Ask Sam letter

Hi,

Thanks for your message. 

I can hear that you are worried because you have your SATs coming up.  A lot of people worry about exams and tests and think that they won’t do very well. Often they do a lot better than they expect to. The important thing is to prepare. The practice tests you have been doing at school are good preparation. You could also make sure you get some help for any of the areas in the tests that you feel you don’t understand or are struggling with. 

You mention that you have finished the practice tests really quickly, after 20 minutes and that there is a lot of time left. You won’t lose marks for finishing early, but maybe you could slow down a little bit and take your time to complete the answer. It’s important to read the questions carefully a couple of times to make sure that you understand what is being asked, as you will lose marks if you don’t answer the question fully.

It’s also a good idea to read your answers through if you have time before the end of the test so that you can check that what you have written makes sense and answers the question. When you read your answer through, you might also think of extra things you can add in, which could mean getting more marks. You could use the extra time that you have available to do this.

We have some more information about coping with tests and exam stress. This explains how to prepare by getting the right amount of sleep and suggests some ideas to cope with nerves. You could also check out the message boards thread about study help to see how other people are coping with their SATs. If you would like to talk things through with someone, you can always talk to one of our counsellors.

Take care for now,
Sam