Applying To College: SAT

June 2, 2008 · Filed Under College Life 101

Seeing that it is around that time where most students start thinking about applying for college; I am going to talk about my process and what I think worked and did not work for me.

The best way to make an impression on a school is through your SAT scores. Every school wants smart students and one of the few ways in which they can tell you apart from the thousands of other students is by your SAT scores. The only way to do good in the SAT is by studying. There is no secret code or secret memorization techniques for the test. There is one big tip that everyone should follow when taking the test. If you don’t answer a question then you don’t lose points. All our lives we have learned to fill in the whole test because maybe we might get lucky and get some bonus points. The way the SAT was designed is that there is no extra points. If you are not sure about a question and don’t have an educated guess then skip it. If you are good in one of the three subjects then don’t worry much about it and try to focus on the other two. You must balance out your score with at least scoring high (over 600) in one of them and average is usually around the (500s). These considerations of high, average and low defer from each school you apply to. If you are applying to Ivy League Schools then the average becomes 600 and anything beyond 650 would be considered high.

Depending on the school you are applying to, you might be required to take the SAT II or subject based tests. These are extremely hard and I would only suggest to take them if you really think you are good at that subject or it is a requirement. The Math I test of these is exactly how the regular SAT is but with more questions and less time to do the problems. If you are considering taking one these tests then go ahead, you really don’t lose anything and it will just make your profile stronger.

The day of the test make sure you ate something for breakfast because it is the longest test of your life. Try taking some snacks with you for when you have breaks. Maybe a bottle of water or some juice, soda, whatever you need to stay energized. Get plenty of sleep before the test because you do not want to fall asleep or be extra tired for the test. It is meant to drain you. As a matter a fact, many questions are similar to previous ones but you might get them wrong because of how tired you are and those are dummy points you lose. Remember to schedule your SAT test early so you have plenty of time to re-take it in case you think you need to or if that was your original plan. It is not a bad idea to take the test twice, it usually improves your score by at least 50 points since you already know what to expect and how to expect it.

Good Luck To Everyone,
Yasser

Tags: College, SAT, Tests