<p>It is simply beyond me how you guys get such amazing scores.
Please shed some light on how I should prep.</p>
<p>I'm a junior right now, and am planning on taking the ACT/SAT again, and of course the subject tests. I am from a rural area and am very low income (I live with my mother who is unemployed, father makes ~$100k a year but is not paying child support, parents technically have joint custody). I am currently taking the most rigorous course schedule possibly at my school, but that isn't saying much (again, not-so-great school due to rural area). In other words, I'm already at a bit of a disadvantage, so I NEED to get my scores up</p>
<p>I've attempted SAT and ACT once so far, got a 2030 and a 32.</p>
<p>I prepped like heck for the SAT, and was super disappointed by my score.
I didn't prep much at all for ACT, and was surprised to do as well as I did. (I pretty much had an anxiety attack halfway through the science section. Surprise, surprise; my science section was my lowest score)</p>
<p>But I still don't see how you guys get these elite scores! And looking at everyone getting deferred with 2250+ SATs, 34+ ACTs, and 750+ subject tests, not to mention top 1% of their class, is terrifying!</p>
<p>Please help me. I am starting to lose hope, and I've worked so hard.</p>
<p>First thing, your family situation is something I really recommend talking about in your application. MIT needs that sort of context to look at your situation properly.</p>
<p>Two, scores are not actually the crux of the issue here. What’s the breakdown of your scores? I think it’s likely that you’re close to the mark where it doesn’t matter anymore. If you get a 700, it’s not a disadvantage compared to a 750. (Realize, when you look at stats, there is self-selection going on here.) If you have ballpark reasonable scores, it’s the rest of the application that takes over. Realize that 80% of applicants have reasonable scores. It doesn’t set anyone apart, but it also doesn’t matter after a certain point. I’ve seen people with 2400 SAT scores and national awards get rejected – and people with 2000’s and no national awards get accepted! </p>
<p>Question: What does your day-to-day life look like? I realize you don’t have many options, but I’m trying to get some more context on you as a person.</p>
<p>And finally, don’t lose hope. And I’m not talking about MIT – MIT is hard for anyone to get into. But going to MIT, or not, will not make or break your life. Focus on where you can go, focus on the options you have when other options close, do this throughout your life. This isn’t something I’m just telling you – I say it to everyone. Because MIT can’t accept all the people it wants to accept – and MIT is neither necessary for, or sufficient to, have a wonderful life.</p>
<p>Breakdowns:
SAT (M/CR/W): 670/680/680</p>
<p>ACT (Eng/Math/Reading/Science/Eng+Writing): 32/33/32/30/31</p>
<p>My day-to-day life is such:</p>
<p>4 days a week: Track practice/meet, homework, home-study music theory/synthesis (as in synthesizer programming/patching, there is more to it than you may think!)</p>
<p>1 day a week: Library internship under Systems and Network Engineer; Chess club; Teen court (We act as jury, I am the jury foreperson, in a program that acts as a plea-deal for juvenile courts. We assign community service hours/essays/apology letters based on the mitigating factors of a case)</p>
<p>Overall, I have a pretty darn busy schedule, but I’m not sure if that will actually translate to a paper application =/</p>
<p>Thanks for the bit of mentoring, BTW, nice to see some alumni on CC</p>
<p>So take a look at this:
<a href=“Admissions statistics | MIT Admissions”>http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/stats</a></p>
<p>Your math range puts you in the 3% acceptance rate. The levels up at 8% and 13%. Your CR puts you in 8%. The levels up there are 11% and 15%. Those numbers are higher, but you’re not out of the running even with your scores – and realize that there are compounding factors that may come into play there.</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that you are a junior. It’s common to take the SAT at the end of junior year or the beginning of senior year – so your scores might improve with another round by virtue of, well, more education over time. I’d suggest signing up for the October exam, buying a prep book, and going through that. I’d also recommend reading a lot.</p>
