<p>I've completed the blue book before taking the test, and got a 1850. I'm really disappointed, because I knew I can do better than this... Anyway, I have another Kaplan purple book with 12 practices. Any other books I should get for practice?</p>
<p>Here's something that's been bothering me... I am constantly getting at least 2000-2220 during the blue book practices, how come my actual test result turns out to be so terrible? Please help me! I REALLY want to get to at least 2200</p>
<p>Oh and suggestions on improving vocabs will be very helpful too</p>
<p>When you did all the prac tests did you understand EVERY question you got wrong or weren’t sure about? If not then I was a waste of time. Go back to the blue book (if you’ve written all over it, go get one in your library they have the DVD one) and redo each test on notebook, UNTIL you are able to get 2400 on each one. Just don’t get unmotivated! You should primarily focus on writing, even before you start to do sections on it research the most common mistake and know them. Make sure you know the concepts. For CR there aren’t many concepts, just learn a few vocab (I suggest these [SAT</a> Vocabulary Flash Cards | Dome SAT Review](<a href=“Domesatreview.com”>http://www.domesatreview.com/sat-vocabulary-flashcards) ) and read some books. But other than that just practice and try different techniques until you find the one that suits you. From what I know there are two basic techniques for CR:
read italic blurb. Then approach questions and look for line #s, mark each on passage. Then start reading, focusing on mark ups. Then answer each question as you arrive at the mark up, making sure to read before and after line number.</p>
<p>Then… There’s this one
2) quickly read passage w/o scanning questions, still read blurb. Make sure you get a sense for the passage, its main idea and tone especially. Then approach the questions and go back as needed.</p>
<p>Personally, approach 1 to CR did not work for me. I’m focusing on math right now, so I have yet to try approach 2. Just research I’m sure there are others. </p>
<p>First, thank you SOOOOO much for the answer! This is really helpful!</p>
<p>I did understand every questions I got wrong, I looked at the explanation on college board website, and went back and “analyzed” them. But my biggest problems are vocabs, careless mistakes on the math, and having trouble identifying grammar errors.</p>
<p>But since I still have at least three month, I think I can improve a lot</p>
<p>And can you please give me some tips on ways to learn vocabulary? Like any strategies?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>(still, I don’t understand why the actual result and the practices have such a huge difference…)</p>
<p>And for vocab: Have several 5-10 minute periods a day to just skim over vocab lists. If you have an iPhone, there are also a lot of great (and free) iPhone apps for SAT vocab. Just look up free sat vocab in the app store. Also, write down every word you encounter and don’t recognize, and then define all of them. Make vocab lists every now and then and review the words on there until you know them all.</p>
<p>I do the practice tests by simulating the actual SAT, going to the library or an empty room, and time myself. But I don’t bubble the answers tho, I only put my answers by the questions</p>
<p>Oh. Well, I am not sure if this applies to anyone else, but bubbling in answers takes a long time for me. LOL.</p>
<p>Anyways, what might help is if you cut back around 3 minutes of your time for each section. Not sure that this is the case, but maybe you just stayed up late the night before you took the SAT and ended up doing poorly because you were braindead (it sounds implausible, but hey it happens… trust me. .____.)</p>
<p>I know there is a score and answer service so I’d recommend buying/requesting the SAT you took along with your answers so you can see what you got wrong. </p>
<p>What sections did you do poorly on? Did your overall score for each section drop or was it just one or two sections that you did badly on?</p>
<p>Also to get in the 2000-2200 range… do you retake practice tests and then count the scores of your retakes as part of that range? (awkwardly worded but hopefully you know what I mean blah)</p>
<p>Sure thing there’s no way of getting around learning vocab unfortunately. It can be ameliorated through an app though and it’s much less time consuming. And BTW, I just tried method #2 for reading and I went from an usual 550/560 to 630 JUST by changing my way of answering the questions! Basically I did what I described above, but I also got the idea into my head that ALL the answers are supported by the passage. For most of the questions, you are honestly replicating what the passage says in diff words, it’s just that the other choices try to confuse you and lure you into “reading between the lines” and there’s no such thing on the SAT CR.</p>
<p>I did not retake them and count them in the “range”</p>
<p>What I did was just take the practice tests, and grade them with the scoring guide in the back of the blue book</p>
<p>And my score dropped as a whole, for example, I was getting 790-800 on the math, 730-760 on the writing, and 630-700 on CR on the practices, but the actual SAT…(sigh…)</p>
<p>I knew, before the test, that all answers need to be supported by the actual text, but I’m having trouble finding the evidences or and supports.</p>
<p>The problem i have with vocab is ways to memorize them, rather than finding them. Is there a way to memorize words more effectively and efficiently? The only thing I did was to look at the word over and over and over again until I can spell it, know the definition of it, and know what the word is when I see the definition. But this takes a long time, I can only do about 15 words a day…</p>
<p>For math, your score probably just dropped because of stupid mistakes. Just make sure you go slower when you take the actual test and double check your answers thoroughly if you have the time.</p>
<p>For writing and CR, practice more to get your scores up. If you don’t know all of your grammar rules and idioms, then review them until you are comfortable with them. I did that and raised my MC score from the 50s to almost constant 80s. Also, if there seem to be two right answers, always go with the most succinct one. </p>
<p>For critical reading, find a test-taking method that works for you, and then practice it constantly. Some people prefer to read the passage and then answer the questions, but I prefer skimming over the questions, reading the passage, and then answering the questions. If you have trouble finding proof, then the reason might be that you aren’t reading closely enough. (This has happened to me so many times. I think that there is no right answer, and then when I review the questions I got wrong, I see that the answer is blatantly mentioned in the text .___.). If not, then just use POE. If you’re stuck between two answer choices, decide which is the most incorrect instead of which one would best fit the answer. </p>
<p>And try to make memorization enjoyable, because I know how monotonous that can get. What I do is make a list with 50-75 words a day and skim through the list periodically throughout the day. I read it thoroughly once of course, but after that I just skim. Since I’m constantly exposed to it, I usually remember most of the words, and it’s great because it doesn’t take up much of my time. Another thing that may help is using SAT vocab iPhone apps. I got a few for free, and the vocabulary words come up repeatedly so I learn a lot from that as well.</p>
<p>If that doesn’t work for you, then try memorizing three or four words at a time. Have a list with around 40 words, and then break them up into small groups. Just learn a few words every hour and then describe things/people/places with those words. That helps too.</p>
there’s no way of getting around learning vocab unfortunately. It can be ameliorated through an app though and it’s much less time consuming. And BTW, I just tried method