International needs help with studying for the SAT

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>Hi,
I'm an international from Germany and I am going to take the SAT in June (and probably in December for the second time). It currently seems very hard for me to study for the SAT since people in Germany do not know anything about it and I can ask noone. Therefore, I have decided to ask you guys in order to receive some constructive advice:)</p>

<p>I've been practicing with the official practice tests for a while now and have recently purchased Barron's Sat 2400 Book aswell as the Princeton Review Book.</p>

<p>My current score range is:
Math 530-600
CR 550-640
Wr: 700-800 (if you ignore the essay since I have never graded one until now, but I've done the other sections)</p>

<p>Math:
I get most of the Algebra questions right but I really fail at everything related to Geometry (especially triangles) and at questions that ask for the number of possible combinations in a set given.</p>

<p>At the moment, I don't know how to practice effectively for those questions. Simply taking one test after another does not work for me because I simply don't know the right approach to those questions....</p>

<p>Critical Reading:
My two main problems are my lack of vocabulary and the long passages.</p>

<p>I always get those questions wrong that ask for vocabulary I have never heard of, like "clairvoyance", "iconoclast" or "reacerbate".... When it comes to the long passages, I have problems answering questions about the tone of the passage(s) or about examples that would prove a specific hypothesis in the text and sometimes it is also hard for me to focus.</p>

<p>Writing:
I only have 2 or 3 mistakes in the practice tests, but I'm still looking for ways to approach the essay effectively. I don't know which structure you normally use for an essay in America and I am also unsure about the examples. Are you allowed to invent anything that would fit into your essay?</p>

<p>I currently practice with verbalearn.com, the "1000 Most Important SAT words", Princeton review flashcards and the Direct Hits Books for vocabulary but as already stated above, I don't really have a clue how to approach the other problems I have, especially math.</p>

<p>Thank you for your advice</p>

<p>Habeck</p>

2

<p>I like the Blue Book
[The</a> Official SAT Study Guide: Amazon.de: College Board: Englische Bücher](<a href=“http://www.amazon.de/Official-SAT-Study-Guide/dp/0874478529/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1272203851&sr=8-1]The”>http://www.amazon.de/Official-SAT-Study-Guide/dp/0874478529/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1272203851&sr=8-1)</p>

<p>You said you were in Germany so I thought amazon.de would be helpful, although I don’t know if Amazon has the cheapest book available.</p>

3

<p>Thank you for your reply!</p>

<p>I already own that book, it is the one I get all my practice tests from (besides the Princeton Review one).</p>

<p>As I said above, the problem is that I don’t have a clue how to approach the questions I get wrong. It’s just that when I look up the answers afterwards, I don’t learn anything for other questions of the same time because I have the same problems the next type.</p>

<p>I think my weakest section really is math because I’ve noticed today that I’ve become alot better now at solving those vocabulary questions n in the CR section just by learning vocabulary with verbalearn.com for 2 or three days… Alas, that does not go for math and I always have the feeling that I’m wasting my time when practicing math with the practice tests in the blue book due to the fact that I always get the same questions right and the same wrong (geometry)… I’m searching for other ways of practicing than just doing one test after another.</p>

4

<p>how is the blue book of SAT?</p>

5

<p>Is it concepts you’re missing, or are you just making silly mistakes?</p>

<p>For example - none of these are questions I have seen before, I just made them up -</p>

<p>If y = 5x + 1, what is y when x = 0? Say you misread the question and answer 6 instead of 1. You might not make the same problem next time as it was just a careless mistake.</p>

<p>What is one half of two thirds? If you do not know how to get the correct answer (one third), you do not understand the concept. Try searching the Blue Book for instructions on how to solve that type of problem.</p>

6

<p>Well, I think the majority of the mistakes I make are none of those “silly mistakes” you just mentioned.</p>

<p>It is more like I do not know what to do when I like at questions about triangles( especially questions about angles) or squares most of the time, although we did all that stuff in 9th grade in Germany… Its just that we never do any multiple choice tests at school and you can also get a moderate grade when you get most of the solutions wrong in math, as long as you used the right way to approach the problem. You get points for writing down the right formula, stating which measures the variables have to be replaced by etc and the solutions in the end only get you 1 or 2 points… That is totally contrary to what you have to do at the SAT, where your grade does not depend on whether you have actually understood the problem, but only on the correctness of the answer.</p>

<p>I think I simply need the right way to approach geometry since I am very good at the rest of the math section and geometry is the only part that prevents my getting 650+…</p>

7

<p>Try number2.com
They have free practice with full reviews/explanations.</p>

8

<p>

</p>

<p>You said you have some review books… why not check the geometry section in them?</p>

9

<p>Yeah, you’re right… I’ve begun revising geometry yesterday and I am a bit better at those triangle questions now… I hope it will also work for the rest of the section.</p>

10

<p>If there’s anything you still don’t understand, feel free to ask here or at the <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/759703-math-help-center.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/759703-math-help-center.html&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;