Wake up and smell the coffee! It’s the morning of your SAT or ACT. How you spend the next few hours can help set you up for success—or for dire struggle—in the test chair.
The road to get to this point has been long: from choosing between the Digital SAT and the ACT, to firming up your testing timeline, to calculating how long to study for your test of choice, to chipping away at your test prep one hour at a time. And now, after months of putting that in the elbow grease, you’re about to actually sit for the test!
It’s an exciting feeling! And also (for some students)….a VERY scary one!
That pit-in-your-stomach sensation doesn’t have to last, though. Because you’re about to get a proven gameplan from someone with over fifteen years’ worth of experience in calming down anxious test-takers like yourself. It’s my whole job to help high schoolers perform on Test Day and reach or even exceed their Target Scores…and ultimately get accepted into their top-pick colleges. What I’m going to show you today is exactly what to do the morning of your ACT or SAT to get rid of the test-day jitters, stay calm and collected, and ultimately get your highest score possible! Ready?
Article Contents
c. What to wear
e. Should you drink caffeine the day of the SAT/ACT?
e. “Warm up” with some practice Qs
f. What to bring with you to the ACT/SAT
g. How early should you get to the testing center?
h. Use “power poses” while you wait
3. Conclusion
Watch this article as a video:
What to Do the Morning of your Standardized Test
1) Calculate what time to set your alarm for.
I don’t think you’ll be surprised to hear that you need to get some high-quality ZZZ’s the night before you sit for the SAT or ACT. (By “high-quality ZZZ’s,” I mean eight to nine hours of continuous sleep!)
However, what I often have to walk my students through is how to work backwards to discover WHEN those eight or nine hours should begin!
For instance, if your test center’s doors close at 8AM—which really means that you must get there by 7:45AM at the LATEST, so as not to risk being locked out—when would you need to leave your house to be 200% sure that you’ll arrive by that slightly earlier time?
Got a clear “departure from house” time figured? Great. Now, do the math counting back from that time to determine when you’d need to wake up to get through the below morning routine and leave by that departure time! Then, count 8 or 9 hours backwards to determine when you should actually be lying your head on the pillow the previous night.
2) Opt for a morning shower.
Sure, some of us prefer nighttime showers. But for this one, very special day—as long as it doesn’t cut into your generous sleep allotment—I encourage you to shower in the morning! Feeling some nice, warm water on your skin will help you wake up physically and mentally, so you can make the state change from slumber…to numbers. You want to give yourself every advantage in the quest to be fully awake before your ACT or SAT.
3) Dress comfortably.
Believe me: no one else is judging your test day outfit. But YOU will judge yourself big-time if you wear tight, scratchy, or temperature-inappropriate clothes or shoes…and are feeling uncomfortable 45 minutes in! Save the three-inch heels and miniskirts for the school dance and go for clothing that’ll feel highly cozy over the course of your three- to four-hour testing gauntlet.
4) Your breakfast should include protein and carbs.
Your brain needs food to fuel all those correct answers, so make sure you eat a balanced breakfast that has carbs AND fats/protein! You’ll need the carbohydrates for energy and the protein and fat to keep you satiated for multiple hours.
You’re running a marathon here, in terms of both mental function and physical stamina (sitting in the same, possibly not-so-comfortable seat for that many hours can be surprisingly difficult)! Plus, there’s nothing as distracting as a growling stomach or hunger headache during the ACT’s English section or the SAT’s Math section. Feeling woozy could mean the difference between a “blah” score and an “awesome” one.
Some good options: an omelette with veggies and cheese; eggs and toast with a bit of peanut butter or avocado; granola and whole-milk yogurt with some fresh berries. You can go back to Eggos the day after your test, promise!
5) Should you drink caffeine the day of the SAT/ACT?
Here’s my strong opinion on this question: whether you’re a total coffee-head or can’t stand the stuff, do not switch up your caffeine routine the morning of your SAT or ACT!
If you enjoy your cup of java (or Earl Grey) each day, PLEASE don’t try to quit cold turkey on this high-pressure day! (Caffeine headaches are the WORST….an express train to low focus!)
Likewise, if you’re NOT a coffee/caffeinated tea person, don’t start now—unless you’ve taken practice tests using coffee/tea to see what it’s like, and the results were positive! Some people experience physical and emotional anxiety symptoms when they imbibe caffeine (trembling hands, racing heart), and lord knows we don’t want to add more nerves to your plate on this day of all days.
