I've been out of high school for 6 years and one of the obvious requirements to go back to school is to have an SAT and/or ACT score to submit ... something I never took when I was in high school.

My question is what would be the best way to study for the SAT/ACT?

I know that I can get study guides and whatnot from Barnes & Noble, which is what I plan on doing. I also know there are websites I can go to to practice there as well. I just want to do this the most efficient way possible so that my score is fairly high on the first shot.

This isn't something that I want to have to redo in order to be accepted to the college I want to go to.

in regard to dreams, I had a dream last night that I was Harry Potter. And I was raped. By someone who looked like David Bowie from the Labyrinth but who turned out to be one of my engineering professors. I couldn't tell anyone about it because then I wouldn't get the credits I needed to get my degree. But every time I felt the slightest bit trapped or if someone made some kind of joking reference to sex or rape, I would throw up. Which everyone thought wasn't very Harry Potter-like, because after all, wasn't I supposed to be their little hero and lead them to triumph against Voldemort?

Figure that one out. Ugh, horrible, couldn't shake it all day.

As for the SATs, I think I just checked out the Princeton Review books from the library and sat there doing the practice exams for ages. It's basically algebra, trigonometry, geometry, probability, logic, reading, and vocabulary. Logic and reading are sometimes hard to improve, but by remembering some of the rules of trigonometry and probability (a bag has 10 marbles, 7 of which are green...), and some of the axioms of geometry that have to do with angles and triangles (sohcahtoa), and memorizing some vocab words, you can make a big improvement in your score. Especially probability, it has these formulas but if you don't know the formulas you end up wasting a lot of your time writing everything out by hand.
» Zanzibar on 2010-06-07 10:33:55

The SAT is one of those tricky things where you can't really "study" for it, I don't think. You just have to practice using your brain, and by some miracle of the world, you will get better at it. Back when I was in high school there was some website that posted practice questions every day. Those are really helpful, and they give you an idea as to what kinds of questions you'l see on the test. I'll try and find the link.

And even though you may not want to redo it, I think taking it a second time is good, just for good measure. I got 100 points higher the second time....so it was definitely worth the extra time and money.
» The-Muffin-Man on 2010-06-08 12:01:25

It helps if you're a good test taker. Knowing the information is of course very helpful, but sometimes you have to just make educated guesses. There's usually one answer that doesn't seem right at all, another one that seems unlikely, and two that seem possible. Since the SAT is timed you unfortunately can't take as long as you'd like with each question, but if one really seems that hard it's best to move on and finish the ones you can do, since you can always get back to the other one later.

I think Muffy is talking about College Board, with the practice questions. They help give you an idea of how the test is structured.
» randomjunk on 2010-06-08 03:51:57

I used to teach vocabulary (& a couple of the subject tests) for the SAT. Most tests, SAT included, test your ability to take a test; your knowledge is incidental. I would recommend memorizing Greek and Latin roots first, then a healthy list of college-level words. CollegeBoard does have an SAT question of the day, as well as a bunch of other helpful stuff: http://sat.collegeboard.com/practice/sat-question-of-the-day?src=R. You could also try general mental exercising with various games like sudokus, the stuff from Luminosity, brain teasers, games like Brain Age, etc. The most important things to do would be to learn how to take a test, be well-rested on test day, reduce your overall stress level, and have a healthy meal (I prefer oatmeal with fruit and cinnamon) before test time.
» fakebil on 2010-06-08 08:05:40

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