Everyone has that one person in their family that seems to be the family’s oral historian, always telling the same jokes, the same stories, the same adventures (whether true or embellished). You can probably finish each story they start after just hearing the first couple of words. The SAT is that person in your family. Spend enough time with him, and you will know all his stories, idiosyncrasies, and foibles. This is the single most important reason to adequately prepare for these exams: they are very repetitive. Quality test preparation expedites the process of learning the personality and diverse stories that the SAT tells and ensures that you have not skipped over or misunderstood any of the important narratives.
For instance, on every single SAT test you will be tested on percents, slopes, averages, functions (both in graph and equation form), exponents, triangles, and a special variable equation. On every single SAT you will be tested on a vocabulary in context question and a large number of questions that simply ask you to relate the main idea of the passage (though they can have disguises so that they do not appear as such without a discerning eye). On every single SAT you will be tested on subject-verb agreement, noun-pronoun agreement, proper verb tense, parallel sentence structure, and whether you can spot a cause-and-effect relationship. On every single SAT… you will be bored by the repetition if you sufficiently prepare.
The SAT seems intimidating. However, it need not be. It is actually quite a bore if you have someone to walk you through and explain how that “impossible” question is simply the same one that we have done on the last five practice tests. Just like you wouldn't be afraid of your grandfather, you don’t need fear the SAT either.
Photo by kahala.
