One of the most difficult and important exams that students come across is the SAT. A good SAT score can be a great tool when you want to take admission to a great college. But it also puts a lot of pressure and can be overwhelming. The main difficulty that most students face is that they do not really have a structured plan to qualify for the test. Instead, they end up cramming the information at the last point in time. And we all know, this can never be good! But getting a good score is not going to be that difficult of a task if the student is determined enough.
Here we have some information to offer to students to enable them to better understand the exam and easily get through.
How to get a perfect score on the SAT:
The maximum number of marks that one can get in the exam is 1600. Each year's highest SAT score is acquired by only around 300 students out of the total 1.6 million who appear for the exam. The internet is so flooded with information that it gets really easy to feel puzzled all the time. Let us take a look at a properly organized success strategy for the SAT.
What it takes to get 1600 on the SAT
To get the top SAT scores range, your preparation has to be perfect for the exam. The tips here will give you a guideline as to how you can attempt the paper.
1. While attempting the reading section:
How to get a perfect score on the SAT? If you want a perfect score, you cannot afford to miss more than two questions from the test. The best way is to try not to miss more than one question.
2. While attempting the Maths section:
This is going to be a brutal one, the curve in Math. If you even miss one question on the subject, you are not going to get an 800.
3. While attempting Writing:
The maximum number of questions that you can miss in this section is just one. Seems like you are on the border, doesn’t it? Well, if you practice enough, achieving this is not as difficult as it seems.
Basically, your SAT prep should be aimed to have perfection. It should be known that if you miss more than a question in two of the sections, you will not be able to get a score of 1600. Therefore, it is advisable not to put yourself at risk.
Let's have a look at the tips you need to follow to get 1600 on the SAT test:
Make your objective stronger:
You really have to want to achieve your goal, and this cannot be stressed enough. Your desire will act as fuel for the efforts you are required to put in. You have to have a positive attitude and a strong motivation so that you can work harder. The SAT prep has to be your top priority, and you will have to give up on scrolling through social media or just hanging out during your free time.
Motivation becomes really important as there will be days when during your sat practice test, you might score well sometimes, and other times you might even fail. It has to be the inner strength that will keep you focused during such times and not getting depressed. You will have to understand your mistakes and make sure that you do not repeat them again.
To do that, make a list of the points as to why you want to clear the exam. For example, you want your sat scores for Harvard or Ivy League school. It has to be a good and valid reason that is going to keep you on track.
Remember, getting a perfect score requires a whole new level of dedication, and you have to buckle up for that.
There are also going to be times when you are just too tired or feeling lazy. No matter how lethargic you feel, you will have to combat this. Remember, getting a perfect score requires a whole new level of dedication, and you have to buckle up for that. It is always easier to keep the hard work aside and convince yourself with a sloppy excuse for which you will have to pay later. No matter what, don’t procrastinate.
What worked for me:
Here are some of the tips and tricks that have worked in my favor during the exam to get a perfect score and might help you all as well.
1. The exam that exists today is more straightforward. The questions do not have a high degree of difficulty. But because of this score, inflation is expected. Before, it used to be around 1500 out of 1600 and now it is around 1550 to be at par.
2. Every section comes with at least two to three tricky questions. Make sure you do attempt these questions well as these will have an impact while taking admission to Harvard and some other good college. Such questions might seem easy at first, and the answers might seem straightforward. But the students who find the trick hidden within are the ones getting a perfect score.
3. Make sure you have time to attempt the questions and check once again before submission.
4. Many people are scared and make a big deal out of the Trigonometry questions. You have to keep in mind that it is a very small section, and a maximum of two questions will be given in the paper. Even if you are weak in trigonometry, don’t stress too much about it and focus on the sat practice test to improve the other areas. If you keep focusing on your weaknesses, you will remain stuck on those. This can hamper your progress.
5. Make sure that you are good at basic math, fractions, factoring, and completing the square and can attempt such questions without using a calculator.
6. In the reading section, there will be questions to give the answer related to the previous questions. To solve them, you must try to answer the questions without having to look for the options and then always ask yourself if they are really connected to your previous question or not. Make sure you do more practice so that these tips can make more sense and help you recognize such questions.
