Careless Mistakes

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>My January SAT score surprised me, partly because of how low it was, but mostly because of how different it was from my practice test scores.</p>

<p>CR is usually my lowest, and I usually score around 710, but this time, I scored a 760, which ended up being my highest score in a single section.
Math and writing, on the other hand, are usually my strongest points</p>

<p>I know how to do every single problem in both math and writing, but it's the careless mistakes that get me (or, in the case of writing, the little things that I gloss over). After the last SAT, I stopped practicing, and now those careless mistakes occur even more often.</p>

<p>What do you guys do to avoid them?</p>

2

<p>Math - I finish in about 1/4 time, and just use to the rest of my time to double/triple check each problem.</p>

<p>Writing - I’m having some issues of my own…</p>

<p>CR - I don’t make silly mistakes here. If I get it wrong, it is because I don’t know the answer.</p>

3

<p>I double check as well, with about 1/2-1/3 of the time left over. Somehow, something always slips through -_-</p>

4

<p>Math-Go slowly and use your calculator for EVERYTHING. If you’re good enough at math, you will be able to figure out what to do in about 15 seconds, then write out the numbers/steps and do the rest on your calculator to avoid arithmetic errors that could come up if you go by hand.</p>

<p>CR-For SC, use process of elimination. Not much else. For passage-based reading, just remember that your answer has to be supported somewhere in the passage (usually a rephrasing of a certain sentence in the paragraph).</p>

<p>Writing-If the answer doesn’t pop out at you immediately, skip it and move on. I’ve found that after you do some other questions, the answer jumps out at you the second time you look at it. As for the essay, fill all available space, use big words, have a clear thesis, and hammer a strong connection between examples and thesis.</p>

5

<p>That’s very specific and seems very helpful. I’ll try it out! Thanks :)</p>

6

<p>how the heck do you finish math in 1/4 of the time???</p>

7

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<p>If you can look at a problem and know exactly what to do, it’s not hard to finish 20 questions in about 6 minutes.</p>

8

<p>thats about 3 problems in a minute. For the first few i would say this is possible but some of the later ones take a lot more work and thinking.</p>

9

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<p>Not if you combine natural math talent and practice. I’m sure I could do a math section in 6 minutes with good accuracy.</p>

<p>That being said, I would never recommend flying through a section that quickly. If you have the ability to go through a section that quickly with decent accuracy, you could easily score an 800 if you went a bit more slowly and used your calculator more.</p>

10

<p>you have to watch what you put into your calculator too.
i missed 6 questions on the oct sat, and i realized 4 of them were careless mistakes. i got an easy question where it gave the volume, length, width and asked for the height wrong -_- plugged into calculator.
looking at the jan score report, i see that i missed an easy question again. cant wait to see what i did this time</p>