Secrets to a 1500+ SAT Score From a Top-Scorer!

Oh standardized testing, dreaded and feared (DELETE the underlined portion – I’m sorry, it’s a habit, the SAT has really gotten to me) by so many students worldwide. If you’re currently a student studying for standardized testing (which you probably are, given the fact that you clicked on this post), I’m very sorry. However, don’t worry! I was in the same position not long ago, and finally, this journey of standardized testing has finally culminated in a score that I’m happy with. I’m here to share with you my tips, study strategies, and tricks I used to get a 1550 on my first try on the SAT without a tutor and all for free! (except for the registration fee and all that, of course)

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1. Take a practice test. You can find them on the College Board website, or by clicking the button below. Choose your study plan from below based on the range that you’re scoring in currently.

If you’re scoring below 1000…

You likely have large gaps in your knowledge of the content that is being tested on the SAT. However, consider your academic background first. Have you finished taking Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II in school? If not, try to take the SAT only after you’ve completed those courses. I jumped nearly 100 points in the math section alone just from finishing Algebra II. If you’ve already finished those classes, really take the time to learn the basics of each section by practicing reading skills, learning simple grammar rules, and getting comfortable with algebra, since most of the SAT math is algebra. If you won’t be able to take the required coursework before your test date or you need extra help, there are lots of resources online for learning the fundamentals, such as Khan Academy or PurpleMath. These fundamentals appear on more than just the SAT, so it’s very important that you truly understand the content here. You don’t necessarily have to learn this content directly from SAT prep resources. In fact, sometimes the math in SAT prep resources can be confusing if you don’t have the fundamentals down yet, because they talk about shortcuts, and I never recommend learning shortcuts the first time around. If you’re struggling with the reading and writing sections, the only way to improve is to get more comfortable with English. Start regularly reading pieces of writing that are like the ones that appear on the SAT, which you can find on websites, magazines, and books, and make sure you’re comprehending what you’re reading. Learning a language is a gradual process, so there aren’t really any tricks or strategies to learn reading comprehension overnight. Advanced English classes at school can be drastically different from what’s tested on the SAT, so it’s hard to promise a score increase after finishing the required coursework at school.

If you’re scoring in the 1000s to 1300s…

You likely have the basics down for most of the concepts tested on the SAT. However, you might not be fully comfortable with the test itself or with certain concepts, so take time to read over exactly what is tested on the SAT and figure out what your weak spots are. Drill down on those weak spots by watching videos and practicing questions. For the reading section, develop your own strategy for how to tackle each question, and really get comfortable with the format of the section. Each question on the reading section has one answer that is objectively, undeniably right, while the rest are objectively, undeniably wrong (hey, would you look at that! Parallel structure! Okay, I’ll stop), so make sure you understand that and find your strategy to search for the wrong answers. For math, one YouTube channel that I recommend for identifying what exactly you need to know is John Jung – The Admissions Hackers, which I used for review. For reading and writing, figure out which questions you’re getting wrong and why you’re getting them wrong. Are you having trouble comprehending the passage? Do you understand the questions? Sometimes, strategy can make a huge difference here. If you struggle with comprehending the passage when you read it the first time, try skimming the questions first so you’ll at least know what to look for in the passage.

If you’re scoring in the 1300s to 1400s…

A score above 1500 is definitely within your reach! The most significant difference between scoring in the 1400s and 1500s is familiarity with all of the SAT content areas. However, be careful about being too confident if you hit this range on your first test, as it could be due to luck. For example, if you’re really strong in algebra and the test happens to have the majority of questions in algebra and some easy geometry, then you might not score as well on a test with a different composition of questions. So, take a few more practice tests to see if you truly know everything that will be tested on the SAT. Then, work on getting down every single topic that could be tested. Also, work on developing your testing strategy. For me, I completely speed over the entire math section, sometimes finishing the no-calculator section in just 10 minutes. This strategy works for me because I know I’ll perform worse when I feel like I’ve spent too much time on one question and haven’t seen the rest of the questions, and by speeding through all of the questions, I know I’ve at least answered all of them, and I can go back to check my work. Yet, for some people, this is the absolute worst possible strategy, because it gives them the opportunity for a landmine of mistakes. Find a strategy that works for you, and this will help you save time.

