<p>Its the summer before junior year.
I haven't taken the psat yet but i will take it in october.
I honestly dont know what to do. I bought the sat book but i dont know when to start it. I plan on starting to take the sats after i take the psat. When should I start to study? How long should i study?
I took the practice tests on the college board website twice and both times got close to 1300 but that was without studying.
I want to go to Penn State so I want a 1800 but i am aiming for a 2000.
Any advice would be helpful! </p>
<p>Read the collegeboard sat book. And don’t skip over the info. Some people like to skip to the practice tests and that’s fine but if you’re a beginner, I think it’s best if you read through the hints and tips that they gave you. I mean, they gave it to you for a reason and its pretty useful stuff, especially for the CR. So read that over, and use those elements and suggestions when you take the practice tests. I wouldn’t time yourself on the first few practice tests, just so you could get the feel of it and your score range and then take a timed test and calculate your score range. You should start studying now. Just try to do as much as you can, you don’t need to kill yourself. If you have a free hour or two, take out your practice book. I don’t know if you’re planning on taking your final SAT your junior year but if you are then I would take studying seriously but if you aren’t then you have more room to accumulate the info in a wider span of time. Also, read cc posts about how to improve and stuff about the sat. I think you’d get alot more help from those posts than writing new ones where only a few people respond. I can link you a few. </p>
<p><a href=“How I got an 800 on the SAT Critical Reading (A Story and Guide) - SAT Preparation - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1024138-how-i-got-an-800-on-the-sat-critical-reading-a-story-and-guide-p1.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“How to Attack the SAT Critical Reading Section Effectively - SAT Preparation - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/750399-how-to-attack-the-sat-critical-reading-section-effectively.html</a></p>
<p>check out the stickied threads at the top of the SAT Preparation sub-forum</p>
<p>Start now and study all through the summer. It’s important that you get a decent score on the PSAT to determine your starting point and go from there. My PSAT was only okay, so I used that as a starting point to study for March. I improved in March, continued to study, and got in the 2’s in May. </p>
<p>The odds are slim that you’re going to make the NSMQT on your first try (210 is the approximate cutoff for most states) but you can at least strive to get close. Good luck! </p>