I have about a fortnight left for my SAT. I have been preparing for Math so hard, but couldn’t find a resource to prepare the right way for English. Right now I am just practising it at Khan Academy. I have this small question too that how accurate are the Khan Academy full practice tests. So, suggest some good resources to prepare for the SAT English and some good full-length practice tests.
Khan uses the College Board Practice Tests, most of which were actual administered SAT tests.
It doesn’t get any more “accurate” than the real thing.
There are also 20+ released QAS tests, also real, administered SAT tests, with which to practice.
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Related question:
How accurate are practice test scores, considering that they aren’t taken in real conditions? I’ve done quite well on some of the Khan Academy practice tests, but I’m more concerned about performing under stress, not simply knowing the material.
Furthermore – what can be done to replicate the stress of test day when practicing?
Mine were accurate, but I did try to replicate a testing environment while doing them. I took a practice test each Saturday morning, sitting in a room with little to no distraction, and kept a mask on. Each break I took between sections was strictly like how the real test is taken. I thought nerves would skew my score, but honestly after about the first ten minutes the test felt exactly like how I took it at home every week. At some point, I switched from stressing about the test to forcing myself to completely focus on the content. I think practicing the mentality of what the actual test would be like (not totally brushing off practice scores or making myself believe it didn’t matter) really helped me stay consistent. I hope that makes sense lol
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Yes, that’s really helpful! Good idea to wear a mask! Did your practice test scores vary much, and if so, did your real score tend to be more similar to your better or your worse practice ones?
The last three tests I took before the real tests were 1530, 1480, and 1550. I forget what the order of them, but my previous tests were in the 1440-1500 range. I took two real tests with one week between them (one was a school day one and the other was another testing location) and got 1520s on both, giving me a superscore of 1540 (790 EBRW and 750 Math). I would only use the practice tests as a general guide for improvement, not as an indicator of a completely accurate score of what you’ll actually get. I was definitely in the range I was used to testing in, but you never know.
Good point. Also, out of curiosity – I am planning to register to take the test for the first time in November at a public school other than my own. Do you know how many people typically take it in the late fall at a high school with 1000-1500 students? I don’t really know what to expect and testing around other people makes me nervous, tbh.
I’m not really good at estimating lol, but there’s enough people there usually to fill a few classrooms. The testing center may have parking instructions on your ticket and also tell you where to go. At mine, they had us all waiting outside and then sectioned us off into different buildings depending on our last name and what test we were taking (subject tests vs. sat w/ essay vs. sat without essay, etc.). Then we got checked at our classroom door with our ticket and waited till everyone who got assigned to our classroom made it. Then they start passing out all of the materials and we filled out our info and listened to instructions before starting. I was a little bit nervous to be around people too, but it wasn’t too bad and you likely won’t see any of them again if you don’t go to that high school lol. During your practice, focus on thinking only about the test in front of you, and try to keep that mindset on test day. It helped me out a lot.
That is really a great point. I think it will help me a lot!
Typical interest variation of ~60 points, the unknown of test anxiety, and the improvements from experience/learning all combine to make score predictions quite difficult. I would guess that they combine to where the best estimate is the average of your last couple of practice tests, but there will be a wide variance.
My D22s school has a 600 person graduating class. There were plenty of students taking the test, but they were scattered in classrooms throughout the school with no more than 15 or so in each room, as there is required spacing to avoid ”test irregularities”.