You can definitely raise those scores if you work hard. I raised my scores from a 1720 on my first practice test to a 2150 on my latest one.
READING
- Vocabulary! If you want to get a 700+, you need to know lots and lots of vocab. I’ve heard Directs Hits and Barron’s are good, personally I used Princeton Review Hit list which is also good. Learn about 15 vocab words every day and at the end of each week, review all of them so you can retain the words. I loved using Quizlet (online flashcards) to memorize words, it really helped.
- Reading passages: To improve at these, practice is the best way to go. After you have finished a reading section, make sure you go back and review the answers you got wrong AND the answers you got right. After lots of reading passage practice, you will be able to understand which answer is the right one.
And remember: THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS IN THE PASSAGE. Don’t choose an answer because you “think” it’s right even if there is no evidence int he passage.
MATH
- Do a few practice sections and notice the questions you are getting wrong. Chances are they are all under a few of the same topics. Find out what those are, study them, and do practice questions from that topic. Gruber’s Math is great for this. The blue book also has a great review of all the formulas and question types you need to know.
- If you need more help/review, check out the Khan Academy SAT page. It has a full SAT practice test with videos explaining every question on the math sections.
WRITING
- Go over all the writing rules that are tested on the SAT (pronouns, subject-verb, quantity, etc) and understand all the rules. PR manual and similar books are great for this.
- Just do loads of practice questions and know why you’re getting questions wrong. Once you understand one mistake, you probably won’t do it again.
Hope this helped! 