Well, I'll disagree a bit on the part about not worrying about whether they finish.... Our sd also uses the scat in gr. 3 to determine placement in GT math in gr. 4 ... and it can/does ulimately affect their placement in middle school. My ds11 (now in GT math in middle school) took the scat in gr.3 and did well; he had friends equally as bright and capable who DIDN'T do well ... because they didn't finish the test. As a result, those friends were bored during gr. 4 math (doing gr. 5 math, but not GT), and when they retested in gr. 4, did finish (having been advised to guess and move on after their first experience), and were put in GT math during gr. 5. There are 50 problems to do in 20 minutes. Too many kids think they need to have an answer to each problem; they only need to be able to compare the relative values of things in two columns. Get a feel for it, and move on. I advised my son to pick an answer (A, B, or C), and when they gave them the 1 minute warning, to just fill in that answer for any remaining problems. Study-wise, the only thing they can do is maybe review equivalencies -- inches, feet, yards; gallons, ounces, quarts; straightforward decimal-fractions (1/2 = .5, 1/4 = .25, etc..) That way they don't futz up those sorts of comparisons (i.e., 6 quarts vs. 2 gallons).
