I am currently a senior in high school and I understand the stress that is involved with standardized test scores. Currently, I have a 1590 in the SAT and a 36 on the ACT. This thread can be used by anyone to both ask and answer questions! My goal is to help you improve by at least 100 points on the SAT and 4-5 points on the ACT. Currently, I have helped my junior friends improve their scores from the high 1300s to low 1500s. I really want to support anyone who needs help but doesn’t have access to it.
I’m looking forward to bolstering everyone’s applications!
What was your studying schedule? My issue has been making plans to study but pushing them to the back burner as more immeadiate school deadlines come up
@hurricane314 I did the Khan Academy study plan. 40 questions a day for 3 months. I initially had a 1450 when I first took the exam a year ago. After doing those exercises each day and reading one chapter from Erica Metzler’s grammar and critical reading books, I was able to get a 1590 on my second try!
I would appreciate it. I’ve been self-studying, and I managed to meet with a tutor once who was kind enough to discount the session. I do not think I can meet again with him, not without my mother picking up extra shifts at least. I scored a 1460 my first time, I would really like to boost my score to 1500s. I’m taking the test again in March which gives me three months. I think my biggest issue/goal is reducing minor mistakes that make me losing crucial points. Please pelas ehelp. i woudl DM, but I do not have fifteen posts yet.
Are you stronger in math or reading?
What was the breakdown of the 1460? If it is math, it is a easy fix. Otherwise, we will need to figure out which types of questions you need help on. I will try to provide you with tips and resources but it is ultimately up to you to work hard! @kokopta
Ok that’s great to hear. We can get you to that 1500 no problem. Math is super easy to improve and we can get you that extra 60 points. My recommendation is to use Khan Academy and College Panda.
Khan academy has a math training program that is really good at pinpointing the things you got wrong. I would recommend doing 30-40 problems a day. As for College Panda, it is a SAT prep book that focuses on all aspects. I found their math section to be the most useful however.
As for the reading and grammar, use Erica Metzler’s Critical Reading and Grammar books. These are by far the BEST PREP books out there for the English section. I literally went from a 650 to a 790 in three months using them. Another resource is Princeton Review and Barron’s.
After my initial SAT, because I only ogt four wrong (and because one of them was in an unmarked section) they boosted all my skill levels to 4/4. Based on what you said, I am a assuming that they will more accurately assess my skills with the more questions I do. I will look into the other resources you recommended, I greatly appreciate it. How much time a day do you recommend I dedicate to SAT prep ( I have sports and ECs) but I will do my best to shift whatever necessary accordingly. My grammar seems to be good, but I will continually review to maintain that (I’ve never gotten more than two wrong on practice tests or real). My concern is reading. I often lose points on the questions pertaining to main idea, I can usually trim it down to two possible and likely answer choices, but I often pick the wrong one of the two. I average about 5-6 questions wrong in every reading test I’ve taken. I really appreciate your help, you don’t understand the amount of guilt you’ve taken off of me and the amount of stress this will relieve my mother of (she feels guilty when I reject SAT tutoring). I will try out Erica Metzler’s book in addition to reading my books for AP Lang. Thank you so sos os much you don’t understand how grateful I am. As I progress in my studies, is it alright if I reach out to you from time to time?
I don’t mean to hijack this thread at all, and I’m sure OP would tell you this anyway, but I really can’t stress the importance of the Khan Academy practice tests enough. I got my score up from 1340 to 1570 from prac test 1 - prac test 8 on Khan Academy, without almost any other prep. They’re like 3.5 hours each and take up a good amount of your day, but it’s all worth it when you get your score back.
The same didn’t work on the ACT though, because I scored a 35 on my first practice test which then went down to a 32 over a period of several more prac tests. =D> I eventually realized I was just done with prac tests, took a two-week long break, and got a 35 on the actual test.
I feel like we’re constantly told the importance of prep but no one says that actual practice tests and familiarization with the format is also just as important, so I’m sharing my own experience in the hopes that someone will read it and take that extra prac test they’ve been putting off, lol.
Anyways, good luck to everyone.
I took the SAT this december and got 1420(-12 ebrw -2 maths). I really want to reach 1550 and now Im completely lost on how I am going to improve further.(I finished all of 8 practice tests and level 3 ,4 english questions on KA) Please help me gobears, im very distraught
@Salahadden - I am in same boat, I completed all 8 official practice tests and got 1460 - english is my weak subject (in math 1 question wrong) - what resources you suggest other than Melzer books - more precisely practice tests.
should I email you?