I received a score in the 1100’s back in October and am looking to raise my score to around a 1500. I’d really like to know if I have a decent chance of doing this with the following:
- Intensive 200 hour course w/ ~75 hours of homework
- Khan Academy practice (30min-1hr/day)
- Prep Scholar course completion
Thanks for your thoughts!
What was the subscore breakdown?
640M/260CR/230W
400 points by this fall is probably not realistic.
CR is difficult to bring up in a short amount of time, because critical reading skills take years to build. Do you have any extenuating circumstances to account for your 490 CR+W score (e.g. English not spoken at home; dyslexia)?
Take timed practice tests. For the answers you get wrong, read the explanation of the answer, and make sure you thoughly understand it.
Yes, my family does not speak English at home, but I don’t understand how it would help with my score
It lends perspective on why your English verbal ability is on the low side. And might enable the AdComms to cut you some slack on your low verbal score.
Are you an int’l student? Or are your parents (and you) immigrants to the US?
Parents are immigrants, but I was born here.
Anyways I’m not really one who’d make the excuse of “I don’t speak English at home” as an explanation of why my CR/W score is low, so I’ll just try to no-life study for it
This is not the case, to my knowledge (I work with several hundred international students a year).
Coming from a student who has traveled back and forth between countries with different languages and spending most of my school years studying a second language (not english even though it was my first) it really hurt my SAT score. If I were to go back I would have at least tried the ACT because of the variety and would have seen if there was a change in my score. If you have already done that and have seen that the SAT is your best fit, then I think taking those classes would help because I’ve been told that they teach you test taking strategies that will help you figure out how to take the test while using your time to the best of your ability. I would have taken it but they cancelled their sessions at my school last summer due to the number of students that signed up. Just please try not to stress too much about it like I did during my senior year, I literally took it in December because I kept telling myself that I could get a better score. And you don’t have to necessarily give up your social life you could study with a group or a friend and go out after that to get some food while you take a break. Most importantly, don’t forget to enjoy your last years of high school.
P.S.
Sorry this was long, I was in this same situation last year and that this would help.
Rather than pick some arbitrary SAT score you want to achieve, it would make more sense to simply prepare a bit, try your best, then pick realistic schools based on your best score(s).
After a retake of the test, if you are still not happy with your score, then look at test-optional schools.