My SAT Experience

I took my SAT's for the first time in 9th grade and got a 2120. I'd studied for a week in 7th grade, and I felt like I was ready for the Big Day.

I'd never taken a practice test, so the format of the test was a little bit of a shock to me. The length of the test was also brutal. After three and a half hours of nothing but the hardest math, reading, and writing questions I'd ever encountered, I was more than ready for the double order of cheeseburgers I had at McDonalds right after. I still remember them, because by the time I was done, I was so hungry those two cheeseburgers were better than the best caviar and brie dinner I could wish for.

The test starts off with a writing section, or at least it did back in my SAT-taking days. That'll change soon, so disregard this paragraph if you'll be taking your SAT's more than two years from now. The best advice I got before the test was the fill up the writing section. I got a 740 in writing the first time I took the SATs because of that advice, but the next time I made the mistake of following my English teacher's advice, which will not be repeated here since it earned me a 700. :(

I can't remember which section came next, but I remember that I got a 740 on the critical reading the first time and a perfect score the next time, thanks in part to the mandatory SAT prep required by my school and the fact that I was a year older and had read a great deal more in that year. I got a 640 on the math the first time and a 670 the next time, mostly because I hadn't taken all the required math courses to do well and therefore was not familiar with all the math. My advice: Don't take your SAT's until you are done with Algebra II. Trust me, that class will help you tremendously. I'd probably get a 700 or better if I took my math SAT's today after having taken that course, Trig, and Calc.

I didn't finish the math section either time. There were just too many difficult questions. Don't expect to finish every section; the test is designed so that most people don't.

I ended up getting a 2210 Superscore the second time around, due in part to Friday SAT prep at my school that was instituted mainly because the teachers had little else to do with us.

The day I took my SAT, something else happened to me besides finding the best two cheeseburgers on Earth. I got lost in an airport. For an hour. Anyone who has ever been lost anywhere will feel some of my pain, but getting lost in an airport is just about the worse place to get lost. You could theoretically end up anywhere, and finding someone to help you is like finding the Higgs Boson: difficult and awe-inducing. I eventually found an adult, and got back to my mom and the wayward traveller we were there to find. Everything turned out fine in the end.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is try not to worry too much about your first time taking the SAT's. You will have plenty of other chances to improve your scores, and if all goes well, you too will find your cheeseburger heaven afterwards.