<p>You can definately improve. I personally improved 32 points from my sophomore PSAT (206) to this year's 238. Although Math had always been my strongest subject and I've consistently scored 80, my reading and my writing jumped 12 points and 20 points respectively in just one year. The secret? Practice, practice, and more practice.</p>
<p>To improve on CR (Granted, these suggestions are pretty hard to do if you only have a month or two before the SAT, but these are good long-term habits to keep up if you want to boost your CR score):</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Get into a habit of reading. Really. Dedicate yourself to reading something at least 1/2 hour to 1 hour everyday (not including textbooks or school material). Novels are a great place to start, but you might find it more helpful if you advance into the difficult material (i.e. Scientific American, "Classics" in fiction, commentaries, quality non-fiction books). Personally, I found digging into the dusty Penguin Classics, Wordworth Classics..etc that I've been putting off on my bookshelf for many years to be the most helpful in building my vocabulary and recognizing literary structure. A book of collected historical speeches may also help.</p></li>
<li><p>Start memorizing word lists, if you haven't already. Get a book like Word Smart (if you haven't exhausted it already) and go through the book slowly, a few words at a day. DO NOT try to cram the book in the night before the SAT -- it won't help. Vocabulary needs to be acquired slowly over time for it to be effective and ingrained into your memory. If possible, it might also help to practice incorporating words that you just learned into school essays immediately after memorizing it to bolster your memory.</p></li>
<li><p>Get the Blue Book, the old Real SAT, PR's 11 practice tests and start going through practice passages. Timing yourself is the key. Practice working under pressure while improving accuracy. Read through the explanations to find what you missed and how you can improve. The reading questions tend to repeat in format (and that includes the format (i.e. wording) of the answers =p) from test to test. Note: I personally found the PR 11 tests book to be a good prep nonetheless, although I've heard criticism that it wasn't the best test...etc.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Writing Strategies:
1. Get a good prep book and memorize the common errors (for error ID). By memorizing the common errors and correctly applying it to the test, your Error ID section score will be at the very worse 2 or 3 questions from perfect, guaranteed.</p>
<ol>
<li> For SC and PC I'd just say be adept at "listening" for the mistake. Most SC questions have obvious errors and someone who speaks English as his/her native language shouldn't have that big of a problem in identifying the error. I've noticed your writing score isn't bad so you should be okay.</li>
</ol>
<p>Math tips:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I'd say (personally) avoid the so called "tricks" in the SAT prep books for math. I don't think they help students that much and in most cases it only make students confused. If possible, go through and learn each concept thoroughly, making sure that you understand why everything works the way it does. Math is a logical science, so all of your assumptions should be able to be proven through logic. </p></li>
<li><p>Eliminate careless errors. Due to the brutal curve on the math section for SAT, try your very best to cut down on careless errors. This can be accomplished through efficient practice.</p></li>
<li><p>Don't rely on your calculator so much. In a lot of SAT I math problems, calculators only slows you down, not speed you up. A general rule that you might find helpful is to only use your calculator when adding up long figures (which there aren't that many on the SAT anyway).</p></li>
<li><p>Practice under timed conditions. Accuracy and speed is the key. Again, practice will increase your speed.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>General study tips:
1. I've noticed you said you had a motivational issue in studying, and I am definately not a psychiatrist. However, I've found if you can "visualize" your goal in front of you it often helps in achieving your goal. Try to think of the positive benefits of getting a good score on the SAT and visualize what would happen when you finally succeed and see that coveted 2300 when you log into your account on collegeboard.com. Then, note that in order to succeed, you have to start at ground zero and work your way up. Eliminate negative thoughts from your mind - focus on positive thinking.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Be organized; have a plan. Make a timetable/plan of how you will study for the SAT I. Saying, "I will study 3 times a week" isn't good enough. A definate time and place needs to be set down so you will commit to it and not procrastinate. Set deadlines for yourself (i.e. x number of practice tests done before y date) and commit to your schedule <-- this is the hardest part, clearly. When it's time to study for SAT, put EVERYTHING aside so you will focus purely on the SAT for the next z hours that you'll be spending on studying.</p></li>
<li><p>Eliminate sources of distraction. No phone/computer/siblings/friends/TV/radio. Music helps for some when studying, but make sure the music isn't distracting. If you can't study at your house because there's too much distraction, go to the public library or somewhere silent. Remember, a quiet ambience is the key to successful studying.</p></li>
<li><p>Get plenty of sleep leading up to the test day. A good sleep can work wonders on your fatigued brain. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Good luck on your quest to a 2300!! =)</p>