<p>Took it once, got a 34, and that was that, did study a decent amount and did about 7 full practice tests but yeah, one an done, was definitely a relief.</p>
<p>I’d highly recommend taking both tests as some people prefer one test over another. For me, the ACT went surprisingly well (35 as opposed to my low 2110 on the SAT). I also didn’t prepare in the slightest for either one, which I would advise against. Although it did work out in my favor with ACT, some schools require to see all of your scores. Therefore, even if you improve quite well over the course of taking the test 3 - 4 times, they will still see your first scores before you started studying, which you might not want to happen.</p>
<p>I studied by doing practice test for a little less than 2 months and then I took it and got a 33 so I decided not to take it again. </p>
<p>1st time 30, then studied and took again for a 34. I was happy with the 34 but I had to take a mandatory test through my school about four months later. Got a 35. So 3 times overall</p>
<p>One time after a month and a half of preparation and got a 35: English 35, Math 34, Reading 36, Science 33. I just used the official red book, a couple practice tests I found online, and the princeton review act book (but i don’t think it helped very much). </p>
<p>@copengie4 Why don’t you think those books helped? What was the one thing that helped you the most? Do you feel you would have gotten 35 with no prep at all? </p>
<p>@collegemom2son
- Whoops, I should have been more clear. The official red book and the official tests that I found online were helpful, but the Princeton Review one wasn’t very helpful. The PR questions were sort of off if you know what I mean; the questions were similar to that of the official tests but they weren’t exactly the same, nor where the expected answers (after a while, you begin to pick up on what the official test questions are asking you for). </p>
<ol>
<li><p>I think that the official red book and tests were the most helpful. Just make sure you go over the questions that you got wrong and why you got it wrong. I ended up taking 6 or 7 tests over the span of 1.5 months before the actual test day.</p></li>
<li><p>My first practice test score was a 31, so practicing definitely helped. Just make sure you use the official materials. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>thanks for answers so far. OK; D got a 29 as soph. and 30 in DEC as a jr. we are going to have her do LOTS of test prep and etc. as we want her to boost the score for next time in April. I think she can do it. Should she take it again in Feb? that’s debatable and would like to hear more thots . . . .</p>
<p>@copengie4 Thx, I will get the red book tomorrow so my son can start prepping over his break.</p>
Single sitting 35 (Math 36, English 36, Reading 35, Science 33)
Took it once, but took 10 practice exams before it. Scores on the practice exams went from 29 to 35.
I started from the bottom, now I’m here. 
The first time I took it was last February and I got a 34 without taking any practice tests prior to it. For some reason my dad thought I could do better so he made me take it again in September. Out of spite I didn’t study for it again and got a 33 composite although I did much better on the English section so my superscore became a 33/36/35/36 with a 35 composite.
In all honesty I think that just being good at standardized tests made it easy for me. To try and achieve a higher score, tell your son to focus on what the question is really asking to not get screwed over by trick questions and to try and read through passages and other material as quickly as possible. The science section was in my opinion the easiest section because the questions would ask you to just see what was said in the graphs/tables, you didn’t need any actual prior scientific knowledge related to the subject.
D2 took it twice, the first time scored 33 and her friends thought she was crazy to think about taking it a second time. But the guidance counselor advised trying again on the grounds that the upside from a higher score outweighs the downside from a lower score (since for most schools you don’t need to report the lower) and you will almost certainly improve the subscore on certain sections, and for schools that superscore the subscore, this a benefit. D2 followed this advice and scored a 34 the second time, so a slight improvement.
@spayurpets Great score for your daughter. Did she do any prepping between the tests? If so, were there any specific resources that she found helpful?
My children worked with a private SAT tutor. So the materials they used were the proprietary study guides produced by the tutor. For the most part it was flash cards for vocabulary and real ACT or SAT practice tests. I personally think it was too expensive but my D’s scores were good, so I can’t really complain.
Oops, I just checked her scores again, D2 went from 34 to 35. The same rationale holds, though.