<p>I have literally 3 months to give my last shot for my SAT.
Right now I have a horrendous score of 1850 and my SAT subject scores arent any better...
Is it emotionally/physically/mentally possible to raise it to a 2200+?</p>
<p>Does anyone know any study tips or anything I can do...
Because apparently what Im doing isnt working...</p>
<p>Anythings possible, how much work are you willing to do? Study 4 hours a day the rest of the summer, take 10-15 practice tests, …? Thats a big jump, good luck.</p>
<p>Im guessing its not likely…</p>
<p>It all depends on how much you want it.</p>
<p>It is ABSOLUTELY possible, so don’t give up hope. Seriously. I was in the same boat as you (I got around 150-189’s on my PSATs, and that is NOT including my abominable essays that would make my projected SAT score drop by at least 200 points LOL)</p>
<p>All it takes is practice. I’m reading several books and cramming about 75 vocabulary words a day in order to improve my SAT score. (What I do is read over the whole first volume of Direct Hits every day to refresh my memory, study a few pages of Sparknotes’ 1000 vocab, another list with 5000 vocab words, and then use SAT vocab apps on my mom’s iPhone when I’m too tired to read.)</p>
<p>On actual practice SATs, I was getting in the 1800s-1900’s range, but after taking some practice tests I’m up to the high 2200’s to mid 2300’s range.</p>
<p>For math and writing, make sure you have a decent foundation. (Which I didn’t have because my teachers don’t teach me much). Try to find online notes or use the tips given in Princeton Review/Barron’s/etc. and know simple things like subject verb agreement, parallel structure, and permutations. After a lot of practice with the writing sections, the right answer will seem obvious and you’ll be thinking “ohhh deary why in the world did I not get that right” eventually. The math section doesn’t require memorizing fancy equations. If you know a few time-saving tricks (permutations will save you 5 extra minutes, trust me LOL, and 180(n-2)=angles in a regular polygon will too), then the math section will be a piece of cake. Of course, that too will take practice because after you know how to solve the problems, then the next few times will be easier. </p>
<p>Also, what I’ve noticed about the SAT math section is that a little creativity is great. When you don’t know a shortcut, there is always another way to solve the problem. Try to think about patterns and basics, and things will work out. That’s what has gotten me 800’s on the past few SAT math sections I’ve done. xP</p>
<p>Going back to writing, first of all you need to recognize the tricksters. I’ve seen some improper idioms, etcetc. If you can’t detect the right/wrong answer by reading it over, the only way to master the writing section is to first master the concepts (again, after you get your foundation, the only way to get better is practice)</p>
<p>if you see:
I’m angry /about/ him,
then you know that’s wrong and you can correct it with “with”.</p>
<p>If you see:
I like dancing, skateboarding, and to eat
Then you know that’s lacking parallel structure and can replace “to eat” with “eating”.</p>
<p>If you see :
Me and my sister went to the movies with he,
You would recognize that as error in nominative/objective case and would correct that as
“My sister and I went to the movies with him”</p>
<p>If collegeboard throws you a long sentence with millions of gerunds, descriptive adjectives, participial phrases, subordinate clauses, etc, then just eliminate the confusing stuff part by part. </p>
<p>I’m awful at coming up with my own examples, so look at today’s SAT QOD:</p>
<p>“The well-preserved, 121-million-year-old fossilized bird embryo on display at the museum has several features that suggest that (its) young could move about and feed themselves very soon after they hatched.”</p>
<p>The adjectives describing the embryo are correct, so just cross them out to simplify the sentence. The prepositional phrases are okay as well, so get rid of those too.
This whole part: “young could move about and feed themselves” describes the young, so just leave a little bit in so you can understand the sentence.</p>
<p>Now you have:
The bird embryo has several features that suggest that (its) young could move about.
You still understand the gist of the sentence, but you’ve eliminated the confusing parts so that you can focus on what you need to fine: the error.</p>
<p>The bird embryo has young? In this case, that is what the “its” is connoting, which is erroneous. The sentence intends to say that the embryo has features that show that its SPECIES’ young could move about.</p>
<p>So now you know the correction:
The well-preserved, 121-million-year-old fossilized bird embryo on display at the museum has several features that suggest that THE SPECIES’ young could move about and feed themselves very soon after they hatched.</p>
<p>This has helped me so many times with the writing section.</p>
<p>And for critical reading, I think around 33% of the section is dedicated to sentence completion. Know what therefore/and/but/although/however/instead/etc do to the sentence. For example, this may seem obvious, but look:</p>
<p>Because Sally tends to be rash, she quickly chose the chocolate ice cream and eventually regretted her final decision.</p>
<p>If she is rash, then she won’t be meticulous and think about her decision very carefully, and as a result, she will regret her choice because she didn’t think it through. </p>
<p>Now just replace the words with highfalutin synonyms:
Because Sally tends to be IMPULSIVE, she quickly chose the chocolate ice cream and eventually LAMENTED her final decision.
Now if the question was like this:</p>
<p>Because Sally tends to be __<strong><em>, she quickly chose the chocolate ice cream and eventually _</em></strong> her final decision.
