SAT I How to stay focused/do well on the test day?

Test Preparation
1

Hello,
What I’m going to say may sound a little bit absurd, but you can imagine how these issues drastically affect my performance during the test.

After I did some practice tests (old sat) at home ,no matter whether the college board official ones or some other practice books, and at my uncounted trail on G10 (that was the first time I encounter the SAT), the results were quite satisfying for me : scores that vary from 1600-1700 ; however, after I’ve taken the test, my score was 1390 :confused: … and this scenario often happened, after doing more practice, getting even more high scores at home, and taking the sat for over 4 times, my top score was just 1610.

Some reasons for that are: 1) I’m really & awfully scared & stressed the night before the test so that I couldn’t sleep, and I just close my eyes without actually sleeping, and even more during the test that my heart keeps rapidly beating as if It’s knocking on a door, and that just doesn’t go away even when I start solving. I know that there’s nothing to fear & that my anxiety is not going to change anything; I tried everything from shaking my hands, thinking of something else, taking deep breathes and exercising to stop & fall asleep, but nope my mind is a rebel and just keeps thinking of how awful I’ll do on the test. So If somebody knows how to relieve extreme anxiety before the test would be much appreciated.

  1. I’m not really focused, and my performance isn’t any near to that of in my house; I do very silly & careless mistakes that I can easily fail for 2x-1 = 5 or even more worse (that actually happened) giving the volume of a cylinder while the question asked for the volume of a cone, and I just kept wondering where’s the height ? “you know what?” just keep it like this.
    So if anyone knows how to avoid these careless mistakes while I’m solving keeping in regard that I almost always finish on time or about 2 minutes before, so there’s a slight chance of revising.
  • I tried stimulating a full test with all test environment, but that doesn't seem to help a lot.

I’d be very glad if someone proposes solutions for those issues; however, I just want to solve those, so i’m not searching for other reasons that might be destroying my performance, just these
I just don’t need to get past 1410 which corresponds to 2000 on the new sat, that’s just my main goal.
and thank you a lot =)

2

You really need to simulate the test as MUCH as possible in your. Can you get your parent to proctor? Can you sit in a different room, that feels similar to the test room? With practices don’t bring in more food than you would be allowed, no long breaks, etc.
As for the sleep anxiety, don’t allow yourself to think like that. I know it is hard, and the SAT is incredibly stressful, but it is important to remember that this is just one component of your application- it will not be the only aspect of you that colleges look at. You are SO MUCH MORE than your test scores. In addition, perhaps ask your parents or your doctor if there is some OTC sleep medication that you could use the night before the test, to ensure you get enough sleep?