Students often make careless mistakes during their SAT Maths, Tutopiya has found 6 common mistakes that SAT Maths student makes. Go through the list with us and see if you have been making these mistakes as well! We also provide tips on how you can avoid making such mistakes during your SAT Maths examinations!
Not writing out all your working
While SAT Maths problems may look simple to ace, they require students to know the basic topics. Which means, it is important that you write out all your steps to show your understanding.
Though skipping steps can help you save time on writing, it is always better to have your workings written out.
Firstly, you will not make any careless mistakes. This is because you get to see all your workings and recalculate them if need to.
Secondly, though SAT Mathematics problems may look simple to ace, they usually require students to know the basic topics and what better way to show your understanding than to write out your detailed working?
Lastly, you get to check your answers, as some problems may require you to go through several steps to get to the correct answers. You may accidentally end up with the wrong answer if you skip these steps in your working. This is especially important in the non-calculator section.
Keying numbers into calculator too quickly
More often than not, students are in a rush to finish the paper, and being too rushed or impatient can cost you some marks.
Ever got back your script and go ‘I did this correctly, what is my answer different?’ and when you rekey the values into your calculator, you get the correct answer.
That’s because you have mistyped during your examination, or set your calculator to the wrong Mode.
Always remember to key in long or big values into the calculator at least 3 times to make sure you get the same answer every time. Yes, this may be time-consuming – you can always do this after you have finished the paper. Or simply, BE CAREFUL when you key values into your calculator!
Not memorizing formulas
Are you skipping some formulas to memorize because you think you have them at the back of your mind? You should not be doing this even if you feel confident. When we are under examination stress, we tend to blank out and it is possible to even forget the easiest formula.
Give ample time to reread these formulas even though you may be familiar with them. One easy way of memorizing is to use flashcards! Try it.
Looking for a formula sheet? Tutopiya has an SAT Math formula sheet for you! Read here.
Freaking out
When you see a question that did not appear in any of the practice papers you have done, you bound to panic a little bit. However, before you freak out and start panicking, ask yourself if it really is a different question. The question could have been phrased in a different manner making it seem like it is a totally different question but still be asking for the same things.
Fail to double check
Is it really necessary to double check your answers? The answer is YES. The SAT is formulated to allow students to have enough time to double check your answers.
How do you double check then?
You can approach the question as if you have never done it before. Lightly write with a pencil to make new/ double check workings.
Check that your final answer is in the same units as the answer
Ask yourself if there is another way to solve the question, and more often than not, there is. If you can do it quickly, do so and check if your answers agree.
Substituting back your answers into the equation or question to see if you get the correct answers.
Not taking the practice test seriously
We know that it’s normal for our SAT students to take practice exams less seriously than the real thing, but it is good to place the same amount of importance in practice exams. Putting yourself in an examination mood can calm yourself down and be mentally prepared sitting in a stressful examination hall.
So, did you spot some of the mistakes that you have been making without knowing? Well, it’s never too late to make a change.
Tutopiya wishes all our students all the best to all the SAT students preparing for the SAT examinations!
Feel free to visit our blog to find more SAT resources! We have some resources for SAT English Literature and SAT Comprehensive Math formulas as well! Check them out now!
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