Preparing for the SAT: What Sections to Focus On

If you want to prepare for the SAT, you are in luck. It is actually a very easy process. Unlike the midterms and final exams you take a school, not much studying is required for the SAT test itself. The only exception to this is with the SAT Subject Tests, which focus on a particular subject, like mathematics, science, history, and language.

Although not much studying is required for the SAT Reasoning Test, there are some preparation steps you want to take. The good news is that most of this simply involves looking over your school notes. Which sections should you focus on?

As you likely already know, the SAT is divided into three main sections. They are critical reading, writing, and mathematics. Each section has mini sections inside. For example, the mathematics section is home to multiple choice questions and questions with student-produced answers. The writing section of the test has multiple-choice questions that focus on identifying sentence errors, sentence improvement, improving paragraphs, and an essay.

For most students, the mathematics section is the hardest, so we will focus on this section first. To prepare for the math portion of the SAT flip through your notes. You should be pleased to know that you do not need to memorize common mathematic formulas per say. Many of these formulas will be printed in the SAT test book. It is however, your responsibility to know which formula to use and how to use them.

It addition to reviewing your math notes to familiarize yourself with common formulas, do a few practice questions. When doing so, focus on your weaknesses. Which type of math problems always give you a hard time? Do many practice questions. In fact, the more the better.

The writing section of the SAT is another area that some students struggle with. Once again, there isn’t much studying that you can do. It is however, advised that you flip through all English notes that cover the subject of grammar. By familiarizing yourself with common word errors, like affect and effect, run-on sentences, comma use, and sentence structure as a whole, you should do fairly well on this section.

Although the written essay does not account for a large portion of your SAT, many students find it the easiest. If you are nervous, take a deep breath. It really is as easy as that. By reviewing the notes for the writing multiple-choice questions, you already reviewed grammar and sentence structure. Now, just focus on the main components of an essay. A good essay has a two to three sentence introduction and conclusion and three body paragraphs.

For the essay portion of the SAT, you will get an assignment. This is a topic to write on. You are instructed to support your views with real-life experiences, observations, readings, and studies. In the first paragraph, your introduction, state your stance. For the three body paragraphs, develop three reasons for your stance. Use each paragraph to go into greater detail. For the conclusion, just restate your stance and a few highlights from your essay.

For the critical reading section of the SAT, study vocabulary words. Use your current English vocabulary books to review. The critical reading section of the SAT gauges your understanding of vocabulary, reading understanding, and literal understanding. Basically, they want to be sure you can understand what you read. There is also a section on sentence completions. As mentioned above, review word choices, grammar, and sentence structure from your English notes. Keep this in mind, take it slow on the test, test out the given answers in each sentences, and you will do fine.

In short, the SAT covers many subjects you learned and are still learning in school. The good news is that since you are still attending high school, this information is fresh in your mind. Honestly, most students do not need weeks or months of studying. Just start reviewing your math and English notes and you should do well on the SAT.