What to expect if you are taking the SAT for the first time on April 1

Test Preparation
1

<p>My friend's tutor gave her this. I thought some of it was interesting and maybe helpful if you have never taken the test before and don't know that the proctors usually suck.</p>

<p>BEFORE TEST DAY</p>

<p>Of course you should get a good night’s sleep followed by a solid breakfast before the test, but really the entire week leading up to the test is important. Try to eat well all week and avoid any late-nights if at all possible. Any final assignments or meetings with your tutors should be wrap-up and review. Extensive last-minute cramming is not effective and may be detrimental to your state of mind. Don’t look at your SAT material the night before the test. Try to have a low-key evening with family or friends that leads to good sleep.</p>

<p>Get everything together that you will need for the test: directions to the test site, your admission ticket, calculator with fresh batteries, several pencils, picture ID, and snacks and drinks. You are allowed to take a bag into the testing room and leave it under your seat. </p>

<p>THE MORNING OF THE TEST</p>

<p>Eat a healthy, balanced breakfast. (Coffee and donuts would be a bad idea.) It is a long test with minimal breaks; you need to keep your energy up. </p>

<p>You must be at the site and in line no later than 8 AM, but there is no reason to arrive especially early. Depending on the size of the test site and how well it is organized, you may be in line for awhile. Some students find it helpful to bring something to read while waiting in line or in the car on the way to the test. A newspaper is a fine choice, or perhaps your essay idea bank. You want to wake your mind up for the essay which opens the test. </p>

<p>After you check in you will be directed to a room. Try to locate where the restrooms are on your way to the room. Once in the room, you may be assigned a seat, or you may be allowed to choose a seat. Our experience is that it is least distracting to sit in the front of the room. </p>

<p>Once you are seated, expect some time to go by before the test actually starts. It typically takes 15-30 minutes to seat everyone, re-check IDs, distribute test booklets, and bubble in all the required information on the answer sheet. Do not be surprised if things don’t seem well-organized. It is typical. </p>

<p>DURING THE TEST</p>

<p>Proctors can be lax or strict, pleasant or harsh, experienced or clueless. But all have received strict instructions to enforce a zero-tolerance cell phone policy. It is best to just leave your phone in the car. If you take it into the room, it must remain turned off (not just on vibrate) and out of sight at all times. You cannot turn it on at breaks, and you cannot use it as your timer. </p>

<p>The proctors are supposed to write on the board the stop time for the current section. Make sure the proctor clarifies whether the official time is the proctor’s watch or the clock in the room (if there is one). Some proctors will announce when 5 minutes are left in a section, but they are not required to do so. Worse, they may give a 5 minute warning for some sections but not for others. You should wear a watch and keep track of time yourself. </p>

<p>The schedule of sections and breaks should be as follows: </p>

<p>Section 1—the essay (25 minutes)
Section 2 (25 minutes)</p>

<p>5-minute break. You can leave the room to eat, drink and use the restroom.</p>

<p>Section 3 (25 minutes)
Section 4 (25 minutes)</p>

<p>1-minute break. You can stand up and stretch, but may not leave the room.</p>

<p>Section 5 (25 minutes)
Section 6 (25 minutes)</p>

<p>5-minute break. You can leave the room to eat, drink and use the restroom.</p>

<p>Section 7 (25 minutes)
Section 8 (20 minutes)
Section 9 (20 minutes)
Section 10 (10 minutes)</p>

<p>[for Subject Tests, there is a 5 minute break between each one-hour test]</p>

<p>You should absolutely bring snacks and drinks to the test. Power-bars and water may be better than candy-bars and Red-Bull. Use the restroom and eat something at the first break even if you think you don’t need to. Eating and drinking in the testing room is against the rules. Some proctors realize this is inhumane and will ignore the rule and allow students to eat and drink during the one-minute break, but you can’t count on this. Note that the last stretch of the test is the longest period without a break. Don’t lose focus, and don’t make mistakes on the 10-minute grammar section just because you are excited that the end is near. If you finish the last section early, you’ll still have to sit there until the 10 minutes are up. Sometimes the proctors start collecting the test booklets from the students who are done, before the 10 minutes are up. We wish they wouldn’t do this. Try to ignore it if you are still working.</p>

