<p>I don’t quite understand the whole study-extensively-for-the-SAT idea. Isn’t it supposed to be an APTITUDE test? It’s supposed to be measuring your natural ability - studying for it every day twelve hours a day seems a little over the top…</p>
<p>I repeat what others have said: your time would be much, much better spent in volunteering, starting a business, self-studying some APs, getting a job…colleges like to see that you’ve actually done something worthwhile over the summer. You can always study a little for the SAT on the side. Maybe you aren’t the best test-taker, I don’t know - just show them that you’re more than a robot and have more interesting qualifications!</p>
<p>Miko… you must self study. SAT prep can get you over a few testing hurdles, can get you comfortable with the test, etc. 11 months of prep will have already done that for you. Think of a graph of study time vs. score increase. Its a logarithmic curve… the more time the less incremental improvement you get. You are already so far along that curve that its flat! If you want to impress a college, work on the other aspects of you application. Take a summer job, do volunteer work, do something that highlights a passion you have. Those kinds of things are just as important as SAT scores! </p>
<p>Also… imagine the following college interview question:</p>
<p>Interviewer: (Colloquially) “So… what did you do last summer?”</p>
<p>You: (Blinking) “SAT Prep.”</p>
<p>Interviewer: (Slightly amused) “Well…that’s cool. What else?”</p>
<p>You: (Beginning to sweat) “Well… I ate and slept.”</p>
<p>Interviewer: (Perplexed) “That’s it?”</p>
<p>You: (squirming nervously) “…”</p>
<p>That’s the kind of thing you want to avoid. Now, I can empathize with your parents wanting you to study and calling it a life changing decision… but they need to understand that the SAT score is not something that responds well to studying. You can improve your score by learning the test, but that doesn’t take too long and after you’ve done that you’re wasting your time. Self study a little bit… but other than that… live life. That will be better for you, and it will be better when you decide to apply for colleges as well (you probably don’t want to be writing college essays about your SAT prep class!)!</p>
<p>Honestly, if you’ve worked for 11 months, you’ve hit your ceiling. I highly doubt you’re missing questions because you don’t know how to do them. As a 2400, I can say honestly that studying can only take you so far. In 11 months, you’ve surely taken every practice test, memorized every vocab word, every preposition, every grammar convention, every algorithm. Hell, you’ve probably encountered most of the problems that could be on the test. Studying more just isn’t going to do you any good.</p>
<p>I’m telling you to do neither. Hell, with 11 months of studying for ACT you could easily be getting a 36 regardless of intelligence. </p>
<p>At this point, you’re getting way diminishing returns on your SAT studying. You really ought to consider landing a job or a good internship, which would be much more useful on your application than an extra 100 points (assuming you’re around 2100 already, because if you’re not at this point then 2200 is a pipe dream). You don’t even have to enjoy yourself. You can do something productive with your summer that’s good for your college app and has nothing to do with testing. Community service is a good idea. And if you’re that desperate to have a good score on a test, try the ACT.</p>
<p>I’ll be honest, I only read the orginal post in this thread, so I’m not sure what everyone else wrote, and for that matter, I could careless what everybody else wrote.</p>
<p>But here is my 2 cents. </p>
<p>If you really need to online and ask strangers for help on a “life changing decision,” man how are you going to get through life.</p>
<p>Seriously though I understand, you probably didn’t mean it as a “life changing decision” only calling it so you could get more attention, but really?</p>
<p>But listen dude, drop the class, do your own thing. Have a good summer, stop worrying so much about not getting into college.</p>
<p>I agree with what everyone said-- drop the class, but study by yourself. It’ll be a lot more effective, AND it won’t eat up your entire summer! </p>
<p>Take a trip… experience a new country… volunteer… get a job… don’t hole yourself up in an SAT Prep class that might not even raise your score that much. As far as I’m concerned, you do need to prep for the SAT, but I think colleges will be more concerned with your life experiences (volunteering, cultural immersions in other countries…) than an SAT score.</p>
<p>12 hours a day is just ridiculous - i mean, maybe if it was once every two weeks, sure. But 6 days a week, you’ve gotta be kidding me…why don’t you travel, chill, relax, selfprep for a few aps and save ur family some $ in college, learn a brand new language, take some college classes, do some research in a lab, try something new ex. skydiving, rock climbing, jet skiing, mountain biking. I mean, r u seriously gonna waste 3 months of ur life for one test when u know plenty of 2400 scorers get rejected from the ivy league every year</p>
<p>I took the SAT for the first time this June so I plan on using that as my baseline for future tests. In other words, I don’t have a test score I can give you guys even if I wanted to…</p>
<p>Based on practice tests however, I would say my average on math is 680 while my CR is around 590. It should be noted that these practice tests were given by my tutor and, after reading Xiggi’s method, I couldn’t help but question my tutor’s method of teaching. For the past 11 months of studying with him, he has NEVER (not a single ONE) given me a practice exam that’s directly from the BB. He ALWAYS uses Princeton, Barrons, or Kaplans. In other words, those scores might be completely different then what I’m really capable of on the SAT (most likely for the worst).</p>
<p>Also, perhaps it’s about time I reveal this. My GPA at school, for the past 3 years combined, is in the sh**ters. Like, no joke. It’s embarrassing. In fact, it’s so embarrassing that I will not mention it even if you PM me for it. Let’s just say that it’s so low that most colleges won’t even bother having a second look at my transcript for my OTHER stuff.</p>
<p>My parents realize this. They know that having ONE good year in High school (my senior year, the most useless year) won’t help me at all (and that’s under the assumption that IF I do good). Which is why they’re pumping so much money into SAT prep classes; They think that a high SAT score and ACT score will somehow “balance” my low GPA.</p>
<p>Your above post gives all the more reason to focus on things other than the SAT. Firstly, ditch this SAT tutor of yours because he’s wasting your time. This summer you need to maximise your potential for colleges an that’s not gonna be achieved by spending your entire time with a useless SAT tutor who’s clearly not raising your score. Self studying that 1 hour a day will be sufficient. In the other time, review your school work over the summer so that you can knock up your GPA and try to do things that will appeal to universities regardless of your poor GPA. Volunteer work, starting a website, everything that’s been listed above.</p>
<p>The 12 hour SAT prep method is, I’m sorry to say, severely counter productive. Ask yourself what you will have achieved after endless hours of prep. Maybe you’ll have slightly better critical thinking skills and will be better at basic algebra, but there’s much more to the world than just these.</p>
<p>Take everyone’s advice and make the best of this summer. Enjoy it, but at the same time work hard and don’t do anything that will waste time because you’ve only got a few months.</p>