<p>“To those of us who had heard the principal of the high school talk about the budget, the news of the staff cuts (was) not surprising.” Why is “was” used here, and not “were”?</p>
<ol>
<li>Prepositions/Idioms</li>
</ol>
<p>How are we supposed to study for prepositions/idioms? Is there any formal way of knowing them besides using your ear? Like this one: The 7 month old baby was considered precocious (to her family) because she was already able to… </p>
<p>How are you supposed to know that “to” her family is wrong? What would be the replacement?</p>
<p>1) The subject is news, hence you must use “was”</p>
<p>2) And there’s no formal way of knowing idioms. Some are blatant and repeated while others just inherently sound wrong. And the correct sentence should be, “by her family”</p>
<p>I’m not sure how accurate my practice sessions have been. I’ve been doing timed sections individually, and haven’t done a full timed test in one sitting in a while (the last couple times I got in the 1900’s/low 2000s). Plus I haven’t done any essays except for 1 so my writing scores are hypothetical (Realistically, my essay can get anywhere from an 8 to a 12 depending on how I feel that day or how prepared I am for the topic).</p>
<p>CR - 680. I’ve been consistently getting 3 wrong in each section, if not off by 1 wrong or right question, so that tops me off at about 680 or 690. I know I can definitely do better, but that invisible barrier is stopping me. And I’m slowly running out of resources.</p>
<p>Math - 770 was my most recent score, but I reckon that that practice test was easier than the other ones. </p>
<p>Writing - Anywhere from 650-730, because I don’t write my essays. I haven’t been doing consistently well on the MC section though. In one session, I might get 3 wrong but in the other, I might get 7. </p>
<p>I’m aiming for a 2300, not sure when I’m gonna take it, and I’m entering my junior year.</p>
<p>@MyRealName You use “were” usually when dealing with conditions contrary to fact. “If I were” “If that were to happen” Both sentences deal with something that is not definite.</p>
<p>You use “was” when dealing with conditions not contrary to fact. “The news was not surprising” “Was I rude?” These sentences are definite. </p>
<p>You also use were when dealing with plural. “They were” And was is sometimes used for singular “I was”</p>
<p>Prepositions is pretty simple to me. It links nouns and pronouns. It’s kind of like a modifier and “locates” things. Like, where is the book? UNDER the table.
Think about a circle on a page. “Into,inside,in” would all be written inside the circle. “outside of, around, out, near,beside” may be written just outside of the circle. And then there are the other prepositions like, of, except, from, for, like, to…</p>
<p>Meh I’m scoring somewhere in between but I think I get lucky in writing sometimes. Last test, I scored a flat 2300, but I got an 800 writing. Usually I’m scoring an 800 math, 750-800 writing, and 650-700 CR. I’m a rising junior.</p>
<p>Sorry guys haven’t been too active on cc lately.</p>
<p>To all those who are asking for critical reading help:</p>
<p>For the sentence completions: I learned many many words, which complimented my good intuition skills to ensure that I rarely came across a question that I could not answer. What I do is first come up with a pair(or single) of words that would fit in the sentence. I then look at the answer choices and attempt to match up my words with each of the possibilities. If I can’t tell right away, I use the process of elimination. I can usually get it down to two choices this way, or even one if I’m lucky. </p>
<p>For the passage-based readings, once I’m done reading each passage I come up with the main idea of it, without looking at the answer choices. This main idea helps me answer the “the author would most likely agree with (blank)” questions, as I already know what the author was trying to get across. Then, for each question referring to certain lines in the passage, I first look at the lines in question and come up with my own answer. I proceed to attempt to match my answer with one of the ones provided. </p>
<p>I’m not sure that these techniques will work for everybody, but they in part enabled me to get every critical reading question correct on the January 2013 SAT. Learning vocabulary is a must, as is truly understanding a passage before one begins the questions associated with it. </p>
<p>In response to how long the pwn and the chung’s took me:</p>
<p>The tips in Chung’s take very little time; I just read through them and did a few of the problems associated with each tip.
