<p>I have taken the PSAT twice in high school. My first score in 10th grade was a 1250 and then I took it another time in my junior year and I got a 1230! I am planning on taking the real SAT and ACT test in june, but those scores are horrible!! Idk what to do, the University of Washington will never accept me :(. I am planning on studying now till the test day but there are so many books out there for both test and I dont know which ones to choose. Give me some tips to score well on both test , I would love to get at least a 1800 on the SAT ( I dont know if thats even possible) and a high score on the ACT so that I get accepted to the UW. Please help me out. :(</p>
<p>When I was taking the PSAT I left like almost half the problems because I never got to them I am so slow when it comes to test taking I am usually the last one to finish any test in class (but I do get good grades) and the vocab was so hard for me. I never studied for any of them because I don't know how to study for it .</p>
<p>It sounds like you have great motivation. So, you can do it! My D had a similar problem and she was able to raise her scores +150 in verbal, +110 in math, and +70 in writing. The verbal was always her weakest area but as you can see, she was able to get the biggest improvement in verbal!</p>
<p>You have time! Make sure that you use your summer wisely. Practice and take timed tests! Don’t overload yourself but do a little bit each day. For example, spend June and July practicing the concepts one hour a day from an SAT book. Then in August test yourself by taking one or two 25 minute timed section per day. </p>
<p>One other thing that really helped is looking at the SAT charts that converts from a raw score to a scaled score. It tells you how many questions you need to get right to get a particular score. We noticed by examining my D’s SAT scores on her first two attempts that she was skipping way too many questions on the verbal. Once she had a score in mind that she wanted to shoot for, we looked at the chart and decided before hand how many questions she could skip. I believe that there were 3 verbal sections so she kept track of how many she had skipped over those three sections and did not go over the number that we had predetermined. With that technique alone she raised her score 110 points!</p>
<p>Take the test in June. This will be your baseline. Then plan to take the test again in October and December. Don’t freak out now because you want to make sure that you keep your grades up! It is great that you have good grades. That will take you a long way!!!</p>
<p>Thanks UMDAlum91 Wow those are really great improvements! What books did your D use to study? I’ve been looking around for prep books but there are just so many and I don’t know which ones would help me the most. And what do you mean about skipping a certain amount of questions? So for example let’s say the goal was for me to skip only 3 questions so all the other ones I had to answer even if I didn’t know the answers to some of them? I am still confused on whether I should aim to guess or not. Yeah I will study a little and take the test on June, if I get some improvements hopefully that will motivate me to study harder over the summer to raise my score.</p>
<p>She used the official SAT study guide from the CollegeBoard, aka the “Blue Book”. The guideline for skipping is that if you can eliminate at least two of the choices, then it is good to guess. Some of my D’s skipped questions probably came from not having time to finish all of the passages. But once she began to time herself on the reading sections, her pace increased. I believe it is all a matter of practice. My D also struggled with the vocabulary but honestly, sometimes, even if you don’t know the word, you can eliminate certain answers based on the positive or negative “feelings” associated with the word. The SAT book talks about this strategy.</p>
<p>Yeah I heard a lot of good reviews on the blue book, I will definently be checking that one out at the library, thank you so much for you’ll. You got me motivated :)</p>
<p>The ACT is way different from the SAT. Plenty of people do good on one and bomb the other (I HATE the SAT lol). Have you taken an ACT practice test? I would try it out so you can see which test you’re better at and can focus more singularly.</p>
<p>Yeah that is what I heard and I feel like I will do better on the ACT than the SAT for some reason (lets hope it’s true lol). Do you know where I could get a practice ACT test online?</p>