<p>1950 (690, 640, 640) to 2170 (750, 690, 730) in one shot. I didn't do much more preparation than I did last time, really. Just relax. =)</p>
<p>I have a very, very, very inspiring story. It's pretty long, though.. </p>
<p>I started prepping for the SAT in October of my sophomore year, the week before the PSAT was to be administered. I was oblivious to the changes that were made; my high school didn't do much to inform us about SATs/PSATs and such until the beginning of my senior (this) year. </p>
<p>The Saturday before the PSAT in October of 2004, I took a practice SAT and struggled throughout the test. I didn't know most of the math material, because the mathematics department in my school was lacking and we had not yet reached Algebra 2/Trig to its fullest extent. I thought that every question on the writing section was had no error, and believed that the reading comprehension was a joke. I thought that no one would ever be able to answer those "absurd, insane questions." After my first practice test, therefore, I received a 480 W, 400 M and 550 R, for a combined score of 1430. I was angry for scoring so low, but I didn't really care at the time, so I left it at that and didn't review further.</p>
<p>The next week came the PSAT. I remember sitting in a room where the proctor had no control, next to people who were copying off each other, and hearing constant chatter all around the classroom. It was really annoying, but it didn't really matter. I went in that day, knowing that my only goal was to get out of my slump (my 1430) and go just a bit higher. I did.I got my scores back in January of 2005 and received a 46 M, 52 CR and 58 W. I still didn't know a lot of the writing questions, but this time I paid more attention; I marked off answers I didn't know and went back to them later. As for CR, I left all of the Sentence Completion blank, because at that time, I knew NO vocabulary. It wasn't the smartest of things to do, because I went down 30, but it was fine. I scored a 156 composite on the PSAT, on the 61st %ile, and still was not satisfied. When students in my school would ask me what my score was, I'd tell them, and they'd congratulate me. "You did so well," they'd say, "I only scored a 130!! How'd you get so high?!" I was astounded, because, well, I was having PROBLEMS with my score because it was so low, and here were students who had lower. They motivated me to try even harder. </p>
<p>After receiving my PSAT score, I signed up with an SAT class at my school. It was truly underfunded, so we used a very cheap program, Surescore. It lacked many right answers and many solutions to problems and sample essays were horrible. Compared to the real SAT questions I'd seen, the Surescore program was a piece of cake: I knew all of the answers, I was always getting things right, and all of my peers were asking me for help. I then KNEW that there was a problem. It was early February and I decided that perhaps it was time to start studying on my own. I went out and bought McGraw Hill's NEW SAT* Book, Kaplan's CR & Verbal, CollegeBoard's book, and Grammatix. I made my first week of prep winter break in February. </p>
<p>At first, I studied with McGraw Hill. I took a Diagnostic test, and after receiving only a 1550 (680W,530V, 340 Math). I then KNEW I had a problem with math, so I went straight down to the concepts. I wrote down every type of math problem I got wrong, and the topic it was associated with. I then went to the book and reviewed how to answer the questions. I studied solely maths for 1 month, from February to March. I had a study sheet written out with 36 Lessons and did all 36 within a month. It took up a lot of my time, but I thought that it was necessary. After reviewing 15 math lessons, I took an SAT practice test that was SOLELY math. I scored a 500. Yes, improvement!! I was happy... As time went on, I kept taking more math tests. I went from 500 to 530 to 550 to 570 to 600. Because I'd been prepping so much during that month, I decided to sign myself up for the SAT in March of 2005.</p>
<p>I went in for the SAT and I completely messed it up! I bubbled in wrong, I answered the essay incorrectly, and I left a TON of questions blank. I decided that I didn't want the score, so I canceled the test (needless to say, my parents were ANGRY).</p>
<p>After having MAJORLY screwed up on an SAT, I was all prepped out, but I decided I'd try it again anyway. I started, then, studying from Grammatix. I studied for a week. I studied with the tv on, the radio on, with any distractions, so I'd be ready for when the real thing came. I reviewed the reading comprehension skills and then tried all the skills with a new CollegeBoard practice test. I scored ~580, so I stopped prepping for reading. I mean, it wasn't that bad, I had started with a 51/80, so that score was much better...</p>
<p>In late April, I signed up for the June SAT and began studying for the Writing Section. I wrote essay. After essay. After essay. I started out with an 8/12 on the essay part. It wasn't that bad, so I wasn't very angry. I then thought that essays weren't worth my time (bad idea!), and studied the writing skills part. I read the first 50 pages of Strunk & White, and they bored the HELL out of me, so I gave up. Then, I read the Writing Section lessons in the McGraw-Hill Book. I read them all through, and found them really helpful. I didn't think that was enough, though. I went to my CollegeBoard book and Grammatix to brush up on the bit that was missing. After having done so, I thought I was set. I took my first writing practice test and scored a 600. I then took 3 others, and got scores that ranged from 580 to 670! I was happy..</p>
<p>Two weeks before the SAT, after having extensively studied separate sections, I thought it was time to do the whole test in one sitting. I took a Collegeboard Practice test and scored a 590 CR, 740 W, and 570 M, for a composite score of 1900. Going from a 1430 to a 1900 was excellent, so I decided to stop studying. </p>
