{"id":986,"date":"2013-04-02t10:00:41","date_gmt":"2013-04-02t10:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/sat\/?p=986"},"modified":"2015-04-15t22:56:08","modified_gmt":"2015-04-15t22:56:08","slug":"common-sat-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/common-sat-mistakes\/","title":{"rendered":"common sat mistakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

we all make dumb mistakes, sometimes. when i say \u201cdumb mistake,\u201d i don\u2019t mean a mistake that i (or anybody else) would call stupid. this isn\u2019t about intelligence or how other people judge it. it\u2019s about what you yourself look at and say, \u201coh\u2026 that was dumb.\u201d<\/p>\n

have you ever done that? ever looked at a graded essay that\u2019s just been handed back and thought, \u201coh. whoops. whatever.\u201d \u2026or maybe a math test? \u201ci can\u2019t believe i added instead of subtracting. psshh.\u201d<\/p>\n

it\u2019s easy to get worse results than you should because you\u2019re careless. that\u2019s true on the sat as it is everywhere else; if you don\u2019t watch yourself, you\u2019re going to lose points for things that you could have avoided. some of the most common sat mistakes are simple mistakes you should have avoided.<\/p>\n

and\u2014funny thing\u2014because of how sat scores are calculated<\/a>, being careless doesn\u2019t just keep you from getting the points you should get. it actually punishes you for slipping up. if you were to just skip the question because it was difficult, you\u2019d actually be better off than by answering the question too quickly and landing specifically on one of the trap answers the test makers set up for careless joe.<\/p>\n

so this is especially important.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

major common sat mistake – choosing haste over caution<\/h2>\n

the sat isn’t a race. seriously, your friends aren’t going to high-five you if you beat the guy next to you by five minutes. make sure you get the answers that you definitely can bag. the low-hanging fruit<\/a> are your friends, so don\u2019t brush them off.<\/p>\n

depending on the section and type of question, there are a number of different ways to keep yourself from making dumb mistakes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

common sat mistakes in sat reading<\/h2>\n

– in all reading passages, find evidence<\/a> for your answer before you look at the answer choices.<\/p>\n

– make sure you\u2019re looking at the correct section of the reading passage. if the question gives you line numbers, use them.<\/p>\n

– in paired passages, make sure you\u2019re looking at the right passage<\/a>. which does the question reference?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

common sat math errors<\/h2>\n

– circle what the question is asking for. is it the area of the circle or the radius? the value of x <\/i>or of y<\/i>?<\/p>\n

– write out each step to solving the problem. only do the absolutely simplest things in your head. it may seem tedious, but it doesn\u2019t actually take much time. for mid-level things, always use your calculator. don\u2019t multiply 8 and 12 in your head or on paper.<\/p>\n

– always write parentheses around substituted things. if you know x = -6<\/i>, and y = 14 \u2013 x, <\/i>make sure you don\u2019t switch addition and subtraction. write y = 14 \u2013 (-6).<\/i><\/p>\n

one of the best ways to improve sat math<\/a> is to avoid these errors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

writing mistakes<\/h2>\n

– <\/b>read each \u201cidentifying sentence error\u201d question twice. one time for anything that jumps out, another while thinking about common errors for each type of underlined word.<\/p>\n

– plug \u201cimproving sentence\u201d and \u201cimproving paragraph\u201d answers back into the text after you\u2019ve chosen them. make sure your choice didn\u2019t create any new<\/i> errors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

how to be cautious and<\/i> efficient<\/h2>\n

it\u2019s hard to keep up the pace when working through a timed section and double-checking everything. but the list of techniques above make that quicker. you don\u2019t want to have to answer each question twice\u2014instead, you want to pinpoint how<\/i> you make a careless error and avoid that specifically.<\/p>\n

that takes practice. next time you\u2019re doing practice problems<\/a>, keep these strategies in mind. hopefully these tips will make you a little more confident when making the confusing decision about sat score choice<\/a>. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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

we all make dumb mistakes, sometimes. when i say \u201cdumb mistake,\u201d i don\u2019t mean a mistake that i (or anybody else) would call stupid. this isn\u2019t about intelligence or how other people judge it. it\u2019s about what you yourself look at and say, \u201coh\u2026 that was dumb.\u201d have you ever done that? ever looked at […]<\/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],"ppma_author":[24883],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\ncommon sat mistakes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"watch out for these common pitfalls that many students tend to fall into on test day! these common sat mistakes will drag your score down!\" \/>\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\/common-sat-mistakes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"common sat mistakes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"watch out for these common pitfalls that many students tend to fall into on test day! 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