<p>Well, there are usually two answer choices that are direct synonyms. That got rid of two answer choices for me right away. Then, I would look for parts of the word that I knew. Sometimes, I even sounded the word out in my head. Oddly enough, the test often gives away answers throughout the section.</p>
<p>not a reapplicant, but verbal is my weak point and i am really scared about it too. i understand how you feel… :/</p>
<p>In the synonym section, be on the lookout for secondary and even tertiary meanings. For example, flag could mean the thing you hang from a pole, to mark something so that it stands out, or to fade away.</p>
<p>The flag was at half mast. (Emblem)
Please flag the pages where my signature is required.(note)
My love for this school has begun to flag. (Wane)</p>
<p>OK all you kids who are great at math, how about a couple of quick tips for getting through that section? My daughter is (in 8th grade) getting As in honors geometry, so I’m sure she can do the SSAT math. I’m not sure she can do it quickly enough; she says she likes to take her time with math. Do you have any ideas on how to speed up just a little?</p>
<p>Tell her to do a lot of practice on the math sections of the SSAT with real timing. After some times of failing to finish all the questions on time, she will probably learn to spend less time on them, because she will have a sense of the time she needs to do each question.
Another thing, she should do the easiest questions right away and not allow herself more than 1 minute(at most) on each of them, in order to save time for the harder ones.
So, tell her to concentrate real hard, and even though the time must not pressure her, she must keep an eye on the watch at all times.
Personally, I have never had that problem. I am a fast problem solver, but: Concentration. Practice.
And the problems at the SSAT are usually of known formats, so practicing a lot of questions should help her to solve them much faster. 
I hope I helped. And good luck on her SSAT :)</p>
<p>Thank you, RockComet! Those are excellent tips and I will pass them on to her. Good luck to you!</p>
<p>@neatoburrito, how often did you see that in the vocab section?</p>
<p>I’ve seen it in the official guide and my kids mentioned it from taking the actual test. They said that occasionally they’d be stuck and then when they though of other usages, the answer was obvious. But my kids are word warriors. Vocab has never been an issue.</p>
<p>Synonyms are generally hardest, I think, because you can’t really draw any inferences. But on analogies, what I did was make a sentence connecting the two different parts. It helped a lot.</p>
<p>@twinsmama I actually scored pretty well on the math section by re-reading the questions. When I took the SSAT, there were a lot of trick questions in the last math section. Just remember to read them THOROUGHLY. When you feel a question is super easy, chances are you missed something while reading it. However, never spend too much time on one problem! Circle the challenging ones and then finish as many easier ones as possible.
I hope this helps! :)</p>
<p>Thank you, waiting!</p>
<p>Twinsmama: It’s all about pacing. She shouldn’t go too fast, for as others said, she will slip up on tricky questions. However, she shouldn’t go too slow, for she won’t be able to complete enough questions. My guidance counselor told us to speed through the first 10 math questions because they are typically easier. This gives you extra time to go slower on the typically harder, subsequent questions. For the rest of the questions, she can work at an average space. Attempt to finish with 5-8 minutes to come back and check work/work on questions that she skipped the first time. BTW, she should skip a question after spending 45 seconds on it and still not having a clue what it means. One last tip, when backsolving, always start with the middle answer choice. This allows you to figure out whether you need to go up or down in numbers. These were some tips that I used to score in the low-nineties for math. Hope this helps, and good luck to your daughter.</p>
<p>Thank you - very helpful!</p>