<p>Hello CCers,</p>
<p>What's the secret? I know how to do each problem in SAT math but always am a question or 2 shy from an 800 because of "careless mistakes". Does redoing the section twice help? Even when I try hardest, I always get something wrong, easy or hard.</p>
<p>That’s a start, if you have enough time. Or just plain focus. I have a seriously tough time staying focused even in really high-pressure situations, it’s weird. You just have to close out everything else, and take your time. Do thinks at a slightly slower pace, you’re bound to make fewer careless mistakes that way also.</p>
<p>For me</p>
<p>Confidence=focus=less mistakes</p>
<p>Apprehensiveness=lack of focus=more mistakes</p>
<p>It’s mental (anecdotal evidence ftw)</p>
<p>Just slow down and READ</p>
<p>Unfortunately there is no cure-all solution. Trust me, if there were, and us CCers were the guardians to that secret, we’d put all those prep classes out of business. ^^
But figure out what your problem is. Do you run out of time? Do you have too much time left over? If it’s the first, do a couple sections untimed and figure out what you need to do to get faster. If it’s the second, slow down and read.
Contrary to popular belief, double checking doesn’t actually help that much, usually. If you missed it the first time, you’ll probably miss it again (esp when there’s only like 10 min left of the section and you’re basically skimming through everything). That’s why it’s important to nail it head on the first time- read slow, don’t make calculation errors, and FOCUS.</p>
<p>After solving the problem, reread the question before bubbling. Make sure you don’t answer for x when they want y.</p>
<p>It’s not exactly math but for the math portion of the physics class I took last year, the physics teacher really recommended underlining all of the pertinent information you needed to solve the problem and just focusing on those components of the problem.</p>
<p>I find it really helped.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Take the ACT.</p>
<p>Practice. That’s the only way.</p>
<p>plug and chug</p>
<p>I used to have trouble with the Math section, but now that I’ve been using the Blue Book, I’ve realized that all the questions use something I already know. Suddenly, I’m going through the questions rapidly and not having anymore time constraints. If there’s any time left over, attempt to check over all the questions and review the reasoning for whatever answer option that was chosen.</p>