voracious<\/em>, then you should tackle vocabulary. if the math questions are worded in highly confusing way, don\u2019t avoid them. learn to understand the phrasing. though it is hard to improve weak areas, if you tackle them consistently they will start to become, less and less, areas in which you struggle.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
2. not watering your garden<\/h2>\n
flower and plants periodically need water to grow, or they will wilt. likewise, you can\u2019t just learn a few concepts or vocabulary words and think you own them. you must go back and review and strengthen what you learn. like flowers growing in the garden, this renewed \u201cwatering\u201d will result in deeper more robust knowledge.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
3. getting tunnel vision<\/h2>\n
yes the metaphors abound! from gardens to tunnels, we are all still dealing with the same topic: covering study material. one thing you don\u2019t want to do is to become so obsessed with one topic\u2014even if it was once a weakness\u2014that you forget to study other areas (it would be like watering this one flowerbed while the rest of your garden looks like it got hit by severe drought).<\/p>\n
a good way to combat this tendency is to periodically do mixed practice sets. doing an sat section is perfect, since every section\u2014and not just the entire test\u2014is a random mixture of the very concepts that could pop up test day.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
4. procrastination<\/h2>\n
one sure way to render all of the above advice moot is to leave your prep till the last minute. some think they\u2019ll do a couple of hours prep for a few days leading up to the exam. think again. your brain is in cram mode for a test that has a knowledge base and skill set requirement rivaling fluency in a foreign language. it\u2019s like ripping open a spanish phrasebook for the first time on a flight to barcelona and then saying \u201cbuenos dias\u201d (the only phrase you remember) to everyone you meet.<\/p>\n
unlike a foreign language you barely know, the sat will have skills that you have already learnt, to some degree, in school. but you\u2019ll need to hone these skills and review material that you haven\u2019t seen in years. and when your brain is in cram mode, a fight-or-flight response occurs. that\u2019s where you are on edge, your pulse constantly racing. this might be good for outrunning (or at least trying to outrun) a grizzly bear, but won\u2019t help you remember the difference between grizzly<\/em> and grisly<\/em>.\u00a0 in other words, learning happens when you allow yourself to become deeply absorbed in the material; a racing pulse will prevent that from happening.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
5. always having the clock running<\/h2>\n
yes, the sat is a timed test. but that doesn\u2019t mean you always need to have the timer running. remember the harmful flight-or-fight response mentioned in the previous paragraph? well, that\u2019s on overdrive when the clock is ticking. few things are more inimical than stress to the formation of new memories and skills.<\/p>\n
so turn off that timer at the beginning and give yourself breathing room to learn, review, and really understand the concepts. once you feel that the concepts come a little more naturally incorporate a timer. and i should reiterate that: you will, at some point, have to use a timer during your prep. since you don\u2019t want that flight-or-fight response to roar to life when you sit down to take the actual test.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
6. picking up any sat prep book<\/h2>\n
so, i\u2019ve gotten your attention\u2014and you\u2019re ready to study. well, off to the library to pick up an sat book. but not so fast. all sat prep books are not created equally (this goes for online programs too). do your research, read reviews, speak to friends, etc.<\/p>\n
i\u2019ll tell you this much. the college board book, which contains sat content from the creators of the test, is indispensible for practice material, but you will also want to pick up another book, one that offers comprehensive explanations and more tips and strategies.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ready to start prepping (or not so ready)? below are some critical tips you want to keep in mind before you try to ascend the daunting summit known as sat prep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[44],"ppma_author":[24882],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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lele","image":{"@type":"imageobject","inlanguage":"en-us","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/9f063fdc4c0268d1eac74c41e0906a03","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/198545d5a4baea0ba0fd0c0fc8a5d466?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contenturl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/198545d5a4baea0ba0fd0c0fc8a5d466?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"chris lele"},"description":"chris graduated from ucla with a ba in psychology and has 20 years of experience in the test prep industry. he's been quoted as a subject expert in many publications, including us news, gmac, and business because.","sameas":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/chrislelemagoosh1\/","ttps:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/chris-lele-095005a0","https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrismagoosh","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/ucz4sgyj6l0cgnvnihy8gy6w"],"knowsabout":["gre","gmat","sat","act","mcat (cars)","lsat"],"jobtitle":"principal curriculum manager","worksfor":"magoosh","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/author\/chris\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":24882,"user_id":10,"is_guest":0,"slug":"chris","display_name":"chris lele","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/198545d5a4baea0ba0fd0c0fc8a5d466?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"lele","first_name":"chris","description":"chris lele is the principal curriculum manager (and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/vocabulary-builder-workbook-activities-must-know\/dp\/193975481x\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">vocabulary wizard<\/a>) at magoosh. chris graduated from ucla with a ba in psychology and has 20 years of experience in the test prep industry. he's been quoted as a subject expert in many publications, including<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usnews.com\/education\/best-colleges\/slideshows\/10-test-prep-tips-for-sat-and-act-takers\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> us news<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mba.com\/exams-and-exam-prep\/gmat-exam\/why-take-the-gmat-in-2021-when-many-schools-are-test-optional\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> gmac<\/a>, and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessbecause.com\/news\/gmat\/3263\/mba-admissions-gre-challenges-gmat\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> business because<\/a>.\r\n\r\n\r\nin his time at magoosh, chris has taught countless students how to tackle the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gre-prep-magoosh\/dp\/1939418917\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> gre<\/a>, gmat, sat, act, mcat (cars), and lsat exams with confidence. some of his students have even gone on to get near-perfect scores. you can find chris on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/ucz4sgyj6l0cgnvnihy8gy6w\">youtube<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/chris-lele-095005a0\"> linkedin<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrismagoosh\">twitter<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/chrislelemagoosh1\/\">facebook<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4020"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4020\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4020"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=4020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}