<p>My SAT scores are so bad and I thought I was going to do better:
Composite Score:1450
Critical Reading:450
Math: 520
Writing:480
Multiple Choice: 48
Essay: 7
I am beating myself down now since I am an A student and I am not used to getting bad scores. This is the first one I have taken and I plan on taking it at least 2 more times in October and December. I did so much better on my ACT. I don't remember the exact score but it was either a 24 or a 25. I did better on that but I still have work to do. I think I worked myself up too much because I was stressed out from finals the week I took the SAT and I had a hard time sleeping. I couldn't really remember the readings much and it seemed I couldn't focus. I am going to go buy books this week and study every single day until I take it. What are some good SAT and ACT study books? I can't seem to get over this score. Did I ruin myself with this score?</p>
<p>you may think you are an A student, but different schools give out As in different ways. You may go to a school filled with lower level people, therefore you are the best. However in a competitive school such as mine, everyone is a genius and no one gets an A. Yet, the top 20% in my school gets 2300+. The grades you get in school have nothing to do with your intelligence compared to the rest of the country. Your SAT score reveals the truth, so sorry, but you are average compared to the rest of america. You could always improve, but you may be overestimating your intelligence.</p>
<p>Sucks, but that’s life. Try practicing using the blue book and all other books you can get your hands on. Since you have the whole summer, do a few sections every day. Improve your reading score by doing vocab. TONS OF IT. Learn ALL the grammar rules.</p>
<p>What classes did you take this year? And what math classes did you take?</p>
<p>I disagree with the previous poster. Some people just aren’t good at taking the sat and that in no way makes you less smart. I’d recommend just doing a lot of practice tests and maybe trying the act. Good luck!</p>
<p>I agree with idkwhat2say to an extent. The difficulty of achieving A’s varies heavily from school to school BUT your score does not make you a bad student. Right now, you are right about average but study hard this summer, and I could see you improving 200 - 500 points easily, pushing you from ~50th percentile to around 80-90th. I know someone who has jumped almost 700 points; that will be very very hard, but not impossible. </p>
<p>I would recommend getting the official collegeboard book - this will be your most valuable study guide.</p>
<p>Try the ACT. Some people find the ACT to be easier than the SAT</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! I am a horrible test taker so I am going for practice a whole bunch this summer for both the ACT and the SAT. I think I will do much better this time!</p>
<p>Tonton5 is correct - there are many people that have problems with test taking. Proper planning and identifying what your specific issue might be is crucial to finding a solution.</p>
<p>It is totally possible to get A’s in school and not do well on standardized tests. </p>
<p>Take some practice tests, perhaps supervised by an SAT tutor and see if you can pinpoint the issue.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I heard that is what the subject tests do. They are more of a measure of how heavily your school weights your grades. If you’re an A student in math at your school but get 500s on your math subject tests, maybe your school isn’t as great as you think it is.</p>
<p>Anyways GL OP.</p>
<p>I raised my SAT score by 695 points since my sophomore PSAT in under a year of prep (I got a 2015).</p>
<p>Let me start off by asking you a few things that you can answer for yourself:
What are your weak points?
What do you struggle with the most on the test?
How assiduously are you studying?
How often do you take practice tests?
How often do you address your weak areas and incorrect answers on your practice tests?
How many books are you using?</p>
<p>I used 17 books, got private tutoring from two different people, memorized 5,000-7,000 words and studied very assiduously. I took practice tests and conducted self practice sessions everyday. I took ALL of the time I needed to understand why I got things wrong my practice tests. I also did a lot research on what the test wants from you. You need to know these standardized tests inside and out. You need to be able to apply basic skills to every problem you approach.</p>
<p>Here’s something for math:
Buy Dr. Steve Warner’s 28 SAT Math Lessons and Dr. Chung’s 50 SAT tips.
Both significantly increased my SAT math scores. </p>
<p>Also, Dr. Gruber’s SAT Guide has every single word you’ll ever need to know for the SAT.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Also, school has absolutely nothing to do with the SAT and ACT. You can have a 4.0 and an incredibly low SAT/ACT score. Your scores depend upon how well you take the tests.</p>
<p>@herodotus, I don’t what type of test you are taking, but you aren’t taking the SAT because it’s impossible to get a score that isn’t a multiple of 10. YOU CANNOT GET A 2015. You can get a 2010, or 2020, but not 2015!</p>
<p>^ What he said. </p>
<p>Also to the OP, take a lot of practice tests. Study vocab, idioms, math functions etc.