7. Some people say that the SAT vocabulary is of no importance but remember, there are going to be some words with a college-level difficulty that if you cannot understand you will not be able to understand the entire passage. It also has its importance when you are going to attempt the writing and the language section.
So during your sat study make sure not to ignore the vocabulary completely. It may not be asked directly, but a good vocabulary is definitely beneficial for the overall paper.
8. There are always questions in the paper that focus on women's rights or are related to civil rights. Apart from that, there will be passages related to current affairs. So make sure you have updated accordingly.
9. Focus well on your grammar as it will get you through the writing and the language section. There will be trick questions in which you will have to fill up with a grammatically correct word.
Eliminating the wrong choices as to why a certain word will not fit properly will help you narrow down to the right answer and will be of great help. This can prove to be an effective strategy while solving such questions.
10. Essays nowadays are easier than the ones that were given previously. It is less likely to get writer's block as we are analyzing a passage. And once you are aware of the rhetorical and persuasive parts of the essay, analyzing becomes far easier. In almost every passage and essay you will find word choice and statistics. A minimum of 21 is what can be considered a great score.
What Do You Need To Do to Get a Perfect 1600 SAT score?
In simple words getting an SAT score of a perfect 1600, you must work really hard combined with smart study and a little bit of Luck. After you have listed the reasons as to why you want a perfect score in the examination, follow the advice and guidance given below and use your aim for the exam to act as a fuel when you sit to study in every session.
1. Have good quality study material:
The sat exam will be very different from other exams that you are used to appearing in your life. It tests your knowledge of even the simple concepts in a very different and bizarre manner. This is how the paper is made difficult. They will present to you things that you are already familiar with but how you will solve the problems based on the concept will be something new.
Right now the best SAT prep questions come from the official SAT practice tests. Make sure you attempt the kind of questions that are asked in the paper and not go into other details as it will be of no use.
Most of the books and the SAT prep courses available today are not written by experts. Usually, the answers provided are random and can not be really trusted to be the right information. You have to get some good quality books. They may seem to be a bit pricey, but they have questions and study material relevant to the examination.
2. Work Smarter:
After you have a lot of study material, be smart not just to learn all the facts or each page of the book given as it will not be possible nor will it be used. Such studying methods are just meant to satisfy you that you did work hard for the test but eventually will not be of any use.
You have to find a way to work smarter as it is the only approach that will help you score on SAT. Additionally, you may also opt for SAT prep classes that will make sure that you can get the most out of your studying and make your preparation more efficient.
3. Have an understanding of your mistakes:
This is going to be the weapon that will make you succeed over other students. Whenever you make a mistake in your test, it happens because of a reason. When you try to understand why exactly you made that mistake and how to correct it, you are not going to repeat it again in your final test.
If your score level is around 700, it is sure that you are missing out on ten to fifteen percent of the questions every time. If that is the case you must follow these tips:
✔︎ When you take your prep test make sure that you mark the questions that you are even 20 percent unsure about.
✔︎ When you assess your test or quiz make sure you always review each and every question attempted. Also, mark incorrect answers. By doing this even if you have taken a guess for the question, it will become your habit to review it and help you in the long run.
✔︎ Maintain a diary and take note of the questions you missed and the reason for missing that particular question. Make another separate section by subject and topic. For example in reading, make a different section for passages, sentence completion, sentence errors, and improving paragraphs.
Remember that it is just not enough to think and read the answer’s explanation and move on.
You need to give importance to every question as to why you had missed it and how you will avoid that mistake in the future. You need to find and work on your weaknesses, simultaneously maintaining your strengths.
4. When you do miss question:
When you miss a question during your SAT study, avoid making excuses like you did not have the study material or not taught in your SAT prep courses. Be specific as to why you could not attempt the question and how you can improve on that specifically. Here we give you some of the common reasons that will help you to understand your mistake better.
✔︎ You probably did not study for that specific topic.
✔︎ You must not have been equipped yourself with the skills that are needed to be learned. Thus, you should know how you are now going to improve on that.
✔︎ Maybe, you are confused about the methodology for solving that particular question. How the particular question must be solved and finding out a general rule while solving such specific questions is something you need to know beforehand.
