<p>To those who did really well on the new SAT....what's the one piece of advice you would offer someone (like me) who didn't do as well as they wanted to? (Other than eat a good breakfast and sleep :-) )</p>
<p>Practice, practice, practice.</p>
<p>Practice tests?</p>
<p>Do you recommend doing the practice tests or studying the subjects first?</p>
<p>Um. In all honesty ... studying and practice went hand in hand for me. (Especially in math). I would definitely study vocab before, during, and after all your practice tests. </p>
<p>But yes, I meant practice tests. For me, "practice, practice, practice" meant taking one practice test a day (or every other, depending on my schedule) for a couple of weeks, plus reviewing the problems I got wrong and expanding my vocab.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>Thanks :-)</p>
<p>Where did you get all the practice tests?</p>
<p>Yes, do lots of practice tests. I used the official college board study guide - not so much for the study tips (they weren't that great) but for the eight tests. And you get the free online one too. You can always get an old SAT book and take sections out of that too - the sections that haven't changed. </p>
<p>I used the old Barron's book like that to make up the collegeboard exams to full length. CB leaves the equating section out of practice exams, so they are not as long as the real thing.</p>
<p>Make sure you go over every question you get wrong on the practice tests. Find out what you did wrong and then find others like it to practice on so that you never make that mistake again. Some times the reading questions are a bit ambiguous - I thought it should be one thing and they thought it was something else. In the end you have to think like they think, so analyse the reading questions you get wrong. I tried to get into their way of thinking and it really helped -- 800.</p>
<p>If you need extra practice for the writing section get the Barron's SAT II Writing study guide, if you can. It is very good.</p>
<p>Practice Tests are great. However, if you have a lot of time (ie. you'll only be a junior this fall) read everything you can get your hands on. I've been obsessed with reading my whole life and I got an 800 CR.</p>
<p>i never read novels. that's probably my problem. the only things i ever read are newspaper/magazine articles, subtitles when they speak in a foreign language in a movie, store signs, billboards, stuff on the internet, CC forum posts, the Bible, chess books, guitar tabs, etc etc etc.</p>
<p>no wonder i'm becoming illiterate.</p>
<p>Yes practice and perhaps if you have time read. The simplest but the most effective strategy. :)</p>
<p>Study some vocab and do the practice tests (many, many times if possible).</p>
<p>Thanks Everyone! Do you guys think its possible to go from a 640 to a 700? Just by doing practice tests ad reading? In time fo rthe October SAT?</p>
<p>I would believe so.</p>
<p>640 to 700 shouldn't be too hard, I just went from 580 to 680 just by doing problems, problems, and more problems</p>
<p>Cool. This is encouraging :-)</p>
<p>I just bought the College Board book...the Offical Study Guide...the aqua blue one.</p>
<p>That is definitely possible. Hey my 650 became a 770(one more right would make a 800) on CR so practice and do well on your test. Good Luck :)</p>
<p>Thanks! Wow...I didn't realize practice tests were that important.</p>
<p>640 to 700 is certainly possible - thats only a 60 point increase, which is probably around 8 questions more (raw). My scale score went up 100 points from my first practice test to the real exam.</p>
<p>July... August... September... thats a lot of weeks for studying!</p>
<p>Haha it is a long time. But its like verbal hates me or something. So I just want to make sure I've got it down before the actual thing. Know what I mean? And plus, college confidential makes me feel dumb! Haha.</p>
<p>Yeah, get it down properly and then you can be a bit more relaxed.</p>
<p>I wouldn't worry about cc making you feel dumb... the ppl here are not a representative sample of the population. All the ppl on this thread have done really well on the SAT, so you're probably talking to the top maybe 10% of everyone who takes the test. Not a very even spread.</p>