Common SAT testing errors

April 30, 2012

As one of the most important tests you will likely face in your life, the SATs are not to be taken lightly. If you do well on this exam, you'll have a great shot at being accepted to a college of your choice while being eligible for rewarding scholarship opportunities. However, many high school students commit grave but avoidable strategic errors when taking the SAT. Here are some tips on avoiding the most common mistakes.

Answer bubbles
Believe it or not, the one part of the SATs that messes up many people is correctly filling in the answer sheet. As the test uses machines to track right and wrong responses, failing to completely bubble in or erase an answer can produce negative results, according to FamilyEducation.com.

Not reading the full question
This might seem obvious, but reading each whole question carefully is vital to earning a good score on the SATs. While hurrying to complete the test in the time limit, many people overlook key details about which answer a problem may be looking for. Even though the wrong response may still make sense, it could miss the overall point of the question, according to SparkNotes.com.

Answering in order
As the SATs are combined of many different questions of varying difficulties, it's important to skip around on the test to answer as many questions correctly in the allotted amount of time, reports SparkNotes.com. Those students who insist on answering each problem in order can easily get bogged down on harder questions and run out of time.

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