<p>I'm currently a sophomore and I was wondering if I could get some advice from the upperclassmen about how to prep up for the SAT. To give you some sense of where I stand as far as the numbers go, I took the PSAT last October and I got 570 on CR, 610 on math and 680 on Grammar. I know it will probably make the most sense for me to take a prep course, but the thing is, I feel like I need something more than just a prep course since I'm struggling a lot with English(English is my second language). I feel as though I don't have a solid foundation in the language. What are some things I could do to help myself? I was sort of thinking of taking english classes at places like Harvard Summer Program to boost up my reading/writing skills, but would that be a better idea than to take a prep course? I have less of a problem with math since I feel like that's one of my strengths. Thank you in advance for all your advice/help!</p>
<p>And oh, I forgot to add: my english teacher told me once that I have a tendency to over analyze things too much. Is there a way for me to NOT overanalyze so I can score higher on CR?</p>
<p>Buy yourself a good prep book (the official college board one works) and just take lots of practice tests, analyze what you did wrong/right, and your scores should increase with practice.</p>
<p>I'm the director of a tutoring center with a large number of international and bilingual students. Given that your post has no obvious grammatical errors and is highly idiomatic (i.e., your language choices sound very natural), your mastery of English is probably better than you think. </p>
<p>This sounds trite but I can't emphasize it enough. Given that you're a sophomore, the single most important thing you can do is to read more. Research has shown that perfect SAT scorers read, on average, 5 hours a week outside of their schoolwork. I think that's a good goal.</p>
<p>When you get closer to the test, you will need to start thinking more about strategy. However, right now you need to be reading as much as possible. Quality journalism is the best bet: try The New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, etc. If you want a tangible goal, order The Norton Reader (used! try <a href="http://www.half.com%5B/url%5D">www.half.com</a>) and read the whole thing. It will take you as long as memorizing a large vocabulary list, but if you read closely and actively, it will be much more fruitful preparation.</p>
<p>I think you're actually in pretty good shape. Don't stress. Just set aside those five hours a week!</p>
<p>^^P.S. The Norton Reader is an anthology of contemporary nonfiction and expository writing, and contains many writers who have previously appeared on the SAT.</p>
<p>I agree with the previous post, but there are a fair amount of idioms on the Writing Section, Identifying Sentence Errors questions, so be ready for those when they pop up as they usually do. </p>
<p>Many of my studs are from S America originally, and sometimes something that is so obvious to us, just doesnt sound wrong (or more likely the whole sentence seems wrong) to someone who is not acclimated to the idioms used on the SAT. </p>
<p>Admittedly, It is a fairly small subset and if you sit down with a couple of old exams you should be fine, but you may have to accept a question or two lower Writing Skills score than what you should get b/c of the prevalence of idioms on the SAT.</p>
<p>How about hiring a private tutor instead of the prep course? I think that would be best since English is your second language, putting you in a different position than the other students who would be in your course. Your post shows a great mastery of the English language. :)</p>
<p>I had a problem with overanalyzing on CR, but on the SAT itself I found that the questions didn't leave me, personally, room to do so.</p>
<p>Also, familiarize yourself with idiomatic expressions, because they are on the SAT. Coming from a differnet language, that might be a greater challenge because those aren't things that are rules in the English language, just how we use it. There are just some word combinations that we don't use in the English language, so there are actually answers on the writing that are incorrect because idiomatically, they don't work. For example: "We fought on whether I could go out for the evening" would be incorrect because idiomatically, we say "fought about", although "fought on" could still be gramatically correct. Run an internet search on idiomatic expressions in the English language. :)</p>
<p>schoolgirl, can I ask you what your first language is?</p>
<p>I think you'll be fine even if you study by yourself. From the way you write, you have a pretty good mastery of the English language. :) I'm like you. I also have English as a second language, but I've been in the States for around seven years.</p>
<p>My SAT scores gradually improved, though, as I practiced. If you read enough books and just carefully remember some tips given by good prep books (The official CB blue book, Barron, or Princeton Review), you'll do a lot better. If you practice enough, you'll get that score you want.</p>
<p>If a bilingual student like me can get a high score, then you can too. ^^</p>
<p>hello
thank you all for your replies!
And to someone who asked me- korean's my first language. :)
umm and I still have one lingering question- if I were to take a prep course where would you recommend me to take it? I mean my friends tell me that there are like gazillion prep courses out there including Kaplan, Princeton, etc. Not really sure where I should go. I just don't want this summer to waste so... lol</p>
<p>Anyways, thank you again for trying to help me out! I'll make sure I read a LOT- I haven't been able to lately because of all the testing... lol</p>