<p>Please help! I'm taking the SATs soon. Any personal success stories? Tricks? Advice? Last minute things?</p>
<p>I’m not a 2400er, but I did pretty well on the SATs. Anything you need for the SAT you can learn from the blue College Board book. It’s got 6 (I think) practice exams and lots of tips and sample essays.</p>
<p>6…more like 10</p>
<p>I scored a 2320 on my third take… to be honest, all the practicing etc never helped me though. Before I took the SAT my second time, I took a prep class and did questions on my own all the time - it never helped.</p>
<p>What (I think) made the difference was an NYTimes article that I read a while before my third take. It explained that social networking and purposeless web surfing impairs your brain’s ability to focus on one thing at a time. Because things pop up at you constantly on the internet, web surfing triggers a bunch of different thoughts in your brain all at once, and eventually your mind becomes adjusted to multitasking like crazy. When it comes time to think about only one thing (like an SAT question, for example) your brain isn’t stimulated enough to thoroughly concentrate.</p>
<p>I dropped Facebook for a month before I took the SAT my third time, and spent my spare time reading instead. My score went up from a 2090 to a 2320, boom.</p>
<p>How much time do you have exactly? Tbh, there’s no secret per se to getting a 2400; I prepared for a few months at least. Silverturtle’s guide seems promising, even though it was posted after I took the SAT, so I didn’t read it. The majority of my preparation involved taking 10+ practice tests from the Blue Book, Kaplan, etc. and then checking my answers over. I documented my mistakes in an online document to remind myself. However, some quick things I did: count frogs in my head, focus on the problems at hand instead of constantly thinking of the 2400 (this made me more nervous, which isn’t a good thing), and never wasting a single second during the exam (I would check my work over and over again). I also made an essay template beforehand; there were quite a few other things, but just believe that you’ll do well. You probably don’t have the time to do the rest.</p>
<p>If you have time, get Barrons 2400 (I went from 2040 to 2280) </p>
<p>Think logically, stay calm. Freaking out never helped anyone. Get acquainted to the format and allotted time. Take practice tests once a week till you are comfortable. You’ll kill it.</p>
<p>btw, I only studied the three days before the test, and I had pink eye. So if you think you don’t have time, think again. I feel like anyone can do incredibly on the SAT as long as they just chill out and focus; you’ve learned EVERYTHING on the test already.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone!! I did pretty well on my psats 226! I don’t know about my sats though! i need a 2300 at least!!</p>
<p>Take 1/3 to 2/3 of an SAT (1-2 sections) every day from a PR or Kaplan book (PR is what I’d recommend), but don’t time yourself. Just get everything done. If you’re close to a 2400 (or even above like a 2100), you shouldn’t need to be worrying about time constraints anyway. Take a practice test from the Blue Book every weekend. Make sure you know all the math you’ll need for the SAT and can easily apply it. Make sure all the right programs are on your calculator and work. When you’re taking the test, focus on absolutely nothing but the section you’re working on at that moment. Keep that up for 10 sections. Focus is one of the most important parts of the taking the SAT and you can’t do well without a highly concentrated mentality. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>First of all, my comments are probably not anymore helpful than someone who got a 2300, but here it goes anyway. My personal studying:</p>
<p>-Went over the list of Writing mistakes from the CollegeBoard as part of English class. I found this extremely helpful in identifying errors as part of the Writing section. In my opinion, this sheet is a must.<br>
-Took 3-4 practice PSATS, then PSAT, then SAT one month later
-Did not feel very good that morning or after the test.
-Nothing else special to report here. </p>
<p>Regrets:
-Did not ever write a practice essay. This was definitely the hardest part of the SAT for me. 25 minutes was much shorter than I expected…
-Did not know the format of the SAT (surprised by the 10 minute section where I made a last-minute but too-late realization of a bubbling error)</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>I think all the extra effort to squeeze the last few numbers in before 2400 is useless</p>
<p>I have somewhat of a personal success story. I didn’t improve to a 2400, but I did increase my score by 240 points.</p>
<p>Junior year I took the test twice without studying… got a 2080 and then a 2120.</p>
<p>Over the summer I did a few practice tests (though not all sections at once), and then in the week before the test in October of my senior year, I took a few (2-3) practice sections in JUST math, the score I needed to raise.</p>
<p>My score came up 100 points! 90 of which were in math, 10 in critical reading. Now I had a respectable 1470/1600 or 2220/2400.</p>
<p>With the stress off my shoulders, I now focused on the critical reading and writing sections. I worked solely through the vocab sections of my Blue Book and read the tips found on this page the day before the test…<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-act-tests-test-preparation/1034547-how-i-got-800-cr-800-12-writing-my-best-advice-you.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-act-tests-test-preparation/1034547-how-i-got-800-cr-800-12-writing-my-best-advice-you.html</a> </p>
<p>That same day, I played in the 4th round state playoff game for football and drove back home immediately after (the following week we played for the championship in the GA Dome btw). I got home at 3am, went to bed, and woke up at 7 to take the SAT. I raised my score another 100… 70 points in CR and 30 in Writing, the two sections I had been focusing on. This single sitting’s results were a 1540/1600 or 2320/2400.</p>
<p>Focusing on the individual sections certainly helped me gain confidence; and somehow, my other sections increased as well. Take practice tests, and try to understand what you’re doing incorrectly and why. Hopefully something in my story is helpful; otherwise, I enjoyed telling it :)</p>
<p>And I left something out that xcgirl473’s post reminded me.
Like her, I did a “media fast” which my friend recommended to me. For three days before the test, I avoided TV, music with lyrics, and the computer. Maybe this helped? I’m not sure, but I was INSANELY focused throughout my last testing.</p>
<p>I made a little guide–nothing for the math, but might help you on Crit Reading and Writing.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-act-tests-test-preparation/1034547-how-i-got-800-cr-800-12-writing-my-best-advice-you.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-act-tests-test-preparation/1034547-how-i-got-800-cr-800-12-writing-my-best-advice-you.html</a></p>