III. Simple strategies that will take you a long way

1. Before the day of the exam:
2. Strategies during the exam:
3. Strategies after the exam:

1. Before the day of the exam:

   • Don't procrastinate. Begin preparing for the exam as early as possible.
   • Focus yourself on achieving a high score. Conditioning and motivating yourself to succeed is just as important as the actual study work.
   • Sign up for the test well in advance so that you are assigned to a center close to you.
   • Keep practicing as much as time allows. You can't over practice.
   • Get a good night's sleep before the exam.

2. Strategies during the exam:

   • Don't waste your time reading the instructions. You should have read them plenty of times on the practice tests.
   • As long as you can eliminate one answer, guess.
   • Force yourself to focus when you start losing attention.
   • Pick a calculator you are comfortable with.
   • Check your work several times to avoid simple errors.
   • Do the easy questions first as they are worth just as much as the difficult ones. Mark the hard ones to come back and do them later.
   • Bring a watch to the test.

3. Strategies after the exam:

   • Don't get too upset if you didn't score well. You can take it again, and most colleges will take your highest score.
   • Don't lose the motivation. No one gets to hit a bull's-eye all the time. Finding the strength to continue after failure is a better predictor of future success than winning.
   • If you're happy with the score, try to retain what you've learned. You will be able to apply many parts of that knowledge for years to come.