How can I get into the 2000s?

Test Preparation
1

<p>I am an incoming sophomore. In the summer from 8th grade to freshman year, I bought the Blue Book and did a couple practice tests and read the material about the sections included in the beginning of the book. Then, starting my freshman year, I was in a group tutoring with two other students for the SAT. We did random problems from the Blue Book and a few from the Barron's SAT 26th Edition book. While the group tutoring was beneficial, I didn't find it as helpful as I wanted it to be, so I quit the group once the summer from freshman to sophomore year started. Currently, I am in Elite, a rigorous test prep institute for the SAT. (For those of you who don't know what this institute is, the students take a practice test weekly and work through their mistakes while tutored on common SAT questions). I am also doing the Official SAT Online Course by Collegeboard at the same time.</p>

<p>Needless to say, I have done a lot of SAT prep in the past year! I am extremely frustrated because I must have done at least ten practice tests, all conducted in similar environments to that of the actual SAT, and I am still stuck in the 1900s. While I am glad to be out of the 1800s hole (a terrible period in my life which I do not like to dwell on), I really want to get into the 2000s, then inch my way up to the 2100s and 2200s. I have registered for the October test, and with only two months away, I am worried that I will not get the score that I want. I am resigned about the fact that I will never make it into the 2300s or get a 2400, so I am really trying to hard to just get past the 2000 barrier.</p>

<p>My scores are fairly erratic. For example: I took an online practice test from the Official SAT Online Course mentioned above last week, and I got these scores: 690 in CR, 670 in Writing (Essay: 8; MC: 70), and 720 in Math, for a grand total of 2080 (I suspect that this is a fluke...). Then I took another online practice test yesterday, and I got these scores: 630 in CR, 700 in Writing (Essay: 10; MC: 69), and 650 in Math, for a grand total of 1980.</p>

<p>CR is easily the hardest section for me, for numerous reasons. It's hard for me to look back through the passages and infer/make conclusions about what the author/s is/are saying. Dual passages are definitely the worst, especially the questions that ask for me to look back and compare the two passages. Vocabulary is okay; I think it's just a matter of studying all the vocabulary you can get your hands on.</p>

<p>Writing isn't too hard for me. The facility in writing the essay, for me, really depends on the prompt. If it's about the arts and creativity, then I should expect a 9 or 10. If it's more thought-provoking, though, like about government or change, then I should expect from a 7 to a 9. I've also noticed that using literature as an example for my essay does not garner as good a grade as does using a personal experience. As for the grammar, I do fairly well on it. I get around 3-5 questions wrong, and that's because I either overlook an answer choice or genuinely do not know the grammar principle. Correcting paragraphs gets me from 0-3 questions wrong, and I have yet to figure out what it is about the part of the Writing section that gets me thrown off.</p>

<p>Math is either hard or not hard for me; it just depends on the types of questions and the hardness of them. Data analysis questions numbered 1-12, for example, are usually very easy for me, as opposed to the those numbered 13-20. </p>

<p>As I said before, I'm really irritated that despite my knowledge in a lot of things, I still can't get past the 2000 barrier. I read a lot of books (and not YA garbage like Twilight, I mean actual literature like The Stranger and The Good Earth), I occasionally read articles from Harper's and Smithsonian's, I learn 50 vocabulary words per week, I do Collegeboard's Question of the Day, and I (sometimes) go over my wrong answers from previous tests and study the principles and theorems to them. </p>

<p>I will forever be in your debt if any of you could give me some helpful tips and/or tricks to getting into the 2000s. The SAT has plagued my life! </p>

2

<p>Sheesh, relax! You have plenty of time ahead toworry yourself about the SAT’s. What I’d focus on now is looking into extracurriculars and keeping your GPA as high as possible! A good SAT score isn’t everything, remember that.
If you’re really hell-bent on getting above a 2000 now, unfortunately it might prove pointless. I believe in 2016 there will be a new, redesigned SAT with slightly different format. Honestly, I haven’t looked into it too much since I won’t be taking it but… You most likely will.
My advice is to focus more on highschool at the moment than on SATs. The fact that you got above a 1900 on the practice test is really good, so you shouldn’t have to worry. Good luck!</p>