The pwn guide definitely took some time, but because I was determined I was able to finish it in around two and a half weeks. It really helped me learn to look at each question in a different way, and has decreased my math section time by at least five minutes.
I still am awaiting an opportunity to see what effect(if any) the chung’s has had on me, so I will update you when that opportunity arises.</p>
<p>By the way, I am a rising senior. If anybody has any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.</p>
<p>I am really hoping for a 700+ in CR. Looking at the curves for the past year, I don’t think the curve will be in our favor but if it is, the test will be extremely hard. I want to perfect math and writing but anything can go wrong on test day.</p>
<p>Yeah the only way to decrease the chances of anything going wrong is, unfortunately, practice practice practice. The more math questions one sees, the less likely it is that one on the test will be unfamiliar. That’s why I’ve been doing so much practice, and have started to do old sat’s that I’ve found on the internet. All one can do is try to make the chances of being stumped on test day smaller and smaller.</p>
<p>Got a 680 on a writing section according to kaplan 12 tests 2012 this seems way too high since I got 11 wrong. Anyone know what 11 wrong and 10 essay would give me? Also anyone have any tips for the later questions in error identification portion.</p>
<p>@omnipotent24 you’re only a rising junior and you’re scoring in the 2300’s??? I’m a rising junior and right now I’m in the 2000-2100-mid 2100 zone.</p>
<p>Got 9 wrong Cr and 3 wrong math and one skip anyone here used the kaplan 12 book? Some of the Cr questions seem very odd and not really realistic but I want practice and don’t want to deplete my online sat course tests just yet.
So it Seems today I got (and this probably has no reflecation on my current status)
680 critical reading 620 writing and 720 math a 2020.</p>
<p>Is it smart to start taking the SAT ASAP? My friend says its stupid because im paying for it and that my scores will be way better junior year so i’ll e wasting my money. (I’m an incoming sophomore-need the best possible scores I can get if I want to make it into UCSB because I will be OOS and have minimal EC’s other than 173 volunteer hours)</p>
<p>I took a kaplan sat today so all my results could be trivial. I got 5 wrong in the Cr 4 of which were vocab I desperately need to improve my vocab I’ve been using a flashcard app to do so but honestly haven’t been using it as much as i should be. I got 9 wrong in writing most of my errors are error identification. In math I got three wrong which is annoying me since I got a perfect on the sat 2 math 2 and feel like I should be able to do better. So todays test score was a 2110 the highest score I’ve ever received. I can improve it and it’s correlation to my next sat score was probably be minimal because it was made by kaplan. Tomorrow I shall look at the answer explanations for the questions I got wrong and try to take another test.</p>
<p>My breakdown: mock may 2010 sat (qas)
720 CR, 800 Math, 500 Writing ( gut only, don’t know what I was thinking )</p>
<p>Progress so far: CR is still in the low 700 range, usually I was trapped by some wording on the questions, so I easily jumped into an unwarranted answer.
Math is consistent 800, I need this 800 for Oct.
Writing is improving really quick, with the first section I can get all 11 improving sentences questions right, usually go 3-4 wrong on improving sentence error, 0-1 on improving paragraph.
The second section I sometimes go -1 but most of the time I nail it.
So with a 9-12 essay score, my writing is in the 650-700 range.</p>
<p>My goal for Oct SAT: 2400!!! I need this to maximum my chance for getting into my top choice college.</p>
<p>My plan right now: I have 40 or something authentic SAT tests from collegeboard, I have finished BB, will work on the real test and also internalize everything I learned.</p>
<p>On writing I am working on Erica’s grammar guide.
For CR I am implementing natiroprep’s method ( I forgot the name ) and doing 3 CR section each day, all timed.
For Math, I barely prep anything. But I think I need to do some questions.</p>