Moonrise and SAT

Watching the rising harvest moon  at Rye’s Oakland Beach, I saw the twinkle of Rye Playland in the distance.  But the soft breezes over the Sound reminded me that Labor Day Weekend is almost here.

For high school students, fall means sitting for college exams – ACT and SAT.  The first SAT is Oct. 8th; the first ACT will be Sept. 21st.  But students shouldn’t stress, because there are tried strategies that can help you cut your study time in half.

   I.      Critical Reading   

·      Half the battle in choosing the right answer is knowing how to eliminate the poor answers. These “clunker” answers often sound off-topic, or do not satisfy the text “100%.”  (The SAT only looks for answers that fit all conditions of the passage.)
 ·      Practice a zig-zag reading style to switch between the reading passage and the questions. ·      Don’t get stuck in difficult  passages by over-spending time to analyze the text.  Instead, learn to skim the passage quickly, then go immediately to the questions for cues.
 ·      If you don’t know the answer right away, move quickly on to the next question;  this is what the most successful test-takers do; circle back at the end.
 ·      Guessing is key:  Once you can eliminate two answers, then guess; it takes some confidence to do this, but with practice you will be adroit at guessing.  Of course, for the ACT, you should guess on ALL questions, since there is no penalty for wrong answers.

 II.            Sentence fill-ins: 

 ·      By now, you should have been reading a handy vocabulary builder such as Hot Words for SAT by Carnevale, or checking online games like Quizlet or Free Rice.  (If you haven’t tried these resources, make sure to check them out over the summer.)
·      Remember that fill-in questions get progressively harder, so if you don’t get the last two in each section, don’t worry.
 ·      For two-word fill-ins – try identifying one word first, then logically matching the second one as best as you can. It’s more logic than  vocabulary skill.  

 III.        Math Online Resources. 

For the clearest math explanations online, my go-to source is www.khanacademy.org.  If you know what kinds of math problems give you the most trouble, choose the correct category  (geometry?) of problem in the website.  Sal, your tutor, will walk you through solutions, clearly and with diagrams. And since algebra and geometry comprise roughly 32% and 34% of the SAT math questions, it is well worth your time to review these sections of math.       

   Oh, have I forgotten the grammar section?  Not a chance. Students can still learn to cut their grammar prep time in half.  Just stay tuned for my next blog. 

 Theresa Michna, M.A. has coached over 200 student, both in the U.S. and abroad, in their SAT/ACT/GRE test prep. She is a former Adjunct at Pace University and Manhattanville College,  and has helped students achieve success.  She holds a B.A. from Cornell University, M.A. from Indiana University, and Cambridge University (CELTA) in E.S.L. Visit her at www.TheresaMichna.com