Can a below average person get 2000?

<p>The SAT has me extremely worried. I got my results and it came out 1470. My last score was 1150 and I improved by a few points but it's not enough to reach my goal. I read that the average score would range from 1500-1600. I want to get a 2000 on the SAT so I can apply to the college I want to, but I'm not sure I'm even capable. I was also told that since I'm not too good at math the highest score I'd probably get would be 1500. I'm a high school graduate who isn't going to college yet. I'm so worried.</p>

<p>If I study harder can I get a 2000? Some say it's based on your IQ and how well you did in high school.</p>

<p>The SAT is not based on intelligence, it’s based on effort. You need to research and find helpful material. The first thing you should do is learn the basics for math and writing. This can be done with any book. If you learn it well and concentrate, this should result in a quick increase. For CR, start with lots of vocab. Later, test out the different strategies for reading and answering passages. Top three strategies (IMO): reading questions first, reading passage in paragraphs and answering accordingly, reading passage and finding main idea as a whole. The last one was the one that worked for me. </p>

<p>If you are truly dedicated and want to reach your goal, you have to study more than 2 hours a day (5-7 days a week) to be honest. Going from the 1400s to 2000 is difficult and may take months depending on you efficiency. If you think about the test as a game to beat, it won’t be as bad. </p>

<p>Best of luck, you can do this, don’t give up! I have some good PDFs which are the ones I’m using for studying, so if you want them just let me know. :)</p>

<p>A 670 (total of 2010) is 89th-93rd percentile, depending on the section. 490 (total of 1470) is 42nd-52nd percentile. A 380 (total of 1140) is 11th-16th percentile.</p>

<p>As I see it, you improved by an enormous amount, in percentile terms, between tests. You’d need to improve by an equally enormous amount again in order to meet your goal. You might be able to get there; I suspect it would take a great deal of determination and dedicated effort. IQ makes it easier; assuming two people with significantly different IQs put in the same amount of effort, the person with the higher IQ would likely get a higher score. How well you did in high school is a rough stand-in for how much effort an outside observer might predict you’d put it. But when it comes down to it, the effort is up to you.</p>

<p>Bear in mind that if you work your tail off and get your 2000, and get into your dream school, you’re going to have to continue to work your tail off to keep up - and while you have virtually unlimited time to prep for the SAT, that’s generally not the case for doing coursework.</p>

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<p>I agree. It’s been a long time since I was working on the SAT, but that sounds about like the amount of prep work I did. I took some professional licensure tests more recently, and studied 8-10 hours a day, 5-7 hours a week, for two months. Effort pays off.</p>

<p>Thank you for your time & reply aares1 and allyphoe
It helps a lot to have people tell me that effort pays off
Now that I think about it I didn’t put enough effort.
Maybe I do need that “die hard” studying my dad talked about
(but 16 hours a day is crazy- crazy enough to get me into college =D)
I’m really happy with these replies and if I lose confidence I’ll come back to this thread lol
I will study now
Thank you</p>

<p>Do you have the grades to go along with a 2000+ on the SAT? If not, you might be better off spending your time taking classes at a community college, doing well there, and then transfer to your dream school. If you have the grades, you might be able to do well at that school, but if you don’t, you may be setting yourself up for failure. There’s a reason top schools look for both high GPA and high test scores. It’s far better to do well at a local university of even Community College, than to fail out of a top school.</p>