<p>hi,
i have been studying for the sat for about a year or so now. my dad makes me take a practice test or two every single week in addition to studying every night. i am planning to take the sat's in may. however, it is clear that i am not the best at standardized testing. i got a 197 on my psat with tons of studying, and right now as i keep on taking practice tests all the time i am only getting scores around 1950-1980. some people say how they barely study or study little, yet they do so well. i am trying so hard to do well and get at least a 2100, but it seems that no matter what and how hard i try, i cannot seem to get a good score. it really puts me down and my dad is constantly badgering me about it. all this hard effort seems to not pay off so far, and i could really use some advice to really help bring my score up, even though i have studied for so much and have taken countless sat tests every week. please help.</p>
<p>Ouch wow you have studied a lot. I suggest you slow down a little and instead of taking practice tests constantly, look at the tests you already took and see what you did wrong. And to get something out of studying, you must see it is a positive opportunity, it seems to be that you might just grudging through it (a little grudging everyone has. I mean who would want to study?). What exactly is "studying" for you as in what do you do while studying, example, review vocab, review the book, what?</p>
<p>i can't stop studying because my dad makes me. he is extremely strict about it and thinks the sat is the most important thing in life. i wish i could slow down because i know what's best for me, but i have no option but to satisfy what my dad wants me to do. besides all the practice tests, i basically just study like different techniques and stuff, all of which i already know but my dad thinks there is "always more" and i need to work harder, even though i know i already am. my lowest is critical reading and i really am trying my best to get it up, but i can't seem to.</p>
<p>Convince your dad that the writing section doesn't matter and that you should focus more on CR and Math. If you want to increase your CR score, I suggest that you learn as many words as you can; while there are more passage questions, you don't want your score to go lower because you didn't know a vocab question. You would rather miss a passage question because you didn't reason well enough rather than missing a vocab question, something which you can prepare in advance for. For Math, look at this book called RocketReview. If you re-read every question after you finish it to make sure you answered the question, you won't get a problem wrong by some careless mistake.</p>
<p>ouch. Maybe you should talk to your dad and try and convince him to be more supportive. I know he probably thinks he's being supportive, but sometimes his way really isn't the right way. Try and slow down a little, and I agree with the other people; instead of taking tests over and over, try looking back to figure out why you got a question wrong. And if none of your pleading with your dad works, lock yourself in your room with a good book and take a much needed break. Good luck!</p>
<p>I advise you to relax. Take it easy. You might be surprised at how well you do in a well oxygenated state.
When I used to practice for SATs (like more than a year ago)...I usually got around 2000, it was frustrating so I just stopped. then magically, I did well on my first SAT, 2250+
So try relaxing :-]</p>
<p>First of all calm down. If you become over anxious you cannot do good. Just take the test hoping for the best and knowing you've prepared and you should do fine. On the practice tests I took, I just made sure to look over the ones I got wrong so I Wouldn't do it again.</p>