ACT & SAT During the Absolute Craziness of a Global Pandemic: Pt2 "How to prepare for sat & act remotely"
Hey Guys, let’s get right into it! Here are….
The Six Steps You Should Take to Prepare for the ACT and SAT remotely.
1. Begin with the Foundations
One of the most interesting things that we encounter when we first meet with a student is the lack of knowledge related to the structure and content of these exams. Would you walk into a test with no idea if the questions were essay or multiple choice? Absolutely not!
These exams may be touted as being over “English” and “Math,” but that just isn’t the case. They are made of a finite amount of predictable information. What does this mean? This means that you can study it like a study guide and come out on the other end as prepared as you were for your last math test or english final.
It’s too much to walk through all of the structure of these exams right here, but we have a series on our social media @eruditetutors you can go flip through (saved to our highlights and in the feed) or feel free to use any of the following resources to educate yourself on what is actually on these exams!
Princetonreview.com
Blog.prepscholar.com
Kaplan.com (they have a youtube series!)
2. Learn How You Learn.
Most students don’t learn how to study until well into college, then they’re scrambling to figure out how to memorize information from 100 pages of a textbook. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there are definitely some high schoolers who figure it out before then. (Rory anyone?)
3. Environment
Ok, I’m going to say it, I don’t care how much you love chaos or have to listen to music while you study – that’s just plain laziness! If you study in a mess, your brain will reflect that mess. If you take in other words while you study, your brain will begin to associate the learning with those words and you will experience a decrease in ability to regurgitate that information back on the exam without the music present later. Listen to instrumental music, tidy up your space, give yourself a whole list of rewards like a head banging song, tiny dance party, or other fun activities to keep yourself rolling on the boring stuff.
4. MAKE AN ACHIEVABLE SCHEDULE
Did I make that look important enough? Let me highlight the most important part of that: ACHIEVABLE. Make what you think is reasonable, then cut your daily goals in half. Your brain can only take in so much information at one time and it will react to accomplishing your goals. Consistently feeling behind will decrease your motivation and you will see a decrease in achievement.
5. Take Brain Breaks
Did you know that your brain legitimately cannot retain large chunks of information at one time? Take the phone number, for example. It’s 7-10 digits because that’s how many numbers in a row research says that a typical brain can retain. Only that many in one chunk! And committing that from our short term memory to long term storage is hard. It takes repetition. Our brains need time with information to process it and store it in our memory. In order to make studying effective, we must provide our brains with bits of information and then take meaningful breaks to allow for the necessary processing time.
It is important to make sure you are being productive with your break time. While spending 10 minutes scrolling through social media is technically a break it does not promote brain activity, can add stress, and doesn’t have an end time so can lead to a much longer break than should be taken. Activities like this should be avoided. Instead, you should find activities that keep your brain active, but don’t pull your brain onto a new task: taking a walk, closing your eyes, meditating, doing a short workout circuit. Then you can get back to your studying fresh and ready for new information.
We suggest studying in chunks of 10-30 minutes then building in a 10 minute break. It seems counterproductive, but when you return you will be fresh and you won’t have to study the same information again and again!
6. Chat with us over at Erudite
Hey guys, this is hard. Quarantine is hard, studying is hard, the ACT and SAT are FREAKIN hard. So call me.. We can book virtual sessions, we have workshops, or if you just have a reasonable question that you would typically take to a teacher. Please, call me.
My name is Deb. I’m a teacher. But also I’m a student. I’m half way through an online Master’s program and it’s HARD to study virtually. Call me at (615)579-4323. Or text me, that’s my cell. Ask me your questions because I really do just know the answers or I have the resources to figure them out at my fingertips. I’m not scary and I’ve been there.
Give yourself a huge hug for surviving high school while being quarantined in the middle of a global pandemic because honestly you deserve a hug just for surviving any one of those three things. I’m in your court and I’d love to chat.
References
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/changepower/201704/how-do-work-breaks-help-your-brain-5-surprising-answershttps://
www.spring.org.uk/2012/08/memory-enhanced-by-a-simple-break-after-reading.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+PsychologyBlog+(PsyBlog)
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/choke/201208/one-key-having-good-memory-knowing-when-rest
Liked the article?
Well, get to know the contributing authors!
Now in 2020, they and their business partners Beth and Ty are surviving a global pandemic by researching any avenue they can find to still reach students during one of the most difficult academic years that any of them will experience. Both are currently students themselves (Deb is working on her second Masters degree and Taylor on her second Bachelors!) so they have a unique insight into the difficulties facing students through this experience and hope they can do their part to support all of the students going through this crazy time.
Until then….I know during these times it might be a little hard, but I’ll be always smiling and beyoutiful and I’m hopeful that you are too!
