Before I continue my story, and before the new SATs come out, I wanted to offer some insight on my personal experience with the SAT. I took the exam in January 2015 and scored a 2310: 730 on critical reading, 800 on math, and 780 on writng. However, I didn’t just wake up and score the 2310- I earned it through hours upon hours of studying in pain, sweat and tears. When I first took the PSATs in my sophomore year in 2013, I scored around a 1900, and on the PSATs I took in my junior year, I only scored 100 points higher. What did I do to improve?

General Tips:

1. Go Earlier Rather than Later:
This goes for both studying and taking the test itself. I personally started studying for SATs in January 2014. Just building a foundation for your vocabulary in the first few months is crucial for your success in the critical reading section of the test. Memorizing vocab is something that doesn’t happen overnight, as your brain likely won’t remember the meaning of a new work until you go over it a couple of times. Additionally, a huge mistake that many of my friends have made is pushing the test off until May or June of their junior year. Take it as early as possible, as it will give you more time to improve and more opportunities’ to retake the test if needed. Plus, the time frame from the end of junior year to the first semester of senior year is the most hectic time for most students; you don’t want to have to worry about SATs on top of all the AP tests and college applications.
2. Practice Tests are your Best Friends:
The best way to improve your score in especially the critical reading and math sections is to keep taking practice tests!!!This, I can say is the one thing I did that helped me improve my score the most. There are only so many types of questions that the College Board can ask you, and practice tests allow you to get accustomed to the types of questions being asked and give you sense of what to expect. I suggest buying the Official SAT Study Guide and/or signing up for the Official SAT Online Course for practice tests that best simulate the real SATs.
3. Familiarize Yourself with the Most Frequently Appearing Vocabulary Terms
As I mentioned before, having a strong vocab foundation is crucial for your success in the Critical Reading Section, as not only is there a designated vocab section, but many vocab terms are embedded in the passages and questions as well. Although it is impossible to memorize all the terms out there, it is important that you take note of words that have appeared multiple times in practice tests. I suggest you buy a box of SAT vocab cards (the brand I used was TestTakers) and look over a few a day. If you find yourself short on time, make sure to at least search up the 50 most common SAT words. I looked over my version the morning of my SAT and can truly say that it saved me about 50 points. I actually have a copy in PDF, so if anyone would like to see it, feel free to reach out to me in the comments
4. The Grammar Section is FREE POINTS
Grammar is literally a bunch of rules, and unlike critical reading and math, you can guarantee yourself a perfect through learning the rules and doing practice. I used a couple of books, but McGraw Hills Conquering SAT Wiring was the best by far and helped me improve my writing score from 600 to 780.
5. Do not OVERTHINK!
A huge error that I used to make is overthinking the questions in all three sections. Especially with the questions in the beginning of each section, which are the easiest, the answer is the obvious. In Critical Reading, do not get distracted by those long winded complex answers that “sound good”. For me, I would always jot down what I thought the answer to the question was before looking at the choices so as not to be distracted by some of the better sounding but WRONG choices. Remember that the answer always lies within the passage. Regarding grammar, in the first half of the questions at least, usually the choice that sounds best is correct (of course always base your answers on the premise of fundamental grammar rules, but this is usually the case). The same applies to the math section; many of easier questions in the beginning only require one simple computation. Make sure you are aware of what the question is actually asking you as well.

