1.8 SAT Critical Reading - Keeping Your Head in the Game

Keeping your head in the game: Maintaining your spirits throughout the test is crucial, but this spirit stems from a combination of preparation, endurance, and discipline.  You have to be able to take a hit without getting leveled.  Regardless of the preparation you put in, there will ALWAYS be an element of surprise.  There are just too many variables to control in order to lock down every possible pattern.  In fact, on some level the SAT test assesses the ability of students to improvise and respond to surprises- this is why it is a timed test. 

In the boxing word, a person who goes down after a soft hit is said to have a glass jaw.  You cannot have a glass jaw!  Be ready to encounter questions that you may not know, but do not let this minor disappointment ruin your entire game.  Only a disciplined mind can handle these kinks and hurdles along the way.  Preparation will help you to avoid panic if surprises do come.  Just like a boxer who has been hit many times before, he rebounds because he has been in the situation- he knows what it feels like!  A question may do this to you- do not stop; keep moving until you have no time.  If anything, mark the question, and if you have time at the end, go back to these questions.  I have seen so many students get frustrated on one or two questions; their pride never ceases and so they keep working and working until they find what they believe to be a certain answer choice.  The SAT test can be an unforgiving experience for these students since their frustration develops into careless mistakes on questions that they normally answer correctly.  Swallow a little pride and move on.  Embrace the difficulty with a smirk and hit another question, knowing that test maker may have won a round but they did not win the entire fight!