<p>Like a fool, I didn't study for the SAT I retake I plan on doing TOMORROW. My schools curriculum is incredibly demanding so I found myself spending all my time trying to balance my classes. I didn't even realize SATs where a week away (this was last week) until my mom told me. Lots of cursing (in my head) ensured and not I seriously think I'm ****ed. For some of the schools I'm applying to I'm a little short from their average stats and my GPA is average (3.4). I got a 1780 on my first SAT which I also didn't study for. I don't think I've been taking SATs seriously enough despite knowing their importance.</p>
<p>IN SHORT: Does anyone have any tips on what I can do with the few hours (4-6hrs) I will have in order to prepare for the SAT I? I need to raise my score at the very, very least 20points but my goal is a 2000. Is this realistic? I'm a horrible test taker, btw. Help :(. </p>
<p>(I have access to a test prep book (Gruber's Complete SAT Guide 2012) that I've read a few pages of)</p>
<p>I’m kind of in the same boat as you, though my GPA’s a 3.43 and my SAT is a 1900 (750 CR, 520 M, 630 W). I’ve had marching band practice like every day… Not time to do my homework, much less study for the SAT. I can’t help you much with math, obviously, but I can help with CR and W (which is deceivingly low… My essay sucked because I write way too much I only got an introductory paragraph, which took over a page, I did okay on the rest of W). </p>
<p>My CR strategy is to skip reading the passages… It gives you a line number, so you go to the line number, read what you need to, then answer the question. Do this until one of the questions forces you to read the passage anyway. I’m sure you’re saying “But why? I have to read it eventually anyway…” well, the SAT’s tricky, this method makes it less tricky. Also, I don’t know how high you’re scoring, but at the level I’m scoring it’s unwise to leave anything blank… I missed 4 questions, if I remember correctly, and if I’d omitted 4 I might have done 20 points better, but if I’d missed 3 and omitted one, I would’ve had the same score, I think… I did the math, it was a long time ago, though. So my point is that once you’re doing well, omitting won’t help, you’re bound to know something that can help you, you know English, there’ll never be a question you have NO clue about, ahah.</p>
<p>As for W, look for passive voice – in the corrections, cross out all of the answer choices that are in passive voice or sound like they were written by a child, and you generally have the answer.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the tips! I have no idea what to write for the essay, I generally only draw from things I’m currently learning in school (last year it was MLK, Fences by August Wilson, and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, I ended up writing about Fences and got two 4s) so the only things I can somewhat confidently draw upon are the Indian Independence Movement (Gandhi, Jinnah, Nehru - leaders), Walt Whitman and his poetry, and Horace (latin) and his poetry. Do you have any suggestions about topics that can generally fit any essay question they might ask? </p>
<p>I’ve been studying math strategies the most lately. For you, I suggest you look at a few. The math questions are basic when it comes to actual calculating but can be difficult to find the quickest and easiest way to solve a problem. Reduce as much as possible before calculating like canceling out numerators/denominators or parts of an equation where possible. If you have an SAT book do attempt a question of each strategy and read the explanation. If you don’t have a book, try college board’s website for their free SAT practice test (and maybe even the Math 1 SAT Subject Test) or just google.</p>