<p>K so i know the title sounds a little ambitious, but i have taken 3 practice tests so far as my only studying pretty much. The first one i got a 2200 (760 math, 680 reading, 760 writing). On the second and 3rd tests i took i got 800 math and 780-800 on writing (my sister, who got a 2400 on the sat graded my essay for me, but i can never know exactly what my essay score would be) and 640 in reading both times. all my tests were taken pretty realistically (timed, quiet room, etc.) and i usually do better in real tests anyways cuz the pressure helps me focus. But, to get to the point, (sorry i ramble so much! i appreciate everyone who is reading this!!) I really want to bring up my score to at least 2380 on my first SAT. I am planning on taking it for the first time in october, but if not i guess november will have to do if i'm not ready by oct. The reading section is pretty much the only thing i have to study. Any one have any tips for it? the questions i have been missing are usually the last 2-3 sentence completion ones per section (the hardest ones) a few about reading passages, they usually concern making inferences, relating something in the passage to a real life scenario (i hate those!!) and sometimes other random topics. I know that its gonna take a lot of time to bring my score up, but I think it will be somewhat easier since i havent started really prepping yet so theres so much for me to learn (if that makes sense...)
I know i need to study vocab and practice, but does anyone have any specific advice? what words to memorize, books to buy, etc.?</p>
<p>Thanks so much to everyone who is reading and posting!!</p>
<p>Yes silverturtle! I’ve read your guide a couple times, I think it’s great! And yeah, I’m just looking for critical reading advice pretty much, math and writing I find incredibly easy. I do have the blue book and have done a couple of the reading sections in it. I don’t have Direct Hits though, do you think it really helps? I don’t know if you have read Xiggi’s guide, but I just read it and it said that learning lists of vocab words don’t help. What do you think? Your opinion means so much to me after reading your incredible guide.</p>
<p>Well, I agree with xiggi that in many cases, studying vocabulary is not the most efficient way to improve one’s score. But going through Direct Hits doesn’t take too long and has proven quite effective in the past. It certainly won’t hurt. However, unless the Sentence Completion questions continue to trouble you and everything else is fine, going through additional lists probably won’t be worth the effort. Other than the strategies for the passages that I discussed in the guide, I don’t have much to say about that.</p>
<p>Ok I’ll definitely check out direct hits! I find the sentence completion questions easy as long as I know the vocab, so i just need to work on that and the reading passages part of CR. While you are online, silverturtle, I had a few questions I’ve wanted to ask you, since you seem to know more than almost everyone on college confidential. First of all, I am middle eastern, definitely don’t look “white”, and i speak arabic. will that give me an advantage? also, if i get all A’s jr. year, I will have a 3.94 gpa. i got 1 B first semester sophomore year. do you think that will give me a disadvantage, even though i have the best weighted gpa in my class?
oh, and one more thing, my sister will be a freshman at yale in the fall, and a sophomore when i apply to college. will that give me an advantage at yale?
Thank you so much!</p>
<p>PS. i noticed that you are going to be a senior this fall. Good luck in applying to college! Not that you need it, of course. I’m sure you will get in to every school you apply to!</p>
<p>For sentence completion I just photocopied all the sentence completions from the 20ish practice tests at my school’s library. Seemed to work, went from -3/4 to -0/1.</p>
<p>You’re scoring consistently well, there is no need to wait for November.</p>
<p>Edit: Legacy only counts for parents/grand-parents at Yale. But, you might be considered a URM, not sure though.</p>
<p>No. Middle easterners are generally just grouped in with other White applicants. </p>
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<p>If you are first in your class, your transcript won’t be a detriment.</p>
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<p>Having a sibling student isn’t a legacy in the strictest, traditional sense of the word, but it could give you a small boost. There seems to be some discontinuity on this among the schools, and I’m not familiar with Yale’s policy; you might want to email them. In any case, it won’t make a huge difference.</p>
<p>Thanks Bak0rz, good idea! Unfortunately being middle-eastern is not considered a URM, it is a subcategory in “white”, which is a bit irksome considering the fact that middle-easterns are discriminated against and underrepresented just as much as other URMs. Plus, there is no way i look white. Most people think I’m either black or Indian…</p>
<p>You will also need a lot of luck (hoping those essay graders give you a 6 instead of a 5, hoping that you don’t get some wacky CR question, and hoping that you don’t make a careless mistake in the Math section)</p>
<p>Good luck (I mean that in the most sincere way.)</p>
<p>There are people who would probably usually score 12, but yes, it is harder to ensure than getting all the multiple choice questions correct. Luckily, you never need a 12 (or even 11) to get 2400 if you get the objective questions correct.</p>
<p>There actually is a way to always score twelves. It’s called pet paragraphs. A tutor in my area thought of it and literally every single one of his students has gotten a 12.
In addition, it does require luck to recieve a 2400, because college board has that error calculation meaning your score in a range ratherthan one specific number</p>
<p>The score ranges are arbitrary and are not indicative of the fact that getting 2400 requires significant luck. I am certain that there are people who consistently score 2400 (and by consistently, I mean about 5+ times in a row).</p>
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<p>It is impossible to guarantee that you receive a 12.</p>
<p>@MercyPlease2
Sounds like fraudulent advertising if you ask me. As silverturtle said, it’s impossible to guarantee that you’ll get a 12.
I think there are methods to increase your likelihood of getting a 12 [I’ve studied this, trust me] but no way of guaranteeing it.</p>
<p>i had a comment/question for you, silverturtle.
So I received a 2150 on the MAY SAT exam-I missed 2 MC and 2 grid in on math, 3 on writing-with a 10 essay, and I believe 5 or 6 questions in CR.
So, how exactly is a 2300 very different-I mean in my opinion, at my point-I understand most/all of the concepts, right? In general, how is missing 2 questions vs 5 a huge difference?</p>
<p>Silverturtle-You are right. It is impossible to guarantee a 12, my mistake. What I meant to say was he teaches his students to a point where they score 12 quite consistently, eliminating a great deal of uncertainty and luck.</p>
<p>Jimmy797-That’s what I thought as well. But my friends who took his course all got 12s. About 1/4 of my class goes to him for help, so that’s about 40 people. Take what you will from the story, but I think it does show that one can reach a point where 12s are almost always expected. Of course, nothing is exactly 100% but it was pretty impressive.</p>
<p>Could you explain what “pet paragraphs” are, then? Perhaps some of the SAT experts on this site could judge how valid that tutor’s claims are and if his/her methods would work as well as you say they would.</p>
<p>Well, it’s not huge. But three questions is not typically the difference between 2150 and 2300. Keep in mind, too, that although the actual percentage of questions correct is pretty similar, if most of the missed questions are hard questions (as is usually the case), there is a more significant difference in the percentage-correct of tough questions.</p>
(I mean that in the most sincere way.)</p>