Don't mark in your book” is a very familiar phrase that most students have heard all their lives, but this statement should not apply when a student tackles standardized tests. The pencil can be the amazing tool that can decode the questions on the SAT and PSAT/NMSQT. Highlighters are no longer a part of the student's equipment for taking the test. Due to problems with cheating, gone are the days of these colored wonders; pencils now rule in the testing rooms. But there is no need to fret. All you need is a sharp
pencil in your hand and some good acronyms in your head to have the best tools to conquer these tests.
Students are only allowed to take four items to the actual test: pencil, calculator, picture ID and watch. Notes or cheat sheets of any kind, to help remember strategies, are not permitted in the testing facility. But easy recall of steps to test success can be accomplished by memorizing acronyms that are stored in a student's head. They can then write them in their test booklet to help them conveniently remember how to master each section of the SAT and PSAT/NMSQT.
How you use your pencil will determine whether you can do well on these tests. Students who actively involve their #2s are the ones who usually receive the high scores. For example, in the Sentence Completion Section, students can circle key words that will point them to the correct answer. Underling verbs and distinguishing nouns in the Sentence Error Section will reveal if the verb tense is wrong or if there is a problem with subject-verb agreement. Not to mention the importance of working the pencil in all of the math sections. Making your pencil the chief player in taking the test can lead you to the higher scores.
Secret strategies and hidden patterns of the SAT can be revealed as students decipher the correct answers by using only a pencil and an appropriate acronym. Most SAT questions are designed where you can usually mark off 2-3 wrong answers right away. But when trying to identify the correct answer from the rest of the wrong answers, students must recall the test-taking strategies and recurring patterns that they have learned when studying for the test. Using acronyms written in the booklet will give the student an edge when taking the test.
It is easy to read a question and gloss over a key word that was strategically put there to point you to the right answer. Each section of the test is written using certain rules and patterns.
Students should learn and memorize these hidden strategies and use short acronyms to help them remember what they should mark out, circle, underline or draw an arrow to.
For many years acronyms have been used to spark people's memories in just about every area. From learning the piano keys of EGBDF (every good boy does fine), to describing your status in life (DINK, YUPPIE) and now to the WWW lingo (LOL, FYI, BRB). These succinct abbreviations make it easier to remember pertinent information. Thus, it makes sense that clever acronyms can also help students remember the steps to doing well on the SAT and PSAT/NMSQT tests. After all, half the battle of defeating these tests is recalling how to do it.
Marking all over the test booklet is the key to answering questions quickly and more correctly. By learning special acronyms and writing them at the top of the paper with the mighty pencil, the brain and the pencil can work together to solve the puzzle at hand. This unstoppable team can bring triumph to this giant of a test.
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