<p>After taking the June SAT and receiving a score of 1990 (700 R, 600 M, 690 W [11 essay]), I've decided to give it one more go and take the test before applying ED to a highly-regarded midwestern LAC. However, to get my scores up to par (and in part make up for a small drop in my grades), I'd feel most comfortable scoring around a 2100 this time. I presume I can improve at least another 20 points in reading and writing, but math has never been my strong point and attending an inner city school hasn't really given me the resources to become better at it. Nevertheless, while reviewing my score report, I realized that 12/14 of the questions I got wrong or missed were in the algebra and geometry sections. How can I improve my score to be at least a 670 without learning any new math skills?</p>
<p>Just use the xiggi method. Buy the official sat study guide (either edition 1 or 2). It’s probably advisable for you to buy edition 1 and then visit the khan academy. They have video/tablet answer explanations to every single question. You should be able improve your score by a lot that way. That said, your test scores are probably good enough for the top midwestern LACs I can think of.</p>
<p>To be honest, I don’t think you need to learn math skills to do well on the SAT. If you know your basics, then that should be good (the only thing I’d recommend is to study permutations, and graph equations if you don’t know them already. Permutations are huge time savers). </p>
<p>Algebra and geometry, in a way, are like critical reading. The SAT math just takes some common sense and creativity… Of course you can’t just make up equations and make the problem work somehow, but you can use your foundations/solid facts to “build up” a problem. Just take several practice tests and review the questions you answered incorrectly. </p>
<p>For example look at the SAT QOD for July 11th. You don’t need to know a myriad of geometric properties to answer it. Despite what some may say, there are often at least two ways to solve an equation. One way might be longer, but that doesn’t make a difference on the SAT, since they both lead to the same answer (well, it does matter if you take 5 minutes on each question, but after practice you get used to the questions and can speed through them in ~17 minutes)</p>
<p>I speak from experience. At my school, my math teachers barely teach us anything. I never took Algebra I (I did at a community college in 7th grade, but we covered like, 4 lessons lol), and during Algebra II, my teacher took a leave for a month and a half to have surgery, and our substitute was worse at math than the students. On my first practice test, I think I got a 530 scaled score. 10 practice tests later, I’m scoring constantly 760+, and most of my current scores are 800s.</p>