<p>Hey.
Am kinda frustrated after Dec.'s score.
I entered October's test and scored 2140 : M-770 - CR-680 W-690 Essay : 6
I aimed for a 2400 in December, but i had a great recess, unexpectedly. My scores were worse in all sections : M-710 - CR -630 - W-680 Essay : 8 - I expected a 750 - 800 in W, though.
However, I admit that i didn't study well for December's test and that i was over-confident.
N i really need a plan to follow in studying this month, before Jan's test. Especially for CR.
In Math, i just need some concentration + i find 770 enough for me.
In Writing, i dunno what happened, but i was sure of every answer and i even revised the most confusing questions on CC and with friends and teachers, n I got all of them correct. And usually in practicing, I get 2 mistakes by maximum. But my essay is always horrible.
But in CR, it was really horrible and i knew it. I did terribly bad in the passages I dunno y. I wasn't able to grasp some of the passage, and in the other questions, i wasn't able to get the subtle differences between the choices.
Can anyone pls help ?</p>
<p>?</p>
<p>First of all, you need to realize your current situation and set a realistic goal before moving on.
Why did you believe that you could have scored a 2400 after getting only a 2140?
Out of over a million test takers, only a few hundred score 2400, and that is mostly luck rather than pure skill. Furthermore, the pure skill component alone would have given these 2400 scorers at least a 2350+.</p>
<p>You claim you had a great “recess” in going from 2140 to 2020. But to be honest, I think that’s pretty indicative of your current scoring ability range; there was no “recess” at all. What would have truly been a great “EXCESS” was your actually getting a 2400 as you had aimed for, or anywhere near 2300+, considering that you were overconfident and neglected to study.</p>
<p>A more realistic goal for you should have been 2250+, or 2300+ with luck. There are many students who score 2300+ on their first try but still know that 2350+ is a wiser goal than aiming for 2400 for their future attempts.</p>
<p>So I’m telling you, with constructive criticism and helpful feedback before you set yourself up for disappointment that you will probably not be able to get a 2400, ever.
Instead, I want you to aim realistically this time.
You have scored a 2140, and then a 2020.
So to be honest, you should just aim for 2250+, considering your past success.
Don’t be so obsessed with getting a 2400, as 2250+ already puts you as a qualified applicant in terms of standardized testing for any school in the United States, including the upper-tier Ivies. </p>
<p>It seems like for Math, you usually miss 1-3 questions. I’m assuming those are just errors, which means that you must read the question more carefully so that you don’t mess up. This is important. Don’t just think, “Oh, I’ll do that” or “Oh, I’ll make sure to not mess up again” at all. Next time, UNDERLINE each question and read it in your head. Otherwise, you will mess up in the heat of the test. Remember just how critically your Math score impacts your composite. For some of the harsher curves, one wrong is a 50 point nuke to your score, which you cannot afford!</p>
<p>Writing seems to be pretty stable, floating around the high 600’s. You need to practice your multiple choice component. Make sure you know EVERY grammar rule. Memorize some idioms. Your essay also needs a little improvement. Practice writing essays, under timed conditions, and practice filling up 2 pages. Make sure you do at least 10 practice essays before the next test to get that under your belt. Also consider setting time limits at 23 minutes instead of 25 minutes, as time seems to go by faster on the actual test.</p>
<p>Critical reading is probably your biggest problem. You’re probably getting more than 6 wrong on each test. Why? Is it the sentence completion/vocab or the passage based questions? If it is sentence completion then that’s your own fault for being overconfident and not studying enough vocabulary words. There’s nothing to help you there except your own motivation to memorize those rather useless words.</p>
<p>If it’s mostly passage based comprehension, then you need to spend a lot of time analyzing each question and what it is asking. Some find it helpful to annotate as they read to grasp the author’s tone or attitude or main point of the passage. Others like to write small notes in the margins. You need to find a way to understand each question rather than jumping by instinct at something that looks familiar in the answer choices.</p>
<p>Finally, you need practice. That’s the only thing that can help you at this point. If you’re not a Senior, I suggest cancelling the January testing date and pushing towards March or May. One month is not enough to get you where you need comfortably. You’ll most likely find yourself disappointed again a month later.</p>
<p>I apologize for the rather coarse writing in this post, but you need to be realistic here. Understand that I am trying to help you improve your score. When I first read your post, I laughed immediately and thought, “Wow, he got a 2140 and then thought he could aim for 2400?” I’m sure many others read that post and decided to just click the close button. I’ve decided to take the time to post, to tell you that a 2400 will never be a realistic goal for you as of the two tests and their results that you’ve taken so far. But with enough studying, a 2250+ to 2300+ is definitely within your grasp, and if you truly dedicate yourself, maybe even a 2350+.</p>
<p>@BipolarBuddhist
First of all, am really grateful to you. I even appreciate your coarse writing, may be it’s harsh, but it’s useful and that’s what i needed. And, yes, it wasn’t a realistic goal that I even didn’t get it in the practice tests i’d taken before the exam, but the real frustration was that i didn’t even improve a bit.
Second, I really do appreciate your advice, but about the test date, as you mentioned, my main problem is in the CR. I intend to solve a complete CR test daily starting from tom. till the test’s day, and try to grasp every single question I meet, which means about 28-30 CR exam that are fully understood. Do you think this’d be enough ? The point is that i want to get rid of SAT 1 in Jan, because am outside U.S so there’s no a march trial and I don’t want to wait until May, “5 months” is so long + I want to take Biology and Math level 1 for SAT II.</p>