Are you taking the English EmSAT exam soon? Don’t risk getting a low score and having to retake the exam (or even worse, missing your first year of university). Instead, prepare yourself to get the marks you need on the first try. Follow these 6 steps to ensure success.
- Know the four most common essay types and how to write them. The writing section is worth 25% of your overall mark, so performing well on this part of the exam can boost your score up to the level needed for university entrance. While you will only be asked to write one essay on the English EmSAT exam, you won’t know which type of essay that will be until you are there in the exam room. Prepare yourself by studying how write each of the most common types. The most common types of essays are: Advantages and disadvantages, persuasive, opinion, and problem and solutions. All of these essays should be organized with an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion. However, the content and organization of the main body will change for each essay type. Study how to write each type and practice.
- Know the format of the exam and which sections take you the longest. The EmSAT exam is a timed exam. A timer will start as you begin each section of the exam. Practice with each section of the exam to understand which sections of the exam take you the longest, and practice with those question types to help improve your speed. If the timer finishes before you have answered all of the questions in that section, they will be marked as wrong causing you to lose valuable points.
- Know the 12 main grammar tenses and how to identify them. Many of the questions in the grammar section will require you to choose the best words to complete a sentence. Being familiar with the rules and uses of the 12 main grammar tenses will help you to quickly identify the correct answer for the most common grammar question types.
- Know how to skim and scan a text for information. As mentioned above, the EmSAT exam is timed, so being able to quickly find the answers to questions in the reading section will help you to save time. For many common question types, it isn’t necessary to read every word in a passage to find the answer. Learning how to skim for the main idea and scan for specific details are essential to making the most of your time in the exam. Familiarizing yourself with these different reading strategies will help their overall performance.
- Know how to guess the meaning of an unfamiliar word. It’s almost guaranteed that you will come across several words in the exam that you don’t know. Does that mean you are destined to get those questions wrong? Absolutely not! You should spend time learning how to guess the meaning from context, and practice that skill. This will help you to eliminate wrong answers and improve the liklihood of choosing the correct ones.
- Know where to find practice exams and use them! The best way to prepare for any exam, in any subject, is to take as many practice exams as you can find. Make sure that the practice exams you are taking mimic the style and content of the real EmSAT Exam. Studies show that pre-test stress causes students to perform worse on exams. Those same studies show that taking practice exams helps to reduce pre-exam stress, thereby improving your score. Where possible, make sure that the practice exams you take come with answer keys that give detailed explanations so you can learn not to make the same mistakes on the real EmSAT exam.
Get started by taking a free mini practice exam here!