3

<p>By the time you reach the high score you are really aiming for, the format and question types will likely be different unless you plan on taking the SAT in the fall of next year. Also, you may not know school policies on which exam they want, so you may end up prepping for an exam when in reality, the college wants the newer version.</p>

4

<p>AGoodFloridian, the main reason why I am taking the SAT in my sophomore year rather than in my junior year, as most high schoolers would, is because I want to get it over with so that I can focus on AP classes and extracurriculars in my junior year. Therefore, it is extremely imperative that I score above 2000 so that I won’t have to take the SAT again in my junior year. Also, I hate being in the dark about the new SAT. Since I don’t know exactly what to study for, it’s probably for the better that I continue studying for the current SAT. But thanks for your perspective!</p>

5

<p>I have posted these tips on a couple of other similar posts as well and have edited to tailor to your current situation:</p>

<p>Critical Reading - Brush up on vocab with Direct Hits and/or Quizlet/flashcards. These vocab questions are easily preventable mistakes as long as you master the vocab. For passage-based questions, try to first go through a couple tests without timing yourself. Take all the time you need, but try to get all the questions right. As you improve your accuracy, go back to timed tests and gradually work on timing. Also, you mention that your weakness is inferences; however, know that the answers for SAT CR are in the passage at least 90% of the time. Don’t try to infer. During these untimed tests, spend time looking in the passages for the correct answers. As you practice, you’ll become better at knowing where the correct answers are. With dual passages, I would recommend that you write down the main idea(s) after each passage, annotating along the way for important points (applies to short and long ones). At the end of the second passage, try to quickly come up with a couple similarities and differences between the two passages. Then, proceed to the multiple choice questions. I struggled in the 600s for a while, but with untimed practice and quite a bit of help from AP Lang, I was able to bring it up to a 720.</p>

<p>Writing - Most sentences can be corrected by the way they sound. If something doesn’t sound right, it probably isn’t. That being said, I must warn you that it’s easy to second guess even “no errors” once you get into the 700s. As for the essay, use literature, history, current events, etc. but oftentimes, just using people gets you to that 10. It helps to brainstorm a list of examples organized by literature, history, people and current events, with attributes/themes associated with each example before the test. Make sure to learn this list, so that you are less likely to have writer’s block on test day (after all, you only have 25 minutes). Also, study the format of typical College Board essays and derive your own formula based on that. That way, you could write a crappy essay on one of those bad writing days, but still get a 10 (trust me, I’ve been there). Went from low 700s (due to overthinking) to an 800 on this.</p>

<p>Math - Definitely brush up on algebra, geometry, number theory and counting & probability. Just as with critical reading, do some untimed practice. When you come across a question/concept that you don’t know, look it up. To be honest, it’s not enough to say your score varies based on the types of problems you get. You need to practice all types of questions and master the concepts. Once you get into the higher score ranges (700s+), make sure to watch out for simple mistakes. Even one can bring you down. I was quite capable of an 800 the first time I went into the test, but I kept missing one and ultimately got the 800 on my third and final try.</p>

<p>Btw a 100 point difference between scores is not erratic; it’s all within standard variance, so don’t worry too much about that.</p>

<p>Here are some study resources that I have gathered from my own personal experience and through skimming these forums:</p>

<p>CR:
-Vocab: Direct Hits (book), SAT Vocab Cartoons (book), Quizlet (online), Mindsnacks (found on the Apple App store), Test Your English Vocabulary (Android app - just drills you on vocab with 10 question quizzes; great for on-the-go practice rather than studying)
-Passage Practice: Untimed Blue Book tests, Erica Meltzer’s CR Guide (book)</p>

<p>Math:
-Khan Academy (online), PWN the SAT Math (book), Dr. Chung’s (book - mainly geared for high scorers to get up from 650ish to high 700s), Untimed Blue Book tests</p>

<p>Writing:
-Erica Meltzer’s Grammar Guide
-For the essay: your own list of canned examples organized by people, literature and history, with themes/attributes for each</p>

