<p>I'm a sophomore and I have this summer and next year to get INCREDIBLE sat and act scores. How long every day should I study for each? And how?</p>
<p>Like a couple of months? I didn’t really do practice tests until the month before.</p>
<p>EricSnow, what’s you get?</p>
<p>Depends on how quickly you can understand the concepts and strategies… I started studying about 2 weeks before and got a 33. Depends on the person though… </p>
<p>Pick up a practice ACT/SAT book and start looking at them. I used the Kaplan ACT Prep book. No one here will be able to tell you how you would study the best. Everyone is different.</p>
<p>That means you have over a year’s worth of SAT preparation to do.</p>
<p>[The</a> Official SAT Question of the Day](<a href=“The SAT – SAT Suite | College Board”>SAT Practice and Preparation – SAT Suite | College Board)</p>
<p>Answer those questions every day, you’ll grasp the basic concepts on the three sections and will keep your brain refreshed.</p>
<p>I will get my score next week Thursday, send me a message then and if it’s good you can ask for help.</p>
<p>If CR and the essay are your concern, start reading. Read a variety of things. Keep your own vocab list by highlighting any vocab words you don’t know and then read the full dictionary definitions. Make your own flash cards. Read Victorian Era and earlier if you want complex sentence structure and challenging vocab. Read current events, biography and history to develop wider social awareness and background for more mature essay development.</p>
<p>Whatever you read, read actively. Think about what the words mean. Go back and re-read what you didn’t understand the first time. Predict where the writer is going and see whether or not you were right. Try to connect the author’s ideas with what you know about that subject and think about where else those ideas may apply.</p>
<p>Read fiction and watch good movies (fewer explosions and more real personal conflict). Read short stories two and three times to see what you missed the first time and to see how the writer structures the story, establishes character and prepares you for what comes next. Do the same thing when you watch movies. Read them, too.</p>
<p>Read the people around you. Watch them for mannerisms and actions and decisions that reveal basic character traits. Look for vocabulary words that describe character traits, and emotional states.</p>
<p>Use the vocabulary words you learn.</p>
<p>Don’t read secret inside information about the tests. That’s usually crap. Just take practice tests and pay attention to the answer explanations so that you can see where you need to work more and how the test writers think.</p>
<p>Wood5440, I would really appreciate it if you responded to my messages. I really need your help in the next week and a half.</p>
<p>Agrasin, I’m still here. I got no reply to my last couple of messages and thought you were no longer interested. I think we need a better way to stay in touch. Did you get the 4 part message I sent? I maxed out the PM limit on that one.</p>
<p>Did you ever read the Wiki article on Harry Truman? That guy is a gold mine of essay material.</p>
<p>I mean in my opinion, the longer you prepare for, the more skilled you will be, but you wont be sharp in anything; however if you cram, you will know a lot of details, but not be polished. From there its a matter of what works for you. For all the skill you gain in becoming well educated, you lose little tricks from cramming those few nights before. I studied for about a month for the ACT (but casually, maybe 1 hour a week and a couple hours each weekend) and then about 30 mins a night for the week before and I felt like that was a good time period (I got a 34). I knew what to expect, but I also had some concepts and ideas “fresh” in my mind (for example, I crammed in a bunch of stuff with logs the night before because I didnt learn them in school yet (im only a sophomore) but that came in handy in 2 or 3 problems on the test).</p>
<p>3 months is fine.</p>
<p>Sorry about the communication gap, Wood5440. This is one of three messages I made in an effort to get back in touch with you. CC needs to improve its messaging system, because I sent quite a few. </p>
<p>When you asked me a long time ago if I’d really read the whole Truman article, I knew that you weren’t a regular CC student. And no, you understand us students well, I didn’t exactly read it all. But I certainly will if it may help me. </p>
<p>Anyway, another essay is coming soon, if that’s okay. If you want it by email, I need your address. Mine is nisargapaul@
hot
mail
.
com</p>
<p>CC stars it out if I write it in one line.
If you don’t send an email, I will assume that you prefer not to divulge your address, and I will post it in this forum.
And sorry for spamming this thread, guys.
Thanks!</p>
<p>I’d say if you have 1 year+, try to practice test once a month or week until about a few months to go. </p>
<p>And do practice vocab and try to polish the reading techniques/math. To refer to such techniques, I believe there was a good thread about it somewhere around here…</p>
<p>This is a LOADED question. Don’t think about quantity of studying. Instead, think about quality of studying.</p>
<p>You now how some people can spend 2 hours a day in the gym and still be fat while others can spend 20 minutes three times a week and be fit? Quantity vs Quality.</p>
<p>Take a sample SAT. Find your weakness. Spend the next 6 months LEARNING the KNOWLEDGE to fulfill your weakness. Then spend the next 6 months learning some strategy, practicing, and focusing on not making the same mistake twice.</p>
<p>Practice. Note your failures. Learn your misunderstandings. Practice. Note your failures. Learn your misunderstandings.</p>
<p>(Rinse/Wash/Repeat)</p>
<hr>
<p>For actionable steps, PM me. I’ll send you some info. </p>
<p>Craig</p>