Did you know that the tutors at Marks Education regularly take the SAT and ACT just like their students? This fall, three tutors took the SAT to better understand what our students are seeing with the new digital and adaptive format.
Tutor Ryan Blodgett took the test in November in Buffalo, NY. Tutors Rachel Dan and Anthony Celino took the December test in Arlington, VA, and Annapolis, MD, respectively. This blog is all about sharing some of their takeaways based on their test taking experiences. Obviously, we cannot provide specific details on individual questions, but read on for useful tips that can help students feel prepared and perform their best on test day.
Start your test as soon as you can!
Ryan: “It’s important to start the test as soon as you’re allowed. As soon as people started finishing the second verbal and second quantitative modules, they started getting up and making noise which was very distracting. This meant any time at the end of those sections would be mostly lost to distraction for anyone delayed in starting.”
Rachel: “Students have told me that they can’t skip through the test if they’re done with a section early, but students have also told me that kids finished sections and left before them. These are both true. You cannot ‘fast forward’ to the next Module or skip the break but since not all the kids press ‘Start’ at the same time, some people’s timers may be seconds or minutes before or after you, which explains the staggering in break and finish times.”
2. Be Prepared and on Time!
Rachel: “One thing I (and possibly the students) had not accounted for was that the administrator running the show refused to let anyone inside the school until exactly 7:45AM, and since the line of students was around the block, many kids didn’t get inside until 8:30 AM. As it was December, the experience of being forced to wait outside for 45+ minutes in 23-degree weather definitely woke me up but also drained a lot of my energy; my Verbal performance suffered because of this. So, tell your kids to be first in line for a winter test if they don’t want to freeze or at least dress warmly!”
Ryan: “Multiple people at my test center forgot to bring a charger and had to call a parent to go get one and try to bring it in before the test started. I’m sure this made the process a lot more stressful for them than it needed to be. Minimize stress you can control by planning ahead and packing well for the test.”
3. Different tests are administered to students even on the same test dates
Anthony: “One interesting note is that Rachel and I did not get the same exact questions, but many of them were extremely similar (same concept, different numbers or answer choices) and then some questions that one of us had that the other didn’t.”
4. Timing differs dramatically between the first and second modules.
Anthony: “One of my biggest takeaways is that timing on the different modules is definitely something that needs to be experienced. On the Reading-Writing Module 1, I had time to double check each question, but on Reading-Writing Module 2 (the hard branch), I only had time to check the questions I’d marked for review. The differences in timing between the first and second Math sections were drastic. For Math Module 1, I was going so quickly that I decided to slow down and do every problem two or three ways before moving on to the next. On Module 2 (also the hard branch), I was caught off guard when two or three questions gave me some trouble. I returned to one of them with four minutes left, but it took me all of that time to figure the answer out.”
Ryan: “Students need to keep in mind differences in timing between sections. The hard Module 2 for each section, and especially math, had much more challenging timing than the first module, so it required treating the sections pretty differently. “
5. Use the Highlighter tool and Desmos but don’t forget your calculator!
Ryan: “The highlight tool on the test was very helpful for me on passage-based verbal questions. I hadn’t thought about it much before because I was used to doing most of my practice outside of the software but I definitely used it during the test.”
Anthony: “Desmos is amazing, as we know, and I found zooming in on a single axis at a time extremely helpful. Still, I liked using my TI-84 for grunt work.”
Conclusion
Still have questions about the SAT or interested in doing a practice proctored SAT? Contact Marks Education to schedule free baseline testing and set up a complimentary consultation about test preparation.
