Humans’ short term memory is actually pretty limited and is easily overwhelmed, particularly in a stressful testing environment like you’ll encounter taking the SAT. Often, test takers will do on the SAT what they are used to doing in class—work a substantial part of a problem “in their heads”. You can’t do that on the SAT!
Use your scratch paper and pencil to jot down your thought process as you work a problem (verbal or otherwise). When you do this, the paper “remembers” for you, and leaves your brain free to tackle working out the problem before you. You’ll find that you sieze up and go blank a lot less often when you dump your thoughts onto paper instead of doing all the working “in your head”.
SAT Prep Plan: SAT Tips 
