How to abate anxiety and careless mistakes for the SAT

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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<p>Earlier this year when I took the PSAT, I got a 67 on the math. For me, that's unacceptable. I've always thought of myself as particularly strong in math and plan on pursuing a math related major in college (physics).
One thing i noticed in my prep is that I make careless mistakes and get very anxious when i try to time myself for 25minutes. Otherwise, there are very few math practice questions that I get wrong when I don't time myself (as would most people i presume.</p>

<p>Do you guys have any tips as to how I can reduce my test anxiety and careless mistakes?</p>

<p>thanks</p>

<p>P.S. I'm taking the May test so I have limited time for prep.</p>

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<p>There are two types of careless math mistakes:</p>

<p>1) actual careless mistakes where you wrote down a + but somehow copied it wrong in the next step as -, or maybe you stupidly added 3 + 7 as 9, or -2 + 10 as 12.</p>

<p>2) trap careless mistakes that the SAT and the ETS (evil testing serpent) love to employ</p>

<p>I was in your same boat back in high school - knew every math problem down pat. The problem? A score stuck in the mid to high 600s. I then broke 700 and got a 720…still wildly disappointing because I knew I was an 800 student. Finally I got an 800 on my last try by realizing how to eliminate “careless errors” - meaning the second type.</p>

<p>Here’s the biggest secret about preventing the second type of careless errors:
Understanding that what you’ve been trained to solve for in school is NOT ALWAYS what the SAT is asking for.</p>

<p>We all know in school, we always solve for x. Get it down the simplest form. X = whatever, right?</p>

<p>The SAT writers love to exploit that fact. They will DELIBERATELY not ask for the value of x. They want to know y, or 2x, or x + 2, or something else. Yes, sometimes they ask just for x too, but a lot of times not!</p>

<p>YOU MUST RE-READ THE QUESTION BEFORE YOU ANSWER. Physically circle what they are asking for. If you don’t physically circle and think you can just remember to check beforehand, you’re wrong. You won’t. I hate circling and underlining too. Too bad, do it.</p>

<p>Here’s the thing: when you start solving a math question, esp. one with a lot of steps, you become INVESTED in your work. You want to solve it all the way down to its simplest form…which is x = whatever.</p>

<p>And for sure, x will be one of the answer choices. You get so excited you knew how to do the problem and that you figured out x, so your instinctively bubble in the first choice that matches.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, the question was asking for 2x. Maybe 2x was even your second to last step. You had 2x = 10, so therefore x = 5. But the answer is 10, not 5 because they want to know what 2x is, not x.</p>

<p>If you play COD (call of duty), there’s something called the Last Stand - one final chance to kill your enemy. The SAT has their own version of the last stand for math. This is it. The last stand is to not ask you what you expect to be asked (x), but to ask you something else. You must take ONE EXTRA STEP and check what they are really asking.</p>

<p>BEAT THE LAST STAND and you’ll cut your “careless” mistakes in half.</p>

<p>The other trick is to recognize the patterns in your careless mistake.</p>

<p>Popular careless mistake traps:

  1. make you solve for x, then ask for y (or 2x, or x-squared, or x + 2, etc.)</p>

<p>2) make you solve for the area…then ask for perimeter, or vice versa</p>

<p>3) ask you what x-squared is…which turns is is something like 25, so you automatically pick 5 (which is x) instead of 25 (which is what they really are asking)</p>

<p>4) you find out the radius…they are actually asking for diameter</p>

<p>5) make you figure out a bunch of stuff about the area of a circle…then ask for circumference</p>

<p>6) you take the square root instead of squaring (second power), or vice versa</p>

<p>7) you confuse halving with doubling with squaring with square-rooting</p>

<p>8) ask you how many peanuts Bobby has…but make the number of peanuts Jill has a choice as well</p>

<p>9) add % to the answer choices (remember 0.1% is not the same as 0.1). You probably correctly solved the question and got 0.1 as your answer, but then you wrongly choose 0.1%…because correct answer would be 10%</p>

<p>10) make you solve question in feet…but make answer in yards or inches. But of course the “correct” answer in feet is also present in the choices (same with seconds, minutes, hours, days)</p>

<p>11) mention triangles (so now you’re thinking about triangles and 180 degrees, etc.), but then ask something about squares at the last second</p>

<p>12) make you break up a larger shape into smaller more manageable shapes…so like a big triangle turns into two identical smaller triangles. You solve for the area of one of the smaller triangles, then forget you have to double it at the end because question wants the area of the BIG triangle (two small triangles together) </p>

<p>Study the above list of traps so that when you see “perimeter” you automatically think to check if they are asking for “area” and so on.</p>

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<p>You can read my article on “careless errors” here:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1312236-how-do-i-prevent-carelessness-sat-math.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1312236-how-do-i-prevent-carelessness-sat-math.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I also have writtten an article on test taking anxiety. Here is an edited version (it is edited to comply with CC rules):</p>

