Asian Fail at SAT- Oh the Misery...

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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<p>So far, I've taken a couple practice tests from the McGraw-Hill's 12 SAT Practice Tests (ugghh, I know, it sucks; but I got it kind of cheap and I'm running on limited funds for now). </p>

<p>I usually get a total raw score of around 3-7 (yes, a THREE) for math, 7-12 for CR, and a 0 to 6 for Writing (I'm not working on the essays yet).</p>

<p>I started out pretty bad on CR reading, but it's the only one I've noticed a gradual upward trend ever since starting, mostly because of vocab and getting the jist of the questions. I have a good feeling for this one. The exception is the passage, but I've created my own strategy for tackling that, and it's worked out great.</p>

<p>Math is a FAIL for an Asian... From the questions I actually know how to answer, I don't get very many wrong, I just simply don't know how to do the rest of the problems. I'm pretty sure this may be from being only a sophomore with a Geometry math level so far, but still, other kids I know are able to speed through this section in moments, and do fine. </p>

<p>If math is a fail, I should contemplate and actually commit suicide with Writing. I usually answer all the questions, but get them all wrong. I just took a practice section, and out of 14 questions, answered 13, and actually got 4. The sentence error problems (with the whole underlined sections of a thing) are a mofo for me. I simply cannot get them. </p>

<p>I'm reading through Cracking the SAT by PR. The vocab words it has I've heard are great, and later I'll fork up the funds and invest in Direct Hits 1/2. Though going through their math section is just... inane. I didn't find writing that informative either.</p>

<p>Any suggestions guys? Maybe McGraw-Hill sucks? On the SAT Daily Question of the day, for the most part, I usually get all the questions (except math, that's half and half. I don't know how I breeze through with an A in math yet fail at this).
Thanks again guys.</p>

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<p>Are you serious about your scores? That’s like… 350 on math, 390 on CR and 360 on Writing, for a surprisingly low total of 1100. Mc-Graw Hill’s a bi tch when it comes to CR, but the writing is okay, from my experience. What grade are you in? My guess is that you haven’t bought the Official Guide yet. Buy it instead of Direct Hits for now; it contains the most basic guidelines for students just starting their SAT prep, and the most accurate practice tests.</p>

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<p>Exactly… I was expecting an initial like 1500, but I feel like a ■■■■■■…</p>

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<p>I’m just a sophomore trying to get an early start. As I predicted, the SATs would be a ■■■■ for me. Yeah, I honestly should pick one of those up. Though I thought the entire BB was just practice tests, not like actual information stuff. </p>

<p>Any one else guys?</p>

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<p>first, take a deep breath. you have a lot of time, and your best practice will always be the math you continue to learn in school. the blue book is invaluable b/c it will show you what to expect and help you figure out the types of questions that you need help with. i would suggest that you use it once (now) and also once more (later), after you’ve had more experience with geometry & higher level algebra. </p>

<p>And wait to take the real test for the first time until the 2nd half of your junior year. if you work hard, you will be amazed at the difference between now and then. (trust me, i took the SATs in 7th grade, before i even had algebra; but in the end everything came out very very well.)</p>

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<p>You do have time and you are so wise to be starting to study for it this early! You do need to buy the College Boards’ own study guide though — it’s worth it’s weight in gold. If at all possible (maybe start saving now), take a good prep course in your Junior year a month or two before you take the SAT (probably in March of Junior year). </p>

<p>Also, just another thought. Many people do better on the ACT and you may well be one of them. See if you can take a practice ACT and compare. You may want to switch gears and work towards that test (with the ACT writing portion). The colleges really don’t care which you take. The good news is, you have started SO EARLY that you can turn this around. If you had started studying in your Junior year like most people this would be a problem, but I think you have a huge amount of time to bring your scores up no matter what test you end of taking.</p>

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<p>that’s not just an asian fail, that’s a fail
3 would be like 300 on math, 7 is around 350 for CR and 0 is a 200 on writing
that’s a 850… 250 points above the lowest possible score</p>

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<p>This just doesn’t make sense to me. Given the writing ability you demonstrated your post, you are clearly competent in English. On some subconscious level, you know the grammatical rules and what ‘sounds good’ and what doesn’t. This is the type of skill most American highschoolers lay back on when they score around 500 in writing. </p>

<p>■■■■■?</p>

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<p>bobtheboy - Be nice :slight_smile: He’s just a sophomore.</p>

