<p>I'm in my senior year and I really need to improve my scores. I didn't take the ACT or SAT in my junior year and I surely regret it. I have been taking test back -to -back (I know its bad, but I don't think I have a choice), since February of this year. I use multiple study guides for the ACT (Princeton, Barron, and Kaplan) and the official SAT study guide (blue book). I also read Vampire Dreams, a spark note novel, to help me learn vocabulary. Sometimes I watch Radical Prep and Grockit videos on YouTube for extra help. Since I'm home-schooled, I study all day from 7:30 am until 5:00 pm six days a week. I usually take practice test two times a week. Here are my scores below: </p>
<p>Feb (ACT with writing): 19
English: 20
Math: 15
Reading:21
Science: 21
English combined with writing: 22 Essay:10 </p>
<p>March (SAT): 1400
Critical Reading: 520
Math: 410
Writing: 470 Essay: 9 </p>
<p>April (ACT no writing) 20
English: 22
Math: 16
Reading: 22
Science: 21 </p>
<p>I will be taking the SAT on May 3rd and ACT on June 14th. My recent practice test shows little to no improvement and I need to know if improvement is even possible in such a short time.</p>
<p>It seems that you have all the study guides and are working hard at studying. Don’t stress yourself out or burn out though. The best thing to do is work on the strategies. I highly recommend Barrons SAT 2400, ACT 36, Critical Reading Workbook and Grubers Complete SAT Critical Reading Workbook. They all helped me get my scores up drastically by 50+ points (SAT). For the SAT, the best thing you can do is review the strategies behind all the sections, work on College Board questions, and time yourself.</p>
<p>The ACT is slightly different because the tests are different. Since it’s based more off of academic rigor/curriculum, there’s less prep involved. You really just have to focus on realigning your timing and gaining “endurance.” Instead of taking 3 different sections for the same subject in 20 minute intervals, you have double or triple the amount of questions in double the amount of time. The official Red Book for the ACT is the best book you could get. I was going to buy the Kaplan one but changed my mind and went with the official book at the last minute. (How can you go wrong with official right?) </p>
<p>Improvement is definitely possible. Also, I know people say that reading things like newspaper articles gets you somewhere. Trust me, studying vocabulary words and Latin roots is a much more efficient route. Google is your friend. There are plenty of websites out there with free study resources and Youtube videos (Khan Academy for example) that takes you through math problems step by step. </p>
<p>I wish you the best of luck with your testing and I hope you manage to get it up. If you have any more questions, feel free to PM me. </p>
<p>@TheDidactic Update: My May 3 SAT score just came back today. My score is:</p>
<p>CR: 590
M: 440
W: 530 (8 on the essay)
Total: 1560</p>
<p>Congratulations on the point jump all around! You definitely made similar point jumps like I did from my PSAT to my 1st SAT (approx 70 points for CR and W). I wouldn’t sweat it about the essay personally. I mean obviously, it’s important but one point difference isn’t the end of the world and probably won’t hold much in college admissions anyways. They can grasp from your scores (plus actual admissions essays) your approximate abilities. </p>
<p>It pays to bump up CR scores. Since CR is counted when they do composite scoring (out of 1600), it’s imperative that the CR and M scores are as high as they can be. See the first time, your composite score only was a 930. Even though you had a 1400, some colleges only consider the 930 when it comes to admissions. This time though, your composite was a 1030. A 100 point increase is great! </p>
<p>I know on here, it sometimes can seem like everyone in the world has 2300+ scores but trust me when I say that your scores definitely have pull at some colleges and with some improvement, you will definitely have an advantage. </p>
<p>I haven’t taken the ACT yet but I just got my SAT scores back today and I went from a 2060 to a 2250. All I did was go over some practice tests before the test. I would recommend the SAT Blue Book for that. If I were you I would study the math section heavily. It’s also really important that you’re mentally at your A game and you feel as comfortable as possible. Since I’m not a morning person, what I did was pull an all nighter 2 days before the test and go to sleep at 4 PM the day before the test. I woke up at 3 AM and had plenty of time to do a practice test and cook myself a nice breakfast. By the time I took the test I was wide awake. It totally payed off. </p>
<p>TL;DR do whatever possible to ensure that you’re mentally prepared for the SAT and take multiple practice tests! Eventually you will figure out patterns in the test and identify the things that Collegeboard likes to ask you and what they like you to put for an answer.</p>
<p>Also, forgot to add that if you have no idea about a question and cannot eliminate at least 1 answer choice, you’re better off leaving it blank than bubbling in a random answer since the SAT takes points off for wrong answers and there is no penalty for not answering.</p>