Be thankful that we’re now in the test-optional era. You have TONS of schools that would be happy to have you.
If you want to improve your test scores, you’re going to have to work one on one with an excellent test tutor - likely one for math, one for English, who can analyze what you’re doing wrong.
I had a classmate in college, straight A student at an Ivy, whose SAT was 1000. They took her anyway, cause she was a faculty kid and everything else was fantastic about her. I tried to help her study for the GRE, and immediately I saw what the problem was. She was such a rule follower, she thought that all the “tricks” one needs to know were CHEATING. She slowly and doggedly worked through every problem, every question, and so of course she couldn’t do more than half the test in the time allotted.
No, you are not the only one. I helped my younger daughter in similar situation. She did raised her SAT over 1400.
I have another daughter who is STEM oriented, and she did it totaly herself. She was way above normal math level and was reading champion ( 1 thick book a day), but it took her 2 attempts to break 1500 (and learn her own way how to approach questions. )
Being good enough for regular college class is not enough. You kind of need to feel it and find quick ways to solve problems or eliminate wrong answers.
For you to undestand how it works, I have a son who is Math/CS oriented. Even when he was little he was solving Art of Problem solving problems on the fly very untraditionally. (He did it for Math Olympiads too.) He is like a dog senses Math problems. We had several instances when he got an answer at age 10 faster than I did. (I have a Math degree from top school.) The reason is he was solving it his nontraditional way. When he explained me how he solved it, it made total sense. He was saying like these combination are not possible, these two don’t add to that. Here is your answer. 2 seconds. I was attacking it normal way. He was taking preSAT only once in 9th grade and outscored my STEM daughter with top SAT … All his solutions are unique and out of the box. He needed 0 prep. These kind of kids are good fit theoretically for MIT. (But my son is not interested.)
You are normal smart kid. MIT is not for normal smart kids. MIT is for outliers who can’t be challenged by normal workload.
You can’t teach to think out of the box. Your brain has to be wired like that. For my son to follow traditional way is a pain. He is not interested. 90% of SAT problems he was solving with barely writing anything on the paper…
So funny how you described your son’s approach. I am like your son, because solving problems the traditional way was too much work! I am lazy, look for quick shortcuts, perfect for SAT.
Is your issue misreading questions but you understand how to arrive at the right answer when you go back, is it a time issue (can’t finish) or are there questions that you don’t get conceptually, or a combination of all of the above? If the issue is misreading questions, try taking a practice timed ACT. The questions seem to be more straightforward, but there are more of them. The SAT math sections are comprised of a 20 question section with 25 minutes to complete (1.25 min/Q) and a 38Q/55 min section (1.45 min/Q). The ACT Math is 60Q/60 min).
In any event, while shooting high is great, we also need to be realistic. Try a timed ACT test and see if you can hit 32 combined and a 35/36 in Math. You might then have a chance to end up with a 34+. To get a 1250 to over 1500 (with practice tests still in 1300’s) and a 610 Math to something over 750 is probably not realistic. It will be a lot of effort that can probably be better spent elsewhere. Even if you somehow reach 1500+, your MIT chances are still slim unless you have won some notable STEM based awards. Also as @DadTwoGirls writes, MIT is a pretty narrow fit for kids that have great aptitude and passion for STEM. Spend more time thinking about fit for you.
I am going to apply to some safety schools for sure, MIT is just the goal. Shoot for the stars you know lol
@natalie_J2025 I don’t think that was the point I was trying to make. I was not suggesting safety schools so much as schools that are a good fit, versus trying to fit yourself to a school. MIT is prestigious and challenging but there may be better schools for you- not necessarily “safeties.” Just make sure you look into a wide variety of schools. I always suggest Colleges that Change Lives website.
@Natalie_J2025, people nicely trying to tell you that you are not right student for MIT. Yes, you can apply, but your chances are slim to none. Plus I bet you will not be happy at MIT… Sorry… @compmom tried to tell you to find new goal school. Please focus on finding best fit and not prestige… There are hundreds of good schools. You do not need MIT. I would not send my kids to MIT even if they get there. Too much work and stress.
A British parent here. My son is applying both to UK and US universities, so I can share some fairly fresh experience preparing for SAT (digital version).
My son is mildly dyslexic, so generally has difficulties with written tests. When he started looking at US colleges last year, he took a diagnistic test to decide ACT vs SAT (paper version then), and ACT definitely suited him better. After taking a prep course and practicing, he got 28 composite at his first try, with 25 in Reading.
He then took some tutor sessions focusing exclusively on Reading. The tutors just recommeneded to practice more in the same way, and it just did not work for him. In the 2 subsequent ACT tries, his Reading Score actually went down, to 24 and 23, while other scores went up. At that point he gave up on the idea of more testing.
Last spring, someone recommended to try the new digital SAT that was just being rolled out internationally. As it has a completely different format, he gave it a try.
One thing he realised that Maths has a DESMOS calculator built in, and as he uses this calculator a lot at school, it made Maths section super easy for him.
Also, he could use his own laptop , as well as practice the actual test in the actual BlueBook app that is used for the exam - for him, this familiarity made the test much more comfortable.
But most importantly, Reading sections are short paragraphs, with one question per paragraph, all on the same page. He found it much easier to navigate than scrolling back and forth through long ACT paragraphs with several questions per each.
The biggest problem was the lack of practice materials, after he has completed all 4 BlookBook tests. Also, he found Khan practice questions much easier than the actual test questions.
He was running in low 600’s in Reading practice when he came across a couple of very useful YouTube channels covering digital SAT strategies: one is called Score, and another - SexyJ (I kid you not!), the latter was particularly useful. These guys have short videos (5-7 min), each talking about “quick and dirty” strategies/shortcuts to correctly answer one particular Reading question type. This method helped my son a lot, and after he went though all topics (about 10 days), his Reading score improved into high 600’s. When he took the actual digital ACT first time in August, he got 730 in Reading and 1500 overall.
So maybe try these alternative methods, and see how it goes. Also, there seem to be more practice Digital SAT materials available now from different SAT prep companies than there was last summer.
Good luck applying to your dream colleges!