As far as books go, you should get the blue book, barron’s 2400, and the insider’s complete guide to SAT vocabulary</p>
<p>^ What he said. </p>
<p>I mostly self studied and did only reviews</p>
<p>The first post by idkwhat2write was so mean. I don’t have that great of SAT scores, (I have like a 1750.) So by their estimation, I’m average. However, I just found out today that I made 5s on all my AP tests. How, on God’s green earth, idkwhat2write, did I do that since I’m such an average idiot? It just makes me very upset when people judge other’s intelligence by their freaking SAT score. It seems like that’s all that happens on CC. </p>
<p>People who say those things need to get a life. They just sound like pompous psuedo-intellectuals.</p>
<p>Practice, practice, and then some more practice.</p>
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<p>The exact reason why the College Board needs to start testing emotional intelligence. You really can’t get anywhere in life without it.</p>
<p>take like a bajillion practice tests, then train yourself by doing drills with a set of problem in a specific amount of time. ALso, ask your teacher to help you</p>
<p>Pre write your essay! (you can make up examples) and honestly, just practice ALOT, but the blue book tests are the most genuine. Read silverturtle and noitaraperp`s guide on cc. And make sure when you take practice test you TIME them and go over each one you got wrong and see why you got them wrong. Good luck :)</p>
<p>I apologize if my post sounded offensive in any way, I did not intend to upset anyone. I was simply trying to reveal the truth. As far as the correlation between SAT scores and intelligence, I do still stand by my original point that high scores and high IQs generally coincide. However, I admit there are some exceptions. One girl is in mostly AP classes and gets at least B+s in all her classes, yet she got in the 1700s. This is a very rare case, and most students do get what they deserve. To the OP: you may unfortunately be a part of the small minority whose SAT scores do not accurately reflect his/her intelligence. However, I highly doubt that you may be a candidate for an extremely competitive score if you are scoring at the 50th percentile. Either something went wrong on the test date or you are highly overestimating your ability. Hopefully it’s the first. In any case, lots of studying can indeed help you out to dramatically increase your score. When I took the PSAT in 11th grade, I did not do so well compared to my peers (202). I studied a lot by completing as many practice tests as I could and my score increased by 370 to a 2390. My study tactic was to bring my math up to 800 first since that was the most achievable goal for me, and then focus on reading and the essay. My multiple choice writing section was always fairly close to perfect, so this was not a problem area. For the essay, I was getting 8s and I had no idea what to do, but the threads on CC are extremely helpful with improving your essay. Reading, I felt, was mostly luck. The first time I took it, I did not study vocab that much as I felt it was not necessary and not helpful (I was only getting 2-3 wrong due to lack of knowledge of the words on the test). However, when you are aiming for a significant increase, vocab is the way to go. I boosted my score in reading by 150 points simply by studying vocab and nothing else. The bottom line is, studying can really make a difference, but only to an extent. I hope you do well on your next SAT, and I apologize, once again, if I seemed rude.</p>
<p>I mean, sure, ACT or SAT doesn’t tell your intellect, but I do think it tells your academic ability… And if English is your mother tongue and you don’t have learning disability, something way lower than 1800 does mean something. And there are some students who get low score on Math, and while your Math score is still low, but it’s the highest section you got.</p>
<p>SAT score does tell something, that’s undeniable. Sorry. It doesn’t tell anything in specific, like someone who got 1800 might be more knowledgeable than someone who got 2100…It’s totally possible. But 1450 is way too low. If you know how to read and if you know the vocabs (which are pretty much basic, if you read newspapers and great books a lot), you should get at least 600 in CR. There’s nothing wrong getting lower than that as a person, but I wouldn’t call someone who got lower than that “an A student” It’s probably your school who gives the easy grade, and it would be better for you to stop thinking it’s just about your test-taking skills and face your weakness and work on that before you get into college. Even if you suck at taking test, even if it takes more than 10 minutes to read a passage, I’m telling you, you can get higher than 450. If you got 1450 in total, it’s really not about how you take the test.</p>