Summer coming to an end means getting back into the fray. This includes tackling the fall SAT exam. If you have not yet begun your SAT prep, we’ve got you covered with a one-month study plan from Green Test Prep.
A month is not an ideal amount of time to prepare for one of the most important tests of your high school career, and we advise all students to give themselves ample time to practice for the SAT. With that being said, you can still get the score you deserve as long as you’re willing to construct a strict study regimen and stick to it. With these five steps to preparing and practicing intelligently, you can ace your SAT with only one month’s preparation.
Construct a study schedule:
Before you even pick up a book you need to have a clear idea of your time commitment over the next month. Your schedule should be balanced with two weeks of 4-5 hours of studying per week, and two weeks of 8 hours of studying per week. This way you are prepared but also not mentally exhausted. Individual study sessions should be no longer than 60-90 minutes.
Learn the fundamentals:
Early on you will be tempted to dive straight into practice tests but you need to fight that urge! Practice is important but first you need to build a solid base of understanding. The new SAT isn’t just about how good you are at taking tests, it’s about showing your grasp on math and reading fundamentals.
Mix up subjects:
Don’t be afraid to study both math and reading in one study session. Although 60-90 minutes isn’t very long, you will need to train your mind to quickly adjust between reading problems and mathematics just like in the actual test.
Supplemental reading:
Each week try and read 2-3 business, tech, or science articles outside of your SAT test prep textbooks. You can easily find such articles in major news publications or magazines such as Time, The New Yorker, or The New York Times. These gives you a good sense the language you will face when you take the test. Try and truly absorb what the article is trying to get across, analyze it the same you would with an SAT passage.
Practice:
After your first week of studying it’s time to start including practice tests into your schedule. Take one at the end of your first week to gauge where you are, this will give you a good frame of reference moving forward. Then for your final three weeks take two tests each week, one half way through the week and one at the end. This will drastically reduce your test anxiety and give you constant feedback on your progress. Remember not to overdo it, a month is a short window of time but when managed intelligently you can still reach your academic potential.
Need help identifying your mistakes? Use Green Test Prep, an online SAT prep platform, to help improve your score.
Anthony-James Green, called “America’s Top SAT Tutor” by Business Insider, is renowned as the best SAT and ACT tutor in the industry. After working with over 450 students one-on-one, and thousands more through Green Test Prep, his online SAT and ACT program, Green has helped to raise students’ scores by an average of 346+ points on the SAT and 4.6+ points on the ACT. His work has been featured everywhere from The New York Times and CNN to FOX Business and Good Morning America. Learn more about Anthony.
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