<p>In March, I took the SAT for the first time. No prep, no practice, nothing at all. I never even knew the type of essay questions they asked. I got 600CR/530M/570W. I just decided to enroll in the Princeton Review SAT prep course. I'm doing the 18 hour course and it just started on May 10. I am preparing for the June exam. What do you think I can raise my score to? I am willing to put the work in and I am willing to put a lot of prep in. Do you think getting to a 2000 is possible and then possibly 2250 in the fall provided I continue with summer prep? Any advice on how I would actually get to that number?</p>
<p>My UW GPA is a 3.7 according to the college board, so keep that in mind. </p>
<p>So yeah, what would be a safe number to give me a good chance at getting in schools like USC, Northwestern, and the University of Florida.</p>
<p>Also, does anyone have any reviews on the Princeton Review?</p>
<p>Also, any advice from parents or students who saw a 400 point increase over any length of time would be greatly appreciated. </p>
<p>I would buy the blue book and the Collegeboard’s online SAT prep course. That gives you 20 practice tests. I would sit down and just do them all. Make sure you go back and review the explanations for the ones you get wrong or have difficulty with. You need to understand how to get those answers.</p>
<p>I can’t say you’ll get a 2250 since your starting score is a 1700. But there’s no reason why you wouldn’t be able to raise your score up to a 2000-2100.
UF:</p>
<p>For weighted GPAs, they accepted 84% of students that applied with a 4.0 or above (a safe number is about a 4.2). For 3.7-3.99, they only accepted 25% of applicants.
For SAT scores, they accepted about 37% of those that applied with 1600-1950. They accepted 75% of those that had 1950-2090, and 89% of applicants that applied with a 2100 or above.</p>
<p>@xFirefirex Very insightful. Thank you! I have the Princeton review manual and 11 PR practice exams. I doubt my parents would buy me another 20 lol. I’ve never calculated what my UF GPA is. I have to get around to that. Aside from the extra exams, what do you recommend? I’m in an 18 hour prep class for the June exam. Do you think I could get to 2000 by then?</p>
<p>Those classes might work if you put the effort it. My friend raised her SAT score from a 1920 to a 2140 from one of those classes.
Go to Barnes and Noble and buy the Blue Book yourself. I think it’s 10 or $20 so it isn’t too expensive. Barron’s SAT Math Workbook helps if you have difficulty with math. It’s not really as much of a teaching book as a practice book.
Aside from the extra exams, keep a regular study schedule (it’s a lot harder than it sounds). If you can’t put the effort in on the weekdays, make up for it on the weekends. The best thing to do, though, is to practice with real tests from the real makers of the tests (the online prep course and blue book).
You’ll start to notice the patterns.</p>
<p>You could definitely get to a 2000 by June if you put in the effort in. Just make sure you do it daily!! I would focus on Math and Writing as those are the easiest to bring up. You won’t have enough time to bring up CR.</p>
<p>With serious prep you can probably raise your score 100-200 points - I’ve seen it done. I’ve never seen a score go up 300-400 points though. My experience is anecdotal so it doesn’t mean it can’t happen but I’ve heard test prep teachers boast of all the things they can do but cringe at the challenge of helping a student raise their score that much.</p>
<p>You seriously should look at schools, and they can be alternate choices, where your academic record more closely matches the profile of the middle 50 percent. </p>
<p>+100-150 pts is typical, but since you took your first test without prep, I think +200 for June is reasonable. More than that is going to be very hard, although another +50 can be done but will be hard - so when looking for colleges for your list, consider that your matches are colleges in the 1850-1900 range, and colleges in the 1950-2100 range as reaches. This way, if your 3rd attempt is higher than 1900-1950, you can just switch some of your previous “reaches” into the match category, and some of your low matches into safeties. It’s much easier than having to find good matches and safeties at the last minute.
Look at the second (“75%”) column: if you’re near that with a 1900, it’s a good match. If you’re well above the score in that column (1840 and below) it’s a safety. If your 1900 places you above the first number but 100+ pts from the second, it’s a reach.
<a href=“http://www.collegesimply.com/guides/1900-on-the-sat/”>http://www.collegesimply.com/guides/1900-on-the-sat/</a></p>
<p>The problem is, you asked for advice too late.
You won’t spend $25 on the CB blue book or 20 on the Barrons Math book. Doubtful you will spend $60 on the 2 books by Erica Meltzer for Read and Write. $100 total for the best books. Erica has a lot of valuable material that is in her book on her website. critical reader dot com.
But your parents spent What $600+ on the PR course. Most will tell you don’t take the course. It is not geared to those who are already at 1700 trying to get to over 2000. So, we could have save you 600+.
Furthermore, PR review book and the PR 12 test book are a waste. Again, we could have saved you 40 on that.<br>
So, why did you go into the 1st test without studying, etc? Was that some rite of passage? That said, who knows if you will put in the effort for the retake and 1 month is not enough time to prepare. </p>
<p>What is the logic of taking the exam repeatedly and planning to improve incrementally? I never have understood why so many students quote their scores and then add, as if it is a badge of honor, “but I didn’t prep.” Why did you take it originally without prep if the score is so important to you? If you are hoping for a 2250 and feel that you are at best going to be prepared for a 2000 by June, why not just wait until October? What is the point?</p>
<p>@TomsRiverParent @planner03 My parents felt as though it wasn’t necessary. When I finally got my grade, it showed other wise. For the PR course, there was a $100 discount from retailmenot. So I only ended up paying $399 for the course I believe. </p>
<p>I already have the 2 PR books, which is why is assume they wouldn’t pay for another, but I will discuss it with them. My parents are EXTREMELY frugal and it is hard to get them to buy things. If I use the Blue Book over the summer, you don’t think it would help?</p>
<p>I mentioned the no prep thing because after the prep course, students don’t go up much more. So I figured it would be wise to mention that I hadn’t taken it and that I do have a lot of room for improvement.</p>
<p>@KiaraInNYC When you figured out your GPA for Florida did you use the 4.0 3.7 etc. scale or did you use the 4 3 2 1 scale with no emphasis on + or -'s?</p>
<p>Don’t retake the SAT more than once. Aim for 2225+ now.Study hard,hire an in-person tutor if can,take advantage of all the resources you have. Good luck.</p>
There are lots of good colleges out there.</p>