no reason to waste a lot of time on Test Day reading them. Learn them beforehand as you work
through this book and the College Board publications.
Not all of the questions on the SAT Subject Tests are equally difficult. The questions often get
harder as you work through different parts of a test. This pattern can work to your benefit. Try to be
aware of where you are in a test.
When working on more basic problems, you can generally trust your first impulse—the obvious
answer is likely to be correct. As you get to the end of a test section, you need to be a bit more
suspicious. Now the answers probably won’t come as quickly and easily—if they do, look again
because the obvious answers may be wrong. Watch out for answers that just “look right.” They may
be distracters—wrong answer choices deliberately meant to entice you.
There’s no mandatory order to the questions on the SAT Subject Test. You’re allowed to skip
around on the SAT Subject Tests. High scorers know this fact. They move through the tests
efficiently. They don’t dwell on any one question, even a hard one, until they’ve tried every question
at least once.
When you run into questions that look tough, circle them in your test booklet and skip them for the
time being. Go back and try again after you’ve answered the easier ones if you’ve got time. After a
second look, troublesome questions can turn out to be remarkably simple.
If you’ve started to answer a question but get confused, quit and go on to the next question.
Persistence might pay off in high school, but it usually hurts your SAT Subject Test scores. Don’t
spend so much time answering one hard question that you use up three or four questions’ worth of
time. That’ll cost you points, especially if you don’t even get the hard question right.
LEAP AHEAD
Do the questions in the order that’s best for you. Skip hard questions until you’ve gone
through every question once. Don’t pass up the opportunity to score easy points by wasting
time on hard questions. Come back to them later.