<p>Hello to everyone! I took December SAT, and I'm quite disappointed.
560-Critical Reading
650- Math
600- Writing.
I did those tests from Blue book. And I always got 600+ from CR. I do not know what had happened to me.
I studied Barron's Workbook for CR section. On the actual test, I could hardly find a word I do not know on Sentence Completion part, since I learnt loads of vocab. Obviously, I failed the Reading Comprehension part. </p>
<p>I read Dr.Chung, Grubber's, Kaplan's, Barron's workbooks for the math section. Still, I got 650, altough I aimed for 700+.</p>
<p>I did not really study for the Writing section. I got 65 from Multiple choice part, I scored higher on Blue book tests though, but I failed the essay part. It was awful, I could not come up with any idea. I somehow got 6. </p>
<p>My Aim is to score higher than 1300(CR + Math). Could you advise me something?
I do not really like the idea of reading novels, since I do not have much time. I have registered for January SAT.
What are the best books to study for the CR and Math sections in case I have good background??</p>
<p>Try reading the New York Times, especially the arts and science sections. Nonfiction is probably better for building vocabulary anyway, unless you’re reading 19th-century fiction, which tends to have more varied vocabulary. And try writing your own SAT questions–maybe that will give you a better sense of the test makers’ strategies. For the essay, my guess is that the non-native speaker thing pulled your score down. Have you looked closely at the essays they give you in the front of the Blue Book?</p>
<p>Also, it’s not just about doing the practice tests. Have you gone back and figured out why you got questions wrong? You have to analyze what you’ve been doing, otherwise you’re going to keep getting the same scores w/maybe slight improvement.</p>
<p>I DO analyze what I’ve been doing. still smth goes wrong, I do not know Why. </p>
<p>Can you suggest me any book for the Writing section?</p>
<p>For the writing section I think it is best to learn through solving questions, especially for the multiple choice. If you know the basic question types and some grammar rules, you can solve them. You can see through practice that questions are usually applications of the same rules most of the time.</p>
<p>P.s. Essay also needs practice</p>
<p>There are only about twenty rules to know for grammar–check Silverturtle’s sticky at the beginning of the SAT preparation. It lists what you need to know and then some. Otherwise, I’d think any of the commercial SAT books should cover it–I’m familiar with the Princeton Review one, which I think covers everything. That’s the grammar part. For the essay part, you might want to sit down with a teacher and have him/her read your essays. There’s general advice, but if you got a 6, clearly there’s something specific going wrong that a teacher would be able to help you with. As I said above, I’m guessing some of it is language-related. I’m assuming that will come up in your application.</p>
<p>Hmm, I do not not think that it’s a matter of language. Last year, I DID GCSE English Language and Literature, and I got B from essay part.
The problem was that I could not come up with a proper idea for the essay. </p>
<p>Do you know any other worth-studying book for the SAT math?</p>
<p>Hahahaha, I read you’re entire query in a thick Russian accent (sorry if that was bad). Anyway, I think you should use the Cracking the SAT Princeton Review book. It includes so many tips for all three sections that are unbelievably helpful. Read the entire book, go through each page and thoroughly understand what they’re trying to say. I went from a 1870 overall: 580, 610, 580 (CR,M,W) to a 2190 overall: 680, 760, 780 (CR,M,W). ALL I used I study was this book, and the proof was evident through my scores.</p>
<p>Also, remember formula and definition on this site: <a href=“http://www.erikthered.com/tutor/act-facts-and-formulas.pdf[/url]”>http://www.erikthered.com/tutor/act-facts-and-formulas.pdf</a>
It’s a website for formulas and terms that appear on act that is VERY helpful if you remember them. I know you’re not taking act but that website is helpful for either test.</p>
<p>Be as specific as possible and review whatever you’ve studied in depth for your English and history classes. Find articles on current events in whatever paper you read, and cut them out for review. I tutor and I sometimes have students make up index cards. Also, somewhere out there is a list of the SAT essay prompts for the past couple of years. Look at them–if you can come up with examples for most of the prompts, you should be in great shape. Consistent problems I see are lack of specifics (general, hypothetical examples that are undeveloped) and lack of complex thought (arguments are obvious and don’t have nuance). I think it helps to plot a middle way, e.g., “Some say X, others say Y, but it’s sometimes X and sometimes Y, and here’s the way you test for it.” That shows some thought beyond a kneejerk reaction. </p>
<p>Also, given how little time readers spend on reading the actual essays, I’d make sure the intro paragraph is pretty decent–quotations, statistics, anecdotes, etc. to pull the reader in are much appreciated (I’m saying this as someone who used to read these things for Princeton Review and who has also graded state tests–everybody says the same d*mn things over and over and it can get irritating). Also: longer is better than shorter.</p>