{"id":5335,"date":"2016-02-08t09:00:38","date_gmt":"2016-02-08t17:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?p=5335"},"modified":"2017-11-07t17:17:33","modified_gmt":"2017-11-08t01:17:33","slug":"how-difficult-is-the-new-sat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/how-difficult-is-the-new-sat\/","title":{"rendered":"how difficult is the new sat?"},"content":{"rendered":"
this is a question that, as a short answer and a very, very long one, full of \u201cit depends\u201d.<\/p>\n
so here is the short answer: yes, the sat is hard<\/strong>. you have to sit in one place for almost four hours, all while answering questions that range from straightforward to head-scratching difficult. oh, and the sections are all timed.<\/p>\n is the sat hard for everybody, the way, say, climbing mt. everest is? i\u2019d argue yes. i can\u2019t just walk into the sat\u2014despite all my years\u2019 experience with standardized tests saying\u2014and think, \u201cthis will be a cakewalk\u201d. again, you have to concentrate for hours, giving each question its due. or careless errors will get you.<\/p>\n more specifically, and this is where things get a little tricky, how hard will the sat be for you? well you know yourself best, but i\u2019ll give you some prototypes:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n do you study whenever you have a moment, acing most of your classes? are you an academic wunderkind? well, the sat should be a breeze.<\/p>\n actually, i\u2019d argue that it\u2019ll be pretty difficulty given your exacting standards. see, you\u2019re not going to be comfortable with a more 80-percentile ranking. you\u2019ve always been in or near the top 2%. and performing at that level on the sat is going to be anything but easy.<\/p>\n so you like reading and you like words. well, the sat might be easier for you in this sense than the old sat<\/a>. there really aren\u2019t too many trap answers<\/a>. and you\u2019ll be able to sound out many items in the grammar section. you probably won\u2019t have too much trouble cracking the top 20%, though i\u2019d recommend doing a few practice tests to get a hang of the test.<\/p>\n on the math part<\/a>, you\u2019re likely going to struggle more. and the sat will be difficult. my advice is the same for the verbal: take a few practice tests. but this time around you\u2019ll realize you probably need a lot more work. so figure out those areas you are weak in and spend most of your study time reviewing these.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n the sat likely won\u2019t be too hard on the math front. the trigonometry<\/a> is high level and the word problems aren\u2019t unlike questions you\u2019ve seen in class. sure, some of the algebra can get a little technical, but if you are strong in this area you\u2019ll likely excel on the test.<\/p>\n the math student, or specifically somebody who is good at picking up on patterns, might be hurt by the fact that the reading questions are more about understanding long, dense passages, than about spotting traps that the sat recycles for answer choices. with the new test, you\u2019ll really have to understand what the passage is talking about.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n the sat will actually be easy for you. you\u2019re not going to try, so how tough will it really be. though, your score will probably reflect this.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n if you don\u2019t like reading, and think math serves no practical function in life, you are likely to think the sat is really tough. getting a competitive score will be more difficult.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n this test will be difficult since, as i already mentioned, you\u2019ll have to focus for many hours. the key, though, is to become better<\/a>. start with a practice test. identify your strengths and weaknesses, and then study the latter, taking frequent practice tests and repeating the process. if you keep pushing and working hard, the test won\u2019t necessarily become easy, but your score will go up.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nthe high achiever<\/h2>\n
the verbal person<\/h2>\n
the math person<\/h2>\n
the slacker<\/h2>\n
the hater<\/h2>\n
average joe (or jane)<\/h2>\n
need more help?<\/h2>\n