<p>And I think your hobbies can definitely translate to paper! There’s a lot to talk about there (I’m a programmer and I have friends into synthesizing, I definitely have some idea of what’s involved :P). You can talk to MIT about your process, how you got into the hobby – you can even send some samples if you’re up for it! I’ve never heard of teen court before, but I suspect there’s a lot you can write there too – what got you interested? The other things (track, library internship, chess club) are definitely worthwhile things to talk about, as well. I don’t want to give you the impression of what you should talk about, because the real answer is where do you have stories. But I can tell you right off the bat that I think you’re interesting, motivated, and likely clever. </p>
<p>I think you’re in a better position than you think you are relative to everyone else. That said, I think you might overestimate where everyone else is – no one’s a sure thing for MIT.</p>
<p>But you definitely have a shot at MIT (which is the most I can ever say for anyone). And regardless of how MIT works out, I think you’re definitely able to build an awesome life :)</p>
<p>Thanks for the tips, especially pointing out those stats, I never realized the MIT site had more than the common data set!</p>
<p>Now, I would still like to emphasize I’m still a bit lost on how to increase my scores… I’ve already tried beating the practice tests into my skull and I don’t think I can call that a success.</p>
<p>I hope it isn’t a problem if I take this thread a little offtopic, but @PiperXP, but if in addition to SAT I, Math 2 and Physics scores that fall within the top bracket, I’ve accidentally managed to send in a terrible Chem score (690) (I really wasn’t prepared to answer it at the time), is it a huge problem? Or will they ignore it in favour of the Math and Physics scores?</p>
<p>MIT will only consider one SAT science score; the one that you scored best in. So don’t worry, they will ignore the chem score if your physics score is higher.</p>
<p>On some of the test dates the College Boards will send you the questions and your answers (for and extra fee: check website for which tests, I think there is 2 of them). It take 2 months to get the results but then you can see exactly which type of questions you got wrong. We then took that to a tutor who was able focus a few private sessions on the exact areas he needed help with. Super scored he jumped 150 points. Good luck!</p>
<p>I think there ‘are’ 2 of them. Good thing I was taking the SAT’s</p>
<p>@aviraldg - @rothstem is correct. Though I don’t think a 690 would hurt you anyway.</p>
<p>@SineSquareSaw - Could you describe what you’ve done more in-depth? (What was the timeline you took practice tests over? How many? Etc.)</p>
<p>OP, test scores do not define you as an applicant. Especially not to MIT officers, who emphatically look for what kind of person you are rather than what your SAT/ACT score is compared to everyone else.</p>
<p>I got a 36 (please don’t freak out). But does this make me any more qualified to attend MIT than you? No.</p>
<p>Take it again, and no matter what your scores turn out to be, be happy (unless they go down, at which point I completely sympathize if you get worried). Don’t fret, be happy with what you get. Your scores are competitive, i.e. fine. Everyone is unique.</p>
<p>@PiperXP</p>
<p>I cannot recall completely, but I did 1 practice test a day 5-6 days a week for about 20 days before, and prior to starting those practices tests I read through the SAT Black Book.</p>
<p>My practice scores were about on the dot for my scores EXCEPT my math scores were normally way higher, like 750-800 range. I don’t know why that happened, probably nerves.</p>
<p>ACT I went in blind, the date simply creeped up on me; which is partly why I had a nervous breakdown mid-test.</p>
<p>I could see how practice tests coould help me boost my ACT score, but I’m really worried about SAT and the subject tests. I simply cannot find time to study for them, because this semester is way busier than my previous one (my first SAT atttempt was the previous-- easier-- semester) </p>
<p>I keep trying to sit down and do practice tests for ACT/SAT, but I am honestly burnt out, and I’m super worried about my AP classes so I have to focus on those.</p>
<p>NOTE: When I mention practice tests, these are all official College Board/ACT practice tests.</p>
<p>I did at least 15 practice tests for the SAT, still didn’t get what I wanted. I took exactly 1 or 2 for the ACT and got my score. I guess I’m just more fit for one test over the other. </p>
