Looking to Spice SAT Prep Up? Try Scrapbooking

We know what you're thinking: My aunt scrapbooks; how's this going to help me with my score? But putting together an SAT scrapbook can benefit you immensely. It combines written and visual cues to inspire you as you study, and it will help you remember shortcuts, vocab, and math formulas. And it's pretty fun.

The sooner you start your scrapbook, the better. As your scrapbook gets fattened up with juicy SAT morsels, it will become physical proof of your increasing SAT brilliance. Carry it around with you, flip through your artsy renditions of SAT strategies during study hall, and show off to your friends at lunch. For extra scraps of fun, get together with your friends and have an SAT scrapbooking session (the perfect activity for an SAT sleepover). And use your scrapbook as an excellent review tool in those last few days before the test.

Here are some tips on creating a scrapbook that'll knock the socks off your local scrapbooking society:

Supplies

• Blank notebook, journal, or photo album that's easily divisible into sections for each area of study
• Markers, highlighters, glitter pens
• Scissors
• Tape, glue stick, stapler, paper clips

What to do

• Photocopy or hand copy questions (or entire sections) that bug, frustrate, and challenge you—questions that you either really love or really hate—and stick these into a section labeled "Practice."
• Photocopy practice test reading passages. Pick a mix of ones you enjoyed and ones you really struggled with. Stick them into your scrapbook to mull over, mark up, dissect, illustrate—whatever. Copy down the accompanying questions too, and draw links connecting the reading passage with the answers.
• Every time you come across a vocab word you are unfamiliar with, either in your study lists or in books or articles you read, look it up and copy the word and definition into your scrapbook. Then write down a sentence that uses the word correctly. Do the same thing each time you learn a new idiom, and include a sentence that correctly incorporates the idiom.
• Paste/staple/tape in graph paper for your Math section. Write out formulas and equations over and over. Draw in cool coordinate planes. Stick in questions that still bother you and ones that you've finally overcome.
• Use pictures! You can use old photos for inspiration—maybe you've got old pictures of your parents or siblings as students, or yourself as a grade schooler. Snap pics of your SAT study guide, group study sessions, computer screen—and anything else that inspires you to study.
• Collage it up. One of the best ways to keep your “eyes on the prize”—that is, your dream college—is to keep that goal right in front of you. Create a College Collage section for your scrapbook. By now you probably have some idea of which colleges are going to get a good look at your SAT scores. Gather up all those informational brochures, campus visit fliers, introductory letters, and course catalogues you've collected and use them to decorate the heck out of your book.
• Create an "SAT Hall of Fame" page where you can paste those questions, passages, vocab works, and formulas you've totally mastered. (You'll want to come back to these for a quick review before you're done.)

If scrapbooking isn't your thing, build up an SAT bulletin board. Get a large cork board that can hang on the wall beside your bed or over your desk so you can admire and study at the same time.

Got your own unique study methods? Share them in the comments, and email testpreptutor@sparknotes.com.

Related Post: Practice Makes Perfect