✔︎ When you were stuck in questions between two options think
about why it was difficult to eliminate one of them and how could it have been done. Can a plan be made in the future when you face the same situation the next time?
✔︎ When you had misread a question and opted for a wrong answer, think about why it had happened and how can it be avoided.
5. Find patterns:
Now, here we are not talking about patterns of answers but a pattern of your weaknesses. This will automatically happen when you study your diary in which you mention your missed questions and review them. It can be a simple grammar rule, or a math problem forms a certain topic say geometry, or it can be your habit of reading the questions incorrectly or not going through all the choices.
Focusing on your mistake is very important as you will have very limited time while solving your test. By doing this, you are spending your time working in those areas in which you are weak that will eventually get you the biggest improvement in your score.
Most students make the mistake of working hard just on their strengths as it is an easier and comfortable space to work in. Getting out of your comfort zone is difficult. But this, trying to stay comfortable all the time, in reality, is a waste of your time as it becomes a hurdle in your academic growth.
When you find the weakness make sure to find out the resource and start working really hard on it. This will be a very tough task as you have to manage the following things in a specific amount of time.
➤ Solve as many practice tests as possible.
➤ Find out your weaknesses.
➤ Assess if you are improving or not.
➤ Make future strategies accordingly.
This will be the basic structure of an effective study process, but it will be mentally tiring. This is because online Sat prep classes become important as these sites are going to do most of the work for you which removes a lot of load from your shoulders and can just concentrate on learning.
Make sure you opt for what works best for you as an individual and not what everyone is blindly following.
6. Avoid Careless mistakes:
These are going to be the mistakes that you feel the worst about when the results are out. You had studied well and knew how to solve the problem, but you still attempted it incorrectly just because of a silly mistake such as misreading the question. This can happen maybe n a hurry of attempting all questions due to time constraints or just being overconfident while attempting.
The following points will help you in avoiding such mistakes:
► Even while attempting the questions that seem easy to you and you are sure about them, double-check. As SAT is designed to ask you trick questions, to avoid any confusion always underline what's being asked and what is to be solved. This may sound like a lot of work but will help you with the test very much.
► Make sure you are careful when you choose the option of No Change as your answer, this is a very common error that students make while attempting the Writing section. Always check grammar rules as they are usually ignored and only tick the No change option when you are absolutely sure about it.
7. Make an effective study plan:
When you will sit for the exam, you must have studied for more than two hundred hours in total. You have to make sure that you have made the most out of all the hours that you studied. When you have an effective study plan, it is going to bring huge returns. If you have some of the effective techniques to study, you will save a lot of time. Here are a few tips:
► Create a proper schedule for each day: You must have a plan that has details of when and how you will study and make sure you stick to it.
► Remove all distractions: When you get serious about cracking the test, you have to cut down on all the distractions you can have. It can be social media like Facebook, text, snaps. These are fun but will easily take away hours of your precious time, and you will not even be aware of it.
Here we give you some quick tips to help you with it:
★ Study in a quiet environment, where you are not disturbed.
★ Always switch your phone off and leave it in another room.
★ Don’t study with a group of friends who are easily distracted.
★ If going for online study use tools, make sure you do not start surfing random websites.
In conclusion, the way to score better in the SAT exam is not something extraordinarily difficult. All of it comes down to practice and reviewing your answers. Try to practice as much as you can. Don’t ignore the essays, sit down to actually write the essays while practicing instead of rummaging through an essay book in a cursory manner.
You need to start with the preparations months before, preferably from the summers. Solve all of the four official tests provided. You can opt for online SAT prep on various apps. Practice more SAT prep questions that you are weak in.
This entire process requires a lot of hard work and dedication, but once you manage to get through it, you will have a perfect score.
karishma Archana
Writing is in progress...............
Do you know about the SAT exam?
Before moving towards its scores and tricks to get the perfect score, let's know what is the SAT exam? What the exam used for? And other details about it.
In the entire world, as there are various subjects, schools and universities are present, many exams are also there. Each field demands a particular exam to study it in depth. One of those is the SAT.
What is the SAT?
