<p>im taking the sat on march 14 and i was wondering if anybody takes the test cold w/o much preparation? ive taken a few practice tests, but haven't had the time to sit myself down and study. im focusing more on the act than the sat, but i still want to know how people have done w/o a lot of prep. My question is: if you have taken the SAT cold how did you do, did you take it again with prep, did you do better, and what were your scores?</p>
<p>Please excuse my lack of capitalization; its been a long weekend.</p>
<p>don’t waste your parent’s (or your) money by not studying. spend a few hours each week doing individual sections. the SAT is like a game, the more practice you do the better you get</p>
<p>uh that person is saying that you should study, given that the title of this thread is
“Do you advise taking the SAT cold?”.</p>
<p>They are saying that they got a 1480 out of 2400 taking the SAT cold, thus they are advising you to study.</p>
<p>but i’m here to tell you that you dont necessarily need to study, it depends on what you’re shooting for. When i took the SAT the first time, i took it cold, and got a 2020, which is alright.</p>
<p>^I also think that the fact being a GOOD TEST TAKER or an INTELLIGENT kid must be mentioned while advising your peers not to study because its a rule that errbody is different! I took it with any serious practice and got a 1380/2400.>intl thought with english as a third language! But anyway, the universal rule that always works is STUDY and nothing else!</p>
<p>Even if you are a good test taker (I wont say smart because I dont believe that the SAT correlates intelligence), you should still study just to learn the fundamentals of the test. The SAT is not like any other test and you have to be as prepared as possible for it. Its just stupid to throw points away by not studying. Even if you are “smart” enough to get a 2000 cold, you could have gotten say a 2200 with studying or even a 2300+ with studying. You have every disadvantage to not study for the test weeks, if not months, in advance.</p>
<p>You didn’t say what grade you are in (I assume you are a jr). The best practice is the real test. If you really want to know where you stand, use it as a diagnostic tool and take it cold. Then you can prep accordingly. There is always superscoring and new rules as to the sending of scores.</p>
<p>Going in cold is okay but only if you have enough time to retake, agreed an actual test is the best practice: timing, nerves, early morning, full classroom etc., conditions that cannot be duplicated at home. But, that is what the PSAT is for… so yeah - study - it will always help!</p>
<p>My D’s experience was that significant preparation (6 to 8 hours/week) for 2 months raised her score 280 points out of 2400 from less than 2000 to almost 2300</p>
<p>Since you will be competing with kids from our prep school for college admissions, scholarships, internships, and eventually admission to graduate and professional school, I would like to discourage you from doing any preparation al all. Take this easy, trivial and “of little importance to your future” test totally cold. Even better stay up all night getting high before the test. LOL</p>
<p>My D’s experience was actually the opposite of BigG’s daughter. She’s a kid who suffers from moderate “test anxiety.” In order to get a feel for the SAT she took it cold in January of her junior year. She went in with the attitude that she was just practicing and that the test didn’t count and ended up with a 2100. When she “took the test for real” the second time she studied for a week or two before the test using the Blue Book, but got all wound up come test day and ended up with 1900-something. She decided after that expreience that she wanted nothing more to do with standardized testing until it is time for the GREs.</p>
<p>So, while I would suggest prepping for the test as a rule for most students (and for more than a week or two) I think there are some kids who do perform better when they take the test without putting any extra pressure on themselves which, in my daughter’s case, included studying the SAT in advance of the test.</p>
<p>Honestly, if you have taken the PSAT and/or a practice test for the SAT, there isn’t really any need to study. The test was originally called the scholastic APTITUDE test, and it doesn’t measure you’re accumulated knowledge as much as it does your ability to read quickly, think critically under pressure, and put yourself in the position of the test’s writers. This might be a biased opinion, however, because I took the test “cold” (though I did take the PSAT) and got a 2360.</p>
<p>OK, at the risk of starting a “flame war” I am going to point out another reason my D did better at one “time of the month” than another. She is very definitely a young woman.</p>
<p>Note that the testing dates for the SAT are “out of phase” with a 28 day cycle.Thus you can schedule a SAT administration that is at a “good time”.This is hardly necesary for some but others might benefit.</p>
<p>This is meant to be helpful and I aplogize if anyone is offended.</p>
<p>I took it cold and got a 1920, but I wish I had studied more. I purchased a Barron’s book and barely used it. So I think you should study, but I don’t think you should waste hours of your life on it. Find out what colleges you want to attend and score accordingly.</p>