How to Prepare Over Thanksgiving Break

Do you have an upcoming December or January test date? Here are our recommendations for your prep.

Over the Thanksgiving break:

1. Spend time with family and friends. Taking some time to rest and recuperate is important, and will also help ensure that your brain is well-rested and ready to learn when you are studying.

2. Read a book. Reading is both relaxing (pick a book you’ll enjoy!) and educational: reading helps you build a strong vocabulary and strengthen your reading comprehension skills.

3. Read a newspaper article a day. Discuss it with someone else, a parent, guardian, grandparent, sibling, or friend to make sure you understood it. Look up any words you don’t know.

4. Study vocabulary. The best way to study vocabulary is for 10-15 minutes each day. Check out our SSAT & ISEE vocabulary sets for your test and level.

5. Take a full-length practice test. A long weekend is a great time to find an opportunity to sit down and simulate the official testing experience. Check out the proctor videos in our virtual ISEE & SSAT proctor videos to make your practice test as true to the official test as possible.

6. Review your results. The review process is possibly the most important step! This is the place where you learn the most — go back through the test and review every question you answered incorrectly or skipped. Make sure you would know how to do that question if you were to see something similar again. Read the answer explanation and make sure you understand how to arrive at the correct answer, and how to avoid choosing any of the wrong answer choices.

7. Do targeted practice. Focus on the areas that could use work based on your practice test results. Practice those specific question types until you feel confident with those skills.

After break ends (and of course, your practice should not end):

1. Study vocabulary. Find a time that you can practice every day. Remember this is just for 10-15 minutes. Maybe it’s while you eat breakfast in the morning, or while you wait at the bus stop, or during a study hall at school.

2. Practice. Continue to incorporate practice tests, review, and targeted practice into your weekly schedule. Ideally, find at least three blocks of time during each week to sit down and practice, working through the steps outlined above: taking practice test sections, reviewing results, and then doing targeted practice.

3. Read, sleep, and exercise. Having a healthy routine is one of the best ways to do well in all of your endeavors.