<p>Hello CC!
I was browsing around and looking for ways other students have raised their SAT or ACT scores and I failed to really find anything pertaining to a student with much higher CR than math scores.</p>
<p>My scores
First try no prep, no english or math honors etc:
CR: 760 (99%)
Math: 640 (84%)
Writing: 630 (87%)</p>
<p>I'm very disappointed in my writing score, I got only 4 multiple choice wrong in the entire thing yet received a mere 6 on the essay, destroying my score.
As far as reading goes, I expected an 800 so a 760 with 1 sentence completion and 3 passage based mistakes is rather unsettling.
My biggest weakness is undeniably math, particularly geometry and the numbers and operations (What exactly is this?) sections. </p>
<p>Does anyone have any reccomendations for good study books, whether a tutor would be appropriate or any other comments? As far as tutor costs, money is not an issue. Same goes for books, courses whatever. My goal is the mid to high 2300 range and my minimum I must achieve on my second try is a 2150 or better. I seriously feel that my essay was not graded objectively (I focused on an analysis of the ability of leaders such as Hitler and Mao to motivate great crowds and achieve momentous changes.) and I know that I will be able to raise my writing score without issue. When I took the ACT practice on their website, under timed conditions and without using any references or studying whatsoever my essay was given a 12 upon submission.
It's the math I am truly worried about. Does anyone have any ideas for ways to improve this?</p>
<p>PS: I am not a bad test taker, I have no qualms with taking a timed exam and even on the math I had plenty of time, I just don't know my arithmetic as well as I should, however I am a fast learned and a very faster test-taker.</p>
<p>Thanks for your time</p>
<p>well, most people on CC have high math scores with low CR scores, as you mentioned. I am one of those people, but I have heard that the Gruber’s book is very good for Math especially. So I would probably recommend that for you.</p>
<p>I’ll check it out.
By the way, does this forum have an edit button, I just noticed that chrome’s spell check butchered the grammar in my initial post :/</p>
<p>i think that the best thing for you to do is to keep taking practice tests and reviewing them… actually “learning” the material isn’t really helpful, since the SAT is mostly a test of common sense/critical thinking. just go over your mistakes after each practice test. this is especially true for the math section.
but good job on the CR! better than me… 2250/2310
but your score right now is more than enough to get into great schools (depending on your ECs, GPA, and essays, obviously)</p>
<p>and @JonTang22 that is really really rude and incredibly demeaning of you… especially as a student who believes that a video of one UCLA student ranting about asians is representative of the entire school.</p>
<p>As far as math goes, practice is the key! Buy the official blue book and find as many practice tests as you can, and just go at it. But really, the math itself (formulas, etc.) is not that complicated if you take the time and effort to learn or relearn it. For me, at least, the problem tends to be with “stupid” or “careless” errors. But that’s another issue altogether. As far as learning the material goes, go through review books and do as many problems as possible. From there, just be ready for test day and you’ll do fine.</p>
<p>Also, if you need a tutor, go ahead and get one. Ideally, try to work in a bunch of practice on your own as a way to reinforce whatever you learn with a tutor. Gruber’s is a good practice book for the SAT (especially in math), but Princeton Review and the Blue book can also be good sources for tests (if nothing else). </p>
<p>By the way, I’m much like you in score distribution. I had relatively high CR and Writing but low math on my first test (800 CR, 710 M, 790 W).</p>
<p>I’m the same way - reading comes easily but math is much harder. A book that I like a lot is Keller’s The New Math SAT Game Plan which is $16 on Amazon.</p>
<p>It gives just enough math info and practice exercises to do well on the test.</p>