If you’re scoring from the 1500s to 1600…

That’s really, really, really good, especially if it’s your first try! If a score in the 1500s is one that you’d be happy with, just make sure to practice the format of the test so you’re comfortable with it. See if you have any weak content areas, especially in topics that sometimes appear but aren’t tested on very often. For example, circle theorems don’t appear that often on the SAT, but it was something that I didn’t know very well, and luckily I practiced it since it did show up on my SAT. This is super important because you could be getting an amazing score on your practice test, but once you come across something that you just didn’t practice, it can totally tank your score. If you’re aiming for a perfect score, you basically need to know the content perfectly while also not making any mistakes. When practicing, be relentless when catching your mistakes. Even if it was a silly mistake, don’t let it go. I had a problem with this, since whenever I made a silly mistake, I just thought, “oh it’s fine, I know that I have to substitute it back in to check for extraneous solutions, I just forgot.” Don’t do that. Make sure you remember next time (also check your extraneous solutions).

2. Analyze the mistakes you made on the practice test. If you need more help understanding foundational subjects, take the time to relearn those topics on YouTube or Khan Academy.

For example, when I began studying for the SAT, I knew that I was weak in geometry since I hadn’t done geometry for a very long time. I read lots of books and watched videos on geometry, specifically on the areas that were tested on the SAT. I didn’t need to relearn all of geometry class with the side-angle-side, side-side-whatever theorems because those things aren’t tested on the SAT. Khan Academy is also a great way to figure out the content areas you’re weakest in, because their practice tool includes a skill level gauge. Aim to reach skill level 4 in all of the content areas, and work on ones where you haven’t reached the top skill level. Don’t leave any bases uncovered.

However, I have to admit, I still don’t understand chords and tangents…

3. Figure out your target score.

I think many students overlook this step, and I know that I definitely only realized this after I had taken the SAT. Your target score is dependent on what colleges you’re applying to, and to find this information, search for the 25th to 75th percentile SAT scores of the colleges you’re applying to. Your target score should fall within this range, and ideally, aim for the 75th percentile score. As for top schools, although some students may think that having a 1600 will guarantee a spot at a top school or that it’ll make a significant difference in their applications, the SAT is actually just used as a measure to verify your GPA and to make sure that you’re up to the academic rigors of the school, so for most top schools, a score above 1530 is enough to let the school know that you’re prepared for college. It’s not worth it to retake a score that’s above 1530. In the Harvard admissions lawsuit, it was found that an ACT score above 33, which roughly translates to around 1460 on the SAT, is in the same category as a perfect score, so the difference between a few points really doesn’t matter as much as you think. If you’ve already exceeded the score range for the schools you want to apply to, then you’re all set!

4. Understand what will be tested on the SAT.

One of the best examples of this is data collection and sampling questions. There are actually very strict rules by the SAT about how data can be generalized and whether or not the sample is representative of the population. Most high school math classes don’t teach this, so learning the rules for these questions takes just a couple minutes but ensures you’ll know what to do when you come across one of these questions on the SAT. Books are especially helpful for getting this information. PrepExpert offers books as well on the content and material tested on the SAT as well, including books on the Digital SAT that may be helpful for those taking the new version of the SAT.

