<p>To start off my SAT preparation, I thought it would be a good idea to take a diagnostic practice test. I did the one of the three that were available on SparkNotes, and I'd like your guys' advice on how to go about getting ready for the PSAT in october and SAT in November.</p>
<p>Keeping in mind that this is literally the first thing I've ever done with regards to the SAT, here is my breakdown:</p>
<p>Math: 600
15/16 easy
15/21 medium
6/17 hard</p>
<p>CR: 710
15/16 easy
28/32 medium
15/19 hard </p>
<p>Writing: 620, if, theoretically, I'd gotten a 12 on the essay.
8/9 easy
25/29 medium
8/11 hard</p>
<p>I can't decide how I feel about these scores. Obviously, they're not where I want them to be, but at the same time I haven't touched a prep book and wasn't exactly completely focused for the test. </p>
<p>So my questions: in your experience, how much room for improvement is there between a kid's first test with 0 prep and the final product when he is completely prepared?</p>
<p>and, more importantly, how can I go about raising each of those scores? I ordered the blue book yesterday so it should arrive sometime next week, but in the meantime, what would be your advice?</p>
<p>My first scores gave me a total of about 1800, in the end I got an SAT score of 2300.
SAT’s not hard at all- it’s actually really, really easy.
You just have to take the tests so many times, the ?s are practically memorized. and know that each ? counts a LOT though, so don’t mess up!
but don’t worry about your scores right now; they’re actually really, really good</p>
<p>I agree with zinthafan. I started at a 2070 and am currently at a 2230 for my third practice test, but I’m still using the blue book and other materials to study. You should be fine as long as you continue to study. You don’t have to take full-length practice SAT tests every time you practice; just take a section and thoroughly review the correct and incorrect answers and understand the reasoning behind them. This is basically other people’s methods on CC, but it works remarkably well. Just keep studying; I don’t believe in a certain amount of set improvement; if you keep studying, you’ll keep improving. Good luck. I’ll be taking the Oct. 9 SAT. How about you?</p>
<p>I took an online ACT test off of Sparknotes and scored a 22. 22! However, it was solely because the test was online. Try taking a practice test on actual paper. It makes a world of a difference for me.
BTW, I ended up with a 30 w/o studying on the real thing just a few months later.</p>
<p>You shouldn’t rely much on Practice Tests that are not from the College Board. You should try to subtract 100-200 points from your overall score if you feel that the test was easy/too easy. Or add 50-100 points if you felt it was too hard. You can’t tell from tests outside of the College Board.</p>
<p>^I’d agree. Grab one of the three available PDFs of actual SATs, print one out along with a bubble sheet, and take it under timed conditions. This will give you a reliable idea of where you are now and how much work you need to do.</p>
<p>how do you, guys, calculate your Essay score?</p>
<p>Your score is actually pretty good, especially critical reading. It’s good that your critical reading is currently your highest score because usually critical reading is the most difficult to improve. You can improve a lot in a short time for math and writing as long as you practice a lot and go over the grammar rules and math rules. So don’t worry!</p>
<p>OP//Grammar and Math take practice, so your scores are actually good. CR is very hard to improve on.</p>