<p>I simply cannot find the time to sit down and study for these tests, sometimes its too much hw or now its finals coming up. I am actually a sophmore, and got my psat scores back with a 176 (with no prep) and i am very very disappointed. I know i can do ALOT better with even a little prep, but i need to find the time? How do you guys manage to do it with hw and several time consuming ecs?</p>
<p>HELPP!!! I need cc advice ASAP before its too late!</p>
<p>study at night when you have nothing else to do</p>
<p>chill out. be a kid while you still have a life. start studying this summer. just enjoy the rest of sophomore year</p>
<p>Some people study; others don't. You shouldn't worry so much about it. Sadly, I am not one of those who can do nothing and pull a 2300+. I do fairly well without studying; if you can't find the time, be happy about what you can achieve without studying.</p>
<p>The secret is not to study for the test. Huh? No, really. The secret is to read widely, read often, and read thoughtfully. If your school work keeps you busy, be sure to keep up with all the assigned reading, and THINK about it. If your math course in school is challenging, or if it isn't challenging, of if it's downright boring, make sure you know all your math cold, doing extra problems from your textbook if necessary, and always do any extra credit project your teacher lets you do in math. Now you're most of the way there: you've learned more about reading, and you've learned more about math, and that's two out of three sections on the SAT. (Really reading a lot will boost your writing score too, so that's all three sections.) That's all you have to do. But it is helpful to do a few old tests under actual test time limits, for which the Blue Book </p>
<p>Amazon.com:</a> The Official SAT Study Guide: Books: The College Board </p>
<p>is helpful. But that's not unduly time-consuming. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>start this summer... most ppl take it and get their best score junior or senior year anyway so just chill</p>
<p>hey if ur this worried u WILL DO MUCH BETTER
study during the summer. if ur gonna be busy on and off, make at least 2 weeks that u will use JUST to study for the SAT. practice from the guide up there and you will get results!</p>
<p>I don't. just show up, and take the test. It's designed to measure your natural intelligence, not the capacity of your parents to pay for a tutor, or the amount of work you put into it.</p>
<p>Study in the summer and that way you can kill two tests in one quiet season - take the PSAT in Oct and the SAT in either Oct or Nov. No problems, no worry, no stress.</p>
<p>seriously, this is the best advice : "The secret is to read widely, read often, and read thoughtfully." </p>
<p>I like to read the newspaper in the morning with breakfast, or during school when I'm bored. Or read in the car if your parents are driving you somewhere.</p>
<p>Study over the summer period. You WILL have the time. It just depends on how motivated you are. Good luck!</p>
<p>You should get your hands on as much practice sat exams you can find and study them over the summer. take like 2 first without timeing yourself. see how you do and work on the areas u are weak in. Then, take some more tests under normal Sat timing and see how well you do and just keep doing that in addition to studying from a book from like Kaplan or the Princeton REview and most importantly Vocabulary.
Id say enjoy your June as a kid then become a recluse the rest of your summer and study until October comes....then you my son should be prepared for the October exams.</p>
<p>Believe me, I have a pretty heavy schedule too -- it's a normal thing to be awake until one or two in the morning doing homework (after starting at four or five in the evening). It doesn't take much to buy a review book and study ten pages a night. Maybe a half an hour, tops. :)</p>
<p>I improved my ACT score by 4 points in 6 hours. Here how I did it:</p>
<p>1) I had already taken the PLAN test and got a 27: (30 English, 30 Reading, 28 Math, 21 Science). That predicts about a 30 ACT.</p>
<p>2) I decided to focus first on science. I bought a Princeton Review book and read all their strategies thoroughly. I went through all their mini-quizzes slowly and analyzed the results. I was able to narrow my focus down to the specific types of problems I was having trouble with, and then master those problems.</p>
<p>3) I then took an untimed practice test just for science, and went over all my wrong answers. I made sure I knew the reasoning behind the correct answer to every single one. I retook that test and got all of them right (no, I had not memorized the answers).</p>
<p>4) Then I went onto math. I just went through the concepts that looked tough, took a practice test, and went over the answers and made sure I understood them. Then I took a different practice test.</p>
<p>The next day, I took the ACT. I got a 34 (36 English, 35 Reading, 34 Math, 30 Science).</p>
<p>Could I have gotten a 35 by preparing diligently for months? Maybe. But just one day of cramming yielded almost the same result. By limiting my total study time to 6 hours, I was able to stay alert and efficient. But most importantly, I was forced to focus on what was the most important instead of trying to be comprehensive, thereby wasting my time on information I had already mastered.</p>
<p>Obviously you will not have the same strengths/weaknesses that I had, and your study plan will probably be nothing like mine. I just wanted to share an example of how just a moderate amount of deliberate, focused prep can be extremely effective.</p>
<p>So I guess my answer to your question is: you don't need to devote massive amounts of time to get a great score. You may need to in order to get an amazing score. Otherwise, just a few days of diligent study could make a tremendous difference.</p>
<p>WOW nice randomname..</p>
<p>like everyone else on here, don't worry about it until summer. Take the ACT in June if you want, but take it as a practice. You really shouldn't worry too much until Junior year. Study over the summer, and take the nearest test after you're done.
