How Test Prep Classes Help You Score Higher
Not everyone tests well. Even the most conscientious student, the one who exceeds in essays and homework assignments, may find themselves unprepared when test day rolls around. Exam stress is real, and it can rapidly turn into anxiety if the test you are taking is one that is impactful to your future. The SAT and ACT are exams where test prep classes can be a valuable addition to your study plan. Test prep courses will guide you to the most important material and teach you skills and strategies to help you manage your time so that when test day comes, you are prepared and confident.
1. Test Strategies, Tips and Tricks
The SAT and ACT are designed to test a student’s aptitude, but there is much more to acing these tests than simply understanding the material and working through questions in the order they are given. For example, over-investing time into solving tough questions may leave you out of time to answer the questions that you could have easily answered but the toughest question and the easiest question are still worth the same points. Below are some other strategies that a good test prep course will help you learn to apply:
- Understanding the sections and directions before the test
- Prioritizing questions and budgeting your time
- Multiple choice elimination
- Tips and tricks for each question type
2. Estimation and Elimination Skills
You may not need to know the correct answer to get the question right. If you know which choices are wrong, this will help you improve your chances. For example, if you can eliminate two possibilities, you will now have a 50% chance of correctly guessing the correct answer. Even if you don’t know which of the two is the right answer, you’ve just statistically earned 0.5 points.
Estimation skills can also be powerful, particularly when used in combination with the process of elimination. You may only need to do enough math to help you recognize which answer must be right or which answers must be wrong. It may not work on every question, but when you’re in a pinch for time, and you’ve left the tough questions for last, estimating can help you get more answers right in less time.
3. Time Management
Timed tests can be stressful. Test prep courses and practice tests will help you understand time management and teach you to identify which questions you will answer quickly and which ones you will need to spend more time on. Students often over-allocate time to difficult questions that they have a lower probability of successfully answering. Remember, the goal of the test is to answer as many questions correctly as possible. Using your estimation and elimination skills to “guesstimate” on the tough questions can save you valuable time that you can use to tackle questions that you have a great probability of answering correctly.
Some students work too quickly but there’s no bonus points for finishing early. Whether you find yourself working too fast or too slowly, pacing is an important skill for successful test taking.
In any case, ordering your answers by difficulty and not by page number will help you accomplish more in less time. This, in turn, increases your test-taking efficiency and gives you a higher score.
4. Familiarize Yourself With the Content
The most practical way to score well on the SAT and ACT is to familiarize yourself with the content covered and understand the common question formats. By reading through the prep course material and utilizing practice tests, you will begin to understand the patterns in the types of questions, reading passages and charts. Test courses review historical tests in detail and will give you great data on what you should expect the test to cover, including a breakdown of question types and topics on the test. For example, algebra might make up 40% of the test while trigonometry might make up only 10%, in which case it may make sense to allocate your study time proportionately to each topic.
5. Improve Proficiency
Another great way to familiarize yourself with the material being covered is to spend time with the question banks that often come with test prep courses. A question bank is a database of questions and answers that may be covered on the test. Question banks are very complementary to practice tests if there is a certain type of question or topic that you want to spend more time practicing on without devoting a full day to a practice test.
6. Identify Weaknesses
Is there an area where you’re having trouble? Test prep services will help you identify it and track your progress. It’s a good idea to take your diagnostic test as early as possible to help you understand where your weaknesses are so you can allocate your time appropriately. You may need time to revisit important material and study it in more depth.
7. Gain Confidence
Few situations are more empowering that walking into a testing center with your head held high, knowing you have a firm grasp on the material. Confidence is important to test-taking, particularly when it comes to utilizing strategies around time management and estimation. The more confident you are at the onset, the less likely you’ll be to second-guess yourself and forget the strategies you’ve been practicing. If you’ve studied adequately and invested time into understanding the content and test strategies, you’ll be in the best position possible for success.
