{"id":1787,"date":"2014-05-19t09:00:27","date_gmt":"2014-05-19t09:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/sat\/?p=1787"},"modified":"2018-10-24t00:20:17","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24t07:20:17","slug":"10-things-that-are-ruining-your-sat-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/10-things-that-are-ruining-your-sat-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"10 things that are ruining your sat practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

are you getting the most out of your sat prep time? or are you going to spend hours and hours preparing for your test and see no improvement in your score because you\u2019re making one of these simple mistakes?<\/p>\n

these are the top ten most common problems i\u2019ve seen in my sat students in the past. learn from their mistakes!<\/p>\n

\"post-28514-oh-this-is-bad-gif-i-should-no-abll\"<\/a><\/center>
image source<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. relying on a calculator<\/h2>\n

don\u2019t freak out: yes, you\u2019ll have a calculator<\/a> during the test. so why am i telling to you push it to the side? if you don\u2019t know what you\u2019re trying to arrive at, the calculator is just a really expensive brick. don\u2019t start punching in numbers until you know exactly what you want, and keep in mind that the sat doesn\u2019t<\/i> require a calculator. <\/i>sure, you\u2019ll want to use it a couple of times\u2014and it\u2019s a really bad idea not to bring one\u2014but all of the math on the test is doable by pen and paper within a few minutes. if you know what you\u2019re looking for, that is. don\u2019t get stuck staring at your calculator before you understand what to do with it. use your pencil first, then the calculator if you need it and not before that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. looking up every new word<\/h2>\n

you need to learn that new vocabulary, right? so you might feel that when you\u2019re doing a sentence completion question<\/a>, you should look up all the words.<\/p>\n

well, you\u2019d be right to do that, but not until you finish practicing<\/i>. if you\u2019re doing a practice verbal section, answer all of the questions, then<\/i><\/b> come back to the tough words (it\u2019s a good idea to underline them) and look them up. you won\u2019t have a dictionary with you on test day, so you need to learn more than just definitions; you need to learn how to deal with those words you don\u2019t<\/i> know. the best way to get better at that is to try answering questions without looking words up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. your formula cheat sheet<\/h2>\n

this is pretty similar to looking up words as you work. yes, you want to know formulas<\/a> on test day, but you should be learning them outside<\/i> your sat practice, rather than stopping and looking up a formula when you\u2019re stuck on a question. you won\u2019t have a cheat sheet on test day, so you need to learn how to get on without it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4. ignoring your wrong answers<\/h2>\n

this is by far one of the most common and most disastrous mistakes<\/a> you can make. when you\u2019re trying to learn how not<\/i> to make a mistake, ignoring the ones you do make is like baking a cake and then never tasting it. how will you know what to do next time if you don\u2019t find out what was good or bad the first time?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5. skipping the essay<\/h2>\n

not many students really enjoy writing the essay. it\u2019s really, really hard to write a good essay in 25 minutes time, and not once in the process do you get the payoff of \u201ci know i got that one right\u201d that you do in the other sections. but not liking it doesn\u2019t mean you can skip it! the more practice essays you write, the better you\u2019ll be able to pace yourself and come up with good examples on test day. you\u2019ll also get a better idea of the endurance you need for a full-length test if you do practice tests with the essays.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6. music with lyrics<\/h2>\n

alright, so i love studying with music, myself, and i definitely do<\/i> recommend listening to something while you study<\/a>. it can help you shut out the outside world, for one, and can just make the whole experience a bit more fun and relaxing. and if you\u2019re enjoying your practice at all, you\u2019re more likely to sit down and do<\/i> it, which is key.<\/p>\n

that said, don\u2019t<\/i> listen to music with words. the sat demands the full attention of your brain\u2019s language centers. any lyrics you hear and understand are going to mess you up. it\u2019s already hard enough to stay focused on many of the sat\u2019s reading comprehension passages. you don\u2019t need pharrell telling you how happy he is in the background.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

7. tv<\/h2>\n

music with words may be a bad idea, but tv is much worse. the entire point of most tv shows is to get you to pay attention to what they\u2019re saying. and clearly, i don\u2019t just mean the stuff you watch on an actual tv. netflix, hulu, it\u2019s all the same deal: don\u2019t turn it on. you can\u2019t <\/i>focus on sat practice the same way you\u2019ll have to on test-day if there\u2019s a zombie apocalypse in the background.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