I used three books to prepare for the SAT: The Official SAT Study Guide, SAT Prep Black Book by Mike Barrett and Patrick Barrett, and The College Panda’s SAT Math Book by Nielson Phu. All of these books were from the library or I got the PDFs online for free, so I didn’t spend any money buying SAT books. Personally, I wouldn’t say any of the books were life-changing for me, but I would say the The Official SAT Study Guide served to list out exactly what is tested on the SAT, the SAT Prep Black Book gave an overview of the concepts, and The College Panda’s Math Book went in depth into each concept that shows up on the math section. I didn’t use any books for reading and writing since I couldn’t get them at the library, although it’s important for the grammar section to understand the SAT’s grammar rules as well. However, I didn’t have too much trouble with grammar rules since I’m kind of a Grammar Nazi in real life (I hate it when people use the wrong “your” or “there” and I don’t get “effect” and “affect” mixed up), so I just needed to review my commas, dashes, semicolons, and colons.

5. Think about how much time you have to study.

How much time you need is actually highly dependent on how much you still need to learn. If you need to learn the fundamentals of algebra, you’ll probably need at least a few months of dedicated studying, or more, depending on how fast you learn and how much you need to learn. However, if you’re already familiar with all the rules and concepts that are on the SAT, I would venture that you’re actually going to be fine with just a few weeks of reviewing concepts and learning the tricks of the test. While I started casually studying for the SAT about a year before the test, I only started studying intently for the test about a week before. However, I definitely didn’t cram, and it was mostly just reviewing material that I wasn’t fully comfortable with by watching videos and practicing problems. That’s also an important piece of advice: don’t cram for the SAT. The SAT has a lot of material that has been learned over a long period of time, so you’re going to forget everything if you try to cram. As for the days leading up to your test day? While you shouldn’t be cramming right up until before the test, it’s fine to do some light review. PrepExpert provides a review session through their Weekend Review SAT Prep Course. Watch a couple videos reviewing concepts, do some light practice problems, and read over some resources. It can help to practice some problems right before the SAT, but definitely try not to stay up all night studying the day before!

6. Prioritize certain sections over others.

Yup, not all sections are created equal. On average, you can get 14 incorrect on the SAT Reading (assuming you get everything else right) and still get a 1500, but if you miss 14 questions on the math section, your score drops on average 40 points lower for the same number of questions wrong. It’s also much more common to still have a perfect score if you miss 1 or 2 questions on reading than if you miss questions in math. So, here is the list of priorities for SAT sections, in the order that you need to make sure to get within a range that you’re happy with first:

1. Math (No Calculator)
2. Writing and Language
3. Math (Calculator)
4. Reading

This is because longer sections usually have better curves, and the curves for shorter sections are brutal if you miss a question. For me, prioritizing math made a lot of sense because I’m a student going into STEM, so math is a lot more important for my intended major. Also, I realized that if I got a perfect or near-perfect score on the math section, I just needed a reading and writing score above 700 to get a great SAT score overall, which is a lot more feasible than focusing on both. I also found math to be a lot more objective than the reading and writing sections, and I could have a better gauge of predicting my score in math than in reading and writing.

7. Learn certain tips and tricks for each section.

Reading:

• There are three common strategies for reading questions. The first one is to carefully read over the passage and then answer the questions. The second is to read the questions first, then skim over the passage, and finally answer the questions.The third is to skip directly to the questions and use the line references in the questions to get an understanding of the passage. 
• If you don’t know which option would work best for you, the best way to find out is to do three reading passages and try out each strategy.
  • I’d say that the third strategy is best for people who have a hard time focusing on passages in a high-stress situation, since it gives you a clear objective on what to remember from the passage.
  • The second strategy might work well if you plan on marking the passage with where to find each piece of information for each question.
  • Finally, the first strategy is just the most standard strategy, and it works if you can comprehend and retain information from the passage well.
• On the reading section, make sure to NEVER make any interpretations, which means the SAT is nothing like many English classes.
• Everything on the SAT has to be either restated from the text or an example of something that was stated in the text. 
• It’s often easier to identify incorrect answers first, so start by finding the three incorrect answers. 
• If something sounds almost right, but there’s just a word that’s off, then the answer choice is likely wrong. Don’t choose something because it’s almost right.
• For questions with line references asking for evidence to support the previous question, use the line references to answer the question. The line references have to match up with the answer choices in the previous question, so any choices that don’t match up can be eliminated.
• Don’t be afraid of marking up your test booklet (NOT your answer sheet). Mine was a mess with tons of scribbles, underlines, and circles, since I found that it helped me mark the sections of a passage that were important to the question.
• I don’t recommend writing detailed annotations, though, because writing out words wastes time.

