Thursday, November 5th, 2015

After years of administering the SATs and offering SAT Schools, and even more years of supporting and inspiring our students to excel on the SAT, we are happy to share some best practices, or the little things that make the difference:

  1. Once you get the admission ticket after your registration is confirmed, print it and have it with you on the test day. It may look primitive to have it on paper – and wicked to the trees – but it is necessary to have the admission ticket with you on test day. 
  2. Don’t forget your ID!
  3. Make sure you have a soft eraser and a few no. 2 pencils with you (creioane 2B/HB). Remember mechanical pencils are not allowed as they may punch through – and damage – the test book or, worse, the answer sheets (which are corrected by a computer).
  4. If you’re planning on using a calculator for the Math sections, do bring extra batteries or a back-up if available. But remember, most questions can be solved without a calculator 🙂
  5. Having a watch on your wrist can also help you not strain to look at the clock in the exam room (if there is one).
  6. Make sure you have breakfast, no matter how early. With test day excitement and stress, your blood sugar level may go down, and we wouldn’t want that. You certainly don’t want to start shivering, lose consciousness and the like.
  7. The test includes two short breaks (10 and 5 minutes) during which you may:
    1. Sit still in your chair (boo!);
    2. Stretch and get energized (yay!);
    3. Stretch, get energized, and get a fresh supply of oxygen for top performance on the test (double yay!);
    4. Sit still and worry about the sections to come (boo!).
  8. Bring some snacks and water/your favorite soft drink to the test center and enjoy them during the break/s. You want your sugar level to stay at the right level.
  9. Make sure you effectively turn off your phone. Remember that phones have their strange moods and an active alarm may choose to ring while the phone is apparently off during the SAT.

GOOD LUCK!

And remember we’re here to help with advice and test prep 🙂