2. LEARN SOME GENERAL STRATEGIES

While most of the tips we're going to tell you about are specific to either the verbal or math sections, there are some overall tips that will also help you achieve your top score:

  • You MUST practice. Merely reading this SYW will give you a slight edge, but the way to really bump up that score is through practice. We'll give you some great practice tips later.

  • If you think that you bombed, you can cancel your score before finding it out. You can also take the test again. In fact, you can take it as many times as you like, though we recommend that you NEVER take it more than three times.

  • You get 1 point for every question you answer correctly, you get 0 points for any questions you leave blank, and you lose or a point (or 1/3 of a point on certain math questions) if you answer a question incorrectly. However, on the math "fill in your own answer" questions, you will not be penalized for a wrong answer, so guess away.

  • If you can ever eliminate even ONE of the choices, you should guess. Statistically, you'll win out in the end.

  • Within each section of the test, the questions at the beginning are the easiest and become harder as the test goes on. This means that the first "reading comprehension" questions are easier than the ones at the end; the first "sentence completion" questions are easier than the ones at the end, and so forth. This also means that at the beginning of each cluster of questions, the answer that seems obviously correct is probably the right answer. However, toward the end of each cluster, the answer that seems obviously correct is probably wrong because the test is trying to trick you.

  • In answering your questions, circle the correct answer in your test book in groups of 5, and once you have completed 5 questions, bubble in those answers on your answer sheet. This is because it takes a lot of time to go back and forth, so you can save time by bubbling a bunch in at once. Just make sure that you match your bubbles to the right questions.

  • If you find yourself wasting time over a question, skip it and move on. It's not worth it to lose 10 minutes answering one question when that'll keep you from getting to the 5 questions that you could've gotten right.

  • There will be a total of 7 sections on the test: 3 math, 3 verbal, and 1 "experimental." The experimental will be either another math or verbal section. However, you won't know which section is experimental. The good news is, though, that it won't count towards your score. So if you think that you bombed one section, take heart in the fact that it might not count.