Kaplan & a BAD SAT Math Score?

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>Just as a preface: I took the SAT on Oct. 14th and got 700 on CR and W...and a 490 on the Math Section. </p>

<p>I had bought myself the new Princeton Review book and soon found it overly simplified and useless like a few others I'd bought. I seriously wonder why the long and drawn out, watered down explanations printed on huge sheets of cheap paper with even bigger margins are supposed to make it 'all better'? Anyways, my sister had an older Kaplan book lying around and I found some of the math section helpful, so I ordered the new one. </p>

<p>In august I read the entire math section and worked through the problems and little quiz things. In retrospect, I should have done some practice tests, but grading them afterwards didn't seem like very much fun. I thought I'd be fine. </p>

<p>Apparently not. </p>

<p>I'm satisfied with my two 700s. I didn't read the parts pertaining to the CR & W section in the Kaplan book, or anywhere else. I think small foreign strategies would retract from my natural aptitude and cause me to second-guess myself to bad results. So far, I haven't come across any useful hints on either of these subjects (sadly). </p>

<p>But I REALLY need to get my Math score up. (I wouldn't be adverse to any suggestions to improve my other scores either, though.)</p>

<p>I have the Kaplan Math Workbook, but it seems sort of futile at this point. </p>

<p>I'm honestly not a test-bot, even though I do appreciate some of the more helpful ones on this site and this is the first time I've taken the SAT. I'm actually in college (community college, the woes!) and want to get accepted somewhere else next fall- thus the testing now. </p>

<p>I'm registering for the December 2nd sitting, in the midst of finals, so that I can submit my scores comparatively early. </p>

<p>Any suggestions for improvement? Books? Tips? Threads? </p>

<p>I appreciate it!</p>

2

<p>Hire a tutor and use the official CollegeBoard book. My DD brought her math score up 110 points in two months that way. About six hours with the tutor. </p>

<p>While you're working with the tutor, plan your strategy on how you will triage the questions, how many you can skip, when you should skip a question, when you should "guess."</p>

3

<p>i would suggest starting from the basics.</p>

<p>look at the basics in the blue book, and make sure you know everything by heart. Then, start solving problems</p>

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<p>I was in a similar situation as you are, but not as bad. I improved my math score 40 points by going through the Barrons math book superficially. I thought Kaplan was junk, and it didnt help me, but I liked Barrons. Go out and buy the book, do a section a day with all the problems, and it should help.</p>

<p>You're scores are already very good in the other two sections, but I'd recommend just reading more...read the paper, read more books, just read, and it will help you improve your scores.</p>

5

<p>I already read...a lot, but I'll try the barrons and the blue book. Thank you!</p>