When Should I Start Studying for the SAT?
When Should I Start Studying for the SAT?
Getting a jumpstart on something can help you immensely. After all, they do say that “the early bird catches the worm.” When it comes to studying for the SAT, however, does this apply and does it mean you’ll get a higher score? The short answer to that is: it depends on how and when you are studying.
Studying for the SAT
For students who may have already take the SAT and did relatively (or very!) well, you may only need to take another 6 weeks, or so, to prepare for the next one. Contrarily, students who did not do as well as they hoped should take closer to 6 months to prep for the next test. This is so that they can get enough time to review all of the material and make sure they’re as close to mastering it as possible.
For high school sophomores that plan on taking the SAT the next fall, starting their prep work during the summer will be fine. Juniors that are going to take the test in the spring, start studying during the winter. As we said, 3 months is a good amount of time to prepare and this will let have enough time to cover all of the necessary material.
The downside to starting your prep work so far in advance is that you can lose focus and reduce the quality of your studying. As you can expect, this will eventually affect your test score. Also, if you start too early, you can risk forgetting really important material when it’s finally time to take the test. Some subjects, like reading comprehension, require that you practice them repeated times. Try to study those topics first and then hit the ones that don’t need as much repetition later.
No matter when you start studying, the best thing you can do is to keep track of the questions you do the best (and worst) on. That way, you can see if there is a pattern and tailor your study habits to address any issues. Even if you think you’re a master of a certain subject, make sure you practice it a few times in order to keep that material fresh in your head.
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