Take timed baseline and mock tests - There are lots of different ways to practice for the SAT, ACT, SSAT, or ISEE. Some exercises should be untimed – like when you’re just learning a new strategy or content area.
Understand how much time you have per question - A key part of time management is knowing how much time you have to work. It’s tempting to just take the total testing time and divide it by the number of questions
Practice, practice, practice! - Steady, regular practice is a great way to increase your speed and accuracy, even outside a formal mock test. You can keep tabs on your time by setting a stopwatch or your phone to time you as you move through a set of questions or a passage.
Consider wearing a watch - You might not be sitting in sight of a clock when you take your SAT, ACT, ISEE, or SSAT, and you definitely can’t use your phone during the test. Luckily, you can bring a little clock with you!
Closing thoughts - In some ways, standardized testing is like baking: timing is everything. With enough guided practice, hard work, and a few smart strategies, you can beat the clock and earn a perfectly delicious test score.
Adjust your pace to the specific test and section - Overall, the ACT is paced faster than the SAT. And on different sections of either test, the number of questions and the total time allotted is different. For example, the ACT math test currently allocates 60 minutes to answer 60 questions, versus 45 minutes for 75 questions on the English section.
Know the directions in advance - Here’s a time-saving tip for test-takers – you don’t have to waste time reading the directions for a test section if you know them in advance.
Set a target score or score range - Strong students will want to shoot for answering all the questions correctly on a given section of the SAT or ACT. But for many test-takers, a better strategy for an optimal score is to skip the hardest questions