<p>So today, I got my results back from CB for the May SATs, i got a 740 in math, a 580 in reading and a 600 in writing with an 11 on the essay. Combined score is 1920.</p>
<p>I have taken PSATs for the last two years, and have gotten 198 and 202 respectively. I took about five practice tests the last three months and have scored above a 2000 on every single one. How is it possible at all to get that bad in reading/writing. Especially in reading, where i came on collegeconfidential to check my answers. I estimated that I only got 9-11 wrong in reading and then there is the ridiculous writing score. Yes, I am also an all A student in adv classes. How in the world did I do so horrendous in both writing and critical reading?</p>
<p>You may have just had a bad day. There is also the possibility they scored it wrong- rare, yes, but I know someone it happened to. (except that was on the bio SAT 2…a tad different but still) you can call and ask them to regrade it by hand, but I believe there is a decent fee for that</p>
<p>I’ve looked at the curves, to get my 580, I would have had to get about 19-20 wrong and the most i could’ve gotten wrong is 12-14, ***.</p>
<p>When you expect yourself to have gotten around 10 wrong, it’s generally always higher. Just wanted to point out that little perceptive flaw we’ve all got. </p>
<p>I commend you on your math score (I didn’t get that high, albeit without studying-- 630). However, you can make vast improvements in your other sections. Stop trying so hard and the scores will follow. Seriously, you might’ve just been overconfident and, as a result, a tad bit absent-minded. You need to be able to excite yourself to do well on those sections (I direct this to you because you clearly state your ability to score much higher, which I assume you have from personal records), so don’t burn yourself out. Don’t even look at anything related to those sections for the month prior, but study arduously and efficiently beforehand. I ended up with a 680 CR and 750 W without studying at all, and I assure you I don’t read for fun and I hate writing for fun. I do it on demand, though.</p>
<p>I didn’t just expect to get 10 wrong though, i checked the consolidated list and i finished every section with about ten minutes to spare and rechecked every single answer. Do you know any ways to improve possibly. I memorized the latin and greek roots of most of the words and I also subscribe to the Economist or whatever. I loved the essay and that’s why I believe i got a 11, but I think writing could have been my mistake. However, looking back at how easy the reading section was, I thought I understood all the passages correctly. A 580 is just unacceptable because that is what I got on my 9th grade PSATs and I only recently got a 670 on it on my most recent PSATs junior year. I cannot understand how I did so bad if I had so much time to look over everything.</p>
<p>This was also the first time I took the SATs, anyone have any advice on how to get a 700 on both writing and critical reading, I am thinking of buying the Barron’s 2400 book, and also buying old literary classics such as 1984 as well as other books. If any of you guys have any advice, I would appreciate it</p>
<p>There’s a wealth of things you can do to improve your CR from 580 status. Sorry you don’t know how you managed to get the score you received, but it happens from time to time and the first thing you must do is accept that you had a crummy day. You should also consider it reflective of your ability to work under that sort of pressure situation, and you need to take all measures to rectify that. Pure and unhindered focus is needed to maximize your score. </p>
<p>I can probably get you started. Word roots are the wrong way to go because there are always exceptions and in the SAT you need to use context as the primary arguments for the decisions you make. I have an Adobe formatted copy of Direct Hits Vol. I and II, just the words and their synonyms. It’s guaranteed to clean up your sentence completion section of all errors or maybe just one or two if you memorize it. PM me with email if you’d like it. </p>
<p>For writing, maybe you should start talking to yourself. I may sound idiotic for saying that, but sometimes we do much better in every day speech when sounding things out phonetically rather than allowing our minds to process a ton of words on paper. It’ll help you catch the nuances in various sentences, and I am pretty sure you’ll have enough time to do it. I do that and I always have 12-13 mins. left over on that section. Just give it a try and see if that helps any, or else you’ve gotta hit the books and memorize the rules to apply them. Avoid at all costs. It disrupts the flow of your exam all-in-all, but some people are simply better off this way. I just do it by what sounds right.</p>