<p>Let me make this very clear: I am not a very bright student. My first SAT score was a 1960! However, I divised a study method that helped improve my score 250 points in precisely 1 month's time! ( 100 points each in verbal and math and 50 in writing ) I know what your saying.... How can I possibly improve my low score if all of my practice tests are just as low? If this is what you're thinking..I have some news for you: I WAS THINKING THE SAME THING JUST 1 month ago. I promise you that with this simple bit of advise, your score will impove by atleast 100 points. ( Don't say your not smart enough...I'm not very smart either)</p>
<p>The most blatent problem I see with people who just can't increase their score is the horribly inefficient manner in which they study. Although most of you correctly understand that the only real way to improve is through practice tests, simply doing all the practice tests just for the sake of doing them is a BIG waste of time. Beating the SAT is ALL/100% about managing the time. I mean, with unlimited time, I think all of us could cream this test. Under my method for success, you ABSOULTLEY, POSITIVELY MUST leave atleast 5-7 minutes on each section to go over that section again. No one can expect even smart students to go through a section without a few careless mistakes. On my first SAT test, I was just able to finish each section with no more than 30 seconds to spare..( in fact on some sections I had to leave 1-2 blank) However, on the test i just took in october, I left anywhere from 5-10 minutes on each section to go over the problems in that section. Astonishingly, I ended up changing a total of 11 answers ( all of which I believe I changed from right to wrong)...ok now back to the practice tests. The only way to ensure that you will have atlest 5 minutes to spare is train yourself that way. ON EVERY SECTION OF EVERY PRACTICE SAT TEST YOU TAKE FROM NOW ON, SUBTRACT 5 MINUTES FROM THE TIME ALLOTED! Make sure you atleast get through all the problems in that section. If there are any problems that you are not 100 % confident about, put a little x next to the problem. With your extra 5 minutes, go back through your test, first finishing any unfinished problems, and then quickly skimming for blatent errors. Repeat this process until you feel comfortable taking off atleast 7 minutes from the alloted time. TRUST ME! IF you can get it up to 7 extra minutes on EACH section, your gonna net yourself about 1-2 more correct problems per section. That totals to 80-160 more points per test. For those of you who absolutley cannot for the life of you manage to have left over time, there is something wrong with the way your anwering the problems. lets consider what a lack of spare time means on each section.</p>
<p>Math: If you have trouble having spare time on the math section ( Like I had) that means one of two things: Either you are not familiar with the types of questions or you are familiar with the questions but your method for solving them is tediously inefficient. If your problem is the former, there are two things that MUST BE DONE befor you can go on with my time saving tips above. First, You MUST review the basics of the math that is being tested ( The blue-book has a great review section. That you should go through until you understand the math.) Once you have done that, Go through the three math sections of your first practice test and simply write out 1.) what type of problem it is and 2.) what you would do to solve it. If the solution entails more than 2-3 steps.. ITS NOT RIGHT. </p>
<p>Verbal: If your having trouble saving up time on the verbal section Let me make something VERY VERY VERY clear: GOING STRAIGHT TO THE QUESTIONS WILL LOSE YOU TIME!!!! (I am not saying this because I read fast. I AM A VERY slow reader. I read at 220 words per minute.) Just read the darn passages once thuroughly and then go right to the questions. On the sentence completions NEVER EVER EVER simply start off with guess and check. Before you even look at the answers think a possible word that could fill the blank and then proceed. ( This alone saved me 1.5 minutes on each verbal section) </p>
<p>Those are all the Tips for now... but, If followed exactly, these few tips should REALLY increase people's scores. I would like to hear feedback omn whether this advise was useful.</p>
<p>hey, that actually sounds like a good idea. kind of, maybe it's a little too masochistic. you know what, nevermind. i'm not going to do this.</p>
<p>edit: sorry. i'm an ass. i don't mean that your advice is bad - i agree with all of it - i just don't have the time to train myself down to 7 free minutes in every section.</p>
<p>Frankly, I think that's too much time; 7 mins at the end?!</p>
<p>I totally agree with putting marks next to the ones you aren't so confident in; I do it too. But what I do is, if it's a CR section, review quickly the marked ones right before I go on to the next passage/subsection (i.e. sentence completion --> 1st passage). If math, before I turn the page.
