<p>So ,how hard is it to obtain ? ON practice tests , I keep making between 3-5 careless errors.I know the answer to all the questions ,still i make stupid mistakes.It is very rare that I dont know how to solve a problem ( mostly problems involvind functions ,but I think i understood them)
Sometimes ,on practice tests I make 0 or 1 errors ,sometimes 4 or 5 .For example ,I often solve a problem correctly ,but mark other (wrong) answer on the answer sheet .
So guys ,how do you prevent yourself from making blunders on SAT M ?</p>
<ul>
<li>Check each answer using an alternate method. For many problems, this can be done by plugging your answer back in.</li>
<li>Don’t rush though the section; work deliberately.</li>
<li>Write out your work, even if you think you can solve it mentally. Don’t try to take shortcuts.</li>
<li>if you finish with extra time, go back through your answer sheet and make sure you marked the right ones.</li>
<li>I do better when I work from the end of the section to the beginning.</li>
</ul>
<p>This is actually a good idea… Never thought of that .Now when I think about it ,the last questions are straightforward and If we have the knowledge ,we can easily solve them.
I dont think there is much of a difference though</p>
<p>I agree with 112358, those strategies will really help. And also remember that you have a calculator–there’s NO excuse to make silly mistakes.
If it’s asking you what the simplified version of (a²b)², just plug in numbers, A = 2 and b = 3, and then plug the same numbers into the answer choices. I’ve been doing that ever since Geometry</p>
<p>Why would you work backwards? They don’t give you any additional points for solving hard questions, so why start with the questions that are difficult to solve?</p>
<p>When I work front to back, I always end up with just a few minutes left to solve the hard ones, and, realizing that I only have a couple minutes to solve them, I panic if I see one I don’t know how to solve. If I work back to front, I feel much more relaxed during the hard questions, and if I need a few extra minutes to figure one of them out, I can afford to borrow extra time knowing that I can make it up on the easier problems.</p>
<p>It’s not a method that’s going to work for everyone, but it’s worth experimenting with.</p>
<p>“Why would you work backwards? They don’t give you any additional points for solving hard questions, so why start with the questions that are difficult to solve?”
I don’t mean to put words in his/her mouth, but the reason I work backwards is fairly straightforward. Basically, if you work backwards, you can hit the hard problems when your mind is fresh and you can knock them out rather quickly. It seems like it is always easier when you go backwards.</p>
<p>^ Yep. And then once you’re past the hard ones, you get a confidence boost knowing that everything else is going to be easier.</p>
<p>I always feel like it’s better to start in the front, so that you an work your way up to the hard ones… either way, both of us got 800 M, so to each his own, I guess.</p>
<p>I do usually start with the first couple questions in the section to get them out of the way and get my math wheels whizzing, but after that I jump to the end.</p>
<p>The main caveat to my method is that if you can’t figure out one of the hard ones and are forced move on, it bothers you the rest of the section. That almost cost me my 800, but the curve saved me. I missed a really easy one because I was fretting about one of the hard ones.</p>
<p>Make sure you don’t underestimate the easy questions. Sometimes you get too confident, and misread the question.</p>
<p>Actually, that goes for all of the questions. Most of the mistakes I made on practice tests were due to a simple misreading of the question.</p>
<p>See, that’s the difference. 95% of the questions I miss come within the last 4 questions of the section. That’s why doing those questions first helps me so much. Someone who tends to make mistakes on the easy ones should just go through the section normally.</p>
<p>The SAT M is no different than a math test you would take in your high school math class. If you know the methods and theorems, there aren’t any questions that aren’t straightforward. Never skip a question unless you’re sure you don’t know the concept. If you do know it, there’s no excuse not to try it. I would actually disagree with the above posters and say to go as fast as you can through the entire section. You should be left with considerable time to actually redo the entire thing if you wanted to. But when you do that, make sure you don’t look at your scratch paper. Actually solve it all over again (of course, you should remember how).</p>
<p>Regardless of way you do, keep your mind fresh. If you go from front to back, you risk having insufficient time for the last problems. At the same time, if you go from back to front, you risk being tired for the easy ones and making a stupid mistake.</p>
<p>The point for both these methods is that you want to keep your mind fresh and do calculations. I know that almost all problems that people miss are the ones they know, provided that they have been studying. Pressure and tiredness of 4 hour long SAT will interfere in clear thoughts.</p>
<p>I scored 760 and 740 because I was tired from Critical Readings. So, I took SAT II and got 800 with much fresh mind. It’s all about your mind…</p>
<p>Working back to front is kinda risky. If the last few problems give you trouble, you could end up wasting too much time on them, and not have time for the simple questions in the beginning. </p>
<p>If you get through the hard ones no problem, you could get overconfident and be more apt to make stupid mistakes on the easy questions. </p>
<p>I think the steady difficulty ramp up is beneficial. Whatever you need to realize to solve the last few questions has probably already shown up on an easier question.</p>
<p>jne23 your theory is pretty true to some.
However, for me I can already figure out how to do all the possible questions that will appear on the test including the hard ones so i never skip.For me,(once again) going backwards will give me a pretty grip on time and will reduce the relaxation i have during the first couple of problems, which in term waste a couple of minutes unnecessarily.</p>