Top Five Things to Remember on Your Testing Day

The vast amount of preparation for a standardized test involves learning and

studying the material for the test itself. Knowing the content is surely the greatest 

obstacle, but there are finer points that can turn your test day performance from

good to great. So remember these five “things”—ideas, items, food, and more.

1.  The Guessing Penalty

Some tests include deductions for wrong answers, and some do not. For multiple

choice questions on the College Board’s SAT Reasoning Test and Subject Tests, a

quarter-point is deducted for each wrong answer. (On the subject tests, if a question

has fewer than five choices, the penalty may be greater.) On the ACT test, however,

there is no guessing penalty. And the College Board’s Advanced Placement exams

just recently switched to follow suit —the wrong answer penalty was removed 

last 

year.

There are further intricacies to be aware of —the SAT’s free response math section,

for instance, has no guessing penalty—but even a “guessing penalty” need not 

prevent all guessing. If two potential answers can be eliminated on a five-choice

SAT question, then the quarter-point penalty suddenly becomes outweighed. Above

all, know the rules ahead of time, so you can worry less about calculating expected

values, and more about acing the test.

2.  Breakfast

“Eat a good breakfast ” is a pre-test cliché, but it has real logic backing it up. In a

review of literature, researchers from University of California-Davis  say, “available

information suggests that brain function is sensitive to short-term variations in the

availability of nutrient supplies.” Just as athletes have their pregame eating

regimens, test-takers need food too. “Essentially, [a standardized test] is an arduous

exertion,” Yale nutrition expert David Katz has explained 

to Time Magazine. “It just 

happens to be cognitive rather than physical. Your brain runs on the fuel you ingest,

same as the rest of your body.” 

3.  Photo ID

With news of standardized test cheating, like the high profile scandal centered on

Great Neck, Long Island last year, administrators are growing more serious about 

photo identification. Especially for children without a driver’s license, know what 

forms of ID are acceptable, and bring one. Tests like the SAT and ACT 

provide

information online about which ID forms work, and which do not. For the SAT, for

instance, a Social Security card will not work, but a school ID card (with a photo)

will.

4. 

Calmness

Calm testing doesn’t necessarily require pre-exam yoga, but it does mean limiting

extraneous factors that can cause stress. Arriving at your testing site with time to

spare should eliminate one potential worry. Preparation is half of the battle know

spare should eliminate one potential worry. Preparation is half of the battle—know

the test ’s section lengths and breaks. Clinical psychologist Ben Bernstein explains 

that stress has triggers—“something that happens outside you which fires off a

stress reaction inside.” Punctuality and preparation can help you avoid ambush by

those stress triggers.

Some recent research suggests that a small amount of stress might actually increase

performance, but you can trust the test itself to lend all the stress you need. Don’t 

add any more on top of it.

5.  Materials

On today’s standardized tests, “materials” means more than a pair of No. 2 pencils.

For some exams, such as the Advanced Placement tests, you may need a blue or

black pen as well, for an essay section. And on many tests, including the SAT and

ACT, a calculator is recommended. But some tests ban certain, stronger calculators,

while others, like the Advanced Placement Calculus exam, demand specific graphing

calculators. Certain tests, like the AP Physics exam, which permits a ruler or

straightedge, may call for further, test-specific materials. Keep track of it all, so that 

you spend your pre-test minutes relaxed and ready, instead of scrounging for the

proper-colored pen.

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550 Valley Rd. Montclair, NJ 07043 Phone: (973) 744-7737 Fax: (973) 529-0235 www.chyten.com