Concentrating on one section??? Please reply!!!

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>What is the conventional wisdom of concentrating on one section that has given you trouble in the past----to the exclusion of others that you have already scored well on? </p>

<p>Here's the deal. My son has scored 700+ on both the Math and the Writing, but 440 is the best he has done on the verbal. Since many colleges simply accept your best score in each section, shouldn't he just focus completely on the verbal section the next time he takes the test, and not waste brainpower and risk fatigue on the other sections? Or does it look bad to do that?</p>

<p>I need answers ASAP. He takes the test again this Saturday.</p>

2

<p>When I asked that question of my son's guidance counselor, and then of a friend who had worked in admissions at Cornell and Columbia, the answer was "no."</p>

<p>To make immediate improvement in the verbal section, make sure he gets and English grammar book and studies subject verb agreement when the subject and verb are separated by a clause in between, and also dangling modifiers. Those make up the bulk of the sentence correction questions.</p>

3

<p>thegfg, you're talking about the writing section</p>

4

<p>And he did fine on the writing. Any other thoughts from anyone on the prospect of concentrating only on the verbal section?</p>

<p>And GFG---Did your sources say WHY they thought you shouldn't do that?</p>

5

<p>I wouldn't recommend not trying at all, but I think that anyone can have enough energy/concentration for all parts of the CR if they concentrate and have been well fed/prepared before or whatever works best. I guess one can think less (skipping hard problems, etc.) on other sections to "preserve brain power".</p>