Students everywhere wake up early Saturday morning, missing cartoons and sleeping until noon to sit in a room with other students to take a test that will determine whether they go the Ivy League or the Community College route.

A great way to walk in on test day would be prepared both physically and mentally.

To physically prepare yourself, you can start the night before with a decent meal, setting out everything you’ll need for the test, and getting enough sleep to function like a half-way normal human being. Be sure to keep your cool and think positive; avoid things that make you feel otherwise, like your crazy ex-girlfriend.

The morning of the test, you should be sure you repeat the process of a good meal and getting everything ready for the test, minus the sleep part, of course. Go through your checklist of admission ticket, photo ID, calculator and number two pencils. Don’t take your cell phone; they’re not allowed near the tests.

When taking the test, be sure to mark all over your test booklet. Not just stick figures and flowers, but actual scratch work like hints, formulas, acronyms, and anything else that will help you in the test taking process.

If you have to guess at any point in the test, be sure you do so intelligently. Do what you can to eliminate answers you’re sure aren’t correct and choose the answer you find to be the most accurate.

Be sure to move around as best you can; pop your neck, move your legs, stretch your arms and whatever else you can do.

Getting down to the actual bulk of the test, some great strategies for the math portion are solve first and use all your time. You should also make sure not to spend any more than a minute on any given problem, and don’t leave a single question blank.

For the English portion of the test, you want get used to educated guessing and reading carefully. Also be sure to review and remember the rules for grammar and writing, and to go with your gut.

For the Science portion, it’s critical to remember questions typically go from easiest to hardest, so finish what you know first, and then move on to the harder questions. Be sure to not spend any more than about a minute on any given problem.

Also, don’t freak out about having to sound like a scientist in your writing. If you don’t know exactly what a word means or exactly how to use it, don’t. You won’t get counted off as long as the test graders understand what you’re saying.

In the end, the best thing you can do is pace yourself, keep calm, and guess intelligently.

All information in this article was gathered from www.shmoop.com