I recently took the Practice SAT #5 (College Board) and I got a 1060. That doesn’t sound too bad (except to the idiots who will brag about their 1400’s and 1500’s), but the thing is, I got an 1150 on the PSAT. I am extremely confused how something like this occur. Is it possible that it could be summer, as I only studied an hour for the test, which was mainly reading and writing?
Also, a bit off topic, what is the best book to recommend for the SAT and ACT? I am probably doing prepscholar once I get a 1250 on the SAT (because I would get a 1410 or higher or I would get my money back). But for now, what is the best book out there?
My daughter got 1420 on the PSAT…then…1310 on the SAT 3 months later. She was miserable.
Then she took the ACT two months after that (April) and got a 29.
Each time she tested she studied a fair amount but nothing hardcore. Then for the ACT in June she did about 6 or so ACT official released tests and studied her mistakes on the April test as well.
She got a 33 …and was very done with it…and very happy!
I am pretty sure it was all those practice tests that helped the most.
Generally, the PSAT is easier than the actual SAT since it had less questions, so it’s not uncommon for your PSAT scores to be lower than the actual SATs. To raise your score, you definitely need to study more than just an hour and PRACTICE A LOT.
As for prep books, I recommend The College Panda and PWN Math for math and Erica Meltzer’s Critical Reader and her other books for CR & W.
PSAT usually has easier questions than the SAT. If you want to see improvement then, as the other replies have mentioned, just do a lot of practice. It’s like math; you don’t get better by just thinking about it or reading up on it, you just have to grind through practice problems to really understand it.
Really, there’s sort of a logic/flow to their questions and the more you do it the more you’ll get used to it and understand what they’re really looking for. People who score well on the SAT aren’t always “smart”. Yes, there are people who will get in the 1500s without batting an eye, but then there are also people who just know how the test works because they’ve done so many practice problems. I believe myself to fall in the latter category.
Prep books with lots of practice questions/tests are helpful, and just an FYI, SAT tutors are a huge waste of money. You’re basically paying some guy to go through the practice problems with you. As long as you have the willpower to throw yourself at the practice problems and go through what you got wrong and why you got it wrong, then you should see improvement.