<p>Know that you don’t need all of these resources (since that would probably cost a fortune) but if I were to recommend a couple, I would say: THE BLUE BOOK (absolute necessity), Mindsnacks (found on the Apple App store - the first lesson with 20 words is free, the other 24 lessons can be bought for ~$5) and Erica Meltzer’s The Critical Reader (I haven’t personally used this but I have heard rave reviews - if you don’t want to buy her book quite yet you could check out her website, which also has Grammar resources: <a href=“http://www.thecriticalreader.com/”>A closer look at "being" - The Critical Reader).</p>

<p>Also, as for your testing schedule, since you are a rising sophomore, may I suggest that you take the test later during the year (somewhere between March and June)? The new SAT doesn’t come out until at least January of your junior year, so this would allow you to take the SAT once or twice sophomore year and still have the chance to take it once during fall of junior year (ex. October 2015). After all, you don’t want to exceed 3 attempts, as it will not look too favorable to colleges. Anyways, it’s good that you’re planning ahead. Feel free to go ahead this October - I just wanted to advise you before it’s too late to take back some of the attempts.</p>

<p>Hope this helps! Good Luck! :)</p>

6

<p>To me, it seems like you’re getting lucky. Your scores have no consistency which is very strange. I think, for math, you should buy a book. The book I will recommend will not teach you a lot of math, rather it will teach you how to think (in terms of SAT math). You should buy Dr Chung’s SAT math. The whole book is filled with level 4 to 5 questions and it will force you to break your thought process in math and will allow you to solve different math questions on the SAT even the ones you’ve never seen. It’s all about how you think. For writing, it seems like you pick which ever answer sounds the best. I think your base is not too strong. Buy Erica Meltzer’s SAT writing book. Everything in that book pertains to the SAT. No irrelevant info. She doesn’t teach anything that’s not on the exam. Plus you could go from missing 3-5 to missing 1-2. Ahh yes… Critical reading my worst section as well. Let me tell you it doesn’t matter how many novels you’ve read. It’s how you’ve been reading them. Just reading is pointless if you don’t look for the main idea and analyze what you read. It sounds to me like you *takes off sunglasses haven’t been reading critically. My only advice would be to take AP Lang because before lang i got 580s on CR now I get 700s. Also do your best to always stay focused on the passage and don’t zone out. Best of luck.
-Doc</p>

7

<p>@EngineBus2015‌ @doc325‌ Thanks so much for really going into detail! I’ve purchased Erica Meltzer’s The Critical Reader, so hopefully I will see a boost in my critical reading score. I’ve also ordered Dr. Chung’s SAT Math, which has proved to be really helpful from the first page. May I ask what AP Lang is? I have never heard of that course before, so I’m not sure if my school offers it. </p>

8

<p>OP, if I were your mom, I would absolutely tell you to relax on this SAT thing for now. You have 2/2.5 years before you will be sending these score to colleges. You can’t imagine how much intellectual and personal growth is going to happen to you in the next couple years. The content of your classes, your time management, your study skills, your vocabulary, your maturity, your self discipline, what you learn from the news, what you learn from books outside class…all this is going to improve your SAT scores. And if not, there’s always the ACT. Or fantastic test optional schools. And, as everyone has pointed out, if you don’t achieve the scores you want ( as a sophomore!) you’re going to have to take a new SAT anyway. By all means work through Dr John Chung’s book (2 of my kids used his book, it’ $$) in the meantime. But the time you are carving out for SAT study now could be much better used for the next year and a half ( you will have to take the PSAT next year anyway). I strongly suggest that you get a list of great classic books that you won’t read in school and spend your SAT study time reading novels and doing Dr Chung, if you must. Or playing a sport, or playing a board game with your family, or researching something you’re interested in, or volunteering at an animal shelter, or joining a club, or learning to paint, program, speak Arabic. All of these and a bazillion other ways to use your time will improve your college admissions chances so much more than the extra 100 SAT points. You don’t want to be one of those kids scrambling in senior year to find a “passion” to put on your applications because you spent all your time on SAT prep, or even worse someone with a 4.5, 2300 who gets rejected everywhere because you haven’t become an interesting person…that sounds harsh and I don’t mean to, but it’s a reality that tailoring/shaping your life to get into college almost always backfires.
You will have plenty of time to study for SATs or ACTs next year. </p>