage 2, do passage 2 questions, and then finally do questions that involve both passages. That way, there is less chance for you to get confused between the passages. Otherwise, you might end up thinking about passage 2 things in a question about passage 2.

For the sentence error identification, don't put down any E (no error) the first time through. Just mark all of the sentences you can see an error in. After you get through all of the sentence errors, look back at the ones you skipped. There is usually anywhere from about 3-5 E's per section so if you end up with like 7 blanks, you know you probably have a problem there....From then on, just try to narrow it down to the few that you feel are most likely to be no errors.

The Math, IMO, is actually a joke since it doesn't get much more complicated than Geometry. Just remember to be really careful and not make any careless mistakes because the odds are that you will know how to solve most if not all of the problems on there

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

I never took Geometry, I'm taking Algebra II (I'm slighty behind in Math, I think I can do it ).

Chirst ,2300,2340, what the hell would you take it a second time ?

[Craterus]

I took one because I was thinking about studying in the US (less so now).

I didn't revise or anything, but I think I did ok. 1870 overall. Maths let me down (haven't done anything more complex than counting my change for a year and a half)

[Alexanderofmacedon]

It's not horrible. You'll do fine I'm sure. I got a meager 1810 with almost an entire year left to take it, but I was just too lazy to retry. I think my score is fine...my other stuff makes up for it hopefully

[naut]

I took one because I was thinking about studying in the US (less so now).

I didn't revise or anything, but I think I did ok. 1870 overall. Maths let me down (haven't done anything more complex than counting my change for a year and a half)

A couple of my friends and I thought we'd do the same as you, we all got between 1900-2100 with no study (I got 2040). I wish I had gone to high school in the US, no offence intended or anything, but it was a lot easier than than the final exams we sat here (the HSC).

[pevergreen]

I do get the feeling, from the few stories I have heard or read about the SAT's that the Australian ones seem to be a bit harder.

I do agree, rest up, take solace in the fact you can't really study for them, and its not the end of the world if your marks arent that great. Just follow what I told you in the PM's and you'll turn out just fine warman.

The two days of testing up here is the QCS (Queensland Core Skills Test. Yes, no T in the short version, no idea why)

If anyone was interested to see what we had to do, here are some previous versions of the QCS: http://www.qsa.qld.edu.au/assessment/2322.html

[naut]

I do get the feeling, from the few stories I have heard or read about the SAT's that the Australian ones seem to be a bit harder.

Yeh, that's the impression I got. For example the writing section was 70% multi-choice and 30% essay, and a brief essay at that. To be fair though there was a fair bit of time pressure though. In comparison my HSC English exam was two parts. Part 1 consisted of 6 medium length questions, a 4-6 page creative writing task and a 4-6 page essay. Part 2 consisted of 3 4-6 page essays. And to make matters worse, there's only 2 hours for each exam. Plus in total I had to have quotes for 11 texts, yes eleven.

[Craterus]

A couple of my friends and I thought we'd do the same as you, we all got between 1900-2100 with no study (I got 2040). I wish I had gone to high school in the US, no offence intended or anything, but it was a lot easier than than the final exams we sat here (the HSC).

It was easy. But I expected that anyway. The real trouble, as others have said, is endurance. I was in that hall for over 5 hours.

And yes, my essay was the worst of all the things I did. It came first on my paper so I wasn't really in the flow but the time given for that part doesn't seem like much when you're doing it.

Don't know what to do with my scores now as I'm almost definitely applying here and only here.

[TevashSzat]

I do get the feeling, from the few stories I have heard or read about the SAT's that the Australian ones seem to be a bit harder.

I do agree, rest up, take solace in the fact you can't really study for them, and its not the end of the world if your marks arent that great.

Yeah, the SATs are pretty easy, but they are still really hard to get perfect one, very near impossible. Just to let you guys know, I had like 120+ hours with a private tutor and my writing was still horrible......I blame my 2 essay graders.

As for studying, yes you can study them. There is a tremendous industry that caters to the SAT preperation crowd. There are like over a dozen different companies with their own SAT prep books. Although some of them are just horrible, they do help alot especially if you practice enough.

For writing especially, alot of the stuff may not be that hard in terms of grammar and such, but one would need to do some of those problems as practice at least.

As for verbal, the vocab stuff is studiable. Just memorize vocabulary and it'll be really easy

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Came back a hour ago or so.... Writing I bomb, it wad first thing we did and I was slighty tired... Reading I aced with no problems, Math, some of it was ok, but most, eh....

[Thermal]

mine were plain, took ages to get my results back just to find out i got level 6 in everything, there thinking about abandoning sats seeing as there not assessed there only there to show where you are in your core subjuects, there not that important, so dont worry if you mess up, just an experience before the serious exams really

[shlin28]

*Whispers to Aries*

I think they are talking about the US SATs, not UK SATs.

[Ferret]

nice one Aries. If he was doing our SATs everyone would just laugh at him, in a nice cuddly, friendly orgah way of course.

[Hooahguy]

i took the PSAT's last wensday- do those count?

[Thermal]

nice one Aries. If he was doing our SATs everyone would just laugh at him, in a nice cuddly, friendly orgah way of course.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

dam i should have expected my first chance to advise would be catastrophic