<p>Right now, I'm planning on doing 1 test every two days, using the second day to review my answers.</p>
<p>I've been hearing that a lot of people do "chunks" of sections everyday... What does your SAT schedule look like? Is it 1 subject per day, or something else?</p>
<p>Right now, I think fatigue sets in about 2/3s of the way into the test and I can feel my mind flying all over the place. To get the best score improvements, should I continue taking entire tests or just do parts of it?</p>
<p>thats a LOT of testing especially with the SAT 2 and a half months away… when it was May
(prep for June SAT) I did a test every saturday and about two practice reading sections every wednesday… that was pretty much it.</p>
<p>If you want to teach yourself to stay focused, here’s my advice:
For one day a week, take 2 tests in one day directly back to back (20 or so minute break in between, enough for lunch). To compensate, take an off day before or two days after this day. If you can handle two tests, go 3 back to back to back. Once you do enough of these, one test will be a breeze. And you’ll train yourself to maintain your focus longer. </p>
<p>To give an analogy: running one mile used to be a lot for me. Enough that I’d be out of breath directly afterwards for more than a few minutes and have leg pain for the next day or two. It made sense because I rarely ran. But, I started running 1 mile a day, then 1.5 miles a day, then 2 miles a day, up to now 2.5 miles a day. Now, if I run one mile, it is SO easy. I try not to run just a mile anymore because it is too easy (If I do, I try to really push myself).</p>
<p>2 back to back tests (with 20 minute breaks) is ~7 hours of testing. As grueling, tiresome, and mind numbing as it sounds, I think I’ll try it :).</p>
<p>Some people might argue in favor of full tests only, but as long as you’re timing yourself, doing individual sections each day is good. I like doing individual sections because it’s much easier to implement strategies you’ve just learned to a single subject than learn tips all week and have to try them out in one sitting for the first time.</p>
<p>Doing full tests helps you get used to actual testing conditions and the fatigue that comes with it. I would recommend doing no more than 1 full test a week.</p>
<p>Taking entire tests is a waste of time unless you are equally poor / good at each section.
If you really want to take entire tests at a time, like the poster above, I would limit it to once a week. </p>
<p>The ideal ‘workout’ would be as such:</p>
<p>At the start or end of the week, take a full length practice test.</p>
<p>Section you did best at: Work once [one / two sections on one weekday]
Section you did middle at: Work twice [ one / two sections on two other weekdays]
Section you did worst at: Work thrice [ one / two sections on three other days]</p>
<p>If you do an entire test every two days, you will NOT have the time or energy to truly think / comprehend / understand WHY [key word, WHY] you got those questions wrong and how you can improve the next time.</p>
<p>Working effectively is far better at improving your score than with blind effort. Focused study is far more effected than going at it with a mallet, at least in my opinion and experience.</p>
<p>Testing in one sitting and chunking will yield different scores because “tiredness” is a factor. So unless you MIRROR the real testing situation, you won’t get an accurate score.</p>
<p>anhtimmy, would “chunking” help speed up the learning process? with 7 days in the week, I figured that I can do 1 subject a day for 6 days and then 1 complete Test on Saturday, so that would be ~3 tests a week.</p>
<p>It seems like it would be considerably easier to go over and analyze each question if it was chunked down to this level, and I would also have the test at the end of the week to measure my progress…</p>
<p>What I do is chunking for some practice tests and taking full ones for others, depending on the company. I usually only take CR for Kaplans (they are warm-up, since they are way too easy), and then when I feel ready I will take a test. I take no more than 2 tests a week, mostly because I’m still training myself for the essay. the idea is to “chunk” in the areas that need the most improvement. If lets say that you can usually get 800 M with no problem, you don’t really need to focus on it at all. It’s just a waste of time then.</p>
<p>I’d say that my mistakes are pretty spread out. I’m getting around ~700 on each subject, so I can’t really say that any subject is weaker than another.</p>
<p>Since your mistakes are spread out, concentrate on math first (which is easiest to improve), then writing, then CR. you’ll get a lot more done that way.</p>
<p>This is for me, but when I chunk, I find myself drawn to doing the sections I perform better on and ignoring the others. I also noticed that I can’t switch mind sets (ie: doing a CR passage after tackling 4 math sections). Taking everything in one sitting will allow you to “train” your mind to adapt to the different sections more efficiently.</p>