Writing:

• The shortest and simplest answer is usually, but not always, the correct answer.
• This doesn’t apply to the questions that ask whether a sentence should be included or deleted.
• Learn your grammar rules, particularly when to use a comma, semicolon, colon, and dash.
• If multiple answer choices seem to work, check for redundancy or incorrect subject placement.
• If you’re deciding between what sounds right and what follows a grammar rule, go with the grammar rule. The language can change, and sometimes what sounds right isn’t the rule that the SAT follows.
• If all of the answer choices sound correct, read the broader scope of the passage. Check the subject-verb agreement, because sometimes you’ll find that while the content makes sense, one option has the verb acting on the wrong subject.

Math:

• Look at the problem and think about the steps to finding the solution. After 30 seconds, if you still can’t figure out what you need to do to solve the problem, skip it and move on.
• You might not realize it, but you do this intuitively for easy questions. It works the same way for hard problems, so you just need to mentally think about the steps you need for any hard problem.
• Figures in geometry problems are drawn to scale unless stated otherwise, and you can use that to your advantage.
• For example, if an angle looked congruent, then I assumed it was, and if it looked supplementary, I assumed it was. 
• I didn’t bother to remember all of my geometry theorems, so my reasoning was that there was likely a theorem that I just didn’t remember. The SAT also doesn’t penalize for wrong answers, so if you just can’t move on with the question because you don’t remember the theorem, the best way is just to make assumptions so you can move on with the problem.
• READ CAREFULLY! I missed one math question on the test, and it was because I didn’t read the block of text carefully. Make sure you’re solving for the right thing, since the SAT likes to trick you by adding answer choices that would be right if you were solving for a different thing, like if they had asked for the radius instead of the diameter.
• The square root of a number is always positive since the SAT only asks for the principal square root, but a number that is being squared can be positive or negative.
• For example, both -2 and 2 squared are 4, but √4 is only 2, not -2.
• You don’t need to know any obscure formulas for the volume of obscure shapes. The SAT gives you formulas for the volume of shapes.
• This isn’t the case for surface area questions though, but those are typically solvable with your regular rectangle and triangle area formulas. Read carefully to see if the question asks you to solve for surface area or volume!
• Scatterplots look deceptively simple, but they’re easy to miss if you just pick the equation that looks about right. Check the line of best fit by plugging in simple points, like 0 and 1, into each equation.
• If you’re stuck on a word problem with a huge block of text, underline the important information, which will help you translate it into an equation.

8. Practice regularly using Khan Academy SAT Practice and SAT resources.

Make sure to always use practice problems that are written by the College Board themselves, because you don’t want to be practicing a ton of problems that won’t ever show up on the test. For example, I practiced from a SAT Math book that had a question about finding a second variable where the only way to solve it was to make up numbers and plug them in. That sort of question never appears on the SAT, or anywhere outside of that practice question, for that matter. Anyways, the best resource for practicing questions directly from the College Board is Khan Academy SAT Practice. They’ve partnered with the CollegeBoard to provide thousands of practice questions written by the writers of the SAT themselves, all for free, and they also have free lessons and worked out examples available. It’s awesome as a free resource, and probably your best bet for practice questions. Another resource for study materials are the books by PrepExpert, which includes practice questions, cheat sheets, and strategies for certain sections.

I didn’t purchase any books specifically for the SAT, and I borrowed all of mine from my local library and school library. That worked fine for me, but if you want to have your own copy without spending a lot of money, Amazon and eBay have lots of good second-hand copies from students who are done with their standardized testing days. There’s not really a compelling reason to buy a brand new book, and a second-hand copy will work just fine (as long as it hasn’t been written in and completed by someone else). You could also see if there are any friends or family who have old copies of SAT books that they could give you. As for book recommendations, I didn’t find any that were absolute must-reads, but the Official SAT Study Guide by the College Board is pretty helpful in understanding what will be tested, The Black Book by Mike Barrett provides some helpful overall tips and tricks, and The College Panda Math Book goes into depth about every single content area of the SAT math section.