<p>At some point you will hear an announcement that you have until the Wednesday following the test date to notify the College Board if you want to cancel your scores. Please do not do this without consulting with us first. Unless you got sick and had to leave the test, canceling your scores is usually a bad idea. If you cancel, you (and we) will never know your scores and the experience will be of less value. Remember that you can take the test multiple times and colleges will evaluate you based on your best scores, either from one sitting (the UC policy) or even your best sub-scores from multiple test dates (the policy of most private schools).</p>

2

<p>This is really good advice, also, the last 4 sections do not have a break and it's 75 minutes of testing. There is no rule against standing up in the middle of a section and taking a little stretch if you need to. </p>

<p>Also, are mp3 players not allowed? I could not find the specific rule against them ON THE SAT. I found it for the AP tests, but not SAT tests. I don't see how it can possibly be a cheating device, and I'd never play it too loud . .</p>

3

<p>no way would they allow an mp3 player.</p>

4

<p>Is this some kind of a joke?</p>

5

<p>My daughter's testing school did not allow any snacks...in the room OR in the halls. She ate a light breakfast, assuming she could eat a banana at break.
No luck.</p>

6

<p>kjofw: wow, that's messed up. I know that for the very first new SAT (March 2005) the CB did not let food into the rooms, but they got a ton of flak for that and changed the policy quickly. The school is not following the rules. Just goes to show though that you never know what to expect.</p>

<p>GoIvy: which part, the mp3 player, or the whole thing? Everything in the original post is true, from my experience.</p>

7

<p>The mp3 thing seems to be pretty silly.</p>

8

<p>alright, well you know what I'm gonna do. . I'll talk to the proctor beforehand because they're pretty lax here, and I'll show her that I can't possibly cheat with it.</p>

9

<p>Good luck when they cancel your scores.</p>

10

<p>hey do you get your scores canceled if your cell phone rings in the middle of the test?
because some kid's phone rang in while i was taking the test and i really hope he got punished for it because it completely threw off my train of thought...lol...</p>

11

<p>First of all, thank you so much for this post!</p>

<p>-If my parents are dropping me off (I can't drive yet) and I bring a phone to tell them when to pick me up, is there any chance the proctor will try to confiscate it even if I turn it off before the test?
-Is it OK to bring a timer if I use it to count UP? (i.e. It won't beep when the section ends. Also, none of the buttons makes any noise when I push them, and even if I use it to count down, which I wouldn't do, it only makes the smallest noise... it's pretty much silent.)
Thanks again!</p>

12

<p>you're welcome. glad it is helpful.</p>

<p>you can bring your phone to the test. just keep it off and in your bag until after the test.</p>

<p>you cannot have a timer, whether it makes noise or not. wristwatch only. you cannot have anything on your desk except pencils, eraser, test booklet, and answer sheet, plus a calculator during the math sections only. </p>

<p>mentos07, that kid should have been kicked out and had his scores cancelled. I was three hours into the ACT last fall, and a kid got kicked out for reaching into his pocket to turn his cell phone off. he was worried that he had forgotten to turn it off. brutal.</p>

13

<p>Mentos07, as SAT2400 said, you should compain about that.</p>

14

<p>My D is taking the April 1 test (her HS is paying for the entire junior class to take it instead of a state test). Guess what? She's been sick all week with high fever, and now a bad cough. Doctor says it's viral and will take 10 days before feels much better! </p>

<p>So, since she has to take the test, should I now sign her up for the May AND June test (assuming she's not going to do very well on this one)? We were only going to have her do just two tests, the April and June.</p>

<p>Also, should I write the the codes of colleges she thinks she is applying to, or since we're not too optimistic about the scores she's going to get this time, should we leave that blank?</p>

<p>So much for best-laid plans. She's been attending extra help sessions 3x/week for 5 weeks now...</p>

15

<p>donna, i don't know what to tell you as far as the may and june dates, but i'd def. register for the june one
as far of the college codes, my school advises that we only put our high school code, not our college because when you're applying you can release your scores then</p>