Maintenance of a steady, productive pace and effective management of limited time are keys to unlocking optimal performance on the SAT/ACT. Getting stuck, spending far too much time on a small number of crazy-hard problems, can destroy test results. So can mindless rushing. These twin evils, once discovered, must be quickly and thoroughly exorcised. Fortunately, bad testing habits like these can be uprooted and replaced with better ones.
Getting hung up on annoying, difficult questions for long periods of time makes several things happen, all of which are bad for SAT/ACT math scores. Having wasted valuable minutes, you’re now behind the clock and feel an even greater need to rush. The added time pressure also increases stress. Realizing those sticky questions were too hard, and that you probably answered them all incorrectly despite the extra time and effort spent on them, you’re in a bad mood. All this is quite distracting and makes it hard to be energetic, creative, and attentive. Things spiral downward, and you feel you have no choice but to rush even more and nail every question. Which only makes things worse.
Getting stuck and rushing originate in the false belief that one must answer every SAT/ACT math question correctly to earn a high score (“finish the test” at all costs), and that slowing down when necessary is an unaffordable luxury.
This may well be true for tests in class. But on the SAT/ACT, nothing could be further from the truth. Students taking the SAT/ACT math test can safely make many more mistakes than would ordinarily be the case.
The scoring tool on a recent ACT showed students could make 20 errors out of 60 questions to earn an ACT Math 27 (90th percentile), 15 errors for an ACT Math 29 (95th percentile), 10 errors for ACT Math 32 (97th percentile), or seven errors for an ACT Math 34 (99th percentile). In most classes, a score of 90, 10% wrong answers, is an A-, a very respectable grade. On the ACT, however, an identical “grade” is granted even when answering 33% of the questions incorrectly! The same is roughly true on the SAT.
[Note: Since each question has four answer choices, blind guesses are right 1/4 of the time. Guessing on 20 out of 60 questions on the ACT math test would likely earn 5 extra points, which should cancel out any mistakes made on the other 40 (easier) questions. Impossible as it sounds, a student only needs to work on the 2/3 of the questions on the ACT math section, avoiding all the hardest questions, to earn a 90th percentile score.]
In the end, effective time management on the SAT/ACT boils down to not getting stuck. To avoid falling victim, “skip-guess” any difficult question on your first pass through the test, answer it with a random guess, flag the question for later review, and quickly move on to the next problem.
By skip-guessing all the hard problems and working only on relatively easy ones, you’re sure to reach the end of the test super early. With loads of extra time and energy, you can then evaluate how best to spend your remaining minutes. You can calmly and rationally “choose your battles,” deciding which of the harder, flagged questions to come back to on your second pass and the order in which to work on them, slowing down and spending more time on each question to help avoid careless mistakes and ensure success. Knowing you can safely lose a large number of points and still earn a great score, impossibly difficult “nightmare” questions can be safely ignored during your second pass.
Much more time. Much less stress. Far fewer careless errors. No discouragement, headache, or heartache from trying (and failing) to answer crazy-hard questions in a rush. Do you think your score would likely improve under such circumstances?
By employing these three simple strategies – Skip-Guessing, the Two-Pass Approach, and Choosing Your Battles – students routinely cut errors in half. Virtually overnight, an ACT Math 27 (20 errors, 90th percentile) can turn into an ACT Math 32 (10 errors, 97th percentile). That’s an entirely different college! No new math to learn. No additional practice work. All that’s required is the adoption of a new, more comfortable, vastly improved general approach to the SAT/ACT math test.
Following are two additional pacing strategies offering concrete help in the fight to avoid getting stuck.
The Five-Second Skip It’s crucial to decide quickly whether to work on a given problem during your first pass through the test or skip-guess the question for possible review later on. This is where getting stuck often happens. The rule is: give yourself only five seconds to decide. When in doubt, skip-guess the problem.
The 15-Second Skip Getting stuck can also happen in the middle of a difficult question as one bargains with oneself for “just a little more time.” A “little more time” can easily turn into several wasted minutes. This is bad. Here’s the rule: Anytime you stop making progress on a problem for 15 seconds, skip-guess the question.
WARNING: If you find yourself finishing early without skip-guessing a large number of questions, you’re rushing. To improve your score, you must skip-guess a lot more problems, and slow down a bit. As you see your practice test scores dramatically improve, you’ll be convinced and converted to this new approach.
Going too fast can be just as bad as going too slow. Slowing down slightly doesn’t cost you points! It actually helps you move faster and more successfully than before, since you won’t waste loads of time and energy to needless confusion and stress, nor will you lose nearly as many points to carelessness. Don’t go slow as a snail, of course! It’s best to drive in the middle lane of the freeway. Not too fast, not too slow.
Whatever you do ... don’t get stuck!
Remember that, working carefully to avoid pitfalls, there’s really no need to rush. Let go of false assumptions and unnecessary, uninformed expectations about having to perform perfectly. Your test-taking experience will improve, and so will your SAT/ACT math score.
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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.
