<p>Hi, I am a rising sophomore and I want to get 2300+ when I take the SAT in my junior year. When I took my first <em>timed</em> SAT practice test (from the BB) in January, I got:
Math-690
Critical Reading-520
Writing-600
Total:1810</p>
<p>My Critical Reading score was really low because I didn't know most of the vocab and got 2/3 of the Sentence Completion questions wrong. So I purchased Kaplan 500 Vocab Words Volume 1 -> I've memorized about 400 words so far. </p>
<p>I was really disappointed when I got a measly 690 on Math because math is my strongest subject. I bought Barron's Math Workbook and did every single problem.</p>
<p>My Writing Score was alright, but I want to get 770+ when I take the SAT in my junior year. I bought Rocket Revolution a few weeks back and I'm working through it atm.</p>
<p>Today, I took an SAT practice test and got: (to my horror)
Math-720 (only 30 point improvement - I spent about 7hrs studying for Math!)
Critical Reading-550 (even though I've memorized approx. 400 words!)
Writing-660 (got -6 MC. The curve was harsh)
Total:1930</p>
<p>I've spent about 15 hours studying, but my SAT score has barely improved. Help!</p>
<p>Overall, your score did improve 120 points, which is pretty good.</p>
<p>Since math is your strong subject, are you missing questions b/c of simple errors? If so, take your time on math. Go through it slowly, and recheck ones that need a lot of calculations or a lot of logic.</p>
<p>Writing: Work on the essay (easy score increase)! The -6 MC = 660 is not that harsh, given the recent SAT curves.</p>
<p>CR: Read silverturtle’s thread.</p>
<p>Keep prepping, but prep actively. Don’t just do questions, and not review. Review those you got right as well!</p>
<p>Thanks! I’m thinking of purchasing Barron’s Critical Reading Workbook to improve my CR score. Do you think that’s a good idea?</p>
<p>Ok, 15 hours is like, nothing. You have over a year. You would be better off planning to spend a little time every day, or a block of time every week for the next year. Get Barron’s book with the 3500 word vocabulary, do extra problems from your math class at school, and read books that are well written and have good vocab words. If you don’t know what a word means, look it up, and make an index card for it. If you don’t know what books to read, pick from a recommended list for high school students, or ask your english teachers, or the librarian.</p>
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<p>My dad bought the Barron’s CR workbook, but I never really used it. It did seem like it would help since it does have a lot of practice passages and questions ranging from easy, medium, to hard in difficulty.</p>
<p>+130 points in 15 hours is great…</p>
<p>Read the Silverturtle guide. Unfortunately Kaplan has not been very high on the CC list for helping with the vocabulary over the last 2 years (you can see this posted on other CC threads). You are making very solid improvement. You need to work through the practice tests in the College Board book (2nd edition) and look up any word you don’t know in the sentence completions and the reading passages.</p>