By Mikayla Henault

Tip 1: Make a study schedule

Trying to cram all of your SAT prep in the week before your test probably won’t get you the score you want, not to mention all of the extra stress it will cause. Once you know your test date, work backwards and build yourself a schedule. Try to make SAT prep a habit by spending the same amount of time each week studying. You might find it easier to schedule an hour of studying every day after school, or two hours of studying two days a week. You know where studying fits best into your schedule, so make a plan and stick to it.  

Tip 2: Understand the new test design

The SAT underwent a major redesign in March of 2016. One of the major changes was the de-emphasis of vocabulary. Parents and guidance counselors may tell you to make flash cards of outrageous words that you have never seen before, but honestly, you don’t need to do that. The new test focuses on understanding the meaning of words you are likely familiar with, given different contexts. Another difference of the redesign is the option to take the essay. Look at the schools you are applying to and their SAT requirements to help you decide whether or not you need to take the essay portion of the test.

Tip 3: Sign up for SAT Questions of the Day

One way to force yourself to do a little bit of test prep each day is by signing up for SAT Questions of the Day. There are a few different ways to receive the questions, so you can pick the option that works best for you. You can sign up for daily emails from Kaplan, or download College Board’s free Daily Practice for the SAT app. The daily reminders will help you remember to study, and practicing a question a day can make a big difference in the long run.

Tips 4: Take free SAT practice tests

Timing is one of the most important factors in acing the SATs. Each section is broken down into time slots, with only 3 hours to complete the test (if you don’t complete the essay portion). Try to make time for a few run-throughs of the whole test. This will help you determine which sections you need to work faster through, and which ones you can slow down and focus on. The College Board’s free Daily Practice for the SAT app lets you to take a practice test by hand, and then scan it through their app for instant scoring and feedback.

Tip 5: Learn SAT test strategies

There are a lot of different SAT test strategies out there. Spend some time before your test date doing research on different methods and find one or two that you think will work best for you. It may be helpful to try the different strategies on your practice tests and see which ones help you the most. Some of the popular strategies include the two passes strategy, eliminating incorrect answers, answering in order of personal difficulty, and copying answers to your answer sheet after each page rather than each question.