<p>Since the start of summer and my vacation, all I have been doing is SAT practice tests after tests. </p>
<p>But is this good? Is it an effective way to improve? I only improved around 50 points and now it's fluctuating.</p>
<p>I do not advice you to constantly prep, because you would easily overwork yourself.
You have to give your brain the space and time to observe and adapt to new patterns and strategies in your test taking.</p>
<p>Try not to make the preparation daunting and stressful. You can chose specific days in a week for prep or combine other things you want to study into a decent schedule. That way, you want bore yourself by studying just one thing.</p>
<p>Hope that helps.:)</p>
<p>Doing lots of practice tests is NOT an effective way to prepare. I suggest you read my article on the correct way to prepare for SAT math. I have posted it in a few threads on this site.</p>
<p>I did read your post DrSteve. It definitely helped but I still make stupid minor mistakes ;p. </p>
<p>Well since constantly studying is not an effective way for studying the SAT, then what should I do between each test? How long should I wait between each test?</p>
<p>Doing SAT practice is fine. BUT YOU MUST REVIEW YOUR TESTS IN DEPTH. I took my first practice test at the beginning of June. I identified that writing was my weakness. Also, while reviewing, I began to notice the types of questions they began to ask on the SAT and began to familiarize myself with them. </p>
<p>After reviewing my first test, I reviewed grammar extremely indepth through outside sources and then returned.</p>
<p>I do review them instensely.</p>
<p>But see, I take the test in the morning, then all afternoon I review. </p>
<p>So by the next day… I have nothing to do because I know the explanations inside out.</p>
<p>As others have said, it is important to review and understand what you got wrong. It was travismarie that first suggested cutting out the questions you get wrong, taping it into a notebook, and then jotting down a few things about that question. If you take a test, grade it, then walk away, you’ve just wasted it.</p>
<p>However, if you prep for too long (from my experience) it can actually also be detrimental since it encourages complacency and makes you lose interest. Maybe take a break.</p>
<p>^ I also like the idea of compiling a notebook like that. I may have some of my students try it to see if it helps. But I would include one twist: don’t just include the questions you got wrong. There are surely (I hope) times when you got something right in a way that you are proud of – you saw a quick connection, you drew another line, you made a list that let you skip some hard math, you DID some hard math – whatever. I’m just saying that it would be good to also focus on some special problems that you in fact got RIGHT! It seems to me that otherwise, the notebook could become kind of depressing…a compendium of problems that beat you. I know that it would still be useful, but it’s important to avoid being overwhelmed and depressed by this process (something that OP seems at risk for).</p>
<p>Reviewing and understanding what you got wrong is only part of it. Let me just emphasize a few points that are very important. Everything I say is just for math, but I’m pretty sure most of it applies to the other sections as well</p>
<p>(1) Keep study sessions short. Spend about 10 minutes per day on new math problems, and 10 minutes per day reattempting math problems you previously got wrong.
(2) Focus on your current ability level. If you are still getting lots of Level 3 geometry problems wrong, then focus on level 3 geometry problems - do not wory about level 4 of 5 geometry yet.
(3) Make sure you periodically keep reattampting problems you get wrong until you can get them right ON YOUR OWN. DO NOT dismiss getting a problem wrong as a “careless error!” Wrong is wrong. If you didn’t pick the correct answer choice you need to reattempt that problem again in a week or so (I suggest you find my article on “careless errors” as well on this forum).
(4) Full tests need to only be taken a few times - this is just to make sure you are implementing strategies correctly under timed conditions, and pacing yourself properly. You don’t need much more than 4 attempts to solidify this.</p>
<p>If your weakness is vocabulary then get a really good vocab list and memorize a bunch of words.
If your weakness is critical reading, read a lot of books like a scan-tron machine and then 1 month later go practice passages.
If your weakness is math, practice lots of problems and go over them in detail.
If your weakness is writing, learn all the grammar rules and go over them in detail.</p>