MSAT

Home

Chat

Blogs

Collection

Directory

Home : 2003 : August : 9

MSAT
By Amanda K.

I took the MSAT in 1999 and passed on the first try with a 184 in Content Knowledge and a 189 in Content Area Exercises. It can be done, but you do need to study quite a bit.

I studied one hour every day for a month and
a half, solely out of the Barron's book. I found that the questions that they have in Barron's are about on par with the difficulty of the actual test, and were also similar in nature, which is important. A lot of people will tell you that Barron's is worthless, but I also used Barron's to get a 98 percentile on the LSAT and a 94 percentile on the GMAT (I went through a couple of career

choices before I decided on teaching), so I think Barron's is a great study choice. I will warn you that Barron's MSAT book has a lousy essay prep section but a great multiple choice section (at least it did in 1999). But, if you use their study guide and practice the essays a bunch, you should be okay.

Are you using the five paragraph essay format on the essay section? I know this is a primitive form of writing, but it's what the test people are looking for and it's what I used. Here's how to do it, in case you don't know: Plan your essay first in outline format. Plan a main idea and 3 supporting details. The first paragraph should begin with the main idea, then should be followed by three sentences roughly sketching the supporting details. The next 3 paragraphs should explain the 3 supporting details. Then, the last paragraph should sum up why your main idea is the correct idea, mentioning the 3 supporting details.

Good luck! This is a tough test, but you can do it with enough study time!