<p>I keep reading posts about people's preparation and studying for the ACT and SAT. How much do people actually do this? I have heard it doesn't really make much of a difference. I didn't do anything to prepare for the ACT (not even practice questions because I was swamped with schoolwork) and felt like I did fine (34).</p>
<p>So, how common is it to study for these, and does it really make a difference, in your experiences?</p>
<p>Some folks can do pretty well without prepping whatsoever, but most people need prepping. I personally study 1~1.5 (or less) hour per day for the ACT (and it helped a lot), but I do know lots of folks who study desperately. Yes, I mean <em>desperately</em> — which only makes matters worse.</p>
<p>Let’s take that idiot sitting behind me in class. He spends time on the SAT 24/7, trying to memorize whatever vocab he’s got (his flash cards are spreading everywhere in the classroom & in the dorm, which is super annoying), doing practice tests in Calculus class (and then ran into an argument w/ the teacher…what a fool), dropped U.S. History course since he thought it was “useless” (so he can have more time for test prep), yada yada yada. He assumes that being a walking dictionary is the only key to SAT success, while he doesn’t even know what a triple root is. And you know what he has got in June? Less than 1400, if memory serves.</p>
<p>So back to my point. Prepping is helpful, but only if you do it in the right way (I use prep books and I feel it’s sufficient). Overprepping is, however, definitely a no-no.</p>
<p>Sheesh, it sounds like he was trying to prepare for the MCAT or something. That’s ridiculous!</p>
<p>A lot of my friends went to some ACT prep cource (a one day thing) offered by the local university, but they said it wasn’t very useful.</p>
<p>first of all, whatever score you get without studying (unless of course you score like 2250 +) can always be increased immensely with studying. Without stuyding in January, I got a 1980 (590 CR 770 M 620 W), then with only 3 weeks of studying for March, I brought it up to 2240 (680 CR 760 M 800 W). And then with 2 more weeks of practice and studying before the October SAT, I feel like I increased CR to 750+.</p>
<p>So if you’re going to study, I DO NOT recommend making your life studying for the SAT. You only really need a couple weeks of intense practice to do much better.</p>
<p>It really depends on the person. My D did 20-30 practice test over 6 months and raised her ACT practice score from 31 to 35. Similarly for SAT, it was increased from ~2000 to 2300+ in practice score within the same period of time. When you reach your target score or a plateau, you know it is time to stop practicing.</p>
<p>Well, maybe I should have studied, then.
Actually, come to think of it, it probably would have been entirely irrelevant if I had gotten a higher score.</p>
<p>Again, it depends. 34 is a great score but 35 or 36 may get you better merit aid in some schools. Also, with composite 34, you may have a lower score (as low as 26) in one section that may be critical for your intended major. When you have 35, there is no way to have any section below 30.</p>
<p>I wish my DD would have studied. She didn’t see it as a priority. She did well on the tests, but I believe she could have done great on them had she put some time into preparing for them. If she doesn’t get some of the scholarships she is hoping for that would allow her to attend some of the more selective schools, then it is her loss. She has always known getting hefty merit scholarships is the only way she could go to some of those schools.</p>
<p>My lowest section score was 33. I was pretty consistent. I got a full scholarship, though, and I already knew I was going to have National Merit before I took the test.
In general I’m pretty good at this type of MC test, and my brother before me (with pretty similar abilities) had gotten a 33 without prep, so I wasn’t too worried.</p>
<p>After I got my score, though, there was a kid at my school who offered me $200 to take the test for him the next time around…</p>
<p>Among some Asians I have known, SAT/ACT can mean 6-7 hours a day of practice and at times <em>12</em> hours. Some of them were not generally good at stuff like CR which requires you to think on the spot, rather than recollecting previously “learned” things. </p>
<p>I enjoyed writing stuff like this, cause I like thinking on the spot. I wasted my second attempt at the SAT. I messed up only one section and got only a 2200 
Might give it again, but am not really sure if some of the unis will look at it kindly. </p>
<p>I think a test every alternate day nearly 15 days before the test, should be good.</p>