<p>
[quote]
He only retook because he was trying to get the writing score into the 700s.
[/quote]
Well, mathmom, he CERTAINLY succeeded in that!!</p>
<p>^No he didn't succeed in improving the writing score - he got a 690 both times. (Better essay score the 2nd time round though.) CR stayed the same. Math went up 10 points. The only place the writing score mattered was Harvey Mudd where a scholarship depended on it.</p>
<p>Thanks again for all of your suggestions here. I enjoyed the denotation vs. connotation theory. I'm guilty of reading of what I think it should be rather than what it does say.....Also the "staying confident" idea. My daughter has always succeeded in academics but has never been especially confident. I have not been involved in her homework or school work since she was very young. She's very motivated and organizes her time quite well. She's normally the student who thinks she does poorly and is surprised when she gets the 97 and thinks she's "bombed" a test. She always gets straight As even in her first two years of high school. She was sure that she missed too many on the AP statistics test to do well and she scored a 5. Anyway, the very low CR score was her first shocker! Actually her other PSAT sections weren't great either....just OK.</p>
<p>My daughter's confidence has increased over the course of the last school year. She was (and still is) quite dismayed with her low PSAT scores but poured even more energy than normal into her schoolwork. Her AP and SAT II history scores have helped increased her confidence. </p>
<p>I have already copied the SAT vocabulary words on the link provided and will help her get started when she comes home. (Lucky daughter is currently on a 3 week trip to Europe.)</p>
<p>What a great website this is.....thank you for all of the suggestions!</p>
<p>Oops, I misread your post, mathmom.
But with a combined 1570 on the math and cr reading, hopefullly the writing didnt matter too much. Did ds get a scholarship from Harvey Mudd?? To be honest, I 'd rather be in your shoes. I'd rather have the higher score in Cr. Reading than in writing, but my s's scores are reversed. However, all the scores are good enough (we hope) so, que sera sera, I guess.</p>
<p>I have indeed posted several vocabulary lists on College Confidential, including a compilation of the gargantuan Barron's list of several thousands words.</p>
<p>This is a copy of a post that appeared on Monday, April 21, 2003. From the date, you'll notice it dates from the older board ... so don't be surprised by the different format</p>
<p>
[quote]
Here is a list of the vast majority of the "difficult" words that show up on the 10 Real SAT Test. It may become helpful in reviewing the list after taking the 10 practice tests. If you do not feel like taking them all, it may be helpful to read to get a feel for the words that <em>tend</em> to show up. Please remember that few, if any, words get repeated in subsequent tests. </p>
<p>I apologize for the formatting. It looks a lot nicer in my Word file as the text is in tables. I lost that formatting when copying here. I recommend to cut and paste it in Word and add some formatting for a better use or printing.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>However, I have also posted many, many disclaimers about the use of wordlists. In a nutshell, while studying extensive lists of words can be beneficial in specific cases, it represents an extremely poor ratio of time and efforts over ... rewards. Ihave spent considerable time MEASURING the potential effect of knowing every word on the 3500 or even a 5000 word list on subsequent tests. The results were dismal, and this assumed a complete recall of the entire list. Further, this was at a time when analogies still existed. When it comes to the Critical Reading sections, the rote memorization of words is unfortunately a very ineffective way to prepare. In addition, very few CR questions test the direct knowledge of vocabulary. </p>
<p>On the other hand, spending the time to understand the specific structure of the test is critical. In this regard, the conclusion that the questions allow for imprecise and circular answers is often unfounded. Students who are left with two possible and plausible answers typically missed an opportunity to eliminate one of the two answers by changing the Process of Elimination. In many cases, it is much easier finding four incorrect answers than picking the correct --which may simply mean the best-- one with absolute certainty. What is, however, certain is that the answer can be found in the four corners of the document and that no external knowledge is needed. </p>
<p>Please realize that all my comments ONLY apply to tests written by ETS and do not apply AT ALL to anything produced by PR, Kaplan, and similar companies. Those tests are unreliable, poorly written, and ABSOLUTELY worthless and misleading. Synthetic tests should NEVER be part of anyone's preparation. Never!</p>
<p>That link does not seem to work for me. I'm not sure why. I'd love to see the list though!</p>
<p>He got waitlisted at Harvey Mudd so it was moot. I don't think the 30 points in math are what got him rejected at MIT and Caltech, (after being deferred EA), but rather other aspects of his application.</p>
<p>But back to the OP. I do think there is an art to knowing what the question is, so that you answer the question, and not what you think the question ought to have been. Targeted practice, more reading and trying the ACT are all reasonable things to try.</p>
<p>[noparse]<a href="http://www.collegeconfidential.com/discus/messages/69/9808.html%5B/noparse%5D">http://www.collegeconfidential.com/discus/messages/69/9808.html[/noparse]</a></p>
<p>Xiggi -- Thanks -- The problem was the browser. For some reason I can't open this link using Mozilla Firefox. It did work using Internet Explorer.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip about using a different browser to open old College Confidential links. I'm not sure why it should make a difference, but I haven't been able to open any of those old links (many of which are quite informative) in Firefox either.</p>
<p>Xiggi's enlightening comments notwithstanding, I'm still wondering how much wiggle room there might be in the selection of answers on a CR test. I can imagine that a very bright student might see through the banality of the official "right" answer and find more truth, or at least equal justification through some convoluted chain of reasoning, for a different "wrong" answer, especially in an area where subjectivity (in the test maker as much as the test taker) might be a factor.</p>
<p>I've never taken one of these tests, so I'm just speculating...</p>