<p>So, the PSAT isnext week, and I believe I am fairly well prepared to become a NM semifinalist or at least commended. What should I do to prepare in these upcoming days?</p>
<p>Review grammar and math basics then take a couple practice sections and you should be fine.</p>
<p>Yeah no kidding...
Why do people make the PSAT to be such a big deal. In my opinion it's so much easier than the SAT and shorter as well. (easier in the respect that the math and writing are really simple, but the CR is probably about the same).</p>
<p>What about the night before the test-what should I do?</p>
<p>^Sleep at the time you usually do. Both times I took the SAT (last june and this october) I got 0 sleep and 1 hour of sleep respectively. Though the first time in June I was really nervous cause I took it cold and the second time I tried sleeping at 7, but I prepped :P.</p>
<p>So..yeah...don't let your nerves get to you. Sleep is pretty vital, but if you don't get sleep - don't take energy drinks and take a super cold shower in the morning as well as warm yourself up with some practice problems...so you know you aren't completely screwed.</p>
<p>Don't try to do any last minute preparation. Nothing you can do in a day will raise your score significantly, so you might as well relax. The first time I took the SAT, I slept very little and tried to memorize vocab the night before, and did horribly on the test. I underestimated the importance of sleep and a good breakfast.
This year when I took the test again, I did **nothing **pertaining to the SAT the day before. I had a good night's sleep, ate a balanced breakfast, and went into the test room, confident that I had done enough to prepare for the exam.</p>
<p>Oh, I suggest some eggs, a banana, and fruit juice for breakfast. :)</p>
<p>In my experience, all these little nuances (food, sleep, your mindset) are irrelevant. It's not as if you're going to get a higher score if you eat corn flakes and sleep 6 hours than if you eat pancakes and sleep 9 hours. Just do what you normally do, let yourself be nervous, and focus solely on your strategies.</p>
<p>In a way I disagree with Godfather. Obviously corn flakes and pancakes aren't going to increase your knowledge; however, they could potentially help boost your score. If you do all your crazy, illogical rituals and feel extremely prepared as a result of them, you'll do better. If you don't prepare how you'd like, you may not feel as prepared, thus you may be nervous during the test and do worse. Your knowledge doesn't change, your mindset does. That's probably over analyzing, but oh well.</p>
<p>hey...its all about your mindset and attitude
the first time i took the SAT i was nervous and kept thinking...what if its hard, what if i fail (w t f?). I ended up getting a ridiculous score of 1690. thoroughly disappointing.</p>
<p>when i took AP calc and AP bio and SAT bio and Math 2...i went in there with the attitude...i dont give a ****. Turns out I didn't do too badly...5, 4, 770, 760. not ivy-status, but im satisfied.</p>
<p>it's all about the mindset...</p>
<p>oh and FYI, all i had for breakfast was a banana and milk all those times and like 7 hours of sleep.</p>
<p>its all about mindset and attitude dude...</p>
<p>I'm taking the PSAT as well, and I find that I do best when I'm not overly nervous and I try to "have fun" (strange as it is). The first time I took the Math II Subject Test, I got a 750 because I was so nervous and was dead set on getting an 800. Last May, however, I went into my AP Chemistry exam expecting to get a 3 and I just told myself, "just give it your best shot but learn from it and have fun!" And I was the only girl in my class to get a 5.</p>
<p>Yeah.. I didn't mean corn flakes/pancakes will make you smarter or anything. A good breakfast/sleep will help you process the material you already know better. It beats trying to cram.</p>
<p>I am worried as well, and hope I will get National Merit Semifinalist.</p>
<p>I'm taking it too, and hoping to get National Merit Semifinalist as well, hopefully even National Merit Finalist or Scholar.<br>
I actually feel pretty prepared, at least more so than last year. As a sophomore with no studying I was just two points away from NMS (not that it counted) and so I hope I will do better this year, since I actually did study.
Good luck to all, except those in TX :D I'll try not to be --too-- nervous. :)</p>