9. Take full tests using the SAT practice tests released by the CollegeBoard and Question and Answer Service Tests.

The SAT has 10 full-length practice tests available for free on their website. However, 10 tests don’t last as long as you think. That’s why there are other free official tests that you can access! The College Board releases what they call their Question-and-Answer Service (QAS), where they release the official tests taken on actual test dates and answer explanations for a fee. But the free version of these tests has actually been compiled for public access on Reddit, and there are over 20 released tests that you can use to practice with. It’s absolutely essential that you’re familiar with the format of the test, because you don’t want to just find out on test day that the SAT has 52 reading questions, not the 11 that you practiced on Khan Academy. (Has that happened to anyone? I hope not…)

10. Have a good mindset throughout the process.

I know, it’s cheesy. You’re probably thinking, “yeah, whatever.” But I had such a huge improvement in my score when I began taking the SAT with the mindset that I could correctly answer every single question on the test. It stated in the Black Book that as long as you can understand the question for the math section, you can answer the question. This was such a huge revelation for me, and my score jumped so much when I realized that the math really isn’t that difficult on the SAT. The biggest challenge is just understanding what the question is asking, and once you figure that out, the math is the easy part. It’s also really helpful to know exactly what type of material is tested, so if you come across a question where you think, “Don’t you need calculus for this?” you’ll know for sure that you don’t need calculus because the SAT doesn’t test that. Take the test feeling like you can do it, and it really will improve your score, trust me.

11. When the SAT comes around, make sure you’re consistently scoring in the range of your target score on full practice tests.

Yes, sometimes miracles happen, and you score much higher than anything you’ve ever gotten on a practice test. However, that’s not very likely, so it’s best to make sure that you’ve scored within the range of your target score on at least 3 recent full-length practice tests. Make sure to take the practice test in an environment similar to the testing center as well, with the same timing, breaks, and noise level, since you don’t want to be shocked by the environment when you get to the testing center. I’ve actually heard of a student who, on the day of their practice SAT test, would wake up, drive around for 15 minutes, pretend to check in, and take the test on a school desk that they borrowed. I don’t think that level of simulation is necessary, but hey, if you have access to a school desk, why not go for it?

12. Last-minute SAT Day Tips!

Make sure to go to the bathroom beforehand. Nothing is more annoying than having to pee in the middle of something important. Triple-check that you have everything you need, because during my SAT, someone actually got kicked out because they forgot their ID. Here is the list of what you need on testing day:

• Admission ticket (Please print it! They don’t accept digital copies)
• Acceptable photo ID (Has to be a physical copy)
• At least two No. 2 pencils with erasers (I probably brought like 50…. Better safe than sorry!)
• An approved calculator
• If you have allergies, you can bring your EpiPen

Make sure to eat a good breakfast beforehand. I like eating my favorite oatmeal bowl since it keeps me full, and you can find the recipe on my blog here. Also, there are breaks in between certain sections of the SAT, so you can bring a healthy snack as well. I brought trail mix, but fruits and vegetables are also great options to keep you energized. Make sure to avoid sugary foods and caffeine since you don’t want to crash in the middle of the test. If you have long hair, I recommend bringing a hair tie. I didn’t want to have to constantly push my hair back, so I basically put my hair in a man bun during the test. It wasn’t the most attractive, but you know, priorities. (Don’t worry, you probably won’t meet any cute guys during the SAT.)

It can also be helpful to bring a watch (make sure it doesn’t beep or make sounds!), especially if you’re put in a room where you can’t see the clock clearly. You should also dress in layers, because you don’t know what the air conditioning will be like at the testing center, so that way you can adjust your clothing for the temperature.

