SAT

Notorious for being a long and boring standardized test, the SAT ruins the summers of millions of students throughout America. Along with GPA and extracurriculars, the SAT is a large factor in determining one's chances of getting into college. So with such stakes on the line, students go crazy over this test. They try to memorize every word and learn all the possible grammar rules. I fell victim to this obsession and wasted a large portion of my summer practicing and trying to master my critical reading skills. Some tips that I picked up along the way include:

• For the essay section, come into the test knowing what examples you are going to use for each type of prompt. For instance, if there is a prompt about rebelling against government, you might come prepared with a 1984 or Gandhi example. Here are a list of types of essays that you might want to brainstorm examples for:  http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/764514-sat-essay-prompt-archetypes.html
• Nothing improves critical reading skills more than practice. This section is something that cannot be taught because it requires analyzing skills and the ability to pick out important details from a passage. Practice helps you recognize the meaning behind what the author is actually saying and remove and answer choice traps that collegeboard sets.
• Math may seem like the easiest section, but a couple mistakes can drop the score about 50-60 points due to the ridiculous curve. Even though you may think like you got the right answer, make sure you are answering what the question is asking. Collegeboard always throws in words like NOT that make the obvious answer incorrect.
• Writing is by far the least stressing section in the test and the student can take his or her time, but grammar can become extremely tricky. Collegeboard uses every single grammar rule that exists and hides mistakes in sentences that seem correct when they are said. The only way to find these errors is to know the grammar rules which I have attached to this post.                                                 

So the SAT hopefully seems somewhat easier with this basic information. I find it hilarious how rich collegeboard must be from all the fees from SAT testing and AP testing. In short, corporations are leeching our money to improve our education. 

On another less educational note, here are the memes that I promised I would always upload and I shall also start keeping you guys updated on us politics and the stock market.