<p>I got a 2210 on the SAT in December and a 2400 this March. This was my second try and I'm a junior in HS. Like the other 2400-recipient who did similar, I feel obliged to contribute back to the forum and describe what I did to achieve this score.</p>
<p>1) Study vocab. Study vocab. Then study more vocab. I went through all of HotWords twice and all of that 750 SAT World flashcards box once. I hear so many people here on CC say not to do it, that it's a waste of time. I think not. I saw A LOT of words on the March (and December) SAT that I recognize from Hot Words, words that I otherwise would never have known. If you want to join the "I don't want to memorize from a list camp", be my guest. But I would advise against it.</p>
<p>2) Only take practice tests from the CollegeBoard, and take a lot of them. Anything else will be different in some form and therefore not help you at best and hurt you at worst. Obviously buy the BlueBook, but the CB offers six more through their online course ($69.95) and you can order old PSAT's for a few dollars each (no answer for them, however). I had exhausted the BlueBook, the online tests, and a few old PSAT's by the time I took it again in March. </p>
<p>3) For strategy, read RocketReview. The strategies and hints there are irreplacable IMO. The practice tests, however, are garbage and way too difficult for the SAT. Taking harder or easier tests will not make you do better.</p>
<p>Could you please go into detail about the Critical Reading Section?
Like your strategies and "patterns" of right and wrong answers, your thinking process, your answering process, etc.
How did you practice for the CR? How did you learn from your mistakes? How did you make sure you don't make the same mistakes again?
And other things like that.</p>
<p>I know I am scrutinizing you but because you got a 2400 and I haven't I believe I can learn a lot from you and others like you.</p>
<p>If your getting 2-4 wrong then first of all what type of concept are you missing? Maybe it's careless mistakes?</p>
<p>Anon, I suggest you refresh your memory on Geometry and Algebra II formulas and concepts.</p>
<p>After each practice test, look at why you missed each question and how to get the right one. Also, look for shortcuts as there will always be shortcuts on the Math Section even question #1.</p>
<p>Basically, refresh on geometry and algebra I & II, look for shortcuts, manage your time wisely, and scrutinize practice tests. Keep doing it and you'll be great in no time. Grubers is a really good book for review and has a lot of formulas you can refresh on.</p>
<p>Hope that helps as I am too lazy to go into detail. If I get a 2400 on the May SAT I will definitely go into delicate detail on each step and studying strategies for each section, but my CR is 100 points shy of that and my writing is 60-70 points shy of that as well.</p>
<p>Do you have any preference on any other study aids, such as other publishing companies whose practice tests are similar to the actual SAT?</p>
<p>Also, how would you recommend studying for the writing and math section? Should I just practice problems or actually buy a workbook and study the lessons?</p>
<p>For critical reading, I feel PR tests are good preparation because the passages themselves are harder and the questions go a tad deeper while asking the same kinds of questions.</p>
<p>You can guarantee the vocab section by studying words.</p>
<p>Critical Reading: READ THE PASSAGE BEFORE ANY OF THE QUESTIONS. READ THE PASSAGE FIRST. I cannot emphasize this enough. Too many people have these grab-bag techniques of reading the questions first and annotating and what not, including myself at one point. At that point I was getting in the low 700's as I tried to do the detail questions right after reading said section. After my 2210, I decided to revamp my CR methodology and listen to my English teacher (who I respect very much) by reading the passage first. I would annotate things I thought were important and would NOT continue to the next paragraph until I fully understood and could visualize the previous paragraph. Then I would answer the questions generally in order. However, if I had to think twice about a question or found it in the least bit baffling, I would circle it and move on so I could answer the other questions with the passage still fresh in my head. The detail and vocab-in-context questions, ironically, became SOO much easier once I started to read the whole passage first. This is because you know what the author is trying to say and it has to fit in with the passage on the whole. Also, keep in mind that there are only really three ways to write an introduction to a non-fiction piece (RocketReview goes in details about these) and I would not read past the first paragraph until I could effectively classify which one it was. For the sentence completions, cover the answers first and try to place the word that fits most exactly right as you read it. You'll be surprised how often you guess the right answer!!</p>
<p>I completely agree with Geoffrey. PR told me to read the questions after just skimming but doing that makes me feel completely oblivious to everything. I did it my own way like GC did and got an 800.</p>
<p>I agree with everything Geoffrey said, except for the "only take tests from CollegeBoard." I found that the difficulty level of the CB tests were quite low, and the Princeton Review 11 Practice Tests *were actually much more difficult. Although I was annoyed that the tests weren't indicative of the real test (and their math and cr were much harder and I sometimes was really *ed at some cr questions), the difficulty level prepared me enough to acheive a 2400 on my first try.</p>
<p>the main q for me is how can i go from 750 in wr and cr to 800 in both. I mean the diff in 800 and 750 in cr is 2 q's urg. Also how do i stop from always getting that one math q wrong?</p>
<p>I have a question for Math. I tend to know how to do everything, but always make one or two dumb, annoying mistakes. So would you recommend doing a lot of practice math sections to study?</p>
<p>As someone who got an 800 on math and someone who often made 1-2 stupid mistakes, I feel that I can answer that question. </p>
<p>1.) Read the question more carefully.
2.) Double-check your answer (reread the question).
3.) Work on time management, if necessary (probably not necessary, since you're only messing up on a few and not like 5 or over).
4.) Practice.</p>
<p>Come on, this is common sense, people! But it worked for me.</p>
<p>A-Card, if you have 750, that's basically an 800 with a few dumb mistakes on each section. Don't worry. But for the answer to your question, it's the same as above.</p>
<p>So, what are the three types of introduction to a non-fiction passage?</p>
<p>I know that for fiction passages you try to find the conflict and see how it's introduced, developed, and resolved.</p>
<p>BTW, how do you handle level 4 and 5 questions? As these usually have 2 or 3 answer choices that are "convincing" and I can't seem to single out the correct answer.</p>
<p>im not a perfect scorer but i did get my math from a 670 to an 800. for me it was about slowing down. after you have taken enough practice tests you understand how the questions work. if you are decent at math none of them are really hard, its just about knowing how to take a test. i have always had the problem of rushing, id tell my self id go through the test and go back, but it never turns out that way in my experience. go through each question as slowly as you can without running out of time, check your answer. the difference between a 760 and an 800 could be forgetting about a negative, missreading the last sentence of a problem you could have gotten, any number of small things.</p>
<p>also i feel i can contribute to the essay. im usually a mediocre writer, but i figured out how to get a 10-11 on the essay which helped me a lot. my key was get one set of facts you know about that can apply to anything, i used the same both times i took it. first time i took got an 10, second an 11. my set of facts were about albert einstein, that was my first paragraph. my second was about a book i completely made up. there is penalty for factual inaccuracy and they wont check to see if the book you talk about is real. the first time i made up a story about a man who after graduating an ivy league and following the path his parents set out for him used his trust fund to buy a farm in canada to live alone. the second was about a north korean refugee that went to america and eventually worked on human genome project. it works like a charm, you can speak with authority on the fine points because you made them. then the key is a good conclusion, which is probably why i got an 11 and not a 12. good luck to all of you, and remember that the SAT doesn't test knowledge, it tests your ability to take tests.</p>