Cause saving them for the end means you have to redo the whole thinking process, while doing it as you go means you just jar your memory again.</p>
<p>Let me warn you guys that this is terrible advice for most of you. Students get stuck in plateaus for a lot of different reasons. One of those may actually be that they are working TOO FAST! The BEST time to catch an error is NOT at the end of a section, but WHILE you are working a question or right afterwards. Therefore, intentionally leaving about 7 minutes at the end of a section in order to go back and review certain questions is not the most efficient way of correcting mistakes. If a student did not rush to finish in the first place, he would be making a lot fewer mistakes (which he then does not have to go back and correct).</p>
<p>I trust that this method worked for you, Bondsfan, but what works for one person does NOT necessarily work for everyone, or even most people. Following your advice would be VERY, very dangerous for most CCers. I always tell ALL of my students, strong, mediocre, weak, to NEVER rush and take ALL of their time (all 25 minutes, 20 minutes, or 10 minutes) on the sections. Does my advice work? Well, so far, from October alone, I've had a 2290 (220-point increase), 2280 (320-point increase), and 2150 (200-point increase). Learn ALL the concepts and techniques, and take your time, guys. You want to be efficient, but that doesn't mean rushing. That's how you improve significantly.</p>
<p>Hey Goddot, from your posts I noticed you are very helpful. Over the summer I worked my butt off to improve my weak 1750 (500 V, 620 M, 630 W)...but in October, it was a very bad test day. I went in w/ 2-3 hours of sleep (just couldn't fall asleep for some reason). I didn't finish my essay...did only 3 paragraphs and rushed the M/V sections to try to get back to my essay. It was horrific...I came out feeling like I bombed it, which I found out I did w/ a 1840 (590 V, 600 M, 600 W)...nowhere close to what I was getting on practice tests (750 M, 650 V, 700 W).</p>
<p>It seems my whole routine changes on test day. What are your tips to stay calm and focused the night before and test day. Also, what are your tips for time management so I stray away from making careless mistakes especially in math?</p>
<p>I'm retaking it in November and would like to make sure I have a good mindset going in...feeling confident ready to bang out a 1400 / 2050-2100. Should I do any practice the next 2 weeks or what? I really want to get down time management. Should I practice Math sections with lesser time (23 min for 25 min section..to leave me 2 minutes to go over any ones I were unsure of?)</p>
<p>I'm down to the same, studying for SATs is HARD. But I think that every little bit helps, if you are feeling confident then you probably don't need to do anything drastic, just do the occasional section just so you can keep the "mindset". I do very badly on the math part... does anyone have advice?</p>
<p>As far as time management, make sure you have a watch with a digital timer function on it. You want to either use the stopwatch function (counting from 0) or the timer function (counting from the time limit for the section). Make sure, however, that the watch does NOT beep during the exam. If you are going to use the timer function, add an hour to the time so that the timer does not go off at the end of a section. For example, input 1:25 for a 25-minute section. Glance at your watch every 5 minutes or so to make sure you are working at a good pace, but don't get too obsessed with the time.</p>
<p>You should definitely practice in these last two weeks, but try to take the last two days off (Thursday and Friday) so you can rest and relax before the exam. Learn some deep breathing techniques (there are tons of resources on the web). It can help you calm down and relax before and during the exam. During the exam, think about nothing else but the question you are working on. Don't think about colleges, don't think about your score, don't think about what you might be doing afterwards. Just focus on the exam.</p>
<p>For the math questions, you may want to practice circling every key word to make sure that you do not miss or mis-read any details. Re-read the question right before you circle the answer to ensure that you have not answered the wrong question. Try to work through the early (easy) questions fairly quickly (but still carefully) so that you can leave enough time for the medium and hard questions. Figure on spending an average of about 2 to 2.5 minutes per question on the last 3 to 5 questions on the Math section. Budget enough time for that.</p>