<p>please share your methods, schedule, tools you used
for those who SELF STUDIED for the SAT/ACT.</p>
<p>for me i'm just going to read my big blue book for hours a day
sign up for those practice SAT questions
download SAT iPhone apps (if you do this please share the app you use)
get rid of my iPod...</p>
<p>**please be specific.
i.e. for the SAT Math portion, i did x
for the SAT writing portion, i did y
for the SAT [whatever] portion, i did z
for the ACT science section, i did a,b,c</p>
<p>I didn’t study besides taking a few practice tests. However, they were basically meaningless because I didn’t even review the questions I missed. I wish I would have studied…</p>
<p>For the ACT, I exhausted the free sample questions on the ACT site. Timed myself and wrote down the answers on paper, checked them against the key when I was done (clicked bubbles). I don’t know how it was effective, but it worked.</p>
<p>For the SAT, I read the entire sections for Reading, Writing and Math out of the Blue Book 2010 and did the sample section over three days (one day per section). Then, on the following days, I took a section test from a random section in Test 1 (one 25 minute portion or so). A few days later, I did a full 3 timed sections of a subject per day from Test 2 and 3. I did not practice the essay (I would not recommend this). Since my time with the blue book was limited to about a week, I could not use it completely. This means that my score has room for improvement, but it’s high enough that I know I did something right.</p>
<p>Here’s my D’s study program: Blue book, Direct Hits vol 1+2, and online CB that school pays for. 1 full test for baseline. Tailor studying of partial sections, so doing 1 CR section each day. 1 full test approx every other week, for a total of maybe 6 tests, as will probably fall by wayside when school starts. In fall, will have sample essays graded by schools Creative Writing teacher, or we’ll hire a tutor for a few hours for feedback. Taking Oct SAT as junior. Overall, pretty cheap and very manageable.</p>
<p>I purchased a few SAT books from Princeton Review and Kaplan and worked out of those. Each book had at least 6 different practice tests, so I used some of the books for full test sessions and others for short section sessions. The important thing is to recognize when you have time to prep, such as the summer or fall break or winter break, and then maximizing that time. Don’t try and fit in prep time during the school year if you can’t.</p>
<p>For me, math was second nature and I never really stressed about it. I guess know how to use your calculator effectively if nothing else. For critical reading, it’s all about reviewing the questions that you missed after taking them (refresh yourself of course though) to understand why you missed them. Work on vocab nightly and you can improve your vocab section as well. Writing was probably the trickiest one of all of them for me, again understand why you missed the questions that you did. Writing is at least more rule-adhering than critical reading was, so familiarize yourself with writing rules. </p>
<p>Finally, the essay is all about being able to pull out a couple of examples to support either side of the essay prompt. Create a “toolkit” of a few possible examples that you could fit into almost any essay and then learn to reuse those examples. Again, nothing fancy, no expensive prep courses, just self-discipline.</p>