The SAT is easily deemed the most crucial and important standardized test that high school students take throughout their academic career, hence the development of SAT practice classes and tests, one of the biggest being the PSAT. Majority of schools throughout the country encourage or make their students take the PSAT in order for preparation and to get a better feel and understanding of the format of the actual test. However, the PSAT can be just as stressful for students as the SAT, so here are some test-taking tips for the day of your PSAT.
#1: Always be prepared
First and Foremost, the golden rule is to always be prepared with the necessary materials and supplies you will need on the day of your test. This rule may seem cliche and can be applied to any test, but that doesn’t diminish the rules’ value. Additionally, preparation goes beyond the realms of basic materials, however, also provide yourself with background information on what the test usually asks of people, past SAT questions, and about important information about the PSAT. It’s always better to have prior knowledge and go in with more confidence than to blindly walk into the examination, not knowing what to expect.
#2: Take a practice exam
Taking a practice exam will aid you in having experience when taking the PSAT and benefit you in many categories. Certain tests will help you early on develop the area you need to work on and the skills you’re already showing mastery in. Taking a practice test will also give you a range of where you are scoring without any additional and outside help, which allows you to confirm whether or not you need to take a prep class or need to genuinely delve into practicing for the exam. Finally, having an idea of where you are able to score will assist you in creating your target and goal scores and how to guarantee you can achieve the minimum you want to achieve.
#3: Begin to read more
This tip may seem bizarre and out of the blue, however, reading more can increase the score a person will receive on their PSAT and SAT. Reading comprehensions and reading articles is a major factor and section of the SAT, so being able to practice your reading and be able to accurately analyze and understand the material you are reading, you will be well prepared for the reading portion of the SAT. Additionally, the SAT uses many sophisticated and unknown words to purposely try and make students put the words in context and try to understand what the passage is conveying, even with confusing words thrown into the passage. Reading can help you and other test-takers in identifying the meaning of difficult words and to better recognize the messages of articles and texts provided to you during the test.
#4: Focus on SAT criteria
The SAT sections are always the same, the information on the SAT isn’t necessarily verbatim year by year. Like almost all standardized tests, the test changes per year, meaning studying the exact information on one year’s test instead of a wide range of knowledge will do a test-taker no good. Focus on the most important information, like materials that appear on the test the most often or things guaranteed to be on the examination. It’s nearly impossible to cover every single thing that’s going to be on the test with 100% accuracy which is why most students spread the information out over the course of months for the actual SAT, but for the PSAT, students focus on the little details that are significant to the SAT and can improve their overall score in a short period of time when they don’t have many months to prepare.
The PSAT can be stressful, but if a student takes the test one step at a time, they won’t feel overwhelmed. Remember, this isn’t the actual test, just a preparation for where your skill set is at and how you can improve and boost your score before the actual one.
Good luck all McClancy students on their PSATS and remember to charge your devices!
