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Okay gang, here are my thoughts about the first administration of the new SAT on March 12th.

If you took the test on that date, you can compare your impressions with those here. (March 12th testers: if your impressions were significantly different, please let me know. And be sure to see the special note at the end of the this message about what you should be focusing on now.)

If you're taking the test for the first time on May 7th, you'll have the benefit of these insights, both mine and those of your fellow Rocketeers.

IMPRESSIONS OF THE MARCH 12th TEST

Length. First, as you know, the SAT is very, very long. When you add in all the busy work of filling out the forms, you're looking at four-and-a-half tension-filled hours.

Keep in mind that mental tension translates into physical tension, so the SAT is as physically exhausting as a strenuous workout. (You know that wobbly feeling you get when you come out of a theater after watching a really scary or dramatic movie—now imagine a movie twice as scary, and twice as long.)

You get two 5-minute breaks and one 1-minute break, and use that time to stretch, and maybe munch on some candy or whatever munchies you've brought with you. Proctors do not allow eating food during the test, but I seriously doubt whether any proctor will stop you from tossing a piece of candy in your mouth (so long as the eating candy doesn't make any noise). Also bring a bottle of water or soda or a Starbucks to keep you going.

Overall Comparison with the RocketReview Practice Test. The revised test (posted online as a PDF), NOT the old one in the book, was virtually identical to the actual test in terms of difficulty and types of problems.

The Essay. The question couldn't have been vaguer—"Is the opinion of the majority a reliable guide?"—so you had a lot of leeway in composing your response. (NOTE: one student—highly reliable—reported a different essay question, something about the need for creativity in society, but I have not had that topic confirmed by anyone else.)

A number of students reported running out of time, and not being able to compose adequate conclusions. Not to worry, since the essay graders realize that you're writing under pressure. So long as what was written conforms to our general guidelines (length, academic examples rather than personal or everyday ones, clear paragraphing), a rushed or truncated ending will not affect your grade.

If you find yourself running out of time and you're mid-example, wind up the example and state something to the effect, "Since time and space are running out, allow me to conclude this essay by observing that..." and wrap things up. Again, the graders understand that you are sprint-writing, so they make allowances for crunch finishes.

A few students also reported running out of space (the answer sheet is stupidly limited to 52 lines). Again, if you realize after 20 of the 25 minutes that you're beginning to run out of space, plan ahead and begin to write smaller and gradually wrap things up.

The Proofreading (Grammar) Questions. These were fine, exactly what was covered in the book. No surprises. In fact, the sentence correction format (long underlining) was amazingly predictable: the answer was the shortest choice (see page 158) half the time.

The Sentence Completions. As I warned in my March news posting, the sentence completion questions are still arranged in order of difficulty (easy, medium, hard), but the progression is very rapid: a bit of easy, a bit of medium, and a lot of hard. The Power Ranked Vocabulary Words (beginning on page 309) popped up all over the place, but do not waste time on the harder sentence completions: use process of elimination to get rid of as many choices as you can, and then guess according to our rule (easy questions have easy answers, hard questions have hard answers). You will need all the time you can get to spend on the reading passages.

The Reading Passages. According to reports, these were not bad. One of the longer passages was a fiction excerpt from a novel (see page 295). Read the passages as quickly as possible—you're just looking for the basic idea and to get a sense of 'where the author is coming from.' Then hit the questions and go on a scavenger hunt for the answers, back and forth from the questions and choices to the passage. By the way, the reading questions included a fair number of Power Ranked words, as with the sentence completions; in fact, the number one word on the list—conventional—was the basis of a question.

The Math Questions. The only surprise here was that although the questions were by and large in order of difficulty—as expected—a relatively difficult question or two can now pop up in the middle of a section where we usually find only medium questions (unexpected). It's really critical that you choose your problems wisely, and learn to skip questions initially that look likely to give you any difficulty (see pages 435-440).

There were only a handful of Algebra II or other 10th and 11th grade math questions; most of the SAT math concepts remain 7th, 8th, and 9th grade level.

Last, there were apparently a couple of cumbersome math calculations (along the lines of 340 times 25) so be sure you bring your calculator. You won't need to use it much, but it will save time for the few lengthy calculations you may encounter.

The Experimental Section. One of the sections of the SAT does not count (it is used to gather statistics for future SATs). These days, it is hard to impossible to detect whether a section you're doing is the experimental one. Remember that you have 3 math sections, 3 reading sections, and 2 writing (proofreading) sections (in addition to the essay). So if you're doing section 7, say, and you're doing your fourth math section, that means that one of the math sections— you won't know which one —was experimental. It also means that the remaining sections of the test will all count. Experimental sections tend to be a bit harder than the sections that count, but your sense of difficulty is an unreliable guide during the test, so it's safest just to assume that every section counts.

For Those Who Took the March 12th Test

Scores should be coming back, depending on how long it takes to grade the essays, some time at the end of March, first week of April at the latest. If you are disappointed with your score, you have plenty of time over the summer to improve when you retake the SAT (although you should, of course, be working on vocabulary always. Under no circumstances, however should you retake the SAT before the fall (yes, even if you are applying early decision). You will need the remaining May and June test dates to take any SAT Subject Tests, and you should also focus on other matters like any AP exams or other end-of-year tests you have at school.

Regarding the SAT Subject Tests, most colleges that require them are now requiring only two, but a handful of the top, top colleges are still insisting on three.

If you're wondering what SAT Subject Tests to take, the Math Ic test is not that much harder than the SAT math test you just took. The Math IIc is significantly more difficult, but all the math techniques you've learned in the book work even better on these two exams.

The SAT Literature subject test isn't too bad, and you don't even have to know any literature. It's a reading comprehension test of fictional excerpts from novels, and three brief poems. You have to use rigorous, disciplined process of elimination on this test. If your PSAT or SAT reading score was strong, you should definitely consider taking this test.

As I mention in the Most Frequently Asked Questions section of the website, never, ever, take three SAT subject tests on the same day. The ideal number of subject tests to take on any given date is one. Two exams on the same day are okay, but even then you're running a slight risk: if you decide to cancel either score, you have to cancel both scores.

For Those Planning to Take Their First SAT in May or June

First, versus June the May date is by far the better date for the SAT. Yes, I realize that the May SAT comes the week before APs, but you shouldn't need to do much work for the SAT the week before you take the test, anyway. Also, you'll want to reserve the June date for an SAT subject test, right after you finish your regular school course in that subject.

So for the rest of you taking the May 7th SAT, continue to work through the book and be sure to supplement your work with actual SAT questions from the Official SAT Study Guide. Do not use any other book for sample questions, with the possible exception, if you've already done all the tests in that book, of 10 Real SATs (still available if you order it online). The next best thing to an actual SAT is the RocketReview practice test (revised, on the website for downloading).

Make sure that you do timed sections of an SAT, ideally with someone timing you but if not use OmniProctor.