Practice ACT and SAT tests: A quick guide to preparing yourself — from your Dallas SAT tutor

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1. Buy a book with  lots of practice tests. Take one at 8am on a Saturday morning, under test-like conditions.

*Go to a  library or an office or someplace quiet.

*Time each section.

*Stop. Then begin the next timed section.

*Leave your phone at home. Use a watch.

*Take 5 minute breaks between sections. Make the experience truly test-like.

2. Grade the practice test.

3. Within two days of taking the practice test, examine each question you got wrong. See if you can determine what you did wrong — did you make a simple math error? Did you misread the question? Did you get the problem set up but then get stuck? The more specific you can be here, the better. Make a list of each question missed and the reason you think you missed it.

4. Read through the explanations in the back of the book of all your wrong answers. See if you can add to the reasons you might have missed a question.

5. Read through all the right answers (sometimes you get a question right for the wrong reason).

6. Review your list of errors that you made. Look for patterns (ie ‘I missed three questions because I didn’t pay attention to the word EXCEPT in the question’).

7. Choose two or three of your patterns and find solutions (’I will put a box around the word EXCEPT’).

8. Put your test materials away for a day or two.

9. Take another full practice test. Before you take it, review all of your notes. As you take it, make sure that you pay careful attention to the two or three patterns you identified in your errors.

10. Grade your test. Then repeat steps 3- 9. Eventually, you should know your patterns and habits well enough to be able to prevent most of your errors and raise your scores.

If you have trouble identifying your errors or don’t understand what you did wrong, meet with a tutor who can help you.