SAT is the Scholastic Assessment Test.
The SAT is an entrance examination. Many universities and colleges use it for the admission process. The SAT is a multiple-choice question type of exam, conducted by the administration of the College Board.
The purpose of the exam is simply to measure the candidate's readiness for the college or university. It also provides a common data point that is used by the college authorities to compare the candidates.
The SAT exam includes four sections viz., Reading, Math with a calculator, Math without a calculator, and writing and language. The applicants can also write an essay, for which they will be allowed the extra time, in addition to the scheduled period.
The exam frequency is seven times a year in the United States - probably in August, October, November, December, March, May, and June. The exam for international students is allowed four times in a year, viz. In October, December, March, and May. The exam is generally conducted on the first Sunday of the month of October, November, December, May, and June.
The SAT exam is three hours long. In case you choose to attempt an essay in the exam, you will get 50 minutes extra. It means your exam duration will be 3 hours, 50 minutes long.
Each section of the exam has a score on a point scale of 200-800. The total score of the SAT exam is the sum of all the sections. The highest SAT score is 1600 for each applicant. But, if you attain the essay section in the exam, you will receive the extra scores in the exam separately.
Many times candidates get in a dilemma between SAT and ACT. Though the college accepts both the exams; but, don't favor one exam over another. However, after the recent SAT exam changes, they made the exam easier than before. Yet, both exams are necessary. You can also prepare for both the test with the same strategy, such as time pressure and the kind of questions asked in the exam.
The registration for the exam is not tough. Nonetheless, the registration for the exam gets closed before five weeks before the exam. But you can register yourself online for the test through the College Board website.
The SAT exam is one of the toughest exams to appear and secure a good score in it. Millions of students appeared in the exam. Many secure average scores, some good secure scores, and only a few candidates can score the examination's perfect scores.
In my opinion, the major reason for this is, the students don't have a well-structured strategy to qualify for the exam. Many times, students approach the exam's details and syllabus when the exam date is approaching. But, you know, this can not work at all.
However, securing the perfect scores in the exam is not challenging as well. Students with a perfect strategy can achieve the score.
Here, in this post, you will understand some reasons for not getting the perfect SAT scores, and also, you will learn a few techniques to get the perfect score on the SAT. So, let's get started.
How to get a perfect score on the SAT?
For the SAT exam, the perfect scores refer to 1600. Every year, around 2 million students appear in the exam, out of which only 500 students can secure their names in the list of students with the perfect SAT scores.
What does it take to get 1600 on the SAT?
Have a look at the measures-
• In the reading section, you can not miss more than 1 - 2 questions. It depends on the curve for the exam. But make the aim to Miss 0 - 1 question only.
• In the math section, your calculations should be all correct. No doubt about it. You can not miss even a single question in this section.
• In the writing section, you can probably miss a question at most. But, as few times, you have to attain every question to get a perfect shot of 800.
Of course, you have to aim for perfection. You can not take the risk. If you are missing consistently 1 question or two in every situation, you will not perform good enough to secure 1600.
Why did you miss the questions?
The first answer to this question that came to your mind is that you were not sure about the answer or couldn't solve it.
Well! For instance, that might be right as well, but this is not all. Always take a step ahead and think, what did you specifically missed, and how can you improve it. Please have a look at some reasons behind the missing of the questions. And we will also try to find out the solutions for it.
1) Content- I did not attend the topic or am not sure about the technique to solve it. I don't have the appropriate knowledge to solve this question.
Solution- Verify what kind of skills or knowledge you need to acquire to get the question solved. And how will you get the skill?
2) Incorrect selection- This one is very common. I was familiar with the content, but I did not know how to approach the question.
Solution- The very first step you should take is what you made wrong. How should I solve the question? Where do I go wrong? And what is the trick or rule to approach the question?
3) Wrong guess- In multiple-choice questions, the answers are very identical. You have to be 100% sure about your answer. But, you were not sure and stuck between the two options, and you guessed wrong.
Solution- Verify why you could not eliminate the wrong choice between the final options you had? Learning the right answer, how can I eliminate the wrong one? Is there any strategy so that I can not d it in the future?
