I’m a junior in high school and my school has offered all of its juniors a free online PSAT. My scores on the test were 640 for CR, 620 for Writing (MC: 59, Essay: 10) and a 470 in math! I’m utterly ashamed at how low I scored on the math section, but it’s mainly because I did not understand about 95% of the concepts included in the section. My school is offering a free SAT next month, and I would love to be able to ace it my first time through. What should I do? Thank you very much in advanced.
Learn the basic concepts/topics first. No amount of practice tests or strategy guides will help you score well if you haven’t learned the algebra/geo topics tested.
Also, you most likely took an online SAT (not PSAT) since PSAT has no essay.
Let me know if there are any specific problems that you are having a tough time on and I’d be more than happy to walk you through!
If you don’t know 95% of the concepts, you must be rather early in math. What is your current math course?
Most of the math in the PSAT and SAT is before or up to algebra and geometry. Anyone taking geometry in 11th grade would be at a major disadvantage to take standardized tests. But, similarly, anyone taking geometry in 11th grade is way below a college prep curriculum.
If you aren’t on track to take pre-calculus in 12th grade, you might want to consider other paths than college, or at least assume you will need to take community college courses to catch up to other HS graduates.
Try not to feel ashamed about the score. A 1730 puts you very close to the top 20% of h.s. students nationally. There are plenty of great schools you can get into with that score, but obviously you want to try to improve. Think strategically.
Consider trying the ACT, for example. Many students do better on one test than the other. If you get a 26 or better, than the ACT may be more suited to your skill set. Once you know which test is the better match for your skills, put your time into prepping for that test. There is a lot you can do on your own. Or consider working with a tutor for a few months, if you can afford it.
Additionally, some schools have become test optional, so talk with your GC about the pros and cons of going that route.
Good luck!
Thanks everyone for your help. The worst part of it is that I am actually in pre-calculus honors at the moment. I received a B last semester and have passed all of my previous math classes with grades higher than a B so it absolutely bewilders me that I do not understand many of the concepts that are on the test.
As people said above, don’t worry, just study. I scored 167, 67 writing 59 reading and 41 math in my sophomore year and after almost a few months of studying before the SAT I got a 2140 on the SAT (I know it’s not Harvard-tier but it’s almost an equivalent 500 points of improvement). You probably didn’t do well on the math because of stupid mistakes. learn to be more careful and your score should go up 100 points right there.
@lychee18 then you just have to familiarize yourself with the test.
Note that the SAT occasionally throws in weird function notation or questions that might appear to be worded awkwardly. Don’t let that scare you and instead, interpret the question exactly as written.
Also, some hard questions might have really clever solutions if you try to approach it from another angle. Here is an example problem I found by googling “hard SAT math questions:” (from http://advancedmathtutoring.com/five-level-5-sat-math-questions/, #5):
Q: If x is defined as x = x^2 + 2x - 3 for all [real] values of x, then which of the following could be true?
I: x = x+2
II: x = x-3
III: x+2 = x-3
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) III only
(D) I and II only
(E) I, II, and III
One way, which is what the site gives, is to solve x = x+2 and x = x-3, etc. But I was feeling lazy. If you think about it a little differently, there is at least one solution that instantly gets you to the correct answer of (E) without doing any algebra.