rachel kapelke-dale

how to simulate sat test day

when students ask me what the single most important thing they can do before taking their sat on test day is, i immediately know what to say: take a practice test. under test-like conditions!

sure, it’s all well and good to study for the sat for a few minutes on the bus, or in the doctor’s waiting room. but if you really want to reap the benefits of taking a practice test—namely, getting a realistic sense of what your score might be at this moment, and preparing yourself for the experience of sitting through a 3+ hour exam—you really need to do at least one test in test-like conditions.

so what are those conditions, you might ask? i’m so glad you did.
 

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silence

silence, my friends. silence. if you can’t get it at home (and a sign on your door will do this in most cases, though you may have to put in a special request to particularly loquacious family members), then see if you can get an empty classroom, a corner of the library, or some other quiet space for 3-4 hours (4 if you’re doing the essay) on a weekend morning. because…
 

weekend mornings

they’re key. if it’s spring or summer break, that’ll work too. you want to see what your responses are like at the same time of day you’ll be taking the test—7:45 am (the test will start closer to 8:30, but you’ll have to be there by 7:45). you’ll also want to make sure you have…
 

test-like materials

make sure that the materials you’re using—e.g. that practice test you’re about to take—are up to snuff. there are some great freebies here, but you know you can always turn to magoosh when you run out! rita will tell you the other materials that you’ll need here. which brings me to my next point: what good is a test without…
 

pencils

let’s face it—we’re not really used to using pencils except on multiple-choice tests. when we do, most of us prefer mechanical pencils. but you can’t use a mechanical pencil on the exam! your answer sheet won’t go through the scanner right and you’ll end up with a 400 for submitting a blank test—not good. even if number 2 pencils are your nemeses (they are mine), make friends for this four-hour period. except, of course, during…
 

breaks

so many students will want to skip this all-important part of the practice test. why is that? well, wouldn’t you want to finish up early? the problem is, you won’t be able to skip them on test day. you’ll get two breaks overall (more on this here) and they contribute to the overall time of the test—you won’t be able to go on to the next section until break is over, so get used to the length of the exam, breaks and all, now. and finally…
 

a timer

you won’t be able to bring your phone into the exam, so get used to wearing a wristwatch, looking at a big clock on the wall (if you’re lucky), and getting the feel of how long each section is, even without a timepiece. you don’t want to waste that precious time trying to figure out how many minutes you have left!
 

author

  • rachel kapelke-dale

    rachel is a magoosh content creator. she writes and updates content on our high school and gre blogs to ensure students are equipped with the best information during their test prep journey. as a test-prep instructor for more than five years in there different countries, rachel has helped students around the world prepare for various standardized tests, including the sat, act, toefl, gre, and gmat, and she is one of the authors of our magoosh act prep book. rachel has a bachelor of arts in comparative literature from brown university, an ma in cinematography from the université de paris vii, and a ph.d. in film studies from university college london. for over a decade, rachel has honed her craft as a fiction and memoir writer and public speaker. her novel, the ballerinas, is forthcoming in december 2021 from st. martin’s press, while her memoir, graduates in wonderland, co-written with jessica pan, was published in 2014 by penguin random house. her work has appeared in over a dozen online and print publications, including vanity fair hollywood. when she isn’t strategically stringing words together at magoosh, you can find rachel riding horses or with her nose in a book. join her on twitter, instagram, or facebook!

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