8. pretty much anything on your phone<\/h2>\n

i know, i know\u2014there goes everything <\/i>fun. texting, instagram<\/a>, snapchat, or whatever else is going to break your concentration, and if the sat is a test of anything it\u2019s how well you can stay focused and engaged. marathon-length stretches of focus take practice!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

9. your bedroom<\/h2>\n

it\u2019s 10:30 p.m. and you\u2019re about to sit down and do a bit of sat prep before bed. so you huddle up in bed with the blue book<\/a> and\u2026fall asleep.<\/p>\n

or maybe you don\u2019t. maybe you stay awake. but i\u2019d bet you that about ten minutes after you start, you\u2019ll get distracted. for many of us, our bedrooms are where we spend a lot of time: watching tv, reading, playing games, playing music, drawing or anything else relaxing. if you\u2019ve got nothing else in your bedroom other than your desk to do work at, then alright, study there. but if you might get distracted, it\u2019s not the best place to prepare. go somewhere new<\/a>, somewhere that will keep you focused and engaged.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

10. forgetting the clock<\/h2>\n

granted, you should absolutely be doing some sat practice without a clock\u2014if you don\u2019t feel comfortable with the topics that the sat tests, there\u2019s no point in stressing about a clock, too. you need to first be sure that you have the basics down, then<\/i> start using the clock. but that\u2019s if you\u2019ve got months and months to study and really need to brush up a lot on fundamentals.<\/p>\n

for the most of us, sat prep will be shorter-term, and the material on the test is relatively familiar. after all, it is supposed to align with what you learn in school. that means starting the clock now. <\/i>by test day, you should know exactly how far into a section you want to be at five, ten, fifteen, and twenty minutes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

studying right<\/h2>\n

making your sat prep time as effective as possible is the only way you\u2019ll be able to balance it with schoolwork, extracurriculars, and a social life. every time you sit down to study, make sure you\u2019re doing it right so you don\u2019t have to spend more time on it then necessary to get the best score you can.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

are you getting the most out of your sat prep time? or are you going to spend hours and hours preparing for your test and see no improvement in your score because you\u2019re making one of these simple mistakes? these are the top ten most common problems i\u2019ve seen in my sat students in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[36,44,64],"ppma_author":[24883],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n10 things that are ruining your sat practice - magoosh blog | high school<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/10-things-that-are-ruining-your-sat-practice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 things that are ruining your sat practice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"are you getting the most out of your sat prep time? or are you going to spend hours and hours preparing for your test and see no improvement in your score because you\u2019re making one of these simple mistakes? these are the top ten most common problems i\u2019ve seen in my sat students in the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/10-things-that-are-ruining-your-sat-practice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"magoosh blog | high school\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/magooshsat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-19t09:00:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-10-24t07:20:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/sat\/files\/2014\/05\/post-28514-oh-this-is-bad-gif-i-should-no-abll.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"lucas fink\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@magooshsat_act\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@magooshsat_act\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"lucas fink\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"article\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/10-things-that-are-ruining-your-sat-practice\/#article\",\"ispartof\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/10-things-that-are-ruining-your-sat-practice\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"lucas fink\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/c06e6a007d0b81117c00610ed88b6c7d\"},\"headline\":\"10 things that are ruining your sat practice\",\"datepublished\":\"2014-05-19t09:00:27+00:00\",\"datemodified\":\"2018-10-24t07:20:17+00:00\",\"mainentityofpage\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/10-things-that-are-ruining-your-sat-practice\/\"},\"wordcount\":1220,\"commentcount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"about the sat\",\"sat strategies\",\"sat study tips\"],\"articlesection\":[\"sat\"],\"inlanguage\":\"en-us\",\"potentialaction\":[{\"@type\":\"commentaction\",\"name\":\"comment\",\"target\":[\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/10-things-that-are-ruining-your-sat-practice\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"webpage\",\"@id\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/10-things-that-are-ruining-your-sat-practice\/\",\"url\":\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/10-things-that-are-ruining-your-sat-practice\/\",\"name\":\"10 things that are ruining your sat practice - 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