Studying For The SAT While You Are In The Military

Disclaimer

This is an excerpt from a blog I wrote on my experience applying to Harvard:

The first thing I did was start studying for the SAT.  Most top end schools require veterans submit SAT scores, while pretty much every other school in the country waives this requirement for vets.  SAT scores are good for 5 years, so if you did happen to get a really good score in high school and you are in that window, great.  I was past 5 years, and my scores sucked anyways.  I started studying in February 2019, but the sooner you start the better.  Studying for the SAT is super easy now.  If you don't have a College Board account, make one.  Then use the Kahn Academy SAT practice to get going.  It's all pretty self explanatory, but it's important to know what you're up against so that you can study efficiently.  

I ended up with a 1480 out of 1600 after taking the test three times (June 1st, August 24th, October 5th all 2019).  Your SAT score is the most recent academic metric a college has to look at so it is very important to get the best score you can.  A big theme in your application should be that you are a better person than you were in high school.  The best way to give yourself credibility and show that you are at a higher level academically is to get a great SAT score.  

More info on studying for and taking the SAT:

Basically the SAT is made up of 2 important sections (Math, Reading & Writing), and one unimportant section (Essay).  Math and R&W are both scored separately, each out of 800 points.  They both combine to give you a score out of 1600.  You are allowed to take the SAT as many times as you want.  Different colleges look at your SAT scores differently.  Some colleges take your best overall Math score plus your best overall R&W score.  This is called a superscore, and that's how Harvard does it.  Other schools look at your best overall test score, and some schools even require you send them scores every time you take the test.  Some schools require the essay and some don't.  Harvard does (I think) I but they don't really care about the essay score (I didn't study for it at all).  After you do some research on your target school, you should know exactly what they want from you. 

Here are a couple strategies I used to get the best score I could:

• If superscoring is an option, start by studying only Math.  Studying for Math is essentially learning a list of skills.  If you know how to solve a certain type of problem, then it is easy.  If you don't have that skill down pat, then you may be staring at a problem for 10 minutes with no clue how to get the answer.  Reading & Writing on the other hand is a lot less technical, which means it's a lot harder to improve as quickly as Math.  When ALL of the math problems on the Kahn Academy SAT Practice are easy for you, you know you are ready to take the real test.  

• Take the real test while you are at the peak of your SAT Math ability.  Don''t worry about the R&W score.  I barely studied it at all for my first test.  The point is to have full focus on math so you can maximize that score. 

• After you finish your first real test, start studying Reading & Writing.  Pay no attention to Math, hopefully that score is maxed out.  There are a finite number of passages on Kahn Academy, so take them seriously the first time around. 

• There are 8 full practice tests.  I would take the first 4 as bench marks to track your progress and save the last 4 to take as warm ups for a full test day simulation.  

• If you are only studying for one section at a time and want to take a practice test, consider skipping all the question in the section you are not studying (you can take the tests again)

• Make studying an every day habit.  Studying for 30 minutes 7 days a week is way better that studying once per week for 3 1/2 hours.  I did the daily recommendations section almost every day at first and it seemed to take me about an hour.

• The practice tests are online, but the real tests are taken in paper booklets.  Flipping through the pages for some reason slowed me down.  Having extra time at the end to go back and double check your answers is valuable.

• Try doing an exact test day simulation.  The test is about 3 hours of total concentration, and you can end up being in the classroom for up to like 6 hours on test day.  You could get fatigued by the end.  Waking up and taking the test at the same time, not taking long breaks, and even printing out the test could help.

• Get used to the calculator you will be using for the test.

• Look up as many tips and tricks for taking the test as you can.  There are too many to completely list here and different test taking strategies work for different people.

For tips, questions, or requests, email me at tomdipietro@teamroommedia.com