<p><em>Note: although this post is specific to the PSAT, it should still be relevant to SAT since the two are almost the same and I've experienced drastic improvements on both</em></p>
<p>Sophomore year, I took the PSAT for the first time. I didn't know what exactly to expect, but a lot of my friends had gotten 200+ their freshmen year, so I was a little hopeful. Unfortunately, I scored a lot lower than I hoped to; I didn't even break 200 with my score of 199. My score breakdowns were 59 (CR), 76 (M), & 64 (W). </p>
<p>This year, as a junior, I just got back my PSAT score, a perfect. My work finally paid off. </p>
<p>Here is my story:</p>
<p>Although I received by sophomore score back in December, I didn't begin studying until February since it wasn't until then that I realized how relatively low my score was (compared to my peers). For the sake of organization, I'll list the prep I took below, separated by section. </p>
<p>Critical Reading:</p>
<p>This was my worst score, and I realized that I missed nearly half of my points on vocab. Immediately I began to create quizlet sets, one per week, with 25 vocab words per set. Personally, I enjoyed choosing one word per set for each letter of the alphabet (I had to double up on letters eventually because there aren't enough Q, Y, X, & Z words), but you can create the sets however you like. Make sure you are diligent with practicing and that you revisit old sets periodically. I also made a conscious effort to try to use the words I was studying in my daily life. I'm sorry I can't offer any better solution to vocab for those of you who struggle with it, but really it comes down to practice, practice, and practice. It'll be hard at first but I promise, if you're diligent with your practice, you'll get better :)
p.s. Vocab is a huge help for me in AP lang. My teacher loves when we use high level vocab in our essays, and she's always impressed with how much I know.</p>
<p>The rest of the points I missed were from reading comprehension, an area I always struggled with. I noticed two things that really increased my score.</p>
<p>1) I began to read books for fun. This doesn't mean you have to read hard books your teacher assigns for you or books you find online that are suppose to help with reading comprehension; this means you pick books that you like to read, something fun like the Hunger Games, Harry Potter etc. It doesn't matter what it is, just read. I read tons and tons of books to prepare, and it helped A LOT with my scores. Honestly, I couldn't recommend a better way to improve your CR scores.</p>
<p>2) I practiced almost daily by reading a CR passage and answer the subsequent questions (it didn't have to come from the SAT/PSAT, I even eventually moved onto AP lang or other standardized test CR sections when I ran out of SAT material). For those of you who don't already have it, I highly recommend buying the blue book. I usually chose a CR passage (or two if they were short) from the book each day. My scores didn't go up as drastically as they did with reading for leisure, but there was still a noticeable difference. </p>
<p>Math:</p>
<p>My math score was my highest, and that's what I expected it to be, since I'm a math/science person. After reviewing my mistakes, I realized I probably could have scored higher if I had been more careful. It took me a few practice tests, but from then on I was scoring consistent 80s. For those of you who aren't as blessed as I am with numbers, I recommend trying some easy competition math questions. SAT and PSAT questions can sometimes be styled a little like competition math questions, as sometimes the answer is a lot easier to find that you think it is, it's just well hidden with the setup of the question. If you're struggling with the concepts themselves, I recommend just pure practice. Almost every math book has extra practice problems, and to be honest, they are really good at helping you remember a concept. I know it sounds tedious, but sometimes just doing every single question in a practice set can be the most beneficial thing for higher scores. Plus, you'll probably learn something new that'll help you out it your math class anyways. </p>
<p>Writing:</p>
<p>Writing has become my favorite section, if one can even have a "favorite" section on standardized tests. I have a few tips for this section </p>
<p>1) Find all common grammar rules (whether online, in a book, or from your teacher) and memorize them. The writing section has the luxury of being based on a common set of rules, which means if you know all the rules, you'll do great. After I knew all the rules, doing the writing section was like a puzzle, and (I know this sounds pathetic) it provided a nice ending to the test. To me, knowing the rules is the most important thing you can do to improve your writing scores.</p>
<p>2) Do lots of reading (again). Like I said before, I became an avid reader to prep for the test. Reading allowed me to be constantly inundated with good grammar, and eventually the immersion was reflected in my own writing, as I began to use correct grammar in a lot of the things I wrote. This brings me to my next point...</p>
<p>3) try to use good grammar in as much of your daily life as possible. Find yourself texting things like "your stupid"? Well don't sent that message, since it's "you're stupid". Someone asks how you did? Don't say "I did good," it's "I did well". Small things like those can make a big difference in your scores, as they did for my scores.</p>
<p>Finally, the most important tip I have, and one that I couldn't stress more, PRACTICE! Practice as much as you can, because the more familiar you are with the test, the better you'll probably do. I probably went a little overboard with the number of practice tests I took (too many for me to admit, really), but ultimately I have no regrets with what I did. These tips aren't a panacea to your struggles, but since they really helped me, so I thought I would share them with you.</p>
<p>I wish you all the best of luck in your journey to getting the score of your dreams :)</p>
I’m a junior and I’m looking forward to taking your advice for the SAT.</p>