SAT Preparation Tips and Resources

The SAT exam is used by most colleges and universities in the US to make admission decisions. This is
a multiple-choice, pen and paper examination. The primary purpose of SAT is to measure the high
school student’s readiness for college and provide colleges with one common data point that
compares all the applicants

College admission officers will review standardized test scores and the school GPA in high school,
letters of recommendation from teachers or mentors, extracurricular activities, admissions
interviews, and even personal essays. Overall the higher the score on your SAT, the more options for
attending the college of your choice will be open to you.

The exam lasts 3 hours, and the SAT syllabus consists of math, critical reading, and writing. The
candidates must answer 154 questions and the score ranges from 400-1600.

How to Succeed in SATs

● Eliminate Wrong Answers
The most important rule for SAT is that there is only one correct answer for each question, and all
other possibilities should be eliminated. This means that your number one strategy should be the
process of elimination. If you are struggling with the question, try to clarify most of the answers
rather than find the correct answer.

● Understand Your Mistakes
If you take time to understand each mistake you made on practice questions, why you made them,
and what you will need to do to avoid them, you are guaranteed a good score on the test.
People’s four usual issues are content weakness, time pressure, question comprehension issues, and
careless errors. After finishing with the practice SAT exam catalog and analyzing all the questions you
answered incorrectly, you can work on detecting error patterns.

● Pay Attention to Connotation and Context
This step is critical for answering questions in the reading section. Read the sentences that indicate
positive or negative connotations in the passage. The question references can help you eliminate at
least a couple of choices, even if you have no idea which remaining decisions are correct.
It is also essential to look at the exact line referred to in the question and the sentences around it.
For instance, notice contrasting words such as ‘however,’ ‘rather,’ ‘than,’ or ‘still.’ You should pay
attention to the strong adjectives that help determine the connotation.

Resources for SAT Preparation

Many free online and offline resources that you can access and practice from for the SAT exam are
available. These include sample questions and tests, along with explanations of difficulties related to
specific concepts.

For Math, you can refer to:
● Dr. Steve Warner’s 500 new SAT Math Problems
● Dr. Jang’s SAT 800 Math Workbook
● PWN The SAT: Math Guide, etc.

You can also practice using various SAT workbooks.
The best books for SAT reading and writing are:
● The Critical Reader: The Ultimate Guide to SAT Reading 3rd and 4th Editions
● Barron’s Reading Workbook for the New SAT
● The Princeton Review’s SAT Premium Prep, 2022

Effective Strategies to Prepare for SAT

● Underline the Keywords
You will sometimes get confused while calculating as the math question might ask you to solve for a
value that is necessary for solving something else. You should use this step in the math section and
start practicing this habit during your preparation phase. If you miss questions accidentally by solving
the wrong value, underline what you need to find in the questions.

● Get familiar with the type of SAT reading passages.
The SAT reading test is 65 minutes long and has 52 MCQs with four answer choices. The candidates
are given five reading passages: 4 single and 1 set of paired. Each passage or passage set is 500-700
words long. These passages draw from world literature, history, social studies, or science. The science
passages can also include graphs, charts, tables, etc. When you know what kind of passages can be
expected, you can use the SAT reading practice material for the preparation accordingly.

● Do not read every sentence.
Edited and approved by Apoorva Bhat
SAT readings are different from regular readings. Reading every sentence can be time-consuming and
unnecessary. It is advisable to skim the article to answer the questions based on overall context and
save time.
Vocabulary in the context deals with the author’s usage; your prediction does not have to fit the
definition.

● Make expanding vocabulary a daily habit.
You can sharpen your vocabulary from online resources like Vocabulary Tablet to get started with the
writing and critical reading section.

SAT is a tricky test, and it is something that students generally spend a lot of time preparing for. So
gear up and start studying for your SAT exams. Good luck!

About the Author

Neha has been teaching English for about 10 years. She has trained and mentored students of different age groups for spoken English, IELTS, campus recruitment, competitive exams like SSC, IBPS and CAT, group discussions, and interviews. Currently, she is working as a freelancer, training Indian American students for SAT, mentoring Indian students for IELTS and placements. She is passionate about teaching, blogging, and editing videos. She has published 2 e-books “A Word A Day” and “Grammar Notes by Neha” which are available on Amazon. Her special skills include English grammar, proofreading, copy-editing, communication skills, and counseling. In her free time, she loves honing her skills, learning more courses, and spending time with her family. Her life purpose is to MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

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