1900 -> 2300+

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>Hi there I am a new member, but I have been lurking around for a few weeks. I am about to go into my junior year of high school and am prepping for the psat/sat. I am currently scoring 1900 but my goal is to score 2200 and above for the psat and 2300 for sat.
My current scores are
M710-750
W590-610 10 on essay
CR550-590
I really need help in getting those extra last questions correct in math. Every time it is either a simple mistake, I didn't read correctly, or something along the lines of that. There are a few times however that I don't even know how to solve the problem. I've read that people recommend Dr.Chung's however some say it is pointless because the questions in it are too hard and aren't on the SAT.Can anyone recommend a prep book for me. Gruber's? PWN?</p>

<p>My writing has really been improving it used to be in the high 400s and has jumped to the 600s after I read about the finding error questions in the SAT. I plan on reading the ultimate guide to SAT as that was highly recommended are there any other books that I should read as well? I also need help in increasing my essay from a constant 10 to 12</p>

<p>My critical has barely improved from a low 500 to mid 500s. I have recently been studying vocab lists and I plan on studying direct hits, the essential 500, and 500 sat words and how to remember them forever. Is there anything else that I should look into? Also is there anything to help with the passages that have really helped? </p>

<p>I have read the must have review book thread and these are pretty much the main books out there.</p>

<p>Thanks for your help and wish me luck for my goal! I believe it should be attainable right? Since it is Summer I have plenty of time each day to study.</p>

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<p>For math, I recommend Dr. Steve’s 28 Advanced Math Lessons(600-800) one. He has a blog on how to reduce careless errors, and he has a facebook page where he answers any question you may have.</p>

<p>For writing, yeah get the Erica Metzler Book(Ultimate Guide) and also read up on SilverTurtle’s grammar guide on college confindential. I’ve been meaning to read it, but havent found the time, a lot of poeple said those 2 combined + practice= 800.</p>

<p>For essay, you can read Academic Hacker’s How to write a 12 essay in 10 days or “Defeating the SAT esasy in 2 days” by satman111 on the forums.</p>

<p>For CR, all i can recommend is Noitaraperp’s How to Attack the SAT Critical Reading Section Effectively.</p>

<p>Also it is possible, but most of summer is gone, if you don’t get it this time. Don’t discourage, annd use the Oct. score to motivate yourself to study over Christmas break and get your dream score in Jan’s. I heard Jan’s curve is much more generous because a lot of middle schoolers take the test for some scholarship thing. While in Oct, all the late Seniors are trying to get a last score in for College Admissions. </p>

<p>I have the same goal as you and am in the same position as you, Good luck.</p>

3

<p>I’ll be a junior this year as well and I have similar goals as you guys. Recently my scores have raised from around consistent 1900s to ~2100 and even 2150 on certain practice tests. Here’s what I recommend:</p>

<p>Math-
I didn’t see you mention the blue book anywhere in your post. 10 legitimate practice tests worth of SAT math problems help you learn a good pace to test with, to the point that you’re making very few silly mistakes. Also, it helps you touch base on more complex geometry problems that you might not have seen since middle school. (Those 5-difficulty ones towards the end of each section.)</p>

<p>CR vocab-
I study for CR in 2 separate parts. The vocab and the passage-based questions. Vocab can be very volatile; you never know what random word will pop up in a question that you may have never even seen before. IMO, the best ways to increase general knowledge of SAT type words are big but relevant vocab lists. CB doesn’t just go in the dictionary looking for completely arbitrary words. Instead the words are carefully selected, for the most part,and there are ways to keep you from wasting your time. (Ie, reading a dictionary.) Direct hits has helped me a lot, and I’m starting to look into other sources. Also, I know everybody says this, but read a little. You don’t have to overdo it necessarily, but read a few classics like Frankenstein for example. Adding to that, try to be more curious overall when you come across a word you don’t know. For example if you’re spending a lot of time on CC reading posts, and you see the word “ornate”, don’t assume it’s meaning if you’re unsure, but instead google it. I’ve found this helps a lot in general. </p>

<p>CR passages-
An extremely helpful tip for me was that every answer to every question within these sections are either directly stated in the text, or very very slightly inferred by facts. School has taught me to make plenty of inferrences while reading. Instead, be as literal as possible. With this tip, passage based questions come naturally to me.</p>

<p>Writing MC-
Grammar sucks, but the SATs grammar questions will not expect you to have knowledge of the entire english language (Thankfully). It seems to be the same few types of questions over and over, so once you’ve learned the pattern of these questions these 2 short sections are relatively easy to master. To do this, all I can recommend are the blue book’s practice tests. After doing 200+ questions and then looking at the thought process behind the answers, it should start to come naturally. Practice makes perfect… almost.</p>

<p>Writing essay-
Honestly I need help. I wish I was at the point where I could write consitent 10s haha. If you have any advice that’d be great. Sorry. </p>

<p>I hope what I said helped at least a little. I’m in no way an expert, in fact I’m just a kid. However, this is what I have been doing to raise my scores gradually and it has seemed to work. Best of luck to you. GL HF</p>

4

<p>I think JohnBoehner did an amazing job covering what you need to do. I wanted to add tips on how to score on the essay, since that’s what JohnBoehner wasn’t able to cover.</p>

<p>Tips for the Writing Essay:</p>

<p>1) Write 2 full pages. Use all of the lines they give you on the SAT sheet. I have heard that each essay grader typically spends about 90 secs per essay, and having 2 full pages will set a good impression on the grader even before they read your essay.</p>

<p>2) Use high-level vocabulary. I am sure you have heard this one before, but just throwing in those vocabulary words will tell the reader that you a competent and strong writer.</p>

