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PSAT Tips & Strategies

Critical Reading: Sentence Completions
Sentence completion questions test both your vocabulary and your understanding of the logic of a sentence. Each question is a sentence containing either one or two blanks. Your job is to figure out which answer choice correctly completes the sentence. As you read the sentence, try to predict what word should go in each blank. Sometimes you can guess the meaning of one blank, but not the other. In that case, scan the answer choices, looking for a word similar to the one you've predicted, and then eliminate the answer choices that don't match up.

Critical Reading: Reading Comprehension
Critical reading now includes both long and short reading passages with questions. Skim each passage to see what it’s about. Don't worry about the details—you can always look them up later if you need to. Just look for the main ideas. Then tackle the questions that direct you straight to the answer by referring you to a specific line in the passage. If you have time afterward, you can try solving the harder questions.

Writing: Multiple-Choice
There are three types of multiple-choice writing questions on the SAT: Improving Sentences, Identifying Sentence Errors, and Improving Paragraphs. Improving Sentences questions ask you to select the correct version—that is, the one that is clearly written and grammatically correct—of an underlined portion of a sentence. Identifying Sentence Errors questions ask you to figure out which part of a sentence contains an error, and Improving Paragraphs questions test your ability to organize and clarify information in a paragraph. For all of these question types, think about the simplest, clearest way to express an idea. If an answer choice sounds awkward or overly-complicated, chances are good that it's wrong.

Math: Multiple-Choice
You'll be given reference information (formulas and facts), but you'll need to know how to use them. You're allowed to use a calculator, but, again, it won't help you unless you know how to approach the problems. If you're stuck, try substituting numbers for variables. You can also try plugging in numbers from the answer choices. Start with the middle number—that way, if it doesn't work, you can strategically choose a higher or lower number.

Math: Grid-In
These questions are not multiple-choice—you come up with an answer and fill it into a grid. The grid does not contain a minus sign, so there is no way to indicate that a value is less than zero. That means that an answer can't be a negative number. Unlike with multiple-choice questions, you won't be penalized for wrong answers, so go ahead and make your best guess even if you're not sure. You can't grid mixed numbers, so if you get a mixed number as an answer, you'll have to convert it to an improper fraction or a decimal.

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