The Enlightened SAT Warrior: Know Yourself

Oct 25th, 2007 by Academics Plus Tutoring

An Aware Warrior is a Prepared Warrior

As we mentioned previously, there are three types of knowledge we believe are essential to ace the SAT. Today, we would like to briefly discuss the first type of knowledge: knowledge about yourself.

We think it is crucial as a burgeoning SAT Warrior to have a clear and well-developed understanding about your own learning styles and preferences. It is also important to identify your own goals, strengths, weaknesses (yes, weaknesses), and preferred strategies. Why? Well, if you know your strengths, you can more effectively use them to your advantage. And, if you are aware of your weaknesses, you can navigate around them or develop strategies that help you compensate for them. In short, the more aware you become, the more informed you will be, and the more informed you are, the better your chances for success.

We encourage all SAT students to take the time to ask themselves some very important questions. A whole chapter of our book, How To Ace the SAT Without Losing Your Cool is devoted to answering questions designed to increase your self-knowledge. While we will not cover all the questions here, here are a few to get the ball rolling: What is your ideal SAT goal score? What is a realistic goal score? Do you feel capable of reaching your goal score? Why or why not? Why do you want to reach this goal score? What are your values and how does achieving your goal score relate to them? Have fun with this process. Understanding yourself as a learner and an individual with your own set of values, principles, and goals will serve you not only in preparing for the SAT, but in many—if not all—areas of your academic and personal lives.