@labeezy Like you, I did Erica’s grammar book in chunks, perhaps half a chapter at a time or twenty pages at a time (it was last year so I don’t exactly remember, sorry!). Doing a bit a day really helps, but try doing more than ten pages a day. Do just enough to immerse yourself and challenge yourself, and then close the book for another day to let yourself absorb the material. You can also review that material over and over that same day to let it sink in. Hope that helps!
As for practice tests, I’m not sure how I paced it but I would say do at least two practice tests a month to effectively track your progress. Good luck!
thank you a lot lot @shadyconcepts one more thing though, how do you deal with the long passage based questions?
do you read the questions first and underline the mentioned parts? or do you just read the whole passage first than answer? or any way else?
thank you!!!
@yocomeon Personally, I read the whole passage first and then answer. However, I would also recommend to quickly skim thru the questions before reading the passage just so you know what to look for and underline. Then read the ENTIRE passage, and answer the questions.
Not a big fan of actually reading all the questions beforehand, I think that wastes time and you’re better off diving right into the passage to save the most time. There’s nothing wrong with skimming the questions quickly before tho.
You’re welcome! I’m glad to help
Is it possible to increase my score from a 1550 to a 2000? I’ve been studying for the past two months and my practice test scores are above 1900. Would my practice tests scores reflect what I will get on the actual SAT? Thank you.
@Californian11 Yes, if the practice tests you are taking are from the Blue Book, then yep they really do reflect how you will do on the real thing! A few nights before my official test date, I took the free online practice test they offer at Collegeboard and I scored a 2390. That turned out to be good foreshadowing So you’re doing really great right now! At this point, you can definitely get to a 2000!
@shadyconcepts Thanks for the tips! Also if I increased my SAT scores over 500 points, would CollegeBoard flag my test? I guess I will just have to show lots of work on the math section. Would you recommend taking four BlueBook tests before the actual SAT?
@Californian11 You’re welcome! I’m not sure what you mean by “flag” your test – does that mean they will think you have cheated by raising it 500+ points?? Definitely not! I’ve never heard of a case like that. I don’t really think they keep tabs on you and your previous scores. Every test is a chance to start anew Don’t worry about showing lots of work, they won’t flag you. If they do, there’s something seriously wrong and you would have the grounds to report that.
Taking 4 Blue Book tests is great before the actual SAT. If you want, you can do more. It all depends on how comfortable you feel with the test There’s no “right” number of times!
My SATs are coming up in November, and I’m really worried about CR and Writing, I just want to get higher than a 700 in reading and 800 in writing, have any tips? Thanks!
@ananpatel Basically just follow the tips in the original post and the comments that I’ve made and you should be fine! Do you have any specific questions/problems?
Yeah the one problem I have for the Critical Reading is that when I don’t understand the passage or what they are trying to ask me in the questions, I start to get confused and get answers wrong. Also for the sentence completions, I do vocab, but the vocab I do rarely comes up, how can I make it so I can get all these questions right?
@ananpatel It does get confusing if you don’t know what the passage means. The only thing I can suggest is to work on your comprehension overall - read newspaper articles and other long passages and make sure you can summarize the meaning to another person. Improving your reading skills overall is necessary to score well on the CR section. As for vocab, there’s no way to really guess what is on the test, so just know as many words as you reasonably can. Also study word roots in Latin/Greek, as that can help you guess what the word means if you don’t know it. Knowing basic ways to find the meanings of words is good so you can tackle any word, even if you don’t know what it means! Educated guesses can often be right Use your best judgement and you will be fine on the Vocab section.
Thanks so much for this! Definitely purchasing the grammar book because I can’t break 700 in that section. Would you recommend the cr and math books for a person scoring over 700 on both sections?
@a20171 if you’re scoring over 700, you probably don’t absolutely need the books if you don’t want to get them. i would suggest to keep doing what you’re doing and keep taking practice tests and you’ll get there!
i have no idea how often they change the online test, as i only took it once right before my actual test date!
@shadyconcepts Wow! I’m also a senior, and good job acing your SATs! My biggest issue right now is math, I usually get around 650-670, but I want to bring it to 700+ I already have Pwn’s book, any suggestions for me?~
Do you think studying Barron helps? Its level is so much harder compared to Princeton or Collegeboard’s bluebook. Also, I’ve been getting 1900’s in the Barron (probably because the questions are harder) and I’m taking the SAT in two weeks. Is it possible for me to bump my score up to at least 2100 by then?
@Evangelise It’s great that you already have Pwn’s book! Another book that is highly recommended is Dr. Chung’s SAT Math, though I have never used it myself.
@mango727 I’ve never been a huge fan of Barron’s, exactly because it just seems more difficult than the actual SAT test. It’s still a good resource to use and study, but I wouldn’t trust the tests completely. Put away the Barron’s book and do a few more Collegeboard Blue Book tests to see where you’re really at. I think what you get on a Blue Book test is more accurate to what you would actually get on it. If you take a Blue Book test now and you are still at a 1900, let me know and I will try to help you raise it to 2100!
@shadyconcepts That’s a great SAT score. I used the Blue Book, Pwn The SAT, an online SAT program, and the extra SAT tests on the College Board Website to prepare for the both times that I took it. There is one thing that I am curious about. What days did you prepare for the SAT during the school year? During Junior year, I prepared a lot for it during the weekends. I regret not preparing as much over the summer before school year started. Studying for the SAT really took up my time on top of all the AP Class assignments that I had to do. But in the end, it was worth it. I scored relatively high both times.
