Do Certain Sections Wear Your Focus Down Faster?

<p>Luckily, I got 4 math sections on my last SAT and I feel like this is going to help my score. After each CR section I am relieved and on my December SAT I had an experimental reading section and I really felt like it took a toll on me. Do any of you have a harder time concentration after certain sections more than others?</p>

<p>YES</p>

<p>For this past SAT I had 3 CR sections back-to-back-to-back. (one was experimental and one was the 20min one)</p>

<p>CR is my weakness and by the end of the third section I was ready to fall asleep my mind was that tired. Luckily I only had 2 sections left, the 20min math and the 10min writing which were both very easy.</p>

<p>I know exactly how that is. On my december one I had the essay, then 2 CR’s, then math, then writing. 4 linguistic ones and 1 math one. What horrible start.</p>

<p>As one who struggles with math, you can imagine my joy at suffering through consecutive math sections (one of them was experimental, but I didn’t know the SAT had experimentals at the time).</p>

<p>That sucks. I lucked out because I am good at math and one was experimental.</p>

<p>I had a balanced plate - no CR’s in a row which was nice. I think my experimental math section flustered me and then after finishing my next section (math again) quickly, I failed to catch 2 careless errors. For me, it was mentality the whole time… I felt good during the essay which carried over for the 1st half of the test. But after my experimental math section (found it hard), my morale flagged a bit.</p>

<p>@KBronx17
I was actually happy to get those 2 grid-in math sections in a row. For me, they boosted my confidence.</p>

<p>I wish I had 2 fill-in sections. Fill-in’s are usually easier because you can’t easily guess, so they don’t make them quite as hard.</p>

<p>I wrote my best essay so far, so that got me pumped a little and I was completely relaxed after that.</p>

<p>However, by section 7, my back and neck were ready to throw in the towel. I can’t believe how big of a toll that took. Also, it was thunderstorming and the room where we took the test was right next to a window. Finally, a girl who took it with us has the tendency to sneeze 5-6 times in a row every once in a while… and everytime she did that everyone for some reason stopped and said “bless you” and then giggled.</p>

<p>Needless to say, I can see why people score higher at home than at the actual test center. Painful.</p>

<p>In response to you guys: Those fill-in math sections always throw me off, I would die if I had 2 of those in a row.</p>

<p>That sucks, but it does prove that order does matter. I think I wrote my best essay ever also. Almost certain I got a 12. What was your essay topic?</p>

<p>That is also a shame how you had a disruptive room.</p>

<p>Mine went smoothly except (get this) the proctor was walking around the room and he swiped my hand off of the paper and looked at my paper for a second, then said, “Oh, sorry” and let me continue.</p>

<p>I died a little inside when I saw that I had 4 math sections. </p>

<p>Linguistic sections are like candy to me. This time the CR sections were a bit harder than usual, but they always throw in a generous curve for CR, so I’m not too worried.</p>

<p>Caruso, don’t complain. My proctor walked around during every section and did that SAME exact thing. Literally pulled our answer sheets up a bit to make sure we were working on the right section.</p>

<p>Oh and, get this, she ended every section 20 SECONDS EARLY. Might not sound like a lot, but I almost always finish on the dot. I missed around 3 questions just because of this.</p>

<p>Oh and, my topic was “does tradition prevent people from trying things in new and sensible ways”</p>

<p>Easy… wrote about FDR and Jane Eyre</p>

<p>Mine did the same thing except didn’t pull up everyone’s paper. I just found it bizarre how abruptly he hit my hand as if he saw me cheating.</p>

<p>@LiamNeeson I guess it would have made me feel better at the time had I known that only one of them was a real section of the test. That being said, I think I did somewhat poorly on the “real” grid-in. I think I did fine on the non grid-in math sections though :)</p>

<p>@KBronx - from what everyone is rumoring, it appears this test should have a nice curve to it for the math section.</p>

<p>I’m like you. I hate the reading sections and my head hurts when I’m done with them.</p>

<p>I had a massive headache after having an experimental CR section and 2 CR sections in a row</p>

<p>I had two Math sections, then two CR sections, and then the final Writing section. By the end, my hand was twitching and I started to rush a little. I really wish they scheduled one more break in there.</p>

<p>I can’t get over a bad essay. It’ll throw me off for the entire test. I also had grid-in math first, and that was very disheartening…</p>

<p>Ouch. I would hate grid-in math to start the test. </p>

<p>What are y’all’s preferences?</p>

<p>I personally like to start with CR. My school also has a break after every 2 sections which makes it really comfortable.</p>

<p>A bad essay would totally throw me off. That’s why I prepare for it like crazy, it really is a big determinant.</p>