<p>Okay, so I'm a rising junior buttttt I want to know how to improve myself before I have to start applying...any input is much appreciated!</p>
<p>Race: native american/white
Gender: female
Geography: Texas
Very well known public school
GPA: 98.975 W, 95.897 UW (my school uses 100 point scale, not sure how it converts?)
SAT: I haven't actually taken it but I took a diagnostic
1980 (700 cr, 670 m, 610 w)
(about to start a class, so it'll improve)
ACT: 28 (again, diagnostic-will
improve)
Have taken most rigorous curriculum offered (with the exception of biology.....)
Volleyball
Academic All-District Award
Job at Law Office
100+ community service hours (to date) includes 40+ hours working with life skills students
Undocumented community service with church
Steady job babysitting since 8th grade
Working on pilot's license
NHS
NSHS
Relay for Life-4 years</p>
<p>I'm confident that I can get my test scores up, but what else can I do to improve?</p>
<p>Where did you take a diagnostic test? At a testing facility or by yourself. In that case, what book?</p>
<p>I took it at a facility</p>
<p>Oh! And I forgot to mention that I’m ranked 44/590. not great but still top 10%</p>
<p>Okay. Sorry I had trouble finding your post again!</p>
<p>Here’s my experience. I took an ACT diagnostic at a testing facility and got a “29?” Literally the next day, I took it, got a 32 (eventually got a 33). </p>
<p>The first time I took my SAT “diagnostic” test with a facility, I got a 1780!</p>
<p>On the real test, I got a 2280 (800 CR, 800 Writing, 680 Math (strange since I got 35 ACT math…)</p>
<p>Anyways, see a pattern? From my experience, the testing facilities purposely make the test harder to make you freak out, sign up for their class, and show automatic “improvement.” It could be different in your case, but from my guess, you’re probably already one step ahead.</p>
<p>Ways to improve! First of all, what were your subscores for the ACT? Take some self-proctored tests by yourself (timed) to get an accurate projection. Make sure you use the CollegeBoard book for the SAT and some equivalent for the ACT. Whichever you find easier/score better on, prep for that.</p>
<p>Oh wow!
That makes me feel so much better
Thank you(:</p>
<p>From my experience, once I slowed down and THOROUGHLY read the passages for the SAT, I actually saved time. It seems counterintuitive, but if you have a firm understanding about the passage, once you get to specific questions it makes a lot more sense. Figure out your personal style. </p>
<p>For math… I don’t know. I know I could have done better, but at this point, I kind of don’t care! I already feel my composite is high enough. On the test, I went WAY too fast with the math, and ended up not reading the questions thoroughly. As a result, I got tricked, and my score went down. I would have been capable of solving all of them had I been more cautious. </p>
<p>For writing… Heed my words. MAKE THE ESSAY AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. There have been studies done that make a direct correlation between length and higher scores. I filled in all space available (and wrote a good essay otherwise, 2 body paragraphs, specific examples, word choice) and got a 12. As for multiple choice, learn about ambiguous pronouns, proper comparisons, subject verb agreement, etc.</p>
<p>I really dont remember…I think it was like 30 math, 29 reading, and like 26 on the other 2 sections…</p>