<p>Hey guys.
I just got my score back. I got a 710 on writing (8 Essay) and 750 on math (Probably 1 omitted and 1 wrong).
I am trying so hard, but i just can't get 800s on both sections.
Wat prep books did u guys use?
How did u guys study for these sections?
I am taking the January test too so i have about 30 days left til the test.
Please help meeeeee :)
Thanks guys</p>
<p>umm i got 800 math and 780 writing on this december one but i dont think you realy want to follow my way</p>
<p>since i also compete in AMCs and huge national math competitions, i spent like 1 hour a day in the summer between 8th grade and 9th grade doing math probelms from these art of probelm solving books (totally boosted my math ability)...which i guarentee if you can go through one of these books, anyone can get a 800 on Math II SAT...
but anyways yea i got 8 on aime so i dont think 800 was a shock (you can try, go to the forum but i doubt it)...
in all honesty, remember some basic formulas, factoring tricks, and look for similar triangles in geometry problems...also notice that many math problems dont have tricks...when given a right triangle look for pythagorean first, dont think of something fancy and stuff like that</p>
<p>and for writing, two words: formula writing</p>
<p>Btw, penndreamer, want to help me on CR? I only got a 660 this time even though i was confident i could get a 700+, on both psats ive taken ive never gotten higher than 70 either...</p>
<p>besides studying vocab, how do go about your CR passages? Do you make notes after each passage? What do you do exactly to get better because i always make mistakes in those questions.</p>
<p>dude i do AMCs too and do mv calc but got 770</p>
<p>^umm well i made usamo and got 144 on amc too, but you probably just made a careless mistake...dont worry about it i only got a 77 on the psats this year lol</p>
<p>actually penndreamer, to be honest, i dont really think you should even be taking them again...if you got a 800 on CR (or pretty high which im guessing you got), 770 on math, 710 on writing, i would be very happy with that score, especially because its more balanced too.</p>
<p>just do practice.. go over old problems that you did because CB's style are limited due to the "standardizaton"</p>
<p>btw, i got a 800M on OCT and a 800W in DEC :P</p>
<p>haha. LOL i got a 700 on reading.( Not 800)
I used to get around low 600s so i asked myself what i was doing wrong.
I realized that i was spending too much time in each questions (cuz i hesitated a lot between 2 answer choices)
SO i just trusted my gut feeling and my score just went up as a result.
And guys. Wat prep books did u guys use for writing/math sections?
I already finished BB. LOL. Help me guys :)</p>
<p>It isn't going to make a difference. They don't pick off the high scorers and then work their way down until a class is full. They know there is no meaningful difference between a student who scores 750 and one who scores 800 after X tries. Your scores are fine- its the overall package that matters. If anything, to take it yet again just reinforces a classic nerd stereotype, that you don't have a life and live very narrowly in books. It doesn't make you more interesting.</p>
<p>i m just trying to break 2200 and i m set. I might as well just take it one more time. I m not gonna study super hard or anything. Just to see if i can improve just a little bit more.
And i want a 800 on math and writing because those are the sections that i m sure i can raise. so any prep books guys? what do u guys recommend?</p>
<p>yea academentia, if you are thinking about top colleges (HYPSMC), i would retake a 2250- or something thats skewed like 670 r/800 m/800 w...i mean it doesnt hurt since they all superscore</p>
<p>besides i dont think they really care about the "nerd" persona, they know most people applying are that type anyways.</p>
<p>ok well, for math yea i guess just do all the old problems, if you cant do one, you can post on here...most of the people here are pretty helpful and can do all the problems from the BB</p>
<p>for the writing, i think the BB is the best (even though i dont have explanations for the answers)...most of the mistakes i can tell where i made the mistake from just seeing the correct answer...also practice writing TIMED essays</p>
<p>besides BB, for writing, you can also use that princeton review one with 11 sats...and DONT USE GRUBERS</p>
<p>wat about Kaplan and Rocket Review? I heard they are pretty gud?</p>
<p>Blue Book = Good starting point
10 Real SATs = Great way to improve crit read
Collegeboard Online Course <- It's like 5x better than the BlueBook (more realistic/harder)
And finally all 800 SAT Problems of the Day</p>
<p>It's a lot of work but hey, its worth it.</p>
<p>I got a 790 on the Writing (12 essay), and I would tend to disagree with the timed essay thing. Before, when I tried to write like I wrote my AP English Literature essays (which I got a 5 on), I got an 8 on the essay. You just have to write by the formula. Fill up both pages. Fully support your arguments. ANSWER THE QUESTION COMPLETELY. I would suggest writing in a 5 paragraph format because that is what most graders are likely looking for. For the multiple choice, it is a massive crapshoot for me, so I can't give great advice (I got a 64 last test and a 74 this test), but I would suggest just reading a ton of review books for that, because its all about basic sentence structure.</p>
<p>yea thats what i meant, you use formula writing (that first post i had) but time it in 25 mintues so you have enough time to fill up both pages and 4-5 paragrahs (before i didnt until i practiceed like 4 essays from the BB). Also, structure your thesis beforehand, so no matter the question, you follow the same structure every same.</p>
<p>and i guess they dont care about factual errors, one of my friends got like a 12 on oct. sat essay and she made up things like compromise of 1850 was lincoln's compromise (i mean thats like so obviously not true but yet still got a 12)</p>
<p>Also, I do not know if this is relevant to others, but when I did not include a personal example, I got a 12. I guess its because my personal examples are blatantly made up, but if you are like that, I would suggest not using one.</p>
<p>hmmm. i agree with that. But some of the excerpts force u to use personal examples. I hate those.
