SAT & ACT Tips
10 Common Mistakes Students Make on the SAT & ACT
Over the 10+ years I have been tutoring math, SAT, and ACT online and in NYC, I have come across hundreds of students with different studying and test taking habits. Below is a list of some of the most common mistakes I see students make when taking standardized tests. While it is not realistic to list all the major mistakes a student can make, if you look through this list thoroughly and remember them when practicing, I am sure you will catch yourself from making some of these mistakes.
1. Spending too much time on any one question
In a timed standardized test like the SAT or ACT, you have on average roughly just over a minute per question depending on the section and test. I find some students, especially perfectionists, too often insist on figuring out a problem before moving on, which can be very costly. Each question is worth the same after all. If you spend 4 minutes on one question, you just likely forfeited points for 3 other questions on the test! Hardly a good exchange.
2. Leaving answers to questions blank
In some test settings, it is discouraged to guess randomly if you do not know how to solve a problem. Not on the SAT or ACT. There is no penalty for guessing so under no circumstance should you not guess an arbitrary choice as an answer. If you do not guess, you are basically leaving free points on the table for no reason. I suggest always leaving 5 minutes at the end of every section to guess on unanswered questions, or for revisiting questions you were not sure about.
3. Running out of time from poor pacing management
In timed tests, it is important to manage pacing well. This is a balance of how much time to spend per question, knowing when to move on despite unfinished questions, how much time to leave at the end of review, and other useful habits to save small chunks of time.
4. Getting a question wrong from not answering what was asked
Often times, a student gets an answer wrong not because he or she did not know the math concepts and steps, but due to not answering what was actually asked. For example, if a question was something like “5x = 3x + 12, what is the value of 2x?”, there are always some students who know to solve for x. They get to x = 6 and pick 6 as the answer. However, the question was actually asking for 2x, which is 12.
5. Making calculation errors despite knowing what to do
There are also scenarios where students perform all the right calculations, equation setup and interpretations, etc, but end up getting a question wrong because they miswrote a number or wrote 2 + 4 = 8. These are just small careless mistakes, which can be corrected with attention to detail, but are still costly if ignored.
6. Not effectively using process of elimination
Sometimes it is much easier to eliminate wrong answer choices than immediately arriving at the right choice. Be sure to save yourself time and confusion by marking and eliminating choices you know for sure are wrong.
7. Forgetting fundamental concepts and formulas
There is no way around just basic formulas like y = mx + b or definitions like what is a y-intercept, or how to calculate slope. In this case it is just a matter of remembering the concepts well like the back of your hand.
8. Getting confused by long word problems even though the math is not complex
There are problems on the SAT and ACT where it can sound like it is describing a very complicated problem due to the way they word it, but in reality the math concepts are relatively simple. The best way around this confusion is to just underline the most important pieces of information they give you, or list them out in bullet points. Take out the fluff, and just focus on the relevant info.
9. In grammar and writing sections, not being familiar with grammar rules tested
On the SAT and ACT, most grammar and writing questions can be categorized into roughly 10-15 question types. They test these same concepts over and over again just in slightly different variations. Once you know the most common question types, you probably easily answer 80-90% of questions correctly.
10. In reading sections, not justifying answers with some type of evidence
In the verbal or reading section, a combination of process of elimination and finding evidence for answers will help a lot with discerning between answer choices that sound confusingly similar. Eliminating obviously wrong choices can often be easier than jumping to the right choice. If you can find evidence and justification in the passage for one answer choice and not another, that helps you narrow possibilities further as well.
