<p>Uh so i have a problem. I am a student who is strong in math and has a passion for it. I took pre-calc as frosh and calc ab as a soph. However my problem i always seem to get 1-2 wrong on the SAt MATH. I want to apply to MIT, Cal tech, princeton, cornell etc, so i need my SAT scores high. I just got my SAT scores and i did horrible. 760 m, 700 cr and 670 (11 on essay) in writing. My question is how do you guys get a 800 on SAT math? I got an 80 on psat math but thats much easier. I can't seem ever to be able to get 800. Also in 25 min sections i always end up with 10-15 min extra so time is not an issue. BTW i am a junior now.</p>
<p>careless mistakes?</p>
<p>What are you getting wrong, some hard questions or medium questions? I mean for Hard questions, you really have to put aside your first impressions. Normally people just aim for your type of score, not an 800. You can get an 800, nothing is preventing you from doing so. Check, double check, and triple check by going backwards(you don't need to look at the easy questions first).</p>
<p>Have you looked at any test prep books? They often show you the traps CB lays out for you (all except for the Blue book, of course). Also, try underlining what the problem asks you (like what is 2x, so you won't solve for x, and bubble in the incorrect answer)</p>
<p>yeah i get the hard questions wrong. I did double check this exam, but one of the questions i totally mis-interpreted. The other one i am not sure what i got wrong.</p>
<p>i wouldn't really worry about a 760. if you're at that level, the only thing you can really do is to not make any stupid mistakes and read CAREFULLY. everyone makes stupid mistakes and you can't really control it. my strategy was to finish with about 10 minutes left and then try to find alternate solutions to each problem or verify. </p>
<p>also, if you get the feeling that you just rushed through a problem and are unsure about it for whatever reason, chances are you don't understand it fully or have misinterpreted it. read it again because you might find an error. </p>
<p>i'll tell you right now your math score for all of the colleges above are fine. you definitely need to bring up the english sections for caltech and princeton. you should be worrying about making stupid mistakes on the AMC or AIME, not obsessing over 1 or 2 mistakes on the trivial SAT math section</p>
<p>Let me tell you how I improved my 750 Oct math to 800 Dec. Like you, I always finished before time, but in Dec test, I almost couldn't finish on time on one math section that I was so careful. Yes, it paid off. Be extra-careful, and be confident.</p>
<p>Well make sure if it is a vin-diagram you add the inside part too! :(</p>
<p>Buy Barrons (not the 2400 one) and do the math questions.
They have harder questions (generally like the last 5-6 would be considered hard)</p>
<p>my SAT math score went up from 670 to 750 because i just kept taking practice exams after practice exams</p>
<p>honesly, thats the best way to prepare</p>
<p>and i wouldnt worry about gtting <800 on SAT I math section</p>
<p>just get 800 on Math IIC</p>
<p>I just recently bought the barrons book. I think the reason i did not do so well on this test, was cos i did not study out of barrons. I just do better if i study out of barrons even if its not a lot of studying. i am not sure why this is.</p>
<p>Haha do whatever works for you :)</p>
<p>Check your bubble sheet against your answers in the test booklet. Misbubbling is a common cause of SAT math score fatalaties. Also read the questions carefully and if you have time, try alternate methods to double check your answers.</p>
<p>What I've heard from admissions officers (from one of the school's the OP is looking at) is that 750-800 are all considered to be about the same, as is 700-740. If you already have a 750+, you shouldn't worry about it.</p>
<p>That being said, the most consistent way I found to get 800s was to try to complete the test with at least 15-20% of the time remaining, then go back and reread every problem word for word "out loud" (mouthing the words). It really helps in catching the little twists they throw into problems if you only expect to make 1 or 2 mistakes. Still, if you already have a 760/700, don't worry about it, you're well within the range you need to stop test scores from being a major factor in your application</p>
<p>yeah stop wasting ur time worrying about stupid things and worry about other more important stuff intstead</p>
<p>Once you're at that high of a level, there's only one thing for you to do. Work faster and more efficiently so that you have even more time to check over your work and when you check, check even harder. No amount of books or reading will help you, just practice tests and luck. The more you do, the more aware you become.</p>
<p>Yeah i guess i should be concentrating on other sections. WEird thing about writiting. I only one type of questions wrong. I got all the identify errors questions right, but got 9 improving sentences wrong. In frosh year, i got only 1 improving sentences wrong, but like 10 identifying sentence errors wrong.</p>
<p>be extra careful, check ur answers, and focus.</p>
<p>what i usually did was to finish every question within the first 10-15 minutes (if ur getting high 700s, u shouldn't have any prob doing that, either), and then go back and check every single question at least two more times. sometimes i tried different methods of solving the same problem, just to confirm my anwer. leave the last 1-2 minutes for checking ur bubbles against the answers in the test booklet.</p>
<p>but in the end, just do whatever works for you.</p>
<p>But yeah you can surprise yourself when you check your answers. You can get the Square root of 5 for the side of a square, and put 25 for its area instead of 5 because you keep thinking square and then you sort of forget that square root sign.</p>
<p>thanks for the advice lol... im around 670-750 range right now and i usually MISS 1 or 2 and make careless mistakes on the others</p>