Once you’re taking the test, if you come across a question that you don’t know, skip it and move on. Don’t waste five minutes trying to find the answer to one question because all of the questions are worth the same. Circle the ones you need to come back to, and when you’ve at least answered all of the questions you can, come back to those that you had trouble with. Also, one strategy that worked for me was to bubble in my answers only after I had circled all the answers in my test booklet. This helps save time, since you won’t need to turn towards the answer sheet every few seconds to bubble in your answers, and it also minimizes mistakes, since you won’t run into the problem of realizing you missed a question and now all of your answers are off by one (a test taker’s worst nightmare). Finally, when it comes to guessing, some people say that you should pick a choice to be your lucky letter of the day, for example, C, and if you come across a question that you absolutely need to guess on, just pick C every time. The reasoning is that if you pick C every time, you have a ¼ chance of getting it correct than if you randomly picked an answer. I don’t really have a strong opinion on whether or not you should do this, but when it comes to guessing, be wary of the answer choices that sound almost right but just a few words off. Those ones are usually wrong and designed to trick you.

13. If you’re an overthinker, this isn’t for you… But in case you ever want to predict your score…

The curve is different for each test, so you can’t predict your score before it comes out. But if you just really enjoy freaking yourself out for some reason…. There’s a SAT score calculator that takes the average curve of 34 tests to predict a score based on how many questions you think you got wrong. Warning: Don’t get too caught up in predicting your score. Seriously, it’ll be fine. Chill out.

14. Celebrate!

And that’s a wrap! You’ve finally finished this momentous task in the college admissions process, and trust me, it will feel like such a relief to find out that months and months of hard work have finally paid off, and you’ll never need to think about the SAT ever again (until you start writing a blog post about it a week later… Oh wait, that’s just me). So just relax, celebrate, buy a birthday cake, whatever you need to do. I’m so proud of you!

Should I retake the SAT?

If you finished taking the SAT, hopefully you’re feeling good. However, if you have a bad feeling about your score, the SAT allows you to retake the exam. Theoretically, you can take it as many times as you want, but it’s definitely not recommended to take it more than three times because, by that point, colleges will begin to question your abilities. Firstly, if you know something went horribly wrong during the SAT, for example, if you were sick or had some sort of emergency, you have the option of canceling your score. You can do this by sending a written and signed letter to the College Board asking to cancel your score, but you need to act fast because the deadline is the Thursday after your testing date. However, if you just didn’t feel super confident about your score, don’t cancel it. If you did really well on one section, some schools will allow you to take the best scores from each section of the different tests you took and superscore them. Also, if you scored above a 1530, it’s typically not worth it to retake the SAT. A 1530 is above the 50th percentile at most schools, even top colleges, and you’re much better off improving the other parts of your application. The only exception is if your score is unbalanced in the context of your desired major, like if you got an 800 in Reading and Writing and a 730 in Math as a prospective math major aiming for a top math program, which in this case, you might want to retake for a better math score. Or just take another math exam, like AP Calculus.

Signing up for retakes seems like an easy task; just login and reserve a spot. However, spots for the SAT can be very scarce, especially with a pandemic. In fact, after my SAT, there were no testing centers within a 50 mile radius that had openings for the March or May SAT, and I took the SAT in December! That brings up the question: how important is the SAT anyway? With many schools becoming test-optional, standardized tests are no longer a requirement. So you definitely don’t NEED an SAT score to get into college, although it can be a boost to your application if you have a great score. I personally think it’s worth it to retake the SAT if you have the option to, but if not, it’s much better to focus your attention elsewhere, like on your grades or extracurriculars, than to try to fly across the country to retake the SAT.

Finally, here’s my story about my SAT!

