By Sadia Akter (Viqarunnisa Noon College)

My SAT experience

I took my first SAT on May 8, 2021. I didn’t want to take stress but I ended up being stressed and nervous on that day. I woke up at 3.30 am on my test Day (as it was in the month of Ramadan and I had to do sehri). My test Centre was ASIS (American Standard International School). I reached the Centre at 7 am. I was the first examinee to reach the Centre. But reaching there, I got to know that I would need 2B pencils (no. 2 pencils is written in admission ticket), but I had HB Pencils. I was about to take 2B pencils, but the night before the exam I did a google search about pencils I can use in SAT and found this-

Seeing this picture, I was sure that I will have to use HB pencils. But don’t always rely on google like me. For safety, take both types of pencils. Because it depends on the proctor and official members of the test centre.

Fortunately, I met one of my friends (Tasnova Tabassum) who was also there to take the SAT. She was so sweet to give me one of her extra pencils.

Entering into the exam room

At 7.40 am we were called by the proctor to get into our exam room. So, we went inside the room and sat on the seats. After that, he told us to keep our belongings in a specific corner of the room except for mobile phones, calculators, passports, pencils, erasers, and admission tickets. After that, he came to us to take our passports, phones, and calculators. I gave only my passport and calculator to him as I didn’t take any phone. After that, the proctor distributed booklets to us before the starting time for filling the front page. He also had a booklet in his hand looking at which he was instructing us to fill that page.

Start of the Reading section

Our exam started at 8 am. After taking the reading section we were given a break of 10 minutes. After taking that part, I was feeling bad because I answered many questions by guessing.

Break Time

I went to the washroom in break time to freshen up. There was a mirror in the washroom, looking at which I told myself, “Don’t panic, and give your best in the next three sections. You are taking this one just for experience.” Though I knew that getting my desired score was a snowball’s chance in hell, I pulled myself together and went back to my seat. I was trying to remember all the rules and tricks to solve the questions in the next section (writing).

Start of the next two sections

After 10 minutes break, we were instructed by the proctor to start the writing section. After finishing that, we started the math (no calculator) section which was of 25 minutes. There was no break between those sections. As this section was my strength, I was somewhat confident. And the questions were also easy. So, I finished it in 20 minutes and revised all the questions for the last five minutes.

5 minutes break (Not allowed to leave the desk)

We were asked to take our calculators from the proctor’s Table. Taking my calculator, I went back to my seat and stretched my fingers and eyes.

Start of the Math (With calculator) Section

After 5 minutes, the proctor instructed us to start the section and I started to solve the problems. I completed that section almost 20 minutes earlier. I was revising the questions for those remaining time. As I took my SAT without essay, there was no fifth section for me. So, the proctor collected our booklets as no one was taking SAT with essay in our room.

Leaving the test centre

Before leaving the room, the proctor gave us our respective passports and we collected our bags from the corner of the room where we kept our bags before starting the exam. Due to COVID situation, we had to go out of the room one by one by maintaining 30 seconds interval.

However, the SAT isn’t just long – it’s also intense. And I was exhausted after taking it.

My SAT experience (ASIS, 2021)