How should I study?

<p>I got a 2020 for the SAT in June, first time taking it. I didn't prepare all that much, really just spent the week beforehand doing a couple practice tests and trying to get the math section down.</p>

<p>My scores were: 750 math, 670 critical reading, and 600 writing. (ouch)
Honestly I knew my essay sucked, and it showed in the score (only an 8!!) so I'm definitely going to work on that.</p>

<p>I'm just wondering how I should prepare for when I retake it in the fall, and how I should focus. Also for math, the only questions I got wrong (2 wrong, 1 omitted) were geometry questions, so I'm thinking I'll give math some review right before the SAT to see if I can get those right and up my score in that section too. </p>

<p>Ideally, I want to aim for a 2250, but I don't know if I can get it up that much. What should I be aiming for realistically, and how much do you guys think I can get it up?</p>

<p>Your math score’s decent, but you should aim for 800. Review geometry, make sure you don’t make silly mistakes during the test (I know lots of students who got 790).</p>

<p>IMO, grammar’s the easiest to improve on. I was only hovering around 540-550 on writing, with an 8 on essay. I reviewed some commonly-tested grammar rules (that I already knew!) and my score jumped to 660, even though my essay score stayed the same.</p>

<p>Reading…that’s my weakest subject and also the hardest to improve, IMO. Just make sure you have a good vocabulary.</p>

<p>For you, a 2250’s a good goal. I’d set a goal of 800 math, 700 reading, and 750 writing (more or less).</p>

<p>Getting from a 750 to an 800 in math can be a bit tricky. Here are a few suggestions for getting there:</p>

<p>(1) First read my article “The Correct Way to Take the SAT for an 800 in SAT Math” (I’ve already posted this at least once on this forum - just do a search). Then take a timed test (preferably an actual SAT) and compute your score. If you get an 800 in math, then the advise in the article was enough for you.</p>

<p>(2) If you don’t get an 800 in math on the test, look at what you’ve gotten wrong. If you followed my advice in the article correctly, then it will probabaly just be Level 5 problems you missed, possibly Level 4. Reattempt each of the questions you got wrong trying to solvethem each in up to 4 different ways: using an SAT strategy, the quickest way you can think of, the easiest way you can think of, and the way you would do it in school. Add each of the problems you got wrong to the list of questions you will reattempt in a week or so.</p>

<p>(3) Whichever topics and difficulty levels you got wrong, go and do about 5 problems of each, trying to solve each in up to 4 ways as mentioned above. Add each one you get wrong to the list of questions you will reattempt in a week or so.</p>

<p>(4) Keep redoing the ones you get wrong weekly until you get them right ON YOUR OWN. </p>

<p>(5) Go back to Step 1. Repeat until you get an 800 in math twice in a row</p>

<p>Remarks: You may also want to read my articles titled “Stop Getting Those Last Few Hard SAT Math Questions Wrong,” and “Stop Making Careless Errors in SAT Math.”</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

<p>Thanks for the responses, I’ll take your advice for improving math; and I definitely will spend time working on my grammar.</p>

<p>Honestly, get an SAT tutor, they can help so much, by showing you little tips and tricks that can improve your score a lot</p>

<p>At this point, an SAT tutor might not be worth the money. I’d rather buy a used prep book for $5 and learn the strategies myself.</p>

<p>And what kind of strategies would I learn? I don’t really need to worry about time because I always have had several minutes leftover whenever I’ve done a practice, I think I just need to learn/review some of the stuff I don’t really know.</p>

<h1>1 tip is to review the grammar techniques that are most common on the SAT. I reviewed them with a PR book for ~15 minutes, took a couple practice tests, and my score jumped up from the mid-500s to 660 (catch is, I already knew all of these grammar rules, I just didn’t know they’d be so common on SAT). This was with an essay score of 8, so a 12 will put you in the 750-800 range.</h1>