If you’re a “sometimes caffeinated” person and could go either way, make sure you experiment taking mock tests both WITH coffee/tea and without, so you can assess whether one seems to benefit your performance more.
6) Morning Pages
Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way outlines a super-helpful practice you might have heard of before: “Morning Pages.”
Right after you wake up, you put your pen to a piece of paper and fill THREE pages. (If you’re short on time, just set a timer for 5 minutes and write until the alarm goes off.) What you write does NOT have to make sense, be grammatically correct, or discuss anything especially deep. In fact, you don’t even correct mistakes—no crossing out or erasing or deleting allowed! And what’s more? You’re never even going to READ what you wrote, so you can rip it up or shove it in a drawer as soon as you’re done.
So, if you’re writing garbage and you’re never going to read it or use it again, you might be thinking: “what’s the point?” The answer is simple: the point is to clear your mind of all the junk and running mental monologue, so that those subconscious thoughts aren’t taking up your precious head space when you’re trying to do more important things!
…like taking a college entrance exam, for instance.
The morning of the SAT or ACT is exactly the kind of morning when you want to purge anything from your brain that won’t help you stay present and focused.
This routine can really work wonders during the (sometimes also stressful) weeks leading up to the test, too, btw. Give it a try and watch your day-to-day focus noticeably improve.
7) "Warm up" with some easy questions.
After you’ve used Morning Pages to purge your mind of rubbish that would get in the way of the test score you deserve, now it’s time to warm up your mind and get into the test-taking zone!
Think about it: you wouldn’t give a guitar recital without loosening up your fingers with some scales, would you? And you wouldn’t take the field for a soccer playoff without stretching and jogging a few laps first, would you?
You need to do the mental equivalent of these warm-ups before a high-stakes test.
The most efficient way to do this is to take a page of relatively easy Math or Grammar questions and work your way through them. You can recycle the first 4-6 questions of English, “Standard English Conventions,” or Math from an old practice test OR from old SAT/ACT homework assignments or practice drills.
Do NOT take on super-hard questions, here—that might just end up making you doubt yourself, and we want you to get to that testing center feeling confident. Give yourself some quick wins so you can open Bluebook at the testing center…and find that you’re already in the zone.
If time is short, you could even do your 4-6 questions of “warm up” while you’re eating your healthy breakfast or commuting to your test center!
8) Bring these test-day necessities with you.
As you know, there are some key items that you must bring with you on Test Day. (They’re so key to a good score, in fact, that I dedicated a whole post to listing out what you should bring!)
So, your next morning-of step is to actually BRING THEM with you, so you have everything you’ll need to check in, take the test, and stay physically comfortable along the way!
If you really want to do your future self a favor: pack these items all up the night before the test so you’re not scrambling to assemble everything in the possibly intense hour before you leave the house.
9) Get to the testing center on time (read: early).
Double- and triple-check your SAT or ACT registration ticket to make sure you know exactly when the doors close, and plan to arrive at least 15-30 minutes before that time! Nothing will get you off on the wrong testing foot like having to speed through traffic because you’re running late.
10) Use power poses while you wait.
While you’re waiting in line to get in the test center’s doors or waiting in line to check in, strike a “high power” pose, like a Superwoman pose—for at least two minutes straight!
(Is this the first time you’re encountering the phrase “Power Poses”? Read this post to learn all about how to use them to calm down, increase confidence, and dial in your focus during the SAT and ACT!)
Didn’t have to wait in any lines? While you’re at your desk to take the test, you can still SIT in a “high power” pose while you fill in your information before the test begins!
Parting thoughts
If you follow the above advice—as have hundreds of my past students who’ve gone on to soaring success on their SATs and ACTs—a few things will happen for you. You’ll have the physical, emotional and mental stamina to ace the SAT and ACT; you’ll face fewer logistical bumps in the road on test day; you’ll know you did everything within your power to get in the best possible headspace for your test…which will, in turn, yield you a fantastic score! Heck yeah.
And if you want to be like those hundreds of successful students—i.e., if you want to have a personal expert in YOUR corner to help YOU get your target SAT or ACT score—find out how to work with me one-on-one.
OR, if private tutoring doesn’t fit your budget or study style, my online course is another excellent option:
This is a completely online, completely self-directed video class that will help you overcome your test anxiety, whatever form it takes. I spell out over a DOZEN tricks and strategies for keeping calm and testing on. If you liked the tips and tricks that today’s post had to offer, just imagine the kind of score you can achieve with my full, expert toolbelt!