So I got a 1550 (760 EBRW and 790 M) on the December 2021 SAT on my first try. I didn’t take any SAT prep classes, and I studied just by using free resources. As for my academic background, I’m currently in IB Mathematics HL, which is a much higher level of mathematics than what is tested on the SAT. I finished Algebra II and Trigonometry in ninth grade, so going into the SAT, I had already gotten very familiar with using algebra. However, because of the higher level math class, I definitely did overthink some questions. For example, there was one question about “how many people got [blank] given that they already got [blank]?” on a practice test I took, and I thought, “That must be a conditional probability question since it says ‘given that’!” and proceeded to use the complex Bayes’ Theorem formula. It was not a Bayes’ Theorem question. It was simply dividing the first number given by the second number given. As for my English background, I’m in IB Language and Literature HL, but it doesn’t really matter, since SAT Reading and Writing have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in common with IB English. However, I’ve had lots of practice with reading and writing because of my blog, and that did play a big role.

Before I started studying for the SAT, I got a 1290 (690 EBRW and 600 M) on my PSAT 8/9. By the time I started studying for the SAT, I was usually scoring in the 1400s range, and this was about a year before the actual SAT. However, the jump wasn’t gradual. I jumped from scoring in the 1200s to scoring in the 1400s basically overnight, and this was purely from finishing all the required math courses, which included Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II. The practice material I used all came from official tests, where I would often take the tests one section at a time. I don’t necessarily recommend practicing with full tests, since I ran out of full tests pretty quickly. Instead, I recommend using Khan Academy if you just want to practice a few problems and not take the entire test in one sitting. I never took the ACT since it has shorter timing, which is a huge problem for me since I get nervous whenever I run out of time.

By the time the December SAT came around, I was consistently scoring in the 1500s range, with a 1580 as my highest score ever and a 1560 on the last practice test I ever took. On the day of the SAT, everything went fairly smoothly. While I felt a bit fuzzy on the reading and writing sections, I thought I got everything right on the math section. After I finished the test, I predicted that I would get a 1540. However, being the overthinker that I am, I started rethinking all of the problems in my head and trying to figure out what I got wrong. I really freaked myself out with this overthinking, and at one point, I considered canceling my score because I thought I had messed up horribly on the test. Good thing I didn’t, since in the end, I did better than I thought I did.

So what have I learned from this? It’s definitely an unpopular opinion, but I still think the SAT is a completely achievable test for everyone. The content on the SAT isn’t anything impossible, and once you realize that you’re fully capable of correctly answering all of the questions on the test, it makes the SAT seem like much less of a momentous task. Throughout the journey, I made tons of gradual progress, and I still remember how excited I was the first time I got a 1430 on a practice test. But a year later, when I got a 1490 on a practice test, I felt really down, especially since during that time I was usually scoring in the 1500s range. However, I thought to myself, “Look, I’ve come so far! A year ago, I would’ve been ecstatic if I got a 1490 on a practice test!” I truly believe that the SAT is a test that everyone is able to tackle and get a great score on, and you will see progress if you take time to study.

Most importantly, DO NOT define your success based on your SAT score. Whatever score you got or will get in the future, you did amazing, and you should be proud of all the hard work you put into preparing for the test. Having this kind of work ethic to take the initiative to study for the SAT on your own isn’t something that you should take for granted about yourself, and that’s a much more important trait in determining your success than your SAT score. Even if you didn’t do as well as you hoped, there are still ways to succeed. Many schools nowadays don’t even require the SAT, so applying test-optional is still an option at many schools, and standardized testing is slowly being phased out anyway. Don’t give up, no matter what happens.

So, those were my tips and tricks to surviving the SAT! If you need additional support and help in your standardized testing journey, our sponsor, PrepExpert, provides online test preparation, full-length live courses, on-demand video courses, personalized 1-on-1 tutoring for both the SAT and ACT, which you can check out below. Good luck everyone!

Fun Fact: Statistically, it’s nearly impossible to get a question correct by guessing on the free-response math section. However, in ninth grade, when taking the PSAT, I ran out of time on the no-calculator section, so I randomly put “2” as my answer to one of the questions for absolutely no reason other than that it was the first number I thought of. Miraculously, I got it right.