SAT Notes
Shade the ovals!
There used to be a time when practically every student from top Junior Colleges took Scholastic Aptitude Tests set by CollegeBoard in America. It is sort of like an entrance examination to the majority of United States colleges (ie. universities); almost all top US universities require the submission of SAT Reasoning Test (formerly SAT I) scores and the really top ones also require SAT Subject Test scores of up to 3 subject tests (which is the maximum number you can take in a single sitting).
When I started ERPZ, I had always wanted to put up some information about my SAT experience but found no chance to do so. I had plenty of help from friends, different organizations and books. I took SAT Reasoning twice, registering through RELC (Regional Language Center) for the first time and through the CollegeBoard site for my second attempt. I studied using mainly The Official SAT Study Guide from CollegeBoard itself. I personally didn't waste time looking through the introduction, tips and such and went straight to the practice papers, familiarizing myself with the instructions (so that I don't have to waste time reading through them again on the actual test papers).
For the SAT Subject Tests (formerly SAT II), I took Mathematics Level 2, Chemistry and Biology all in a single sitting. I borrowed The Official SAT Subject Tests in Mathematics Levels 1 & 2 Study Guide from a friend - mainly just to work on the practices and have a feel of the paper standards. SAT Mathematics is generally considered easy for Singaporean students but we do make careless mistakes easily so do be careful throughout the paper (work fast and accurately). For Biology, I had to self-study it (since I didn't do A-Levels Biology) entirely so I decided to invest in a copy of Kaplan SAT Subject Test: Biology E/M. I eventually focused on Molecular Biology for the E/M Options. For Chemistry, SparkNotes' Chemistry Online Book is highly recommended for students who already have a foundation in Chemistry like me.
Anyways, during my SAT Preparation, I made some notes and digitized them to be made available here on ERPZ. I hope they'll be useful to any potential SAT test-takers.
SAT Reasoning Test
Model Essays Collection - A series of essays I have written based on SAT essay practice questions
Essay Examples - A note with examples that can be used for SAT essays; try to compile your own set of such examples
SAT Subject Test - Biology
Organismal Biology Summary - A summary table of organismal biology content knowledge
Biomes Summary - A summary table of biomes tested in the SAT Biology Subject Test
As usual, the information provided here might not be entirely accurate and I do not bear any responsibility for mistakes made because of inaccuracies in my notes. While I might claim the essays to be model in the above link, they are not marked by actual essay readers and I can only claim that the essay structure works because I've tried it myself and got 11/12 for the essay score. Experience by other candidates shown that this writing structure is likely to score you 11 or 12 points, which is either full marks or 1 point less than full.