How can I improve my overall score by 700?

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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<p>Hi I am new to this website and I just wanted to know if you guys can reccomend any good SAT prep books? My overall score was 1280 with no prior practice. My high school journey is a long story, but I basically did bad and I feel it's possible for me to raise my score. The essay part is fine for me ( I got a 7 but my exam teacher told us we had 5 minutes causing me to rush and when those 5 minutes were up she said she made a mistake and that we had 5 more minutes. I accepted fate and didn't bother erasing my whole conclusion and short second body) So yeah. Any tips would be great. </p>

<p>I am sort of just now doing good in school again after being truant and this semester I have gone from all F's to B's and A's plus an AP. So I can handle the this! I want to dedicate my summer to studying.</p>

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<p>Sorry for the extra “the” im on an iPod T_T</p>

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<p>Unless you purposely botched your first SAT, getting a 700 point increase, no matter the prep, is next to impossible. I got a 230 point increase (1930–>2160) but that’s very rare. The positive side is that you have a lot of room to grow so it’s easier for you than someone in their 2000s or so. I wouldn’t aim for 700 points but a 1500-1600 would be completely realistic with some prep. I used the standard blue book and just practiced as much as I could. Many concepts repeat so using actual tests (like in the blue book) helps. Good luck on your next SAT.</p>

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<p>Shoot for whatever goal you want. 700 points is a lot, but it might be possible. I went up about 400 points from my PSAT to SAT score and still want to go up 100 more points. Just put in the hours practicing. Do several practice tests and learn from you mistakes. If you really are dedicated to 700 point increase, then work hard for it.</p>

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<p>Well I got more nervous than usual that day. That same morning I had a panic attack and broke down at home. So taking the test I was completely anxious ( I have anxiety problems ) hopeully this time around I don’t have a breakdown. This is why I think I can get higher than I did.</p>

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<p>Any good prep books?</p>

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<p>Are you going to be a senior next year? If you are you need to hurry up with the prep. Get your essential books: Official SAT Study Guide (2nd Ed.), PWN The SAT and Grubers Complete SAT 2009 for math (the latter you can find on google as PDF or in your library), and research common mistakes for writing. What were your individual scores? All it takes is desire to improve honestly, many can tell you it’s impossible, but it’s not! If you were able to turn your life around by ridding yourself of Fs in school, then you can come up with a plan to improve. Whenever you get discouraged just think how great your life will be if you do good on this test and go to college. The SAT is like any game or sport, motivation is key, you need to WANT to improve and succeed more than anything.</p>

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<p>I disagree with Stew17. I raised my score by 800 points (and still practicing in hopes of raising it to high 2300’s or 2400), and it’s definitely not impossible to, especially with enough motivation. You have a lot of potential, seeing as you’ve raised your scores from F’s to B’s and A’s.</p>

<p>I’d recommend getting a solid foundation before anything else. I use Barron’s and Princeton Review for tips, and also if you have an iPhone, there are free apps that help you with SAT vocab memorization. First learn strategies, and how to solve most of the questions in general. After you know the rules (eg. parallel structure/nominative & objective/case for grammar, permutations/graphs/percentage for math, literary terms/tone/theme/connotation for CR), then start taking practice tests. I know that the collegeboard tests from the blue book are most accurate.</p>

<p>Still, it’s not a bad idea to take tests from other books. Try to get as much practice as you can get. When you go through the test, star questions you are unsure about. After each test, go back and review every question you got wrong, and every question that you starred regardless of whether it was right or wrong. Go over the questions, and make sure you understand why you got it wrong. This helps a lot, because then when you take another practice test, you’ll remember your past mistakes and prevent yourself from letting them happen again. :)</p>

<p>For the writing section, reading is important.
I’m not too great at essays, and the reason is because while all of my friends were reading The Odyssey in first grade, I was watching 6+ hours of TV a day and playing even more Pokemon LOL. I don’t read, but I now realize that you need to read to be able to do well on the writing section. Read a little bit every day (magazines, newspaper, novels, poems, anything) because:

  1. You’ll be able to use what you read as examples in your essays
  2. You’ll get used to seeing proper grammar, and therefore, easily spot out something incorrect just by the sound/look of it.</p>

<p>(I recommend noitaraperp’s guide for CR, it has some great tips for the CR section of the SAT). </p>

<p>But yeah, practice practice practice. If you work hard, the you’ll be able to raise your score by 700 points (or maybe even more ;D). Like aares1 said, the SAT is like a sport. Practice and you’ll ace it.
(Advice I should follow, seeing as I should be dedicating my time to the sport I play, since I’m awful at it at the moment LOL)</p>