Tips for the blind and visually impaired:
1. MAKE SURE YOUR ACCOMMODATIONS ARE SET AS NEEDED PRIOR TO THE TEST:
College Board can be a bit tricky when it comes to accommodations and they do take a while to get approved. I actually encountered some issue with my accommodations before I took the PSATs my junior year. Because my vision decreased that summer, I now required a VisioBook or a reader to succeed on the test, but my previous accommodations only called for large print, which was no longer sufficient. Unfortunately, I did not address this issue until school started, which did not give College Board enough time to review and approve my new accommodations in time for the PSATs. After a week of arguing with College Board, they agreed to give me a reader and VisioBook for the test on the condition that my score would not be officially counted, making me ineligible for the National Merit scholarship. Accommodations should be done well in advance. I also suggest you put more in your accommodations than you may need at the time, as you never know when your vision may decline and the process of adding accommodations is long and tedious.
2. Make sure you are AWARE of your accommodations
I have a visually impaired friend who assumed that extra time was in his accommodations fort he SAT. However, it was never approved and he took the SATs in half the time that he was practicing in and consequently did not score as well as he would have liked. Make sure you are clear on what your accommodations are. Additionally, it is extra important for visually impaired and blind students to take the SATs as early as possible so if there is a problem in the accommodations, you have enough time to get it fixed and retake the test.
3. Practice with Your Accommodations
Many times, your SAT accommodations will be different than those you have in school. When you take practice tests, simulate the real SAT accommodations so you become comfortable with them even if it is inconvenient or not what you are used to. For me, since my SAT reader was a teacher I had never worked with before, I made sure to schedule some appointments with her during our free periods to do some practice passages with her, so I could adjust to her voice and she could learn to change her reading speed. Additionally through simulating the real test, I realized that using a reader wasn’t ideal for the grammar section, and instead worked on improving my skills and speed with the VisioBook.

I hope you found this helpful and good luck to anyone who hasn’t taken the SATs yet! Remember that although the SATs are important, it doesn’t define you or your success in the future. Just try your best and see where it takes you!

Most visually impaired students go through their middle and high school experiences with an aid to help with enlarging or Brailling papers, reading aloud tests, and monitoring extra time on tests. A visually impaired student’s relationship with his or her aid is crucial to the academic success of the student. Personally, I cannot claim that my aid and I have seen eye to eye on every matter, but I can genuinely say that I love my aid and my high school experience would not have been complete without her.

When we have our aid’s assistance in middle and high school, we legally blind students tend to yearn to be independent and dream for the day when we can finally won’t have assort of second school mother by our side. But as I have heard from many blind college students that despite the liberation of independence, you will miss your aid and everything she did for you once no longer have her in your corner. Here, I have listed some the more unusual benefits to having an aid that I will miss when I no longer have her help in college:

1. You always have someone to talk to. Ever have a lunch period or study hall in which none of your friends are in? Ever have a day when you just want to talk to someone? I certainly have, and I have spent way too many free periods hanging out in my aid’s office complaining about teachers (from my end), gossiping about the latest high school drama scene, raving about sports and current news, whining about boring classes (again, mostly form my end), and filling each other in about life.
2. You have someone that you trust for advice on adult problems. Ever have a time where you just don’t know how to approach this one teacher or which courses are better than others? As your closest ally, your aid is probably the only adult in the school you are comfortable enough trusting with some of your significant dilemmas. I’ve had my aid give me advice on which teacher I should choose to write my rec letter, which colleges I should consider applying to, what to write in my NHS appeals form etc. Other than your parents and other relatives, your aid is likely the adult who cares most about you and your future, and who you know would help you in any way possible. After all, her whole job consists of helping you succeed.
3. If you lose a handout, have no fear! You can always go to your aid for the normal sized copy or ask her to send you the electronic one. Being not the most organized person in the world, I have relied on my aid for this almost everyday- she’s saved me from losing quite a few points to say the least.
4. You have access to exclusive information about your teachers. Don’t you want to know a teacher’s comments about you or when they’re in the wrong mood for you to ask for that grade bump? Teacher’s love the company of another adult in the classroom and more likely than not, confides in your aid about their life, pet peeves, and complaints. From my aid, I have even learned which teacher like and hate me, which is very helpful when picking teachers for rec letters.
5. You don’t need to lug around five tons of equipment around the school. Being visually impaired, many of us need special equipment to assist us in class. For me, I need a VisioBook, a bulky ten-pound machine, for board work. Even back in middle school when I used large print instead of audio, my aid would haul around the stack of enlarged textbooks from class to class. You may think that this is trivial, but trust me its not; on the day I have a substitute aid and need to carry my equipment myself, I drop books right and left, can’t crowd weave, and suffer from exhaustion when trudging down the halls, and subsequently am five minutes late to class.

These are only a few of the pros that come with an aid, beside the obvious enlarging and Brailling papers and reading materials aloud. Ultimately, aids are great people who are there to make your life easier. At the end of the day, all they want is to see you succeed and help you in any way possible. So be nice and appreciate your aid while you have one!