How to Prepare for Standardize Examinations

Preparing for standardize examinations starts months in advance.  You should learn the format of the exam and what the exam covers as soon as possible.  Once you have this information it will be easier to figure out exactly what you need to cover.  Maybe you want to brush up on math skills which you haven't used in some time.  Use your time wisely.  These exams are very difficult, so don't beat yourself up for a bad initial score.  Practicing can significantly increase your score.

Write yourself a plan with tasks for each day or week.  Maybe you want to take at least one practice test a week in order to know how it feels to take a 3-4 hour grueling exam.  Here are few things you should consider for preparing for your exam:

• Create index cards of things you want to memorize like vocabulary words, or math formulas.
• Review the index cards during your commute, or when you have down time.
• Time yourself when you take the exams, to know if you need to work on speed.
• Get together with friends that are taking the test and drill with each other.
• Designate time every week or day to mastering the exam.  Maybe you want to study 1hr everyday, and 3hrs on the weekend till the exam date.  Or maybe it will be easier to study just one whole day on the weekends.
• Look into preparation classes near you.
• Talk to people that have taken the test and get feedback.
• Reading comprehension is something very difficult to prepare for, but there are hints throughout an essay, practice books from any of the major companies like Princeton or Kaplan provide good tips on how to tackle the English section of a standardize exam.

Since these exams are timed, there isn't very much time for individual questions.  If you don't know the answer, go ahead and guess intelligently and move onto to the next questions.  The beginning of the exam usually has easier questions, difficult questions are reserved for the end. 

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Be realistic.  Trying to score perfect, or near perfect is impossible for 95% of the population.  Your test score is not a judgment on your intelligence, or your self-worth.  Please don't be hard on yourself if you get a score that you think is not satisfactory.  Colleges look at your scores to see where your score sits on a percentile relative to your peers. The scores are also not the only item that colleges consider.  Maybe you can't get into Harvard, but it doesn't mean that the school that accepts you is any less worthwhile.