<p>It's like I'm STUCK I am NOT getting better at all!
I'm always in the like +/- 50 range (sometimes less)
600ish is the average and I'm not getting better.
Any tips anyone? :(</p>
<p>How many practice tests have you completed?</p>
<p>@Brolex
Like 10?</p>
<p>Do you actually go over them and understand why you got each question wrong and if you notice your method to get the answer took too long you try to find a faster method? Try taking some of the older ones again, if you aren’t scoring close to 800 you aren’t reviewing them enough.</p>
<p>^ I completely agree with this! So many people post essentially this same question. And I want to ask back: do you really know how to solve EVERY question in the blue book? Can you tell me WHY you missed them the first time? Can you explain how to do them now?</p>
<p>Now if you are just trying to get from say 500 to 650, it is actually ok if the hardest few problems stump you. But can you do all of the ones you need to? If not, you have not “finished with the blue book” yet!</p>
<p>But I also think that you have to make sure of two other things first: have you mastered the standard tricks? In other words, do you know the non-traditional ways to appoach a problem when the formal mathematical ways do not come to mind? And then do you know the actual math content that the test covers? The blue book will not help with this but there are others that will. You can seek out my favorite, or one of the others recommended here at CC.</p>
<p>@pckeller
Hit me with your methods ;p</p>
<p>Here are some tips that I posted in another thread that I think would be relevant to your situation:</p>
<p>(1) Learn SAT specific math strategies. If you don’t know these, then you are putting yourself at a serious disadvantage. For example, if you find yourself doing algebra or complicated computations, then you are not optimizing your score.
(2) Practice SAT math problems 10 to 20 minutes per night. This will maximize your retention and keep you from burning out.
(3) Redo every problem you get wrong OVER and OVER and OVER again (a few days apart each time) until you can get the question correct ON YOUR OWN.
(4) Practice problems of the appropriate level.
(5) Practice tests should be taken just a few times to make sure you are applying all the right strategies under timed conditions, and to make sure you are familiar with the structure of the test. This is NOT the time that you are actively improving your score.</p>
<p>@iHamza</p>
<p>Even though I wrote about them in my book, I don’t like to call them “my methods”. They have been floating around the world of SAT prep forever. I just organized them into one place, maybe emphasizing a specific attitude/approach…</p>
<p>The main idea is that for many people, traditional set-up-an-equation formal math is not their most likely avenue to success. You can score pretty high on this test (though maybe not 800) by approaching each problem as a little game and looking for the simpler, lazier and certainly less sophisticated method to solve it. I draw a lot of pictures. I use trial and error a lot. And the classic: I make up numbers to fit the variables whenever I can. (It’s not that I couldn’t do the algebra. In my day job, I teach physics and I am pretty good at traditional math. But there is something extra satisfying about finding the sneaky way…)</p>
<p>A few years ago, I posted the first chapters of my book on my website. Since then, I have seen those chapters posted at other sites as well, so I guess I’ll put the link here too (if that’s allowed). It’s just the first three chapters but it gives you what I think are the most important advice right up front: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Learn what you need to answer to get to your score goal. Then use your time to focus on those problems. </p></li>
<li><p>Treat the test as a puzzle: Read, Think, Play</p></li>
<li><p>Learn the classic algebra-evasion techniques</p></li>
</ol>
<p><a href=“http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8kuaf/pland/gameplan123.pdf[/url]”>http://mysite.verizon.net/vze8kuaf/pland/gameplan123.pdf</a></p>
<p>Hope it helps…</p>