Top 5 SAT Strategies

All information is taken from 'Inside the SAT'

Strategy 1: Know the Directions in Advance

One of the easiest things you can do to help your performance on the SAT is to understand the directions before taking the test. Since the directions are always exactly the same, there's no reason to waste your time on the day of the test reading them. Tackle them now.

We provide sample SAT directions for all of the SAT sections in the chapters that follow. On Test Day, eight sets of directions could take you eight minutes to read. Let's say you answer just one extra question right for every two minutes you save skipping the directions. That's 4 to 5 more points -- just from knowing the directions in advance.

Strategy 2: Don't Answer Questions in Order

You're allowed to skip around within each section of the SAT. High scorers know this. They move through the test efficiently. They don't waste time on any one question, even a hard one, until they've tried every question at least once. Remember, easy questions are worth the same points as harder questions.

When you run into a question that looks tough, circle it in your test booklet and skip it. Go back and try again after you have answered the easier ones. If you get two easy ones right in the time it would have taken you to get a harder one right, you just gained points.

Strategy 3: Know When to Guess

There is no penalty for guessing on the SAT. There is only a penalty for guessing wrong. If you can eliminate one or more answers that are definitely incorrect, you'll turn the odds in your favor and come out ahead by guessing.

Here's why. If you get an answer wrong on any multiple choice question on the SAT, you lose 1/4 point. The fractional points you lose are supposed to offset the points you might get "accidentally" by guessing the correct answer. By learning Kaplan's techniques, you can eliminate a few answer choices on most questions, even if you have no idea what the right answer is. By learning how to eliminate wrong answer choices, you can actually turn the guessing "penalty" to your advantage.

Let's take a close look at this, to make sure you are confident with this strategy. By eliminating one wrong answer in five, you are down to four answer choices. So you have a 1 in 4 chance of guessing correctly. So, for every four questions you answer, you should get something like 1 right and 3 wrong. 1 right = 1 point. 3 wrong = 3/4 points.

1 - 3/4 = 1/4 points

So, by eliminating just one answer choice and guessing on four questions, you have gained 1/4 point! This may not seem like a lot, but, over the course of a long test, these fractions really add up, and can increase your score significantly.

Strategy 4: Answer All Grid-Ins

If you get an answer wrong on a Grid-in Math question, you lose nothing. So you MUST write in an answer for every Grid-in. The worst that can happen is that you get zero points on the questions you guessed on. If you get just one right, that's an extra point to add to the 4 to 5 points you already got by skipping the directions. Add up a couple of fractions and you've already increased your raw score -- and you've only learned four strategies so far!

Strategy 5: Fill Out Your Answer Sheet the Right Way

When time is short, it's easy to get confused going back and forth between your test book and the big sheet of bubbles. If you know the answer but fill in the wrong answer bubble, you won't get the points. To avoid mistakes on the answer grid, follow these steps.

Circle the Questions You Skip

Put a circle in your test book around any question numbers you skip. When you go back, these questions will be easy to locate. Also, if you accidentally skip a box on the grid, you can quickly check your grid against your book to see where you went wrong.

Circle Your Answer in Your Test Book

Circling your answers in the test book makes it easier to check your grid against your book. It also makes the next grid strategy possible.

Grid Five or More Answers at Once

Don't transfer your answers to the grid after every question. Transfer your answers after every five questions or at the end of each reading passage. That way, you won't keep breaking your concentration to mark the grid. You'll save time, and you'll gain accuracy.

Keep Track of Time

You need to be mindful of the time remaining toward the end of each section -- time may be running out! You don't want to have your answers in the test booklet and not be able to transfer them to your answer grid because you have run out of time.