PSAT Tips?

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>Next year, I'll be a junior and I kinda really want to make the cutoff for National Merit Scholar. I took the PSAT twice so far and the SAT once. Here are my scores:</p>

<p>Fall 2009 PSAT: 174
Fall 2010 PSAT: 189
March 2011 SAT: 1990 (650 CR, 650 W - 10 Essay, 690 M)*
Please note that the March SAT was the only one that I actually "prepared" for (only 2 practice tests). On both of the PSATs, I went in completely cold.</p>

<p>Now..., I usually do fine in math. It's actually my best score. All. The. Time. However, there are always a couple of those hard and confusing questions that I never understand. Any tips here?</p>

<p>Critical Reading... Quite notably, the vocab section always kills me. It's not that I don't understand the syntax of a sentence, it's that I don't know the definitions of half of the "difficult" or "Level 4 & 5" words that appear on - at most - 1 or 2 questions per section. Additionally, I've always had a problem with the somewhat ambiguous questions on the Passage Reading. I always end up doubting myself and miraculously... choosing the incorrect answer. Additionally, some of the passages can be extremely... confusing for me to understand. Any tips to tackle this section?</p>

<p>Writing... Whenever I tackle this section, I am usually capable of completing the Improving Sentences section flawlessly, or somewhat close to flawlessly. Same goes with the Paragraph one. My problem comes in whenever I have to identify errors in a sentence. Typically, the first 10-12 or so come naturally to me; that is, I am able to identify them with my "ear". However, whenever you get to those last few difficult ones, I am always somewhat inclined to answer "E" on every single one of them. Why, you may ask? Why, because they sound right to me. Aside from memorizing mind-numbing grammar rules, do you have any other tips (I'm planning on reading silverturtle's Grammar Guide, too)?</p>

<p>As resources, I have the BB and I also have McGraw-Hill's PSAT Guide. Any thoughts? :)</p>

2

<p>What is your State? The State determines your cutoff and it can vary by almost 18-20 points.</p>

<p>SAT score is not a clear indicator of PSAT for writing since your essay score is quite high and it seems to have boosted the SAT writing score. </p>

<p>What is your PSAT breakdown in 2010?</p>

<p>The improvement of score can come from practice or improved knowledge. So you will need to get some books that provide guidance in the areas you are doing badly, work on it and then take more practice tests.</p>

3

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<p>I’m currently residing in Oklahoma.</p>

<p>

CR= 59; -4 in vocab, -3 in author’s craft, -3 in inferences
M= 66
W= 61; -5 in identifying sentence errors</p>

4

<p>Oklahoma seems to have a cut off at 206 which is not a bad score for you to make with some practice.</p>

5

<p>Read Silverturtle’s guide and then learn Direct Hits. :D</p>

6

<p>Thanks :slight_smile: I guess it’s time to start prepping… Would the BB help here?</p>