<p>FOR ALL SOPHOMORES...(and Juniors): How did we do on the PSAT? Did you improve from last year? If, so, by how much? </p>
<p>P.S. I did not study at all and got a 166 :( How did YOU improve your scores???</p>
<p>228 without preparation as a junior, five mistakes from lack of attention and whatnot. Assuming you’re a sophomore, there’s plenty of ways to improve: </p>
<p>Read plenty of literature, paying special attention to vocabulary that you don’t understand and making sense of passages</p>
<p>Learning grammatical conventions (see Silverturtle’s SAT guide for this)
Reviewing testable math concepts</p>
<p>Doing practice SATs (I would recommend Silverturtle’s method again, here, though the actual timing will be less important on the PSAT, given the test’s different structure</p>
<p>Work on maintaining your focus for the length of the test; I’m not saying that’s a problem for you, but spacing out at all is very easy to do, hard to stop, and very detrimental to your exam performance</p>
<p>211 improved from a 180 :D</p>
<p>218 from a 176. still not enough for new jersey though :(</p>
<p>So for the practice tests, if I can do about 2 a week…( 1 on Saturday, 1 on Sunday, and review of answers during the school week) I should be on track?</p>
<ol>
<li>didnt study at all</li>
</ol>
<p>208 up from 197 I was a little mad because I was pretty close to being a National Merit Semifinalist</p>
<p>214 → 232
I would say most of this was due to a combo of practice, luck, and focus. Seriously…if you really tell yourself that the stakes are high and you can’t afford to make silly mistakes, you’ll be more likely to pull through. At least I was! And I agree 100% with hkobb7 - focus is so important. Tell yourself you can sleep for the rest of the day, you can catch up on 5 episodes of your favorite TV show, you can stop at Dunkins on the way home and pick up donuts…whatever it takes, as long as you stay completely focused during the test, spend all of your extra time double- and triple-checking answers, and don’t let yourself zone out! It’s only a few hours of your life; think about how worth it it will be when you get your scores back.</p>