Name: How to Ace Standardized Tests - Study Tips - SAT ACT GRE
Uploaded: 2020-03-06T16:32:31.000Z
Duration: 9 min 18 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

To-infinitive

We’re here to help you be a GREAT student.

Today we’re going to talk about a special kind of test - the sort of test that looms

large in your future and acts like a gatekeeper or a turning point in your life.

I’m talking about...STANDARDIZED TESTS.

We all have to take them: SAT, ACT, AP, GRE...MCAT...LSAT!

It really never stops until you’re like...25?

It depends on how much school you’re going to do, and when you go.

We’re all about lifelong learning here at Socratica.

One of our friends went to Med school when he was like 40, so...never say never.

Here at Socratica, amongst our small team, we’ve taken literally DOZENS of standardized

We’ve noticed that after taking all these tests, you figure out some things are true

So we’re going to share our best advice with you.

Here are the Socratica Team’s secrets to Standardized Test Success.

SPOILER: The big picture is to focus on studying what you DON'T know.

Well, you take practice questions tailored for you.

Get out your calendar and write down the date of the test.

You’re going to allow yourself a chunk of time each day to devote to studying for this

And the more time you have, that means the smaller those chunks can be.

Ideally, we’re aiming for 15-20 minutes.

Of course, if you’ve waited until like two weeks before the test, you’re going to have

to stop almost everything else and focus on this one test.

HOW do you study for a standardized test?

To begin, you have to know something about what the test is like.

Is it all Multiple Choice, or are there some sections with short answer, or even essays?

Because you’re going to have to practice all of these differently.

This is really the key to your success on standardized tests.

The dirty little secret is, honestly, the questions really aren’t that hard.

At least, they’re not the hardest material in the subject.

Instead they will be perfectly reasonable, representative questions that test your understanding

There won’t be any “gotcha” questions.

You’ll see that when you start taking practice tests.

A lot of times you can get a genuine test from previous years from ETS or the College

Board - or you can buy a big book of practice tests from a test prep company.

Watch to the end for a special gift for our Socratica Friends from Magoosh Online Test

Set aside an afternoon when you have no distractions, and take this practice test with PLENTY of

If the test normally takes 90 minutes, give yourself 2 hours.

Make a note of how long you took, and later, LATER, you will work on speeding up.

Take this practice test using the TWO PASS technique.

That is, you’re going to make two passes through the whole test.

First, you’ll answer any questions where you immediately know the answer, and skip

On your SECOND PASS through the test, slow down and answer the remaining questions.

Go ahead and answer every question - because we want an accurate picture of what you KNOW,

We’re just figuring out where you are now.

Were there any where you genuinely didn’t know the answer?

Like, on the SAT, I missed “Fracas” because I just didn’t recognize the word, and I

couldn’t seem to break it down into its roots.

I still remember that I missed that word, that’s all.

My point is, the vast majority of the test is stuff you know.

There MAY be a few gaps in your knowledge, but you have plenty of time to review that

specific kind of math problem or beef up your vocabulary.

So what makes standardized tests hard, if it’s not the material?

You have to be able to answer questions quickly and not get distracted.

AND you need to be able to answer a question to the best of your ability and move on.

Don’t waste time arguing with yourself about “maybe?...this answer could POSSIBLY be

Overthinking on standardized tests is a big problem for some people.

The more you practice, the better you’ll be at letting these internal doubts go.

What if you genuinely don’t know the answer?