Preparing for your SSAT exams will perhaps be one of the first challenging things you will do in life. Since this is a very important exam, ideally your preparation should start three months prior to the exam date.
For the coming three months you won't be that socially active. Movies, family fun, outing with friends are going to take a backseat. It is important to note that SSAT is not a very easy examination to crack. Thus a lot of practice is required, with a special focus on the reading and the Maths section.
Now you may be thoroughly prepared for your exam. You have learned a lot of word roots, solved quite a few tons of Maths problem in the past three months. All in all, you are all set to rock your paper.
But things can still go wrong. You can still falter in your exam if you do not avoid these common mistakes most students make in their .
Though there are many mistakes, let me point out the most common ones so that you are well prepared to avoid them:
Showing Up Late For The Exam
Students usually get late for their SSAT exams if they do not pack everything on time. Most students leave everything for the last minutes, and things always go wrong under such circumstance.
Thus, in order to stay right on time, it is advisable to pack all the essential things the night before. This will include all the stationary required for the exam. Make sure you triple check the alarm and ensure that you have a tank full of gas.
Ideally, leave home with more time in hand than you actually require.
Confusing The Format of The Exam
Most students often do this mistake and thus it becomes one of the most common mistakes during the SSAT exams. Either due to nervousness or excitement, students do not read the questions properly.
They just look for questions that they have read about. While doing that, many students forget to check the question formatting.
Always remember you have been preparing for this day for quite a few months in the past. You know what will the questions be like and how you must answer them.
Starting To Write Without Reading The Directions
The wording of direction that one must follow to answer the questions can be quite tricky. Many a times, students do not read these instructions carefully.
This is one of the very common exam mistakes and must be avoided. Read the instructions more than once if required. Make sure you understand what they mean.
Do not lose marks for answering questions that are not asked!
Handing the MCQ Properly
For the multiple choice questions, read all the choices properly before picking one. This can be a tricky section. The questions are set in a way to confuse you!
Be confident and read the question again and again. Weight them against the given choices and take your call. For instance, there can be options like "All of the Above", or "A or C". Do not just answer "A" and move on. Read the options carefully.
During your SSAT test prep , you need to practice this point multiple times, in order to stay away from any such mistake.
Being Stuck On Single Question
It is important to borne in mind that you will not be able to answer all the questions in your SSAT exams. There will be a few questions which may be unknown to you, and a few more which you may not be confident about.
Under such circumstance, many students stick to that question until they solve it. It is a very wrong way to go about the process. If at all you do get stumped by a question, move on to the next questions and come back to this one at the very end.
Hurry Through The Easy Questions
This is yet another common mistake that most students do during their SSAT exams. Whenever they come across a question they know, they rush through it, to reach the other questions.
This must be avoided. Slow down on the questions you know you can ace. Losing on points due to carelessness on these questions is a silly idea. In fact, take your time in these questions and secure maximum points.
Prepare well and do well!
