5 Reasons why most students fail to improve their scores on the SATs

When it comes to score improvement on the SAT, many students feel like they are stuck or can't get to their target scores, despite all the efforts and all the practice. This is mainly because unlike any other test, the SAT is very objective and specific about what it tests, and you fail to crack that, chances are your score won't go up. Here are 5 reasons why most students fail to improve their scores:

1. They focus on quantity rather than quality.

Doing lots and lots of questions is good, but that is when you are well versed with the topics and concepts. Many of my students have fallen into this trap. They solve 5 complete practice tests before investing any time on actually understanding the concepts. Result - They end up with low scores, at least most of them, and even worse, they don't understand why because they never understood the concepts to know where they did wrong. Yes you did a lot of practice, but you can't only run to win a football match. Focus on every question type and how it has to be resolved and then get to the practice.

2. They fail to analyse their scores.

Score reports on the SAT are there for a reason. Your score details tell you exactly where you are going wrong, but it is of no use if you don't learn from it. Your mistakes, espeically the ones that are recurring, are your gold mines. They are the indicators that will lead you straight to what needs to be corrected in order to improve the score. What most students derive out of them, however, is demotivation. Remember, PT scores never tell you what you will get on the SAT. Instead, it tell you what you can get on the SAT. Know the difference.

3. They think there is only one order to solve the test.

Many test-takers resort to solve the test in the order they get it. Reality is there no score for doing a particular question first. The best order to solve a question is in which you are the most comfortable. In other words, know your strong points and solve those questions first and then reach out for the relatively harder ones. This will give you a lot of confidence and improve the scores drastically.

4. They have poor time management skills on the test

Easy, Medium, or Hard - DSAT has all of it. This means it is impossible to solve every question in the same time period, and this is exactly why we hear many students fail to complete the test in the given time and have to resort to guessing on many questions towards the end. The best way to make time for the harder questions is to leverage the easier ones and solve them in less than average time. 30 seconds saved from 10 easy questions is 5 minutes extra for the harder questions. This would mean a lot.

5. They do not understand what the question is asking

Understanding what the questions is asking is half the answer. Many students fail to conquer this basic hurdle. In their quest to solve the questions in the given time, they fail to understand what the question is actually asking. Skipping this will most probably lead you to wrong answers. Every bit of information is not your answer even if it is from the passage until confirmed by the question.

Constant analysis and a will to improve will definitely increase the scores, but it has to be holistic. When all the ingredients are right, you get the perfect recipe.