<p>I'm going to be a junior in hs next year and I had a couple of questions about the SAT. Any help would be much appreciated! :)
1. My parents are telling me to take both the SAT and the ACT. Is that a good idea?
2. How should I prepare for the SAT? I've bought some prep books but I just dont know where to start!
3. Studying for pSAT?
4. Any general advice would be very appreciated!! </p>
<ol>
<li>It’s a good idea to take both to see which one you’re better at as long as are willing to study hard for both of them.</li>
<li>If you have the blue book, start by taking a practice test. Find out what you need the most improvement on, and seek more specific advice on what you need to work on.</li>
<li>Studying for the SAT should be fine for the PSAT, although it wouldn’t hurt to take a practice test in the PSAT to make sure there’s nothing you’re unfamiliar with.</li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks! Yeah I have the blue book…thanks again 
</p>
<ol>
<li>Yes. Then retake the one you did better on for the best score possible.</li>
<li>Just take as many practice tests as possible and review the missed problems.</li>
<li>Bother if you’re smart. Otherwise you probably won’t get 210-220 which is what’s required to qualify for the National Merit blah blah.</li>
<li>No.</li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>Yes. It gives you an idea of your strengths and weaknesses. This way, you can compare scores and see which is the better score (if one is better than the other) to send to colleges. </li>
<li>Start with the Blue Book, work through that and see what you need to work on. Then take a bunch of practice tests and review the basics, strategies and techniques. </li>
<li>It’s basically the same thing. I didn’t worry about specializing in PSAT questions since the SAT and PSAT are very similar. However like @2016bostonian said, if you’re worried about it, take a look at some PSAT questions online.</li>
</ol>
<p>You don’t really need to prepare for the PSAT separately if you are preparing for SAT anyway. The only thing that may help is to get a couple PSAT practice test to go through a timed practice. Although the question style and format are the same as SAT, the PSAT is a much shorter version with less sessions. Nevertheless, your PSAT score should be pretty much in line with your SAT practice score.</p>
<p>1) If you have the time to do both, then do so.
2/3) Studying for PSATS is the same as studying for SATS… the only thing is that perfecting the essay section wouldn’t really help much on the PSATS. I’d recommend you read through the pointers/directions given in the beginning of the cb sat guide book. They help you lead into the practice tests more prepared. You should take the first 1/2 practice tests untimed to get a feel of it and then always review the questions you get wrong before moving to the next test, where you would time yourself.</p>