Rate/Evaluate my SAT preparation plan?

Test Preparation
1

<p>I am so afraid of failing the SATs, so I will obviously do anything that I can in order to beat the living crap out of this test and beat its makers at the game. So my plan goes as follows in order to take the October 11th SAT:</p>

<p>I will use the 2 CollegeBoard SAT prep books that I have. They each contain 10 practice tests and I will do those. I will first spend the first 2 weeks of summer break reviewing the material that is on the SAT, for about 1 hour per day. </p>

<p>For the last 6 weeks of summer, I will complete 1 test per week, but I will divide the sections up and complete the tests over 3 days since the days correspond with the 3 main areas. I guess I will keep the answers out, seeing as I feel comfortable and it helps me when I am doing math worksheets to know that I will eventually get to some sort of answer.</p>

<p>In September, as I approach the test date, I will complete 1 test per week during the month. This will be after taking a short break during the end of August.</p>

<p>I have decided that looking at vocab lists will not help as much as I previously thought they would. I am taking a course during one semester called "Word Derivation and Etymology." I figured it would help with the SATs. However, I have no idea if I will be taking this course during the 1st or 2nd semester. So I will study word roots. I am also going to self-study Latin since I love studying all things that have to do with languages. </p>

<p>So what do you guys think? Is this a good plan or am I ultimately doomed to score below that 2250 cutoff? Thanks for your time. ALL insight and criticism is appreciated here. :)</p>

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<p>Do not split the tests over multiple days. It will not give you an accurate score projection. Each practice test must be done in one sitting, or you are not practicing it correctly. </p>

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<p>@guineagirl96 Oh that’s right! Thanks!</p>

4

<p>Your plan should be prefaced with:</p>

<p>Take one full test to evaluate your level. Get someone who knows what he’s doing to ascertain your weakness and suggest a remedy. Follow his/her suggestions with as much zeal as you can muster. Then retest. If you are still making the same types of errors - get a tutor. If, on the other hand, you improved - then continue with your plan. You should only practice repeatedly after correcting your inherent flaws (eg: tone indifference, idioms, word in context, etc…)</p>

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<p>Okay. @jbalakhdar Thank you for the tips! I agree with you. I think this process should be as efficient as possible. </p>

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<p>Take one full released SAT and one full released ACT under test conditions (saturday morning with the time limits).</p>

<p>Determine which score is better using the ACT - SAT concordance: <a href=“http://www.act.org/aap/concordance/pdf/reference.pdf”>http://www.act.org/aap/concordance/pdf/reference.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>On the test where your initial score is higher, determine which areas are the ones where you have the greatest potential gains, and concentrate preparation on those areas.</p>

7

<p>You’re getting a lot of conflicting advice. I suggest you scrap all of it and search CC for xiggi’s method - use that as your guide.</p>

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<p>CHD2013 - I don’t see where the conflicting advice is. I think she could incorporate all of those suggestions. For example, I agree 100%
@ucbalumnus
@jbalakhdar
@PolyglotGal‌ - I can rate it or make suggestions, but can you say what score you are starting from? That will tell me if your schedule is rigorous enough. If you do not know, you should take a full-length practice test from your College Board book this Saturday under test conditions. If you have not done so yet, what were your PSAT scores?</p>

<p>I will also add, you should find which strategies work for you, including Xiggi’s. See everyone had something to contribute :).</p>

9

<p>Without knowing where you are at now, I can’t say with 100% certainty what I’ll say will help, but I’m going to give you my 2 cents anyway. What I’m saying is that when I help anyone, I would like to know where you are at initially. Nevertheless, my thoughts about your plan are: </p>

<p>a) I applaud you for making one. It’s also admirable that you’re going to spend at least a good 8 weeks of the summer prepping for this. </p>

<p>b) Your etymology and Latin classes will be great for your vocabulary, but at the same time, I wouldn’t avoid the studying of words that have been compiled like Direct Hits. Use something like Quizlet to learn/review them or if you have a smart phone, you can review them on the phone when you have down time. I’ve seen students go through the list of 321 Direct Hits words on Quizlet very easily in 2-4 days and you could do that several times over the summer. You might even collect all the words you don’t know from your 2 Test Prep books and the other tests I’m going to recommend you take below from the Sentence Completion questions. </p>

<p>c) Read the “Best of SAT Prep Forum” post/FAQ here: <a href=“Everyone, read this before posting: Best of SAT Prep Forum and FAQs - SAT Preparation - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/763933-everyone-read-this-before-posting-best-of-sat-prep-forum-and-faqs.html&lt;/a&gt; See if the other guides or advice may help refine or add to what you need to do during the summer. </p>

<p>d) To add to the list of “improvement stories,” I just saw this post which you might want to read: <a href=“How I raised my SAT score by 790 points-My story - SAT Preparation - College Confidential Forums”>How I raised my SAT score by 790 points-My story - SAT Preparation - College Confidential Forums;

<p>e) The Blue Book - the official guide and the online course by the college board along with the practice tests (<a href=“https://satonlinecourse.collegeboard.com/SR/digital_assets/assessment/pdf/0833A611-0A43-10C2-0148-CC8C0087FB06-F.pdf”>https://satonlinecourse.collegeboard.com/SR/digital_assets/assessment/pdf/0833A611-0A43-10C2-0148-CC8C0087FB06-F.pdf&lt;/a&gt;, <a href=“https://satonlinecourse.collegeboard.com/SR/digital_assets/assessment/pdf/F4D31AB0-66B4-CE32-00F7-F5405701F413-F.pdf”>https://satonlinecourse.collegeboard.com/SR/digital_assets/assessment/pdf/F4D31AB0-66B4-CE32-00F7-F5405701F413-F.pdf&lt;/a&gt;, <a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools) are probably better to practice with since these are REAL questions from the College Board. Not sure what your 2 Test Prep books are, but these would be better. </p>

<p>f) Add an element of reviewing and understanding why you got the questions wrong. I think this is CRITICAL to your success especially if you’re taking practice tests. </p>

<p>g) Also, I would put some time in for regularly writing essays in the limited time you get “by hand” and work on your penmanship and ability to write for length, if either one of these issues plague you. I’m compiling a plethora of “12 pt Essays.” If you want, I can send these, but I might write an essay answering the same prompts they were answering and then compare yours to the “perfect essays.” </p>

<p>If you haven’t gathered a good number of historical or literary figures who can apply to the main categories of prompts (Individuality, Success, Technology & Progress, Heroes, etc.), I would start doing that along with collecting a good number of quotes (possibly). Use these in your essays for supporting your main claim. </p>

<p>Hope this isn’t too prolix for you, but I want you to “beat the living crap” out of the test. </