<p>I went in for the SAT in June and found it to be so much easier than I had found it when I took my first practice test, my first PSAT, and my first real thing. I had gone to sleep at 3 AM before, because of my insomnia, and had woken up at 5:30, but still, I found the test to be fair. I breezed through the writing section, almost fell asleep while reading (lol!), and found math to be "OK". I was happy with myself and 2 weeks later, when I received my score, I found out that all my work paid off. I scored a 630 CR, 680 W, and 580 M, for a composite for 1890. I go to a school where the SAT average is a 1440/2400 [sad, I know], so this score only made me happy. Even though I went down 10 points from my practice test, I went up in two sections, and that's all that mattered.</p>
<p>Receiving an 1890 made me realize that it was easy to break 2000, so I made that my goal. I practiced SC over the summer, but barely ever else touched a practice book. I signed up for the October SAT and BOMBED! </p>
<p>During one section, the lights went off in the room, and technicians had to be called in. We were asked to stay in our seats and continue our test. Then, for a reading section where we were supposed to be giving 20 mins, the proctor gave us 10. We argued with the proctor, and so she called the administrator. The administrator came in and audbily talked with the proctor while we were supposed to be taking the test!!! She gave us the 20 mins, but counted the time that she was talking with the administrator as time off of our tests! She wasn't even going to let us DO section 10, until the admin came in again. That had to be my WORST SAT experience ever, but I didn't cancel, nor did I report the proctor to CB. I thought that I still had a chance for a 2000, and since I didn't want to go take the test ever again, I should just wait for my score. That was a horrible mistake. I scored a 560 (18x/5o) CR , 550 M (14x/7o), and 670 W... 1780 Composite.</p>
<p>After I got my score in November, I decided to sign up for the December SAT and re-started my studying. It was tedious, at first, but worth it. My practice tests are now at a 690 CR, 750 W, and 590 M, for a 2030 composite. Though I haven't taken it officially yet for the last time, I'm pretty sure I'll be scoring within that range when I get my SAT, and I'm happy to know that my scores have gone up so much and that my studying has paid off. :)</p>
<p>And that, my dears, is my story.</p>
<p>PSAT 201 to a 2340 (740 writing)</p>
<p>@d3!ty </p>
<p>are you planning to retake because of that 740?</p>
<p>a lot of CCers would</p>
<p>Dont see the point. I have a 680 writing right now and am content with it. Will I see an improvement if I take another SATs? Definitely. Should I or anyone else do it at this time? No. I seriously considered because if i can even get a 730 (never prepped for writing before), i will have a good looking 2300. However with school work and lots of applications, I came to the conclusion that 680 in writing is good enough. I would rather get higher quality apps than a better writing. </p>
<p>p.s. English is my second language anyway lol.</p>
<p>I improved quite a bit. I studied a bit for the SAT the second time. I brought some lucky charms with me for the test -- like a fortune and my lucky bracelet.</p>
<p>I improved 220 pts in one sitting (80 in CR, 110 in M, 20 in W). 2030 to 2250. Yay testmasters! Originally 183 on PSAT (sophomore year only) so 420 pt boost actually.</p>
<p>LOL my Collegeboard experience has been a rollercoaster so far...</p>
<p>PSAT 2004(soph): 204(M:76,CR:62,W:66)
NEW SAT 2005 OCT.(jun): 2040(M: 690, CR: 630, W: 720)</p>
<p>I think the lesson to be learned here is that you will have bad testing experiences. Man, believe me, it does suck to get the same SAT score junior year as sophomore PSAT when you spend the summer taking a PR prep class and a bunch of practice tests. Math was a disaster <em>sigh</em>...</p>
<p>Oh well, I'll exhaust all the practice tests in the Blue Book and hope for a 2300 come April. IMO, prep classes are a waste of time and can even deteriorate your performance if you are already at a high level(like getting over 200 on your PSAT soph year). the good news is, I actually concentrated well on the math section of the PSAT a week after my disastrous experience with the SAT, and i think I nailed it!!!:)</p>
<p>well,</p>
<p>i scored like </p>
<p>1900s - 2100s on my practice tests</p>
<p>and got 2180</p>
<p>theonlyone: F#ck no. Not retaking.</p>
<p>I went from a 28 on the ACT to a 33</p>
<p>evil<em>asian</em>dictator: that's sooo weird, that is exactly what I got. For my PSAT i got a 204 (76m, 62v, 66w) then on my SAT i got a 2040 (790m, 630v, 620w)</p>
<p>nice post butterfly.. wow. cc is my muse</p>
<p>one more weeeeeeeeeeeek :(</p>
<p>1940 to 2170</p>
<p>I went from a 1300 (out of 2400) to a 2400. No, not really. Mine actually went down the second time. Though, my real score the first time was 1910 or something like that.</p>
<p>After 9th- 1500
After 10th- 1800
2 months into 11th grade- 2100
Used college board's official book for practice and now I'm scoring above 2350 on each test.
Take the toughest classes possible. Use CB's official practice tests and the solution's manual for it to study from.</p>
<p>I find this post hard to believe. So in 9th grade, which would be 2 years ago, you were averaging 750 on each section, and then in 10th grade you dropped to a 600 per section (cause 1800 implies its the new sat). So basically a 1200 conversion on the old test. yeah right. :P When you lie, at least make it believable.
After 9th- 1500 <<
After 10th- 1800 <<</p>
<p>March</p>
<p>Math 630
CR 560
Writing 620
Total 1810</p>
<p>Nov
Math 800
CR 740
Writing 710
Total 2250</p>
<p>Jumped 440 points, just did practice tests over summer, used barrons for math and rocket review for writing</p>
<p>tivesrx:
did you use the old barrons math guide?
nice cr improvement.. how did you do it? :)</p>
<p>I used the new Barrons, then for CR I went through grammatix, but I really dont think it was very helpful. I just started reading the passages quickly, but completely, and lots of practice tests. I eventually was just able to understand what the questions were looking for better.</p>