My Progress Thread

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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<p>Have you tried annotating the passage? I thoroughly annotate my passages. I love to underline as I read. I also take mental notes and may even mark out where the author’s thesis is :).</p>

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<p>Dear diary:</p>

<p>I am planning to take a full-length SAT test tomorrow when I wake up. So it’s time for a good night’s rest :D. 2400 here I come :D. </p>

<p>I already did some SAT math, grammar, and CR prep today, and while I did make numerous mistakes, I believe that every mistake is a learning experience. I hope that when I wake up tomorrow, I will have synthesized all the information I learned from the mistakes I made today, and I hope I will score a 2400 :D. </p>

<p>Ice</p>

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<p>Yes I have. But weirdly that slowed down my speed and time ran out. :(</p>

<p>Good luck on your tomorrow’s test! :slight_smile: I totally agree with you that every mistake is a learning experience.</p>

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<p>Jan 2010 SAT</p>

<p>Impressions: </p>

<p>Critical reading felt easy. The SCs were tricky. Math was easy beyond belief, yet I still missed 1 question (dumb mistake). The writing was pretty easy, although I missed 2. The essay was right in my domain. Free-writing the old essay prompts really helped :D! </p>

<p>Breakdown: </p>

<p>My score took a precipitous drop from my all time high of 2390 (last weekend). </p>

<p>CR: missed 2 SCs and 2 passage questions. The Essential 300 Words didn’t really help me as much on this test as it did on the previous test. I probably shouldn’t have missed the two passage questions either. 730. </p>

<p>M: made 1 careless mistake. When did a triangle have only 45° degree angles? My challenge is no longer level 5 questions - it’s not making careless mistakes. 770. </p>

<p>W: I bubbled in what I thought was an idiom error - I guess I’m being a little overzealous about those pesky idioms. I also changed my answer from the correct choice to the wrong choice on a question. 770-800 (assuming a 10-12 essay). </p>

<p>Score range: 2270 to 2300.</p>

<p>Summary:</p>

<p>Fortunately, I still have time left in this weekend to complete at least one more practice test. It looks as if I should further brush up on vocabulary, and I should definitely do more sentence completions. </p>

<p>Sometimes, as xiggi said, SCs depend as much on one’s logic as one’s vocabulary. I missed one SC because I failed to fully grasp the logic of the sentence. I know the vocabulary, and I had whittled the choices down to two, and I knew that the “yet” in the sentence was signaling a contrast between the word pairs, but I failed to pick the correct answer, much to my consternation. </p>

<p>I know that my school has a Red Book and I will make sure to get my hands on the Red Book and do ALL the SCs in the book :D. I will make sure to do more SCs today as well. I will also memorize Larry’s excellent list of the essential SAT word roots, which can be found on his Facebook page for “The Essential 300 Words.” </p>

<p>Math. I will make sure to complete more Princeton Review math sections for practice, under timed conditions and under severe time constraints. I will do more 25 minute math sections in 17 minutes, and 20 minute math sections in 15 minutes. The more practice, the better. </p>

<p>Writing - I need to do further work on my essay. I used the 2 example format that dark knight suggested I use and I expanded a lot upon my examples. I also limited myself to one sheet of paper, front and back, to simulate the testing conditions. I nearly ran out of space when writing my essay, so perhaps I need to work on expressing my thoughts in a more concise manner. </p>

<p>As far as grammar goes, I’m going to commit to memory a list of past participles because yet another past participle popped up on this test, and I will brush up further on my general grammar knowledge, and I will keep testing myself with official College Board materials and perhaps the Barron’s Writing Workbook. </p>

<p>I expect to score a 2300+ on test day. A 2400 looks unlikely at this moment in time, but I’m not going to count anything out.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the responses IQ and Jefferey; I will make sure not to miss those again. Here is a math question that I stupidly missed and I am unsure of the best route to the answer to this one. I don’t have the exact vernacular so bear with me (sorry about the subject object pronoun disagreement in this sentence too) please. </p>

<p>There are two buckets with twelve cherries in each. One bucket has red cherries, the other, blue cherries. What is the least number of cherries that need to be removed for the ratio of the red cherries to blue cherries to be 4:3?</p>

<p>As usual I know the answer but I am unsure of the best way to tackle them. Thanks in advance for the help!
Well, back to some calc homework & then some more practice sections and vocab!</p>

