Always circle the answers you choose. Circling your answers in the test booklet makes it easier to
check your grid against your booklet.
Grid five or more answers at once. Don’t transfer your answers to the grid after every question.
Transfer them after every five questions. That way, you won’t keep breaking your concentration to
mark the grid. You’ll save time and gain accuracy.
APPROACHING SAT SUBJECT TEST QUESTIONS
Apart from knowing the setup of the SAT Subject Tests that you’ll be taking, you’ve got to have a
system for attacking the questions. You wouldn’t travel around an unfamiliar city without a map,
and you shouldn’t approach the SAT Subject Test without a plan. What follows is the best method
for approaching SAT Subject Test questions systematically.
Think about the questions before you look at the answers. The test makers love to put distracters
among the answer choices. Distracters are answers that look like they’re correct but aren’t. If you
jump right into the answer choices without thinking first about what you’re looking for, you’re much
more likely to fall for one of these traps.
THINK FIRST
Try to think of the answer to a question before you shop among the answer choices. If you’ve
got some idea of what you’re looking for, you’ll be less likely to be fooled by “trap” choices.Guess—when you can eliminate at least one answer choice. You already know that the “guessing
penalty” can work in your favor. Don’t simply skip questions that you can’t answer. Spend some
time with them in order to see whether you can eliminate any of the answer choices. If you can, it
pays for you to guess.
Pace yourself. The SAT Subject Tests give you a lot of questions in a short period of time. To get
through the tests, you can’t spend too much time on any single question. Keep moving through the
tests at a good speed. If you run into a hard question, circle it in your test booklet, skip it, and come
back to it later if you have time.