<p>Don’t worry, you’re not the only one that puts in the work and somehow messed up according to the results.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>@SineSquareSaw, MIT will consider whichever is higher: SAT or ACT. If you want to give the ACT a shot/think that might be a better format for you, please please please go for it! I’d also wait to take subject tests in May, unless you aren’t taking sciences now relevant to a subject test.</p>
<p>@PiperXP Thanks for the help!</p>
<p>But would taking the June date be much worse than May? I would rather not have AP and SAT II in the same month…</p>
<p>Also! I forgot to mention, MY MAIN ISSUE WITH ACT WAS TIME. Any tips on how to manage the time!? I didn’t have excess time on any of the sections, and most I had to guess a few due to time constraints</p>
<p>As was pointed out above in eloquent fashion, your scores really, really don’t matter as long as you’ve established yourself as competitive (which, IMO, you have). But if you’re absolutely determined to try to improve your scores, and you don’t have a while lot of time to study every day, do what I did:</p>
<ol>
<li>figure out what time you’ll have to wake up on test day</li>
<li>Four (or more) weeks before test day, start getting g up at that time EVERY SATURDAY.</li>
<li>Eat a normal breakfast</li>
<li>Take a full-length practice test, no interruptions or even bathroom breaks if possible</li>
<li>Repeat for 3(+) weeks</li>
</ol>
<p>That way, when you’ll actually take the test, you’ll be in a much note familiar environment.</p>
<p>This worked for me: I scored a 2180 first-go-round when I didn’t really study, then got serious, set aside a ton of Saturdays, and got a 2330 on my retake.</p>
<p>And, to be honest, I probably shouldn’t have retaken it. I got accepted to MIT EA, and I’m absolutely sure that I still would’ve even with a “measly” 2180.</p>
<p>OP,</p>
<p>My son is a sophomore math major at MIT and he’s also been an SAT math tutor. He shared a few tips with my middle son and the result was that my middle son (also a junior this year) was able to score a 750 on the SAT math. (Hasn’t taken the SAT II math yet, but he can use the same technique and I think he’ll do well)</p>
<p>From the SAT blue book or any other practice book, just do the last 9-10 problems since those are the hardest. With your score of 670, you probably missed 5 questions. To get the 750, my son missed one question and didn’t answer one question. By concentrating on the questions that were harder, he honed in on what was tripping him up. You could do the same thing for the ACT, probably. (Caveat: neither son ever took the ACT, so I’m not “in the know”.)</p>
<p>Just go over any topics that you need help with; don’t worry about stuff you already know.</p>
<p>Also, if there’s someone you know that can help (for free) with any questions you’re struggling with- a math teacher, physics teacher, friend, etc.- go to them for clarification. It was totally helpful for my middle son to be able to ask both my oldest son and another friend for a little help with some of the math problems.</p>
<p>The result is that my middle son’s skills have increased greatly as has his confidence. I am sure the same can happen for you!</p>
<p>@SineSquareSaw -
</p>
<p>Oh, no, either way is fine. I mostly meant “at the end of the school year”.</p>
<p>@jtg007</p>
<p>Not helping me feel better when you say a “measly” 2180, but okay :P</p>
<p>That sounds like a really interesting way to do it, and I have never actually been recommended that before, oddly enough! </p>
<p>I think that is what I will try, and pray it truly helps my scores.</p>
<p>I really hope MIT is at least a possibility…</p>
<p>It’s a little late for it now, but the best way to ‘prep’ for the SAT is to lead an intellectual lifestyle. Some things obviously you don’t have control over. I used to have a word-a-day calendar, and would try to find different words to use when I was writing for assignments using a thesaurus. This gradually increased my vocabulary, which was useful for the analogies and antonyms section. Reading a lot of fiction is supposed to help as well. After that, it does help to read passages and answer questions from a test-review book for that part of the test. For the math SATI, you should just ace your math classes; no extra prep is really necessary. For the SATII’s, if you ace an AP class, you shouldn’t have to study at all. By ace, I mean going for the 99-100% range rather than eking out the “A”. Since the OP asked, I think these things are the ‘MIT way’ to get high scores.</p>
<p>At this late date, I would buy a test-prep book, go through it, and try to correct some deficiencies. </p>
<p>Also, maybe someone could direct the OP to ‘Xiggi’s method’ for SAT prep on CC. I haven’t read it personally, but people have said it is helpful.</p>