SAT For Dummies

Part VI

The Part of Tens

Chapter 31

In This Chapter

Soothing SAT nerves by preparing in advance

What’s that grinding noise? Oh, it’s your teeth. The SAT (Superlative Auspicious Talisman) can ratchet up the anxiety level of even the most Zenned-out test taker. But a few techniques can help you de-stress — ten, to be exact. (By the way, superlative means “highest quality,”auspicious means “favorable,” and talisman means “thing with magic powers.”)

Prepare Well

Well before SAT day, make sure that you go over this book carefully and shore up your weak spots. Try a practice test or two (or three or four or five!) in Part V. Then rest, because you’re ready for the big time.

Sleep It Off

Don’t party the night before SAT day, though I certainly understand your need to celebrate when the whole thing’s over. Fight SAT nerves with restful sleep. Also, don’t study on the last night before the exam. Watch television, build an anthill, or do whatever you find relaxing. Then hit the sheets at a decent hour.

Start Early

On SAT morning, set your alarm for a little earlier than you think you need to be up and about. Don’t go overboard! You don’t want too much extra time to obsess about all the things you haven’t mastered yet. With a safety margin of, say, arriving at the testing center a half-hour before the test begins, you can ready yourself for the exam with minimal pressure. Plus you have time to find the room, get a good seat, admire the view, and run to the restroom.

Make a List

SAT-morning jitters are no fun. To alleviate (ease) them, on exam eve make lists of everything you need to do before leaving the house and everything you need to take to the exam. Then go through the tasks one by one, departing the house secure in the knowledge that you’re ready. (See Chapter 2 for a list of items you don’t want to forget.)

Stretch Your Muscles

Before you start an SAT section, stretch your arms above your head as high as they’ll go. Slide your legs straight out in front of you and wriggle your ankles. Feel better?

Roll Your Head

Not the type of rolling that occurs after a session with the guillotine (a device that chops heads off), but a yoga-inspired exercise that induces (brings about) calmness. Close your eyes whenever you feel yourself tensing up. Let your head drop all the way forward, roll it in a circle, open your eyes, and hit the test again.

Breathe Deeply

Breathing is always a good idea, and deep breathing is an even better one. When the SAT overwhelms you, pull in a slow bucketful of air and then exhale even more slowly.

Isolate the Problem

On SAT day, friends are a pain in the neck. Why? Because your friends will say things like “What’s the meaning of supercilious?” “How do you solve for three variables?” And you’ll think, “I don’t know what supercilious means! I have no idea what a variable is! I’m going to fail and no college will take me and my life will be ruined.” Make a pact with your friends to stay silent about SAT questions or SAT-related information, or sit by yourself in the corner.

Become Fatalistic

A fatalist (one who accepts that much of life is out of control and that whatever happens, happens) does best on the SAT. Stop obsessing. Just sit down and do the test. You can worry about how you did after you’ve handed in the answer sheet.

Focus on the Future

No matter how bad it is, when you’re taking the SAT, you’re getting ever-closer to a truly wonderful time: the moment when you realize that the SAT is over, done, history. Focus on the future — that moment — whenever you feel yourself clench.

Appendix

Scoring the SAT isn’t as simple as tallying your right and wrong answers and coming up with a percentage, but it isn’t exactly rocket science either. For any of the five practice exams, use the formulas in this appendix to figure out your SAT scores for each section of the exam. (Turn to Chapter 1 for more details on SAT scoring in general.)

Determining Your Writing Score

You get three writing scores: an essay score (a number between 0 and 12), a multiple-choice writing score (a number between 20 and 80), and a combined writing score (a number between 200 and 800). The following sections show you how to calculate all three.

Essay score

Read and score your essay using the standards I explain in Chapters 7 and 8. After you’re done, you should have a number between 0 (didn’t answer the question) and 6 (ready to write for The New York Times). That number is your raw essay score. Double the raw score to get your final essay score:

Raw essay score _____ × 2 = Final essay score _____

Multiple-Choice Writing score

To calculate your Multiple-Choice Writing score, count the number of correct and incorrect answers you got in both Multiple-Choice Writing sections of the test. Then follow these steps:

1. Place the total number of correct answers from the Multiple-Choice Writing sections on Line 1 below.

2. Multiply the total number of wrong answers from both Multiple-Choice Writing sections by 1⁄4 and round to the nearest whole number; place your answer on Line 2.

3. Subtract Line 2 from Line 1 to get your raw Multiple-Choice Writing score.

4. Convert the raw Multiple-Choice Writing score by using the chart that follows.

Line 1 __________

Line 2 __________

Raw Multiple-Choice Writing Score __________

Combined writing score

Now that you have two writing scores — your essay score and the converted Multiple-Choice Writing score — add them together to determine your combined raw score. Use the following chart to find your final combined writing score.

Calculating Your Critical Reading Score

Of course you got everything right on the Critical Reading section, didn’t you? No? Okay then, join the rest of the human race, or at least the vast majority that makes errors on SAT reading questions. Then take a pencil and figure out your raw score, using the following method:

1. Count the total number of correct answers in all three Critical Reading sections, and place the number on Line 1 below.

2. Multiply the total number of wrong answers in the three Critical Reading sections by 1⁄4 and round to the nearest whole number; place your answer on Line 2.

3. Subtract Line 2 from Line 1 to get your raw score.

4. Convert the raw Critical Reading score by using the chart that follows.

Line 1 __________

Line 2 __________

Raw Critical Reading Score __________

Scoring the Math Sections

After you finish each practice exam, you may be tired of numbers, but muster up the energy to tackle just a few more — the raw score and the converted Math scores. First, figure out your raw score by doing the following:

1. Count the total number of correct answers in all three Math sections, and place the number on Line 1 below. (Count both multiple-choice questions and grid-ins for this step.)

2. Multiply the number of wrong answers to everything except the grid-ins by 1⁄4 and round to the nearest whole number; place your answer on Line 2. (Ignore the grid-ins for this step.)

3. Subtract Line 2 from Line 1 to get your raw Math score.

4. Convert the raw score by using the chart that follows.

Line 1 __________

Line 2 __________

Raw Math Score __________