9 Steps to Forming an SAT Prep Habit: Step 5
Visualization is a technique that has been scientifically proven to help improve performance.
You can use visualization to help you deal with test anxiety on the SAT.
Visualization may also help you set goals for the SAT and believe that they can happen.
Read all of the 9 Steps to Forming an SAT Prep Habit.
Step 5: Visualization on the SAT
Visualization is a technique that’s become quite common in professional sports. It’s based on the science that the same neurons fire in your brain when you visualize something happening as when it actually happens - whether that’s hitting a ball, catching a pass, singing a high note, or retraining a series of small motions in physical therapy.
The beauty of visualization is that you get more bang for your buck: You can only sing for a limited amount of time before your voice gives out. You can only run so many miles before your body gives out. But you can visualize for an unlimited amount of time - so for people who need to practice something that has a limited physical capacity/runs out, but has more time to practice, visualization is a perfect solution. Visualize all you want - you won’t wear out your physical body!
What is the science behind visualization?
Peak Performance, by Charles A. Garfield, details the classic experiment done in 1984 by the Soviet Olympic coaches: “Athletes were divided into four groups to train for hours several times each week. Each group had a different percentage of physical versus mental training.
Group 1 – 100% physical training, 0% mental training
Group 2 – 75% physical training, 25% mental training
Group 3 – 50% physical training, 50% mental training
Group 4 – 25% physical training, 75% mental training
When the four groups were compared shortly before the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, Group IV had shown significantly greater improvement than Group III, with Groups II and I following, in that order.”
Whoa! So people who did only 25% physical training did better than people who did 100% physical training? CAN THAT BE???
Apparently it can. I also found it initially hard to believe, but the number of professional athletes who now swear by visualization is too great to ignore. I’ve also seen it anecdotally REALLY help my students - and I’ll do anything that will help my kids.
I want to see more studies/science about visualization.
Okay! Here are a few articles on visualization I found quite interesting:
New York Times on visualization
Psychiatric Annals study on visualization
So how can visualization help you on the SAT?
Visualization on the SAT is most helpful in two ways:
Dealing with test anxiety on the SAT
Visualization allows you to step through the activity and practice it without it actually happening. I talk about test anxiety specifically and in-depth in this blog post, but the most important thing to know right now is that visualization is a great way to practice SAT test day.
Test day is always an odd mix of panic and boredom - waiting for everyone around you to be ready to do something you’ve spent SO MUCH TIME prepping for - and there’s inevitably some calamity that will be really funny when you tell the story later, like the pregnant proctor who fell asleep and we had to wake her up at the end of each section, at which she angrily looked around and proclaimed that the clock on the wall was “wrong.” (I got more stories. Can’t make these up.). Expect to be panicked - because it matters - and expect to be bored, because the proctors and school will be disorganized, confused, and all waiting for someone else to do something.
The best way to deal with it? Prepare for it - so you won’t be surprised. Remember that the best predictor of success on the SAT is familiarity - and getting ready for SAT test day is no exception.
Close your eyes and picture yourself in the testing room where you’ve taken the SAT most recently. Look down at the desk - is the chair attached to the desk or not? Look at the floor - see the shoes you’re wearing. What color is your shirt? What color is the floor? Look at the clock - does it have hands or is it digital? Look behind you and on either side - are the seats empty or are people sitting in them? Look at the proctor. Is the proctor wearing glasses? Short hair or long hair?
Now imagine yourself receiving the bubble sheet and test booklet. The proctor will slowly read all kinds of instructions to you about filling out the bubble sheet. Listen to the proctor’s voice drone on about how to bubble in your last name and your first name, and how those two must match the name on your admission ticket. Listen to all the commands the proctor gives and see yourself bubbling in each entry, waiting in between for all the other people to finish bubbling their entries. Look at the pencils on your desk. Remember you need NON-mechanical pencils, so you’re looking at how sharp the points are. How many do you have? What color is the body of the pencil?
Now you’ve just heard the proctor give the final instruction and say, “You have 65 minutes to complete the reading section. You may begin.” Look at the reading section. The first passage is literature - as it always is. Look at the passage. Look at the questions. Notice that they’re not surprising - you knew what to expect and you were right. You have prepared for this, and you are going to do just as well as you did in practice.
Now fast-forward to the writing section. When the proctor says, “You have 35 minutes to complete the writing section. You may begin,” look at the writing section. You know this. It’s in four passages, and each passage has 11 questions. The text is on the left; the questions are on the right. You have seen questions like these before; some have a question stem and some don’t. There’s a strategy for those with a question stem and those without. You’ve seen all of this before and you know how to tackle it. Just play like you practiced - and practice like you’ll play.
You know how to do the same thing for each section of the math - you can talk yourself through those.
2. Setting outcome goals on the SAT - and believing they can happen
I’m going to talk more about the power of belief in Day 6’s blog post, but what happens when you believe in something is that your brain subconsciously makes all the little decisions it needs to in order to support that outcome. If I believe that I can swallow fire, I will put a lighted match in my mouth. If I do not, I will put no matches in my mouth (lighted or unlighted).
Similarly, if you believe that you are likely to get a high SAT score, you’ll take care of yourself.
You’ll invest in spending more time practicing and prepping beforehand if you believe you’ll get the problems right.
You’ll work hard on your SAT prep homework.
You’ll look up SAT problems you got wrong and figure out why you got each one wrong.
You’ll go to bed early to get a good night’s sleep before the test.
You’ll pack a good breakfast.
You’ll make sure that you know where to go in the morning and how to get there.
You’ll remember to bring your own #2 pencils and calculator.
The list goes on and on, but the gist of it is, if you believe you can accomplish it, you will make all the small decisions to set yourself up for success. These small decisions not only will help your outcome, but they subconsciously reinforce - inside your brain and heart - that you CAN, you WILL.
Having trouble believing in yourself? Picture logging into College Board and seeing your score: You’ve just gotten over a 1500 on the SAT. Look at those numbers, that 15 next to two other numbers (and honestly at that point, who cares what they are :). See your name next to those numbers. Believe that that is you, and feel the feeling in your body when you look at that email.
Many folks reading this blog are doubtless rolling their eyes - “Alyssa, you crazy person; I’ll never get a 1500; that’s not realistic for me.” Well, don’t take it from me; take it from Henry Ford. “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”
My father has been saying that to me since I was a little girl. And whenever he says it, I roll my eyes - but I also know he is right, and it’s really hard to argue with someone who is right. So believe in yourself! What’s the worst that happens? A 1400? :)
The important thing to remember with visualization is that it works best when you have the most details in your mental picture. The better you can see it - the little details of the size of the tiles on the floor, the shoes you’re wearing, the shirt you have on - the more real it is. The more real it is, the more you fire up those neurons. The more you fire up your brain’s neurons, the more you trigger visualization’s benefits.
And remember, the reason visualization works is that it allows you more practice than your body can normally handle or to practice things that you don’t get to practice for free - like test day. And remember, practice makes perfect. A little each night, folks - a little each night: You have to keep practicing this to get the results you want. Practice makes habits, and habits make you strong. Use the tools in your arsenal and allow them to build you up and make you strong for the SAT! You got this!