Hey, I’m a rising sophomore and currently prepping for the SAT which I take in the fall/winter. I’m close to finished with the C2 Program, which I feel has helped a ton from improving Reading/Writing 100+ points. However, whenever I take practice tests, I keep on missing 2-4 on the writing and the same on reading. For some reason, I keep having a few of those 50/50 questions on almost every practice question. On writing, I’m the type of person who has no idea what the name of the rule is, exceptions, etc. but answers the question based on how it sounds/feels and manages to answer most right. However, I always come across the inevitable question on writing that basically forces me to choose between two answer choices that are nearly identical, except for the application of a certain word (such as using he/him or amount/number, etc.) that I can’t seem to consistently get correct. Any good guides/websites/books that would help me better review some of the common/uncommon grammar rules that seem to bring my score down those few points?
Also, I tend to miss around 2-4 on each Reading and Writing practice tests. In general, is there any tips/tricks/advice that someone might be able to give me on being able to cut down on the few remaining mistakes (other than simple practice of course).
Well, short-term, practice tests are kind of the best way to prepare. They give you all these prep classes and such, but really, all you really need to do is get accustomed to the question patterns.
Long-term, the best way (in my opinion) to improve is to expose yourself to literature. Reading newspapers, scientific/political magazines, and unabridged classics are good ways to expose yourself to all types of sentence structure and commonly used vocab. It will also help with grammar because most of the time, these articles or books are written without grammar mistakes in the literary sense. If you’re struggling with the foundations of grammar (such as tense, plurality, pronouns, or possession), then the SAT prep books usually help (such as the Barron’s writing book for the new SAT). And practice is really how I got accustomed to the SAT questions, so it’s an idea if you need to improve (and by practice I don’t mean just doing a weekly 4-hour practice test, and doing nothing else for the rest of the week; I mean that you use tools like Khan Academy or prep books to try to improve during the week, analyze the types of questions you’re missing, practice those weak sections hardcore, and then using a practice test for verification; otherwise, it’s a waste of a good 4-hours and a good practice test).