4) Careless error- I was not aware of the question. I misread it and answered it wrong.
Solution- Verify why did you misread the question? What you should do to get prevented from this error.
Check each one of the above. You will find many of them familiar to you. Ask these questions to yourself and try to find the answers for each of them. When you get the answer to each, you will be able to take the wrong strategy.
Ask yourself 'Why' five times
Here is another trick to analyzing yourself. You only have to ask yourself these five 'Why's' to get your answers.
Suppose you skipped a Reading question about the big picture summary paragraph.
• Why? I choose the wrong option among the final choice I had.
• Why? I went through the passage so quickly.
• Why? I was scared that I don't want to lose time while reading.
• Why? I did not understand the passage fully while reading.
• Why? The wrong option has the phrases that the passage has, and I misunderstood it. And due to this, I choose the wrong option.
I think the last one is very common. Many people make this mistake. How did you find this 'Why' analysis? You will find this trick very easy to analyze yourself and the mistake you made while writing the exam.
Once you find the reason for your mistake, you can easily find the solution to it. The only need is, you have to be ready to accept it and work to correct it.
Strategies to Secure the Perfect Score
Have a look at the strategies; you should use while preparing for the SAT exam.
1) Self-assessment
Analyze yourself and prepare a list of the things you need to work on. Ask yourself, do you stuck with the quadratic questions? Do you struggle with grammar questions?
Think about what fields you need to improve. Select those topics you need to give more attention to. This strategy will help you with the topic you have to study, but it will also help you feel less stressed.
2) Don't forget your strengths.
It is always advisable to pay attention to your weak sides. So, you could improve them and perform well in those areas. But, it does not mean that you will forget your strong areas.
What I mean to say is, you might be good at many topics. Let's take the mathematical questions. If you are too good at math, still don't forget to polish those tricks from time to time.
It would help if you reminded yourself of your strong areas. And make sure you don't lose any points in those areas.
3) Set goals for every study session
The long-term goals are challenging to accomplish, whether it is studying or exercising. It is very easy to say, oh... It's lengthy to do. I will do it tomorrow.
Well! This strategy will not work anyway. Set the study goals for every session. If you study with this strategy, you will see an improvement in your syllabus.
4) Reward yourself
You made the small goals, and successfully, you accomplished it. Now, it's time to give a treat yourself. Either you can pat your back and say, "Well done."
Treats are not bad. Go and get ice cream for you or your favorite chocolate. Go shopping or anything else.
5) Take small breaks.
The continuous study can paralyze your mind. Your brain needs to be calm and empty for some time.
Remember, never study continuously. Your brain can not accept this much knowledge in a single day. You need to rest. Give your studies small breaks. You can listen to music; you can play or spend the break time for whatever you can enjoy.
6) Use study books
The College Board, which conducts the SAT exam, has The Official SAT Study Guide.
This could be a good starting point for your SAT preparation. But a plethora is also a good option for your study. Many students use this option to study. Also, your local school library is likely, to have a good book collection that can help you.
7) Use the official SAT website.
The official website released by The College Board has many study tips, a new SAT questions a day, practice tests, and test day stimulators. These sources can help you a lot with your study. You, the SAT aspirant, can find a good collection of the study data.
8) Do not study the night before the test.
The night before an exam always gives you stress. You can not concentrate on the study. Either you can not remember what you have studied. Study the night before the exam only gives you burnout.
Remember, it can be harmful to your score.
9) Get a good night sleep before the exam
Sleep is essential. If you did not finish the night sleep before your test day, you could not concentrate on the exam. You might feel sleepy.
Your mind needs to rest before the exam. Otherwise, it would be feeling restless. And it won't allow you to pay attention to the test with all your focus. So, Mark, this is an essential point in the planning for the exam.
10) Eat a healthy breakfast with plenty of fiber and protein
Remember, on the day of the exam, have a good healthy breakfast. Don't skip your meal, due to any reason, like rushing late to the exam or the stress.
You are skipping the meal before the exam can be harmful to you during exam time. Also, keep in mind, don't eat over, as you can feel sleepy. So, never skip your breakfast.
I hope this strategy works for you. Study well and get your success. Good luck!