<p>OP, you’ve still got lots of time ahead of you. I started prepping in sophomore year, so I know how it is to be totally clueless about the SAT. While I stopped prepping after my first real SAT, I did have a tremendous score increase after 5-6 months of prepping. My first few CR and writing scores were around 400, although math was over 700, but if my math wasn’t good, I wouldn’t even be at my school right now xD To save you the weeks or months of blind prepping, take a course on the SAT if you can afford it. You can still prep by yourself, but tutors can usually help pinpoint your problems and weaknesses. Chances are that if you’re an Asian, you probably do well in your math classes at school. The SAT math section is a bit different in that it tests skills more than actual concepts. I personally knew all the concepts by the 2nd semester of 9th grade, but I scored a lot lower than I do now on practice tests. CR and writing could be harder for you if you’re a more science-oriented student. They can be very frustrating at times when you know how to do the problems but just can’t seem to get them right. </p>

<p>Another tip is, NEVER underestimate the essay. Before my SAT, I thought I could get a 10+ so I didn’t work on it a lot, and ended up getting a 7, making my writing drop even though my MC was okay. </p>

<p>Get Kaplan’s SAT premier. It has wonderful tips for building a foundation. I’m pretty sure you can raise your score to 1800+ if you give the book a shot. Anyways, I wish you the best of luck!</p>

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<p>Agreed with Mikethechamp. If you can coherently post on CC you should be well-within the 1500 range.</p>

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<p>The OP is obviously a ■■■■■.</p>

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<p>I think this should be it, I’m usually better at math than English stuff, and most of what I get wrong or don’t answer at all is stuff I don’t know how to solve (i.e. functions, some puzzle type math problems, etc.) I think I’ll prep through this alongside progressing in my math classes.</p>

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<p>I’m not a ■■■■■, I have better things to do than ■■■■■ on this golden forum. But that’s exactly why I’m nervous about this, it sounds right to me, and I end up getting most of my sentence error type problems wrong. It’s kind of why I came for advice. Looking through the Sparknotes guide though, I’m kinda realizing how you’re supposed to do those problems.</p>

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<p>I know, but I always hated standardized testing stuff. In my old elementary school, they used to seperate classes of high, low, and medium level English/Math with state test scores. I always barely made it into high math, and always was forced into medium English because of the scores. Yet I would’ve easily done more than good in high English and Math. I recalled this, and I wanna tackle this early on.</p>

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<p>Like I said, most of my issues with critical math remains to be just not knowing how to solve certain puzzle like problems or higher level math stuff. CR I’m improving on no doubt, but the writing’s problems are just a plain ■■■■. I have an idea of where I went wrong, but it’s gonna take me a while.</p>

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<p>No, ■■■■■■■■’s ■■■■■■■■, I’d rather umm… trying to actually work on my SATs or schoolwork.</p>

<p>Looking back, my Raw Scores may be off as I look back (like there not being a penalty on fill ins). But I doubt they’d be more than like a 1400. I also didn’t take the essay, so perhaps I may not be below a 1200-1400 at all, but I’m way out of range. In comparison, some friends I know at school who are sophomores got 2000’s without studying on their first attempts. Perhaps my initial expectations were too high? Either way, I’m trying to get out of anything below a 2000.

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<p>ok thats a bunch of bs. you can guess on all the mc and do better than that…</p>

<p>just slow down, don’t rush through the questions and you should do better than a 0 on the writing -.-</p>

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<p>Rolland Glen is asian; he is fiction character from Prison Break film. But…he is genius hacker…and he is asian</p>

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<p>Like I said, I may’ve made a mistake counting them up, but it was certainly nothing even close to a decent score. But yeah, I should try that part of the Xiggi method</p>

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<p>…
So now we know who the real ■■■■■ here is</p>

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<p>Yup, you really need the get the Blue book. But don’t worry, I share your Asian math fail- oh the ignominy!</p>

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<p>heh…one thing is strange…I have about 5-10 news words from your post and, in the same time, my SAT score is 1600 while your is 1060…</p>

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I agree. It’s 1st april joke about your score…maybe you should learn sequences of months and then study for SAT.</p>

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<p>Asian fail [on] the SAT…</p>

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<p>Like I said, I may’ve made a mistake in adding up the score but it’s no more than a 1200-1300 at most.</p>

<p>Anyway, I have found some improve utilizing sparknotes guides and stuff. I think this’ll be a gradual thing until junior year when I take it</p>

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<p>Are you sure you didn’t misbubble? It happened to one of my friends (not on the SAT though, she would’ve died) and nearly every subsequent one was wrong.</p>