<p>3) Come up with a list of possible examples prior to taking the test. These examples can range from novels you’ve read, to even a personal experience. Usually, the SAT graders like to see examples from history (make sure to try and avoid trite and cliche examples like WW2 and 9/11), and use more uncommon ones. </p>

<p>4) Practice writing the SAT style essay. The themes are pretty much common, and are things like motivation, overcoming obstacles, etc. Time yourself and just practice as much as you can.</p>

<p>I am a rising junior, and am studying for the SAT as well. It’s tough, but we can do it! Hope this helps you!</p>

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<p>I’m a rising senior. My psat sophomore year was a 190, junior year it was a 210, and when I took the SATs for the first time last June I scored a 2310, 800 CR, 740 Math, 770 Writing. It is totally possible to bring up your score! </p>

<p>I didn’t take a class or anything like that, the summer before my junior year I bought Kaplan SAT prep and read through the types of questions for each section; I spent a long time with the book that summer and over vacations. I know many people say to make vocab lists; my BIGGEST REGRET when it comes to SAT prep was making vocab lists. Most words I knew from my reading, or from the lists made for you at the back of the Kaplan book. I wasted a lot of time thinking I would need to learn more than that; I made a million flashcards and didn’t learn much from them at all. DON’T MAKE YOUR OWN LISTS and read at a college level; that helps with vocab, reading, the essay, and grammar.</p>

<p>The math section was hardest for me. Kaplan scared me because it tried to teach me advanced concepts like arithmetic sequencing that I didn’t end up needing. Know your geometry definitely, but other than that the math section is often just reasoning. If you’re having a ton of trouble you’re doing it wrong so skip it and come back. If you have time, don’t be afraid to draw out the picture, count it out, whatever. I didn’t know the complex methods, but the things I knew I did fast and then had time to go slowly over the hardest questions.</p>

<p>Grammar tips: read the sentence out loud in your head. Make sure it omits needless words. Writing: WRITE FAST and practice a lot; the hardest part is planning on the spot. I took AP Language and Comp. my junior year so that helped me a lot, but I actually scored a 2310 with an 8 essay if that takes the pressure off things. </p>

<p>Readings were hard because it’s a long test and it’s hard to focus. Just pay very close attention to what the text says and try and relax about time. I had a little time left over at the end of every single section, especially the MC for writing. </p>

<p>I know it’s a long way away for you, but the test is LONG and grueling. I’m extremely focused and used to working for long periods of time, but the test was so on-off that I had a trouble focusing toward the end. Bring enough water. Preparation is incredibly important, but means nothing if you’re dehydrated the whole time. Same goes for food and A WATCH. It’s much more relaxing not to have to worry about time. I studied up to the last second but felt I could have prepared my body better. </p>

<p>And don’t stress out. Do practice tests but don’t get frustrated by them; I never scored above a 2100 in a practice test but did much better on test day. Don’t worry about time at first; learn how to do the questions and when it gets closer to test day you can start timing yourself. The SAT honestly just measures how you think and reason, so know the ins and outs of each questions and then relax knowing you’re smart and you’ve practiced. </p>

<p>Sidenote: I can’t say I recommend Kaplan as a prep book; it over-complicated the process and the practice tests were harder than the real thing.</p>

<p>I hope this was helpful and good luck!</p>

6

<p>Thank you slasheer102, JohnBoehner(nice name), balsun2012, and brm114341.</p>

<p>I recently just took another practice test from testmasters and scored
M740/CR640/W690 but still receiving a 10 on essay I think I need to use better vocab. I always write a full 2 page essay, however my examples aren’t the strongest so I’ll have to work on that as well. One last thing is I’ve been trying to work on my latin roots prefixes suffixes that sort of stuff to help with vocab. </p>

<p>I have also just ordered Direct Hits Essential 500 and 500 SAT words. I plan on reviewing the sparknotes writing section the critical reader grammar rules.</p>

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<p>The essays are more about your examples. Instead of trying to just answer the prompt, think about what you want opinions you want out in the world on that specific topic and it makes your essay unique, because most kids are so worried about vocab and form that their essay is like a list.</p>

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<p>I scored a 2400 and here’s what I did. For writing, find as many prompts as possible and answer them in less then the alotted 25 mins. For math I recommend doing subject tests 1 and 2 as it will help you with subject tests and it will help you with the math section on the simple sat(I did this.) similarly for the cr and writing section practice from the sat literature subject book. And for the whole sat buy the college board book with 10 practice tests and read the first 100 pages thoroughly, it give ou advice about how to deal with the writing section and what to look for. It also explains each type of critic reading question and what the question actually means and how to find the answer. I did all of this and in addition I took a class which I recommend because it wasn’t easy to get a 2400.</p>

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<p>It’s definitely possible to get your score goal. I went from a 1980 (590 CR 770 M 620 W - 10 essay) to a 2240 (680 CR 760 M 800 W - 12 essay) in only three weeks, and after studying vocab (that’s what brought my score down in CR), I am planning to score above 2300 on the October SAT. All it really takes is a mindset to study, and to not worry about anything else while you’re doing it. And just practice, practice, practice. Find as many practice tests as you possibly can, and do all of them. In my 3 weeks of prep, I went through 10 practice tests, and I am planning to do many more before October. And finally, after you practice, review every single question, even if you didn’t get it wrong. It helps you to see the patterns in the questions, and to get less wrong on the next one you take. Good luck!</p>

<p>And for the essay, if you want to see how I got my 12, check out the forum I wrote.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1525053-defeating-sat-essay-2-days.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1525053-defeating-sat-essay-2-days.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I’m glad that I might’ve helped even a little. But don’t worry too too much about this one little number, or at least don’t let it define you. You said you’ll have time each day this summer to study, but don’t forget, you only have 2 summers left after this before college. Just some personal advice. Best of luck</p>