A) jubilant…hated
B) timid… discarded
C) impulsive… lamented
D) meticulous… epitomized
E) morose… regretted</p>
<p>If you know only half of these words, then study as much vocab as you can. Even if it’s just 5 minute periods throughout the day (which is what I do, since I have a job and other things to do throughout the day and can’t afford to sit down and study for 3 hours straight), it will help. Once you know the words, then the sentence completion will be a breeze.</p>
<p>Back to the question,
we know it can’t be A. First of all, jubilant means happy. If she tends to be happy, why would she hate her quick decision of chocolate ice cream? I guess you could find some way to make it work, but it seems like an awkward sentence and doesn’t match it perfectly.</p>
<p>It can’t be B either. Timid means shy, and if you said that she quickly chose the ice cream because she was shy, and then discarded her decision because of it… well the “discarded her decision” doesn’t make much sense on its own, but hopefully you get my gist.</p>
<p>It can’t be D either. Meticulous is the exact opposite of what we’re looking for, because if she was meticulous she wouldn’t impulsively choose the chocolate ice cream without much thought.</p>
<p>At first glance, E seems to work. The sentence tells you that Sally QUICKLY made her decision, and it seems obvious that she would have probably regretted her decision afterwards due to the structure of the sentence.</p>
<p>However, although morose /may/ work, it doesn’t fit very well. It would be better if morose was replaced by a word that related to quickly, leaving C as the answer because she is IMPULSIVE, and eventually LAMENTED her decision.</p>
<p>And for the passages, it’s all about practice. First of all, you should know a little bit of vocabulary. Now I’m not talking about that highfalutin verbosity that you’ll need to ace the sentence completion. I’m talking about things like imagery, rhetoric, symbolism, litotes, etc. I’ve seen quite a few questions on the practice SATs I’ve taken that relate to literary terms, connotation, theme, and tone. Just have those terms fresh in your mind, and make sure you understand them at least a little bit. After that, just practice. I was scoring in the mid 600’s a little while ago, but I’ve realized that practice is the way to go. </p>
<p>When you take practice SATs, find a way that works for you. I use noitaraperp’s way, and I find it really helpful because it keeps the passage fresh in my mind. Take notes in the margins though, especially if you have a poor memory like me. </p>
<p>I used to try to answer the questions before I read the passage to save time, but it was a huge mistake. I ended up spending way too much time looking back to specific parts of the passage, and I would never get the main idea of the passage so I’d get most of the questions wrong anyway.</p>
<p>If you read the passage (quickly but as thoroughly as possible), then you’ll understand what the questions are asking. You’ll have no problem answering all of the questions for a passage in 5 minutes because you won’t have to waste time going back to the passage over and over again.</p>
<p>Strategies and foundations are good, but you’ll need to practice to get yourself up to the range you want. After you think you know everything, take a bunch of practice tests. I’ve taken practice tests from Barron’s, PR, Kaplan’s and the Blue Book so far. Princeton’s Review seems to have tests similar to Collegeboard’s, but nothing beats the blue book. I’d suggest finishing all of the tests you have from other sources first (as training). Then, when you’re done with those, take the ones from the blue book because those were actually written by Collegeboard, the makers of the test.</p>
<p>In short, practice and it’s definitely possible to raise your score to the amount you want. :)</p>
<p>(By the way on writing, I get all of the MC right, but I’m still practicing the essays… so my scaled score for writing is based off of my score for the MC portion at the moment xD)</p>
<p>Whoa that was a really long post. o________o</p>
<p>What an eyesore to read hah.</p>
<p>thank you so much :]
Ill read that thoroughly and freaking ace the SAT :] pwahah
Whoa your name! Im guessing youre korean? haha</p>
<p>And yeah. I LIKE TEDDY BEARRSSS.
Apparently the proper romanization is gomdori, but I don’t care, since gomdorri looks more aesthetically pleasing to me LOL.</p>
<p>But yeah, good luck with the SAT! 
If you need any help, feel free to message me.
I also found a ton of nice, free online sources for additional SAT practice if you need any.</p>
<p>Also, I’m starting to make vocab lists with SAT words I see on the SAT. Would you like me to send them to you? At the moment, I have three lists and add one every time I take another SAT.</p>
<p>Srsly the advice on thus post has pumped me up! Thnx…( by the way even I am sailing in the same boat!)</p>
<p>:blush:
</p>
<p>I’m not saying it’s impossible because I raised my SAT score 290 points from the first to the second time I took it. However, I think it was just because I was more confident, had a better strategy, and studied differently. The first time, I studied everything but math. The second time, I only studied math and did much better in ALL sections.</p>
<p>Don’t try to focus on all of the sections at once. Work toward mastering one section, and then still keep that section fresh in your head while you improve on the next one.</p>
<p>First, I worked on getting my math score up from 590 to 800, then I worked on writing, and then critical reading. Focusing on one part at a time helps, especially if you have trouble switching gears like me. x___o</p>
<p>And I know that memorization can become really monotonous, but don’t worry. Don’t sit down and force yourself to read lists for hours straight. Be lax when you study vocab, and don’t even consider it studying. It’s the best way to get it over with. Make a list with a certain number of vocab words every day and read over the definitions once. Then, just skim the list throughout the day, and review the words the next day to see how many you can remember. I personally learn more from skimming for about 6 periods of 5-10 minutes than I would sitting down /studying/ for a whole hour. </p>
<p>Also, find creative ways to use the vocabulary you’re trying to learn. I love watching anime, and so when I don’t feel like studying I watch anime and describe the characters/events/plot with words that I’m trying to learn. </p>
<p>Try not to make studying a chore. It really helps in both speeding up the learning process and motivating yourself to study more.</p>