<p>I’m a sophomore in high school in the 2nd semester.</p>
<p>My question is this: About when did you guys (and gals) start studying for the ACT and SAT?</p>
<p>I’ve already started to look over the English section of the ACT, but haven’t touched the SAT yet. I planned on studying them this summer, but I’ve looked at a few posts in the SAT section, and there’s mentioning that the study time is anywhere from 12-24 months!
If that is true, then I definitely need to start NOW. However, if there’s anyone who can enlighten me as to when I should start --or should have started-- I would appreciate it.</p>
<p>I started summer before my senior year, but I wish I would of started earlier. I worked through a few of those kaplan and princeton review study books and did some practice tests and I was good to go.</p>
<p>I was the person who decided I'd just take the SAT with what I knew. Took it twice (last old one and the first new one). Highly suggest studying up on the type of math questions, its not difficult math, but its tricky.</p>
<p>Get a job or volunteer...the SAT/ACT is only a part remember it is the "Whole Candidate". You can score 2400, but no ec's will kill you</p>
<p>S was like hornet, showed up and took it, ACT was 33, SAT 1370 (I am sure by the time you go they will include written, but for now it is a 1600 score)</p>
<p>If you're going to apply to summer seminar, you're probably going to take the PSAT anyway, so it might be a good idea to stick to the SAT since the format is pretty much the same. Here in AZ there isn't as much of an emphasis on the ACT. I started my sophomore year studying, not hardcore but pretty consistent, and it paid off in my only having to take it once.</p>
<p>Taking it once is the way to go. If you can prepare for it and do well the first time, well, it's a great feeling to be able to sit back and relax while everyone else is studying and worrying about everything. Definetly study (a reasonable amount, don't get too stressed out about this); having to only take the test one time is worth it.</p>
<p>(But like bullet/pima said, remember that it's a "whole person" concept that they're looking at here. Be sure to get out in the world and do something you enjoy, too.)</p>
<p>Alright. I am enrolled in the Volunteering program at the moment anyways, and I would like to get a part-time job this summer, but I also want some time to study and a bit of free time too.</p>
<p>I'll just play it by ear and see what happens.</p>
<p>I also would say that since you are a soph, pay more attention to the PSAT, s was and NMSF and never studied for it. If you do good on that you'll do fine. Who knows what college board will do in the next 2 yrs. The one that I would say pay attention to is the written portion since every college will include it, if you look across sat threads you will see that is typically where the score comes in the lowest out of all 3</p>
<p>I never studied for the SAT... I bought an SAT prep book and looked over some of the questions the morning of the test, read some of their tips about how the first few questions are supposed to be really easy and then as you progress they're supposed to become more tricky... but the SAT is not supposed to be extremely difficult. It's supposed to be really long and hard to concentrate on. Practice test-taking can probably help you, but other than that I would just take the test and do your best and leave enough room to re-take if you don't do as well as you had hoped. Good luck! Oh, and I got a perfect writing score, but unfortunately the Academy doesn't even really look at it. Sorry kiddo! :)</p>
<p>I didn't study for the SAT at all, and took it in October of my junior year. I got a near perfect score on the reading section, and did well on the math and writing as well. I took the test again a year later to try to up my math score by a few points, and it only went up by 10 points and I lost a ton of points on the reading, so my advice would be to just take it, and if you are unhappy with you score, study the sections you want to improve (unlike me), and you may do better the second time around.</p>
<p>To study or not depends on you. Some people are able to take the SAT once and make a great score, while others end up taking it multiple times. It all depends on your level of knowledge and more importantly how familiar you are with the test format and the type of questions they ask. </p>
<p>Lets face it, most of the people on the forum are lucky because they didn't need to study. However only you know your own skill level. Do what you think is right, and at the very least go through a few practice tests so you know the format.</p>