Preparing for the SAT

Essay and photo by Bander Alharbi

Have you ever taken the SAT test? SAT- Scholastic Aptitude Test- is an important test to get acceptance from universities. It contains three sections, which are math, critical reading, and writing. A perfect score in each section is 800, so the total will be 2,400 points. Preparing for this test is a little bit different, so it requires a special preparation method.

The math section is an important component in this test. Getting ready for this part of the test is a huge concern, especially for international students. Because international students were taught math in their country in their own language, they find it difficult to understand some math problems that they were familiar with in their home country. Thus, if an international student wants to prepare for the test, he or she must learn the mathematical terms first. Another troubling issue is the limited time. Many students complain that there is no time to work on all the math problems during the test, and that is what drives their score down. To solve this problem, students have to adjust to work in a limited time by taking practice tests. These practice tests, which are found on web sites and SAT books, are very helpful in order to simulate the test conditions for the students. By getting used to working in similar situations or conditions, students have the potential to obtain high scores.

Critical reading is the hardest section for all students in general and international students in particular. In reading sections, all articles are chosen from science researches and academic books, which seem boring for students. Moreover, these articles are written with a very high-level language and sophisticated vocabulary. In order to get high grades in reading, a student should focus on learning strategies more than learning words. For example, a student can infer some of the words’ meaning and the main points by understanding the context. In fact, understanding the context is one the most effective strategies in students’ opinion.

The writing section is the easiest part in that test. For this test, a student is required to fill in two pages. This may sound frightening in the beginning, but it is much easier than what one might think. Graders spend 90 seconds on grading each paper, so they cannot read every single sentence in the essay. Consequently, the quality of the information that is given in the essay is not important. In fact, graders focus on the structure and the size of the essay, so it is absolutely essential to write more words in the normal structure, which is an introduction, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

To sum up, SAT has distinct ways of preparation. Special strategies do not mean that this test is extremely difficult, but they exhibit how different this test is. In addition, all pieces of advice that are given in this essay are from Test Master, which is a company that provides classes to prepare students for the SAT. The employees of Test Master have to take SAT every single time to make sure that they give the appropriate directions.