Step 6: Make a study schedule
Making an organized schedule for when and how much you are going to study is critical.Decide when you are going to take the real test. Most people take the SAT II's anytime from the fall of their Junior year in high school to the fall of their senior year in high school. It is generally better to take it late in your junior year after taking the SAT Reasoning Test. That way, you have the entire school year to learn material relevant to the subject tests (for example, a chemistry class will help you prepare for the SAT II Chemistry test) but at the same time, if you don’t do as well as you would have liked, you have time to [take it again]. At the same time, don’t take it before you feel well prepared.
[Click here for a schedule of SAT II testing dates]
For SAT II study scheduling, you can choose between two main formats. You can schedule either by time or by section. As always, make sure to schedule SAT II studying along with the rest of your activities, obligations, etc. since they will invariably conflict at times. It is a good idea to use time-based scheduling (example: 4 hours on Saturday, 1 Hour on Monday, 3 hours on Thursday, etc.) on your overall schedule, since that best allows you to see how many things you can accomplish in a day. However, it is also a good idea to make a separate schedule where you list what specifically you will accomplish in that time (for example: Practice Test on Saturday, review chapter 3 on Monday, etc.).
[Click here to view general information on scheduling.]
Read Instructional Sections
• Most books, excluding the Official CollegeBoard study guides, have fairly solid instructional sections. These can usually be found starting from the beginning of the book. They will teach you the basics that you need to know for each section of the test.
• These sections will also contain a number of practice questions. Do them! Afterwards, the book will usually offer answer explanations and walk you through the thought process that you should have had in answering those questions.
Take Whole Practice Tests
• As we’ve said before, nothing will give you a better idea of the score you would get on the real test than a practice test. But even more importantly, practice tests give you practice. For most people, simply learning some general information will not be enough. You need to practice as many types of questions as you can, and that means taking lots and lots of practice tests. Also, simulate realistic testing conditions by making these tests timed and continuous with only a few short breaks between sections. SAT II practice tests only take 1 hour each, so they are quite painless. That also means you have time to take lots of them.
• Afterwards, review the questions you missed. This is one of the most helpful parts of taking practice tests. Redo every single question that you missed until you know why you missed it and why the right answer is what it is. This will not only improve your ability to do those types of questions in the future, but also your overall reasoning abilities.
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