Have you taken a practice ACT or SAT, or done a few official practice questions, and felt like you didn't really learn anything? Or maybe you've already gotten your scores back for an official test and are left thinking… Now what?
Knowing WHY you got the results you did is even more important than the results themselves because you need that information in order to know how to improve.
So as you practice, take notes on patterns in your score reports or homework process:
- Are there certain questions you usually get wrong?
- Do you tend to rush or not finish on time?
- Do you feel like you SHOULD be doing better, but you get in your own head?
There are usually five main categories of test-taking hurdles:
1. Concepts
The most obvious reason to get a question wrong is not knowing the material. Maybe you haven't covered that topic in school yet, or you forgot the specific grammar rule.
Students taking the ACT can skirt around subjects they don't know by prioritizing being super accurate on the subjects they are confident in
However, Digital SAT students will need to ace the harder questions in order to make it to the higher-scoring second section.
Solution: Do some targeted studying on Khan Academy or speak to a teacher directly to refresh on the concept you missed.
2. Pacing
Many students struggle with how to spend their time on the SAT or ACT.
Either they finish the test way too fast and make simple mistakes, or they get stuck spending way too much time on questions that don't matter and end up missing out on crucial points elsewhere.
Solution: No matter which test you're taking, prioritize the questions you are confident you can answer correctly in order to get as many points as you can in the allotted time. Then go back and check the ones you saved. (On the Digital SAT, you can even flag these questions for later and be reminded of them before you submit your answers!)
Think of these go-backs as bonus points, rather than questions you should have answered.
3. Reading
Answering just one question on the English and some of the math sections of the ACT and SAT requires a lot of reading. Even the Digital SAT English, which is no longer doing full-length passages like the ACT, still throws a whole new paragraph at you with each question.
For some students, this is just too much
Solution: 1. Have an objective, and 2. Let the answers help. Use the final question and the answers to guide your attention and tell you what exactly you're looking for. Then, highlight or annotate certain bits of information so your eye can find them again quickly, and you don't have to re-read.
4. Visual or language processing
No one shows up to the test with just their knowledge or abilities; they also show up with their minds and bodies and feelings.
This is perhaps the trickiest part of the test to practice for, because it's impossible to know exactly what you will be feeling and thinking on test day.
Solution: Set smaller, more achievable goals for yourself that are not Absolute Perfection; then feel a sense of accomplishment as you tick them off. Give yourself mental breaks by saving some of the easy questions or passages for later. And practice your deep breathing techniques while you do practice questions or tests to make sure you build the muscle memory.
Remember, you can always try again!
As you walk through your test results or practice questions, see which of these hang-ups matches you best (keeping in mind you could have a different hurdle for each subject!), and then make a plan to focus your energy on supporting that specific difficulty.
Informed test-prep is much more efficient and effective!
Find more test-prep insights in our free Insider's Guide to the ACT and SAT, or sign up for one of our test-prep courses to take your test scores to the next level.
For help studying or making a college application plan that will gain you acceptance letters and scholarship awards, even when the process gets more and more complicated every year, our sister company March Consulting is here to help make the college admissions process make sense for you and your family.