@fruti101 Sure! I think the biggest mistake that students make is that they overthink the essay, and think it has to be like a complicated English assignment. Trust me, the essays you write for English class are much harder and probably better written than the SAT essay has to be. For the SAT, be concise and full up the 2 pages wisely. You don’t have to use huge vocabulary words or have really deep thoughts – use varied vocab and use a big word occasionally if you know exactly what it means.
For me, I did a simple 4 paragraph essay – intro, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion. For one body, I made up a fake anecdote/scenario (not fake, but exaggerated) to support my argument, and then the second body I used To Kill a Mockingbird as a literary example. This method works, as they are two different examples that both support my main argument. Make sure your examples relate to your thesis and reference your argument throughout.
For possible literary examples, I would suggest that the night before you write down a quick list of all the English class books you’ve read throughout the years, because any of those classic books will work. Pride and Prejudice, Catcher in the Rye, Mockingbird, Moby Dick, etc – any classic books will do the job fine and it’s easy to find some way to relate them to the argument. If you can’t think of any literary examples, take an example from history or a current event.
Don’t overthink and don’t think you have to write a masterpiece – honestly, the essays that score an 11 or 12 aren’t fantastic writing or deep thoughts! They just answer the prompt concisely, clearly, and fluidly. Good luck!
@SwagMan420 That’s interesting! I studied for the SAT during the school year mostly on Fridays and weekends. I actually had to take a Math prep class every Sunday morning, so that sucked a lot lol. It was hard prepping for it junior year, but thankfully I studied over the summer and the math class forced me to study. It was nice taking it once in December so that meant my SAT troubles were over and I could focus on junior year! Congrats on your two high scores
@Beshara first of all, congrats on a 1960! that’s a really solid score and improving it to a 2100 will just take some more practice in all the sections in general. since you got the most wrong for CR, i would focus on that section first and work on building vocabulary and reading comprehension (depending on the kinds of questions you got wrong). consider getting erica meltzer’s books for CR and/or writing or continue practicing with the Blue Book. the important thing to do is really understand WHY you get a question wrong and to not be so obsessed with how many you get wrong. when you understand why you get things wrong on practice tests and practice problems, you will be able to improve from there in each section. best of luck!
Right now, I’m scoring about 2060-2270 on the blue book (from the 6th practice test), and want to score 2300+ on the December SAT. Do you have any advice on how I could improve my scores (especially for Math/CR)?
@glassflowers That’s a great range to be! Unfortunately, it is a bit difficult to cross the threshold between 2270 into 2300+, but it definitely can be done. (Me or my friends never thought we would break 2300 but somehow by a stroke of luck that happened!). Since you’re doing pretty well in all the sections if you are scoring above a 2000 and into the 2200s, I would simply recommend to keep taking practice tests from the Blue Book or Collegeboard online. At this point, there is not much else to do besides practice and gradually get less and less wrong as you get accustomed with the test. You still have a lot of time until December, so use these months to take a few practice tests and continue reviewing material with your test prep books and other resources! Good luck and let me know how it all works out
@glassflowers - DO NOT USE THE KHAN ACADEMY TESTS! They will be fine after the January tests, but they differ from college board tests now. One more thing you should do, is go back and review the problems you got wrong on old practice tests. Make sure you fully understand the prolems and related concepts.
@CHD2013 The Khan Academy tests are for the new SAT? Shoot, that makes a lot more sense…Okay, thanks! I think reviewing concepts will really help for math.
How long would did it take to complete Pwn the SAT math and one of Erica Meltzer’s books with reading around 10-20 pages a day? Would I be able to order these, begin reading, and finish them by the November SAT, or should I take the December SAT instead?
@glassflowers@CHD2013 woops, sorry for the mishap! thank you CHD2013 for correcting me glassflowers, good luck! remember that collegeboard is pretty much the best resource for practice tests, and i’m sure they’re coming out with a book for the new SAT!
@DylanAgema I never got the Pwn the SAT math book, I only used his Tumblr site to help me with some of the math problems. As for Erica Meltzer’s books, the Writing one is fairly short and if you read around a chapter a day, I’m sure you’ll get thru the whole thing in time for November. However, if you feel like you won’t be prepared enough in a month, then take December – you still have January for the old one as a second chance. It’s always up to you.
Hi @shadyconcepts how did you use the critical reader? Like did you study the vocabulary in that book? Did you review that book then do tests? I really need to raise my critical reading score and can I in 3-4 weeks using this book? Considering I want a 650-700 considering that I have a 500-580 now.
@ZanZan Like any book, I read the Critical Reader in sections and spaced it out. You can definitely finish it in 3-4 weeks. I used that book and then did practice tests throughout the reading of it. For vocabulary, I’d actually recommend you get Princeton Review’s Word Smart and Word Smart 2 books, as these are straight up vocab books with thousands of words that might show up on the exam (you can also space these out throughout the weeks). This book will help you improve your score, but improving on CR is still a gradual process and you need to be sure you’re practicing your reading by consistently reading newspaper articles, books, etc. to ensure your reading is fast and you can understand everything. (This book will actually give you that advice anyway!)
Hi @ZanZan Good luck!! Just memorize a few more handfuls of words and I think you’ll be okay. Review over the old words, more importantly, and toss a few new ones too just for good measure. You’ll do great.
