RocketReview Revolution

Not all of these questions will be relevant to your situation now, but sooner or later most or all of them will be relevant. Read through the list of questions below and check off the ones you find that bear on your immediate or upcoming situation. Read these questions first, you can skim the others later. Since many of these questions involve long-range planning, however, have your parents read through all the questions.

1. What is the SAT?
2. What’s on the test?
3. How important is the SAT?
4. What’s a good SAT score?
5. When should I take my first SAT?
6. What if my school says I should take the SAT I on a certain date?
7. How many times can I take the SAT?
8. Who definitely should—and who definitely shouldn’t—retake the SAT?
9. Isn’t it true that my SAT score will go up each time I take the test?
10. Will colleges take only my best SAT scores?
11. Will my school sign me up for the SAT like it did for the PSAT?
12. Should I Take the SAT First Without Preparing?
13. Can I prepare for the SAT entirely on my own?
14. What should I be doing on my own to prepare for the SAT?
15. When should I start preparing for the SAT?
16. If I’m thinking about taking an SAT course or tutoring program, how do I decide which one to take?
17. What is the PSAT?
18. How is the PSAT different from the SAT?
19. Are my 11th grade PSAT scores good predictors of my 11th grade SAT scores?
20. Should I prepare for the PSAT?
21. What are the SAT II tests?
22. Do all colleges require the SAT II’s?
23. Which SAT II Subject Tests should I take?
24. Should I take an SAT II Subject Test if my teacher suggests it?
25. When is the best time to take an SAT II?
26. Can I take more than one SAT II on the same test date?
27. Should I prepare for the SAT II’s?

14. What should I be doing on my own to prepare for the SAT?

Apart from working through this book and the resources at the RocketReview website, and doing occasional practice tests, the most important thing to be working on is your vocabulary—and you can’t start too soon.

In addition to this book, the only other SAT materials you’ll need are the practice tests in the book Real SATs, published by the College Board. As the title Real SATs suggests, the book contains actual exams, published by the test writers. If your local bookstore doesn’t have a copy they’ll be glad to order it for you, or order it directly from the College Board yourself. Your library may have a copy but if you can afford the $20, buy your own. You’ll need to write in the book and refer to it often. If you can’t get hold of the book immediately, ask your school’s college advisor for a sample PSAT or SAT from the College Board. (By the way, skip over the “test taking tips” in that book—which aren’t terribly helpful—and go right to the practice tests.)

Whenever you do a practice test in that book or one of RocketReview’s tests, use OmniProctor to time you. You needn’t do a complete test in one sitting, but you should do at least entire sections. Skipping around in Real SATs doing a problem here, a problem there, is unlikely to prepare you for the rigors of an actual SAT; you’ve been warned.

Apart from Real SATs—and this book, of course—don’t waste your time with other materials or software, most of which are awful. Trust me on this one, and tell your parents I said so before they go out and waste a lot of money on products you won’t need and shouldn’t use.