Or if you are bent on taking it this year, you can chart out a study schedule. I don't know if you're the kind of person that likes to plan things, but it was necessary for me because I have such a busy schedule. I've found that once I've planned it out so I can get through a prep book before the Feb. ACT, I actually get it done.</p>
<p>Your score is well above average, but not great. You are the type of person who can greatly benefit from an SAT prep class.</p>
<p>I know that everyone in CC argues against it, but they tend to be the smartasses who have the time and motivation to sit down and study.</p>
<p>But for starters, you can start doing 30 minutes a day.</p>
<p>Just cut down 10 minutes from wasting online time, 10 minutes from talking on the phone, 10 minutes from any time wasting... Well, you know what I mean. If you try hard enough and manage your time, you can get plenty of time available.</p>
<p>Well done, I received the same score : )
62- CR
61- Math
53- Writing (?!)
I'm hoping to do MUCH better with independent study this summer.
The salutatorian at my school scored in the low 180s.
I'm not worried. Neither should you!</p>
<p>i would say, chill. My score went up about 30 points between sophomore and junior year with minimal studying. Just study for like the month leading up to the psat and you'll be ok.</p>
<p>To get a reality check, here's what you do:</p>
<ul>
<li>Take a practice test, preferably from the blue book.</li>
<li>Go over your results, and see what you messed up on.</li>
<li>Think about what skills you don't know</li>
<li>Then set a realistic time frame for how long it'll take to learn those skills and how to improve.</li>
</ul>
<p>One of my friends, now a sophomore in high school, keeps freaking out about the PSAT, because she wants to get the "prestige" associated with it and the money. I told her that $2,500 seems like a lot, but if you win a few local scholarships you'll be able to make that much. Prestige? By college no one will even care!</p>
<p>The SAT is supposed to test your skills, not how well you've studied for it. If you have the skills, you won't really need to study for the SAT itself. It's like taking a very easy graduation placement test (Washington state has a test that everyone is supposed to pass in order to graduate); if you know everything, why study? </p>
<p>The friend I mentioned kept asking me, "How did you get that score? How many hours a week did you study?" I told her none, except I prepped a little a few weeks before the test. She didn't believe me. She was expected some number like 3 hours a week. 3 hours a week for what?? To learn a few grammar rules and some ways to manipulate numbers? She responded by saying that she was asking one of the Language Arts teachers to help her every week with grammar and that she was going to start reading the newspaper everyday, just for the PSAT ! I told her that the LA teacher probably doesn't have the time for that, and that you should be reading the newspaper because it's good for you, not because you need it to boost your SAT score. I told her to list what skills she needed to have, and that if you can't understand a newspaper article or use mathematical logic and reasoning to solve problems (more like puzzles and brain teasers, really), how will you survive at some big-name school? </p>
<p>That's the reality check. The SAT should measure (although it really doesn't) your reasoning skills and your basic reading, math, and writing skills, which you are going to need in college. If you have these skills you should do fine on the SAT, just like a high-achieving high schooler won't need to study for a graduation test since he/she will know everything already. And it's these skills that you'll probably need in the university. And so you shouldn't necessarily be just studying for the SAT. You should think of it as gaining necessary skills--that's ultimately what you should be working on.</p>