<p>Is it possible to improve to over a 2,200 between now and May? Absolutely. I had a very similar score as a junior on my January SAT (2,070 - 740M, 660CR, 670W), and when I took my March SAT I got a 2,230 (800M, 770W, 660CR). So my critical reading didn’t improve at all (My weakest section and the hardest to improve, so I didn’t expect much). However, on my first SAT, I was extremely disappointed with my math and writing scores, especially since I was much better at those sections than critical reading and expected better scores than I got. Fortunately, it’s easy to improve those sections. Even though I already knew them pretty well, perhaps I made some stupid mistakes or got unlucky that first time on the SAT or, who knows? So I just kept going over math formulas, going over every single math question I possibly could (every single college board practice test, every Princeton Review practice test, every Barron’s practice test, every Kaplan practice test, I think even a McGrawHill workbook, any practice tests I could find, and I went over every single wrong/omitted answer or any answer I wasn’t sure about or thought there might be a better way to solve). Sometimes math teachers at school can be a big help for understanding tough questions you get wrong. It’s also sometimes helpful to know math beyond the SAT because it can help you solve a question more quickly, but don’t worry about that if you don’t know much beyond SAT math. As for writing, I used the Sparknotes guide (“7 Deadly Rules”) online to keep going over the writing rules (Sparknotes, in my opinion, gives the best explanation of the writing rules for the SAT, and you can access the explanation online too by googling “Sparknotes 7 deadly rules”) and then just kept practicing with all the practice tests I was doing and going over all the wrong/omitted answers. Improving paragraphs can be tough. Sometimes I honestly just go with whatever sounds best, although I’ll of course try to use writing rules to eliminate what’s obviously wrong and use common sense to eliminate wrong answers. For example, “being” is a word that sounds awkward more often than not. The SAT usually doesn’t like that word. <strong><em>Usually</em></strong> an answer choice with that word is wrong. If you ponder over what’s wrong with a sentence for a while or keep trying to find something wrong but can’t, some redundancy, etc. but can’t, don’t forget that every now and then there is indeed no mistake with the sentence (Which is, of course, annoying because I always wanted to make sure that if there’s a mistake, I was finding it). My first essay was a flop because I was running out of time and rushed it. After the first SAT, I practiced my essay writing. I started doing practice prompts every day between my first and second SAT, whenever possible. The prompt could be from the blue book, Princeton Review, whatever. I practiced coming up with examples quickly, finishing on time, making sure I used up lots of space to write (Preferably all the space - College Board might deny it, but longer essays are generally given better grades) and having my dad or College Confidential or an English teacher give me feedback. How can you maybe improve critical reading? The Volume 1 and Volume 2 Direct Hits books are constantly praised here for their vocabulary content, so you can make flashcards for words from those books that you don’t know and keep going over the flashcards. I’ve never personally used the book, but I always hear about this book specifically and have heard excellent things (Too bad I didn’t know about it 2 years ago when I took the SAT). Of course, you can keep practicing critical reading passages/questions. If you don’t already do this, it would be a good idea to read the newspaper every morning (You can just read a small piece every morning online - New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Economist). If it doesn’t help (It probably won’t or very little anyway, at least it can make you more informed about the world and possibly give you essay ideas). It sounds like a lot of work. To an extent, it was, but it wasn’t that bad. I mention all these practice tests, but I actually had already taken most of them before the first SAT, so there weren’t a ridiculous amount to take before the next SAT. As you can see, the difference between my initial score and second SAT score was simply a matter of some practice, some review, some experience (with my 1st SAT) and perhaps a little luck. Don’t listen to the naysayers. Some people will say you probably won’t improve much on your next SAT, maybe just 20-30 points. I find that the kinds of people who say these things tend not to work nearly as hard as I did. For example, I’m always amazed how some people are shocked when they hear that people did, say, 15 practice tests to prepare for the SAT. I did way more than that. I probably did at least 50 practice tests (Not saying you have to do this to get over a 2,200, just saying that often times people think it isn’t possible to improve a lot because they aren’t prepared to put in the work necessary).</p>