<p>I am going to be a senior this year. My score is in the range of 1400. I haven't taken much time to study for the sat since I had to help out my dad with his coffee truck business , he is really sick and its hard for him to work so hard with diabetes and arthritis at age 50. I have only September left to study . I barely started. I have access to tons of books but i am wondering what is the best way for me to study in order to gain a score around 1800- 1900 . I really suck when it comes to the SAT. The critical reading passages take me forever to finish and they confuse me . Im not a good writer since I barely read any books. I am really nervous when it comes to the math as well. I need some help , I have access to all kinds of sat books since i have a library a block a way from my house. I just signed up for a princeton review ultimate 30 hour class but its not enough to get me the score I want. Its also going to be really hard for me to focus on the SAT and my high school classes at the same time. Please help me format a specific study plan.</p>
<p>Since you’re a bit crunched on time, you need to be really dedicated and focused. Of course focus on your school work, but spend at least 2 hours a day on SAT studying.</p>
<p>Critical Reading: I’m not sure if you’d want to buy books, but I would recommend Erica Meltzer’s The Critical Reader. It’s a bit pricey, but you can purchase is on amazon. It really helps you tackle the critical reading section. The book breaks down the section and teaches you how to systematically tackle each type of critical reading question. I also lose focus during the reading sections. They are boring, long, dense, and types of reading we aren’t used to in High School. What really helped me was reading newspaper articles or other adult articles. If you truly want to raise you score (1 month is a lot of time) try to force yourself to read 2-3 newspaper articles a day. You can check the new york times, the economist, arts and letters daily (this is the best website in my opinion). You can take your time and make sure you understand what you are reading. Also look up all the words you don’t know. This should about 10-15 minutes. Remember don’t just blindly read articles thinking they will improve your reading comprehension. Put effort into reading them and truly try to understand them.</p>
<p>Next is vocab. Make a quizlet account and start making online flashcards. Add about 5-10 words a day (or more) but make sure you quiz yourself on those words everyday. There’s a bunch of lists online that has words from actual SAT tests. As you read, add words to the quizlet. Quizlet generates quizzes and games to help you quiz yourself. So it’s not so boring.</p>
<p>If you can only get books from the library, then don’t worry. A lot of the strategies are the same among all SAT books. Whichever book you use, spend about 30 mins- 1 hour a day learning the tips and strategies.</p>
<p>Writing: This is the easiest section. Honestly you don’t even have to buy a book. A lot of people recommend Erica Meltzer’s ultimate grammar guide, but you can just use sparknotes’ grammar guide online for free. It explains every grammar rule tested on the SAT. Just memorize the grammar rules, practice them, and you should easily get a 600-700.</p>
<p>Math: I recommend PWN the SAT. It does have similar strategies taught in books like princeton review (which you’ll find in the library), but PWN is pretty funny and easy to understand. I finished the entire book in like a week because it was interesting. If not, you can use other books as a boring alternative :P.</p>
<p>Things you must absolutely have:
- SAT blue book. This is an absolute must. It has 10 tests from the test makers themselves. Books like barrons and princeton review are only mimics of the test. Wouldn’t make sense to study from a test made by the actual test makers?</p>
<ol>
<li>SAT question of the day. Download the app or answer the questions online.</li>
</ol>
<p>Every weekend, take a practice test from the Blue book. Mark the types of mistakes you make. If a lot of the mistakes you make in critical reading are vocab questions, then focus more on vocab. </p>
<p>Since you’re taking an SAT class, they’ll probably teach you a lot of the strategies. So you can choose to use the aforementioned books or not. But personally, if you are truly dedicated, I would cancel those expensive classes and spend like 80 dollars at the most on the previously mentioned SAT books for SAT prep.</p>
<p>message me if you have any questions</p>
<p>" Im not a good writer since I barely read any books."</p>
<p>Big problem. Reading books is essential to improve CR…vocab and grammar improvement are just added bonuses.</p>
<p>As a current self studier: Study writing first, then math, then CR if u want to improve quickly. CR is taking me forever to improve…As for writing, i went from a 490 to 750-790 in 10 days with Erica Meltzer’s Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar, so definitely work on writing first. CR Is the hardest section, hands down. Im currently studying CR before Math because with my busy 4 AP, 1 honors, and 1 regular class school schedule, I won’t have the time to sit down and study straight for a few hours on CR.</p>
<p>Or get a tutor, the most expensive option, but also the best option if you have the money for one.</p>
<p>Im going to take 2 practice tests a week and review them . Then I will start my actual studying of vocab , Math frrom Princeton Review and then study princeton review english and the ultimate guide to Sat Grammar 2011 edition (since its online for free) . </p>