<p>@rlacjftn28 maybe I’m not remembering correctly, but aren’t the vocab words in the reading section? Also I personally wouldn’t study vocab. Most of it is pretty easy and you’d be better off reading to enhance your vocabulary. The only “prep” I did other than a practice test was looking at 500 vocal cards that a friend had. Not a single one was on my test!</p>
<p>@eharr34 Well, what I personally think is that memorizing vocab words is sort of a “backup” for the CR section. Of course, there are over thousands and thousands of words out there and it is technically impossible to memorize all of them. But still, I think it’s worth it because it isn’t just for the Sentence completion part. There are some words that appear on the reading passages as well–like the “most nearly mean” questions. I mean we all have different method of studying, but that’s just how I would prepare myself.</p>
<p>I’ve been studying every day, switching off between ACT and SAT and have seen improvement in both, but my method isn’t the best method. </p>
<p>1) Use a blue book with actual SAT tests, or at least ones made by college board
2) Start with one topic, for example, math, and complete each math section timed. (Lol I take breaks in between)
3) Go over all the questions I got wrong and were unsure of (I don’t have a tutor but I have an amazing math teacher I email back and forth and I have smart friends haha to help me)
4) Then do the same for the other two topics, Writing, and Critical Reading.* [With CR I write down all the vocabulary I see in the test that I don’t recognize, and put it in a notebook with the definition and an example sentence)
5) I record all my scores on a spread sheet that I made for myself to leave comments, track how my scores improve, and see the possible range my scores could have been (since CB doesn’t give you a direct number).
6) Every four days I take a full out practice test (even though I already time myself) but I wake up at 8 am and take it in the original order. </p>
<p>I do the same with ACT. But this is after I went through a summer SAT course and a spring SAT course, so I understand the math I need to do, recognize all the grammatical errors that SAT uses, etc. So if you haven’t already learned the type of math tricks or questions they ask or the grammar errors then just taking tests might not help you. </p>
<p>This is just my summer plan from now to beginning of August. I’m going to use August to write my application and supplemental essays, then I’m going to use end of august to just take ACT practice tests because Sept. is when I take it. After ACT is done I focus on SAT and just take practice tests. </p>
<p>This is very extreme, but I’m desperate after my poor ACT scores and my insufficient SAT scores. </p>
<p>@rlacjftn28 I’m Asian and my CR score is about 50 points higher than my Math…</p>
<p>Well, the way I see it is that some people can score well with studying, and some cannot. And practice can help you a lot, or just a little. The year I actually studied, I scored a 33 on my ACT. The year I didn’t, I scored a 35. I don’t know if I just got smarter (hopefully) or something, but practicing for a test might just tire you out and bore you.</p>
<p>^If that’s true, by all means make sure you don’t study for any of your class/tests</p>
<p>@CHD2013
The SAT tests material you should have already learned. And the CR just tests comprehension. It’s different from normal school tests (obviously).</p>
<p>Hey guys, just a quick question. Memorizing words take me a long time and I can’t memorize 40 words each day like other people said. However, I really wanna do my best. How many words do you think is enough? Is Direct Hits ( about 450 ) enough? BTW I don’t speak English and I have no idea about these wired vocabs.</p>
<p>@Sani25 i memorized 10 each day while i go and come back from my job. Seems less, but if you do that for a week thats 70 words and if you continue for a month that becomes 280 words. You can increase the amount of words as much as you feel like. The point is to feel confident</p>
<p>@Theskittlebug i can agree with you on that. I dont feel i can success more by practicing more. </p>