Three Simple Ways to Help Students Save Time on the ACT® and SAT®

Lately, we’ve been putting a lot of focus on time. In last week’s post, we discussed teaching students how to keep track of time and maintain pace while taking the ACT® and SAT®. This week, we’re focusing on teaching students how to save time during their exams.

For many ACT® and SAT® test takers, the biggest hurdle isn’t the content, it’s time. Whether it’s the lengthy readings on the SAT® or the tight minutes-to-problems ratio on the ACT®, the ticking clock can pose a daunting challenge.

Test-prep tutors can help their students optimize their testing pace with a variety of authentic practice experiences. The ACT® and SAT® curricula available from Clear Choice Prep use data and personalized instruction to maximize student preparedness and efficiency. This means that students walk into test day fully prepared to make the most of their experience and maximize their available time.

That said, for tutors still looking to help students eke out a bit more extra time, there are 3 simple ways that any student can buy themselves some precious extra minutes before they hear “pencils down!”

1. Prepare to skip the directions

Students have been trained from the time they’re learned to read that they must read the directions first. However, reading directions during standardized tests like the ACT® and SAT® can prove to be a waste of precious time. Instead, students should learn and understand these directions prior to test day.

To make this easy, both the ACT® and SAT® provide practice materials that include the same directions that test takers will see on the actual exams. The curricular materials from Clear Choice Prep include these written directions as well. The best tutors refer their students to these exact directions repeatedly throughout the test-prep process. This way, come test day, the directions can be skipped over without a second thought.

To get to that level of comfort, mix up how students engage with the actual test directions during practice. On some occasions, read the directions while the student follows along. Other times, have the student read them either aloud or silently.

Consider timing these readings to demonstrate the amount of time they are taking from the student’s overall testing session. Odds are, it won’t be an astronomical figure, but over the course of a section, it may mean an extra minute or two that could be used checking an answer or finding evidence in a passage.

As test day approaches, start directing students to omit reading the directions altogether. This will help create the most accurate pacing plan down the home stretch.

2. Memorize formulas

The math sections on both the ACT® and SAT® include formulas that test takers are free to refer to during testing. This may seem like a boon for students (one less thing to prep for!), but it is actually a potential quagmire of lost time.

Much like the directions on these tests, the exact formulas that are provided to students on test day are also available both in the official practice materials and within the Clear Choice Prep curricula.

But, let’s be honest: brain farts are real. Even the best test takers occasionally have a moment where they cannot recall a specific fact that they need. In these cases, it is nice to know that the formula references are there.

That said, students should treat the provided formulas as a last resort - an “in case of emergency, break glass” resource only to be relied upon in the most dire of circumstances. After all, a student whose test-day plan is to look up every formula is a student who is willingly throwing away valuable minutes of testing time.

3. Use calculators wisely

Students are permitted to use specific calculators on both the ACT® and SAT®. While the SAT® has a specific “calculator-permitted” section, students can use a calculator for every math problem on the test. However, just because a student can use a calculator doesn’t mean they should. The ACT® and SAT® are both designed to be able to be passed without a calculator at all.

Provide opportunities during test prep for students to work both with and without a calculator. Keep track of per problem time and accuracy to see if trends emerge. For instance:

• Are there functions that students are completing faster with a calculator than without?

• Are there more mistakes made with calculator use or without?

• Are there types of non-calculator computations that could be practiced for extra speed and efficiency?

Using this information, the next step is to formulate a plan for which types of problems a student should complete with a calculator and which problems should be hashed out without one. By the time test day arrives, students should be equipped to make the judgement for themselves quickly and effectively.

When it comes down to it, every second counts on the ACT® and SAT®. Optimizations like these add up and can help students to achieve their larger test-score goals.

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