Since so many here are so knowledgable, thought I would throw this out there.
My daughter answers all tough questions on the SAT practice tests correctly. However, she constantly makes dumb mistakes on simpler questions such as not reading the question, leaving off a zero, etc. Without these dumb mistakes, she would have near perfect scores.
Does anyone have any methodical ways of taking the test that help avoid careless errors? Thank you in advance!
Recognize that the SAT and ACT are designed to trick students. Getting tricked, more than deficiencies in knowledge or intelligence are usually what costs kids those last few questions short of a perfect score. Chances are, it’s not “dumb mistakes”, but just falling for the tricks that is happening. Mastering that skill seems to separate students scoring between 1500-1600 on the SAT and 34-36 on the ACT. I’d suggest practice and tutoring.
Some are truly dumb mistakes. Some are not seeing the tricks. It makes sense that practice will help a child recognize the tricks when they appear. Thank you!
Free official practice tests are available via Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/sat
March2Success (funded by the US Army as a public service) offers some free practice tests and an online course for the SAT as well: https://www.march2success.com/
Your kid’s school may have some free tests as well. Local libraries, especially the larger ones, tend to have copies of SAT prep books, so that’s an option as well.