<p>I'm a sophomore, and I just got my PSAT score which was a 168. I took the test without any preparation, and got a 57 in the CR section, a 55 in the math section, and a 56 in the writing section, what can I do to increase these scores to hopefully get a National recognition award by next fall?</p>
<p>A 168 isn’t a bad score at all but it’s certainly not even close to national recognition. I took the test once and scored a 190 and didnt get anything. Really I would say practice is key, get an sat prep book and practice lots of questions until it becomes automatic.</p>
<p>Also bear in mind the sat is what you really have to worry about and the PSAT isn’t necesarily a good indication of your performance on that. My PSAT predict I’d score a 750 on writing and a 600 on reading. In reality I got a 710 in reading and 650 in writing</p>
<p>@dray95 the PSAT score report gives you a range that will predict your SAT score.</p>
<p>Yeah, but it’s not always accurate.</p>
<p>Is it possible to dramatically increase my test score for next fall? I can’t afford private tutoring, but I’m willing to do what ever it takes self studying wise, what books for each section do you guys recommend?</p>
<p>Oh yeah, it’s definitely possible, and you really don’t need any tutors. As for books, there’s really no one best, you have to figure out which one will be the most helpful. I’d suggest Princeton Review for strategy and the Blue Book for practice, only because these two helped me raise my score significantly. I don’t know if it’ll work for you, just sharing some experience.</p>
<p>Yes, I was using the middle of the range. I know it’s not an exact figure but either way there was about an 100 point gap between those scores and my actual ones</p>
<p>Edit: what @ivanov said</p>
<p>Samantha, you can definitely raise your score a lot, but you need to get to about 203 to reach NM commended status. Daughter raised hers by 25 points from sophomore to junior year through a lot of prep in the summer. I agree that any book with a lot of practice tests will help, including SAT books. The length of the sections is different, but the questions are very similar and will pay off on the SAT (which is more important at the end of the day). Critical reading is heavily vocab dependent, so an SAT vocab book will also help a lot.</p>
<p>What state are you in? If you happen to be in a state with a low NMSF cutoff, it’s not out of the question. See this link for recent semi-finalist cutoffs by state: <a href=“http://www.hhsib.org/LabDocs/National_Merit_Scores_By_State.pdf[/url]”>http://www.hhsib.org/LabDocs/National_Merit_Scores_By_State.pdf</a></p>
<p>The commended cutoff is the same nationally and is around 203+/-.</p>
<p>Good Luck</p>
<p>PSAT and SAT exams are similar except for the additional Essay which appears in SAT only.
You could start with identifying where your weakness is by doing some practice tests from the blue book under timed conditions. Also use the Direct Hits Core and Toughest Vocabulary books to help improve you Reading and Writing score.</p>
<p>That score is fine I got around there in my sophomore year as well. But I plan on getting 2200+ now On the Real SAT so you have time do not worry</p>
<p>Your score is not bad; it’s about average. As previous posters mentioned, definitely use the Official CB Book (Blue Book); practice helps a LOT. For math, go over algebra and geometry.</p>
<p>Also, when you get the booklet back, look over the question/answers and see what you missed. Knowing why the correct answer is right and figuring out what type of questions you struggle with will help you tons.</p>