Test day: the checklist and the first ten minutes

The week before

• Install and open the testing app, complete exam setup, and confirm your admission ticket.
• Charge your device fully and check it holds charge for three hours.
• Shift your sleep so you are waking at test-day time for at least four days.
• Take your last full mock no later than five days out. The final days are for review, not new stress.

The night before

• Pack: device, charger, admission ticket, photo ID, an approved calculator as backup, water, a snack for the break.
• Review your error log and formula sheet for forty minutes maximum, then stop.
• No new questions. A wrong answer the night before costs you confidence and teaches you nothing in time.
• Sleep matters more than any revision you could do in that hour.

The first ten minutes

Your heart rate will be high on question one and your reading comprehension will be worse than usual for about five questions. Everyone experiences this and it is not a sign the test is going badly.

Plan for it: read the first question twice deliberately, slowly. Spending an extra twenty seconds settling into Module 1 is cheap, and Module 1 is the module that sets your ceiling.

The break

• Stand up and move. Drink water. Eat something small.
• Do not discuss Reading and Writing with anyone. It is finished and it cannot be changed.
• Reset your posture and your breathing before Math starts.

If a module goes badly

Finish it anyway, and finish it with an answer in every box. Sections are scored independently, and a hard Module 2 usually means Module 1 went well. Students who write themselves off at the break routinely turn out to have been on track.