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<p>Isn’t the answer 3?</p>

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<p>The fastest way to solve this problem is to realize this one thing:</p>

<p>4:3::red:blue = 8:6 = 12:9. </p>

<p>Keep the number of red cherries you have (12), and take 3 out blue bin so you have 9 blue cherries left. Ratio = 12 red to 9 blue = 4:3. Answer: 3.</p>

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<p>IceQube, there is no need to beat yourself over the scores you are getting. The point after a 2250 is one in which luck and curve considerations make a HUGE impact on your score. I have taken practice tests (mixture of online course, QAS, and BB) and have gotten 2250ish on 5 and 2300+ on five. Got a 2360, 2390, and one 2400 in those sittings. It is going to come down to how you feel on test day and if a question bounces your way or not. All you can do is keep practicing but forget don’t worry if your score fluctuates in this range I think all of us with a shot at a 2400 fluctuate in this range. Good luck!!!</p>

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<p>I have a question for a CR passage that I don’t quite understand.</p>

<p>"… His long, gangling frame seemed to be held together by molasses; he moved deliberately, negotiating the crush while humming a tricky passage from Schumann, sailing above the mob. …"</p>

<p>In this context, “crush” most nearly means
A) pressure
B) crowd
C) power
D) infatuation
E) critical condition</p>

<p>Thanks for the help!</p>

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<p>The answer is B. </p>

<p>“He moved”</p>

<p>“Negotiating the crush” </p>

<p>“Sailing above the mob” </p>

<p>Negotiate: to move through, around, or over</p>

<p>Mob: crowd or mass of people</p>

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<p>That makes sense. I’m not sure why that question was such a struggle for me.</p>

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<p>I find those types of questions really tricky as well sometimes…</p>

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<p>Thanks for your encouragement :). I didn’t really feel disappointed after seeing the score I got today. It is, after all, much better than what I wasgetting. </p>

<p>I’m going to take another practice test tomorrow and see if I can transcend my 2390, see if I cross my score asymptote :D. I’ll be taking the May 2009 exam tomorrow morning. Wish me luck guys and Dorkyelmo :p!</p>

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<p>Yes the answer is 3 but I am unclear on the best way to solve it. I tried extrapolating a little but is the best way to do it take the ratio and just add it to its self until you get close to the total (24 in this case)–if that makes any sense. For example: If it asked for the ratio of 3 to 5 would you then do 6:10 then 9:15 then 12:20 then 15:25 etc. I went further then needed but I really want to know how to solve this one.</p>

<p>That crush question is really just a definition.</p>

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<p>Here’s my solution for the cherry question: </p>

<p>We only need cherries removed from One bucket because 12 is divisible by 4 and 3 so let the number of removed cherries be R. So we set up the equation 4/3 = 12/12-R -> 48-4R=36 and R=3</p>

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<p>Hey guys, </p>

<p>I feel a little bit safer when I report my progress on here, so here goes:</p>

<p>Jan 2008 QAS
-3 R, 760
-1 M, 790
-2 W, 77 MC (780 assuming 10E)</p>

<p>Anyway, I’m getting stressed out because I still feel uneasy with passage questions, even when I ultimately end up doing <em>rather</em> okay. Gaaahhhh I wish to be done with SAT on January 28th.</p>

<p>Reading questions were ones that I was genuinely confused about, but they were trivial in retrospect. As a side note, I got -0 SC and -2 overall was 800, so 1 question away.
Math mistake was trivial: <a href=“http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/4576/dafuq.jpg[/url]”>http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/4576/dafuq.jpg&lt;/a&gt;
Writing was quite difficult, and -1 MC was 80.</p>

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<p>What’s the answer to that math question?</p>

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<p>^ answer is C because the sum of the percentages is > 100. I put A because I didn’t realize that. I actually thought to add the percentages but I saw that 39 + 11 = x0 and that 38 + 12 = x0 so I didn’t think much about it.</p>

<p>As a side note: <a href=“http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/photo/1823118_460s.jpg[/url]”>http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/photo/1823118_460s.jpg&lt;/a&gt; Probably not the best comic ever, but it made me lol while I was typing this post. :slight_smile: Enjoy, you SAT takers!</p>

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<p>Okay, good. I choose C as well. :wink: </p>

<p>LOL, 9GAG.</p>

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<p>so you guys are using the qas’s I posted to these tests right?</p>

<p>if so glad its helping.</p>