Anyways, any tips for writing section? Like how to get all the questions correct? even hard ones?</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
dude i do AMCs too and do mv calc but got 770
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>A lot of people DO them, but do you score well?</p>
<p>Blue Book = Good starting point
10 Real SATs = Great way to improve crit read
Collegeboard Online Course <- It's like 5x better than the BlueBook (more realistic/harder)</p>
<h2>And finally all 800 SAT Problems of the Day</h2>
<p>Amazon.com:</a> The Official SAT Study Guide: The College Board: Books</p>
<p>So, I'm assuming this is the Blue Book or BB.</p>
<p>What's QAS?
How do I sign up for the CollegeBoard Online Course
What's 800 SAT problems of the day?</p>
<p>Sorry for kind of dumb questions.</p>
<p>I've never gotten a 12 on the essay, I've just gotten two 11's, but chronicfuture hit the nail on the head.</p>
<p>You literally have to write by the formula. It's not going to be a fancy essay like the ones you write for your AP English class. Just do the standard 5 paragraph format: Intro, 3 supporting arguments for your thesis, conclusion.</p>
<p>On my december SAT, I got an 800 in both math and writing (and a 690 in CR so yea I'm one of those skewed people hahahaha), and I wrote a one sentence BS conclusion BUT I filled both pages down to the very last line. As much as CB says it's about "quality" and not "quantity," the longer essays always seem to get the 11 and 12s. So, what you need to do is follow that format and fill up two pages. Also, try to throw in nice SAT vocab words (correctly of course). I'm 99% sure this is why I got an 11 instead of a 12 (and the conclusion lol), so learn form my mistake: use good vocab, and at least a decent conclusion.</p>
<p>As for your three examples..... I've heard of people making up personal examples and score 12s, so it's possible. Personally, I always stick to books/history/current events. I actually made a list of 10 different books/historical events, etc. I could use just so I have a good pool to draw from. I'd suggest you do the same. </p>
<p>As far the MC for writing, I think I can help you there as well because I used to score around high 600s in writing when I first took a practice test (beginning of junior year). On the december one, I got an 80 on MC portion. Basically here's what you want to do: Get a good review book (I used princeton review and found it very helpful) and memorize which rules come up often (because a handful show up all the time, like misplaced modifiers, subject/verb agreement, etc.) Once you are brushed up on the basic grammar, you just need to take timed practice tests, and carefully review what you miss. It's as simple as that.</p>
<p>In no time you'll begin to see how college board seems to use the same stuff. Also, as a general rule of thumb, ONLY go by if something "sounds" right or not on the easier questions. If you find nothing grammatically incorrect with an awkward sounding sentence (and especially if it's a harder question), do NOT make the mistake of selecting the incorrect-sounding portion.</p>
<p>**By the way, I MUST stress that you absolutely and positively understand WHY you missed any question. Frankly, the blue book sucks in this department as there are no explanations. If you don't understand something, ask someone on here or use another book.</p>
<p>**Also, I want to add that you need to work fairly rapidly for the writing sections because the time is generously less in comparison to questions. So if you're not a person who can process information and read quickly, get a speed reading training program like AceReader or something equivalent. If you feel pressured for time, you will most likely make mistakes, so always be ahead and in control.</p>
<p>And finally for math, you're already in the general ball park. Unfortunately, with the SAT math section, for the most part, you have to get them all right. So your goal is minimizing (or I should say, eliminating) mistakes. How do you do this? That's right, practice tests. Though one tip I can definitely give you is don't spend too much time double checking your answers to the easy questions. I stated before in reply to someone that there's usually an easy (short) way to do a math problem and a hard (much longer) way. Your goal is obviously to spot the short way :p However, for the last few problems, this can be quite difficult and take up time. So work quickly through the easier ones and make sure that time is available. It may seem obvious, but I always had a habit of second guessing myself (and still do) and can never seem to move on until I have checked the answer to the last question at least once mentally</p>
<p>That's all I can think of at the moment, and I probably wrote a mini novel haha, but hopefully you found something helpful in it :)</p>
<p>Wow.. i got the same scores as you did on the December SAT. (710W, and 750M)</p>
<p>Get RocketReview for writing. I shot up from a 61 n the PSAT to a 710 on the December SAT. Astonisher really is correct about the essay. The SAT Essay is very different from essays your school teacher assigns. I wrote my first SAT essay EVER on the December administration, so it sounded very awkward and was poorly phrased. However, i used tough vocab, i had a strong intro, and used "scholarly" examples (examples from history / literature ), made sure it filled up the 2 pages, and I got a 10. Oh, and you show practice a few times before the test for a 11-12 essay</p>
<p>For math, do alot of practice. Try to learn / memorize the way to do a problem, and think of many ways of doing a particular problem. Grubers is very helpful, but practice is the most important.</p>