<p>A little bit of anxiety is actually not a bad thing. That bit of excitement can actually help you perform better at a task. Most students have some level of test-taking anxiety, but some have more than others. It’s when the anxiety is so great that it actually begins to hurt your score that we need to deal with it.</p>

<p>There are some reasons for nervousness that can easily be avoided. For example, when you come to a problem that is giving you a lot of trouble there is no reason to get all nervous. Simply move on, and come back to it later if you have time.</p>

<p>Here are some of the best ways that you can keep test-taking anxiety from hurting your score.</p>

<p>(1) Be prepared: Being prepared for the test will go a long way toward reducing your test-taking anxiety. Start preparing for the SAT about three to four months before taking your exam. Make sure you learn as many SAT specific math strategies as possible.</p>

<p>Throughout these three to four months, practice SAT math problems for ten to twenty minutes every day right up until two days before the test. The day before the test you should take time out to relax. If you have taken the right amount of time to study, cramming the day before exam day could hurt your score because you will be increasing your anxiety level. Take off from studying the day before your SAT. This one extra day of studying will not</p>

<p>Make sure you take at least four practice tests before the actual SAT. Use the second edition of The Official SAT Study Guide by the College Board for this purpose.</p>

<p>(2) Increase confidence: A lack of confidence manifests itself as anxiety. Being prepared will go a long way to increasing confidence. Your confidence will naturally increase as you get more and more SAT math questions correct. If you are a nervous test-taker, it is important that you are getting some questions correct during your short study sessions. I therefore recommend that at each study session you attempt some problems that are easy for you. For example, if you are currently struggling with Level 4 Number Theory problems, then at your Number Theory study sessions do a couple Level 2 and 3 Number Theory problems in addition to some Level 4 problems.</p>

<p>Remark: Remember that your score only improves by turning failure into success. So it is very important that you are getting some questions wrong. The particular strategy just mentioned is to make sure that your score isn’t lowered by test-taking anxiety.</p>

<p>(3) Know how to take the test correctly: When you walk in to take the SAT on test day make sure you have a plan for how you will take the test. You should have memorized all the directions and formulas given on the test. You should know exactly how you will pace yourself during the test, and how to check over your answers correctly. </p>

<p>(4) Take extra full length practice tests: A little extra practice may be what you need to gain more confidence and reduce anxiety. Do a few extra full length practice tests. Remember to add in an extra section to simulate the experimental section.</p>

<p>(5) Learn how to get yourself into test-taking “state”: Think of something that you know you are good at. Maybe it’s a sport, or playing a certain instrument. Think about how you feel when performing this activity. You probably have complete confidence in what you are doing, and performing this activity comes so naturally that you don’t even need to think about it. When you are confident in your ability to perform a certain activity, you can enter the “state” necessary for performing that activity very quickly. If you are not confident in your ability, you may need to “warm-up” a bit before getting into state. Once you are in the appropriate state, anxiety no longer becomes an issue - at this point your performance is determined by your ability alone. “Warm-up” can be accomplished by beginning to physically perform the desired activity. But it can also be done just by thinking about performing the activity. You can use successful past experiences with the activity as reference points for your “warm-up.”</p>

<p>(6) Getting out of your head: Negative thoughts cause anxiety. Your thoughts have power over you. You can take back this power through some simple mental techniques. If you are experiencing high levels of anxiety, try one of the following:</p>

<pre><code> (1) Focus on your breathing, and only on your breathing. Take deep breaths, and let those breaths be all that exist for you.

(2) Focus on a simple task. Put all of your mind and energy into that mundane activity - make it all that exists.

(3) Listen carefully to the sounds around you. Try to isolate each sound and listen to them individually. Then try to find the silence from where all of these sounds are emanating. Focus on that silence (note that it does not need to be silent for you to find this silence).

(4) When negative thoughts try to attack you just listen to them. Do not try to respond to them, do not judge them, just listen, and they will eventually pass through you.
</code></pre>

<p>If you feel that anxiety will affect your SAT score, then I recommend trying one of these techniques for at least a few minutes each day. I got these meditation techniques from a therapist friend who uses them with her patients. She claims that they quickly reduce anxiety in the patient suffering from traumatic events. And I have also been sharing these techniques with my students and they work extremely well. Also try one of these meditations right before taking practice tests, and especially the morning of your SAT. Note that these meditative techniques take practice. This will become more effective the more you do it.</p>

<p>(7) Quick warm-up the morning of the test: Do a few math problems the morning of your SAT before taking the test. Make sure that these problems are not difficult for you. The purpose of this is not to practice; it is to get your mind into the correct state (see (5) above).</p>

<p>(8) Release some tension on the way to the test: In the car on the way to the exam let out a nice big scream. Get rid of all of that pent up anxiety. You may want to warn anyone else in the car before you do this. Tell them that Dr. Steve said that it’s okay.</p>