<p>I made a 1390 on my SAT combined. 580 on math, 400 on critical reading, 410 on writing. However, I made a 5 on my AP calculus exam.
Does anyone other than me find this odd? Could someone please suggest some study-tips for the CR/Writing parts of the SAT? I want to apply to the top colleges in NC, but i don't think this SAT score will cut it.
Also, does anyone know if colleges will look at my 5 on the AP exam, bad SAT and great GPA and kind of ignore it?</p>
<p>Ignore your AP exam, bad SAT or great GPA? In terms of weight on your admission, it would be GPA > SAT > AP scores, so your GPA will still have a big positive effect, a low SAT score can bring you down quite a bit, but your AP score won’t matter THAT much. </p>
<p>It is a bit odd, yes, but it’s not too surprising. If you haven’t yet, go read a few of the guides in the SAT Preparation section. Silverturtle’s guide has a comprehensive portion that covers Writing, and there are some other guides that can give you tips on the CR section. You should also purchase Direct Hits volumes 1 & 2 for the vocabulary/sentence completion portion of the CR. </p>
<p>Have you taken many practice tests? You need a copy of the Collegeboard Blue Book asap if you haven’t. That will likely be the most important thing to improving your SAT score.</p>
<p>No, they won’t “substitute” your AP score for your SAT score. That defeats the purpose of standardized testing; you would only have to do well on one format while you could fail the other. If you’re proficient at math you should be able to do well no matter the format.</p>
<p>If you’re having too much trouble studying on your own, I would look up SAT tutors.</p>
<p>Some colleges have started accepting AP and SAT II scores in place of SAT I or ACT scores, so you need to check with the schools you want to apply to. Wake Forest does not required SAT or ACT scores.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone.
Panther, it’s not that I’m having issues studying on my own. I obviously need to pull up my reading/writing scores quite a bit.
So I guess I should rephrase my question. Has anyone pulled up their reading/writing score by 200 points each? If so, what did you do to pull it up that much?
Oh, and suncoastfan, thanks for the information about Wake! I’ve actually already decided to apply there. Haha.</p>
<p>It seems to me that you are a perfectly smart person, and you are able to learn school material well, but you just outright fail at the SAT (no offense). Therefore, I would HIGHLY recommend studying for the ACT, or atleast trying it, because it much less ‘tricky,’ and I think someone like you would be much more likely to score well on it.</p>
<p>How much did you study for SAT? It is tricky test in how the ask questions, and if you learn to recognize the tricks, it becomes a lot easier. In addition, were you able to finish all of the sections?</p>
<p>A 5 on AP Calc implies that can learn material well. However, the SAT doesn’t test your learning capacity (writing section aside). BUT the ACT tests your learning capacity to some extent, so before you bother with the SAT try the ACT out for kicks.</p>
<p>With the math I finished all of the sections. Going into the test though, I hadn’t really prepared so the probability/statistics stuff threw me off a lot. But for the reading/writing sections it seemed like I was moving really slow.
However, that was my first time taking it and I was not prepared at all. I didn’t even know there was an essay until that morning… /: I think just by retaking it, after having studied as much as I have this summer, my score will definitely go up.</p>
<p>Dont worry too much!
My first SAT practice i got a 1450.
its been a few weeks since then but it went up to 1710.
well thats not great either but still.
For critical reading, it was challenging for me too.
try this ‘active reading’
dont think that the passage will be boring and pointless, think positive minded, read as if your life depends on it.
there are questions that ask ‘on lines 19-20’ blahblah, for those, go to the passages before you read them and underline them and so that when you read the passage you’ll read that part even closely and carefully. It really helped me, and i think it will bring those scores up too!
and try reading other challenging articles and stuff. Subscribe to the Newyorker or national geographic… and try to think of what kind of questions would ask. think of tones and main ideas.
good luck!</p>
