<p>Hi everyone, I'm a rising Junior and am beginning the SAT/ACT preparation saga (taking diagnostics to see which one is better suited to how I think, getting a tutor, etc.). I was just wondering how much of a score jump people experience form their first practice/diagnostic test to their final sitting for both the SAT and the ACT? Is it normal to jump 200 points? 500? How about 6 composite points? I think everyone would be interested in seeing how people improve over time. If you want to share, please list your scores for your first practice/diagnostic and your scores for each official sitting. If you would like, I'm sure everyone would also appreciate if people would share what they used for their so called testing "saga" (ie Blue Book, Prep class). Thanks a ton!</p>
<p>…Anyone?</p>
<p>I’ve worked with one student. She went from a 23 to a 25 with one attempt at a practice exam from the Red Book.</p>
<p>It really depends on the student. A thorough practice over at least a few month is possible to increase the score significantly. 200 point increase in SAT is definitely possible unless it is already very close to 2200. My D got over 300+ increase in practice over the summer after sophomore. It would be difficult to get a 400+ point increase and sometimes the CB may withhold your score if you do get a sudden jump in score of this magnitude.</p>
<p>1700 to pretty much 2300, lol.</p>
<p>For my freshman year PSAT, I received a 138 (53 CR, 36 M, 49 W). For my sophomore year, I got a 177 (66 CR, 45 M, 66 W). For my junior year, I got a 186 (71 CR, 55 M, 60 W). My SAT results were 1940 (720 CR, 560 M, 660 W) in March 2014. Then in June 2014 I received a 1990 (720 CR, 590 M, 680 W). (I know PSAT results aren’t exactly diagnostic tests but since I never took any I just used PSAT results). So basically from freshman year to end of junior year, I jumped (1990-1380) 610 points. </p>
<p>I experienced a pretty big jump between my first PSAT and SAT through the use of Kaplan PSAT, Princeton Review Cracking the SAT, Sparkcharts (for Critical Reading/Writing/Math). For SATs I used the Blue Book, Barrons SAT, Xiggi, Silverturtle, online practice tests (PDFs), and studied latin root words for vocab. I’m not quite done my “testing saga” since I’m taking the ACTs in September so that I can hopefully earn a higher math score or higher equivalent score. </p>
<p>Thanks @agraves for the awesome response! I also seem to be struggling in the Math section of the SAT after looking at the results from my Sophomore PSAT and the diagnostic SAT i took last weekend. Any tips that worked for you since you started at (the equivalent of) a 380 and ended up with a 590?</p>
<p>Sophomore PSAT: 219
Junior PSAT: 209 (oops.)</p>
<p>Red Book ACT Practice Test: 31 composite (33M, 31E, 31S, 29R)
April 2014 ACT: 35 composite (36M, 35E, 35S, 34R)</p>
<p>PSATs I really messed up from overconfidence; after a pretty good soph. score, I strolled into junior PSAT thinking “just give me my 230 and let me sleep.” As a result, I got plowed (and commended instead of SF)</p>
<p>ACT was the exact opposite. Started off with ballooned expectations of my abilities, and as a result my practice tests reflected my hubris. Gave it 3 weeks of serious crackdown study; I brought the Red Book with me everywhere, school, bed, bathroom (jk on that last). I felt ambivalent after the real thing; I felt rushed during the sections and didn’t feel confident. Got my scores during AP Bio and literally jumped out of my chair. It was nice…</p>
<p>So, learn from me and don’t be cocky.</p>
<p>@cofbrien I don’t know if you have already taken ( or will take) the PSATs but a lot of my improvement came from looking at the PSAT quickstart on the collegeboard website and seeing what types of questions I got wrong or omitted. Then I started a folder that had my personal weak math categories and examples photocopied from books or printed off the web and categorized a minimum of 15 problems for each day. I used the SAT question of the day and if you go on free rice. com they have a subject for the sats. I used already made flashcards on quizlet and watched youtube/Kahn videos. Also, try googling SAT math pdf and you can find a lot of free materials. </p>
<p>1610 to 2070 on SAT.
30 to 33.25 on ACT.</p>
<p>It does happen.</p>
<p>2290 --> 2360 after the blue book.</p>
<p>1630 - 1870 SAT (only after 1 more month of prep!)
if you really put your mind to it, and take everything you do in prep seriously, you’re bound to get a great score increase</p>
<p>D went from around 2270 or so (somewhere in the 2200s) to 2380 by self studying blue book and sat online tests during 2 mos in a summer.
S went from 30 to 35 by red book, ACT released practice tests, and private tutoring over 1.5 mos. He took his first practice diagnostic test in the summer (30) but started his studying over Winter break. It should be noted that his first practice test in winter break was 34, so he went from 30 to 34 simply by maturing 6 mos and having been exposed a previous ACT test in the summer.</p>
<p>PSAT was 215 sophomore year and then 233 junior year, no prep.</p>
<p>ACT was 32 junior year because he forgot his calculator so got a low math score (25), retook it the next session and brought his calculator, only prep was reviewing 3 old ACT tests and got a 36. We didn’t know about blue or red books but he wouldn’t have done them anyway. </p>
<p>If you have no time, at least review 2-3 old tests.</p>
<p>Sophomore PSAT 202. After Blue Book and Barron’s 2400, Junior SAT 2380.</p>
PACT (Freshman Year): 20
First ACT (December Junior): 26
Second ACT (February Junior): 29
Third ACT (Online/School Proctor Feb Junior) - 26
Fourth ACT (July Before Senior): 32
Fifth ACT (September Senior): 30
Sixth ACT (October Senior): 34
Look, I know a 14 point jump from my PACT or a an 8 point jump from my first real ACT seems quite high or fake, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t study A LOT to get the score up.
For some context, I have always done well in school, getting As in rigorous honors and AP classes at my school. However, I seemed to always perform poorly on any standardized test, so I set out to just beat the damn thing. And I will be honest, I didn’t really study for the test until a month before I got a 32. In total, I took roughly 12 entire practice tests with countless problems out of the Princeton Review books and the “Real ACT” book.
The point from all of this is that you can beat the ACT by studying for it, but you must study consistently on a daily basis for like an hour to 2 hours a day. Just get used to the test and take it like any other exam you would in school, and you will do well. Anything is possible as long as you set your mind to it.
Kid’s real PSAT was 98th percentile English, maybe 90th percentile math. Took an at home practice ACT, got maybe a 32, and weakest score was science, first time kid had seen that type of data analysis test. Kid realized it would be very easy to improve the science score. Did 4 out of the 5 tests in the Official ACT book, then focused on math prep with the Best ACT Math Books Ever 2 book set, and more math and science sections of released ACT tests. Probably did about 40 hrs of prep altogether. Got a 36 (36 in all but math, which was 34). After kid started calculus (after having taken the September ACT), kid said that the math section would have been easier, had kid had calc beforehand.
So overall, improvement from about 32 to 36, with about 40 hours of focused self-directed preparation.
Yet another ghost from the past.
This is a post from 6 years ago and I doubt the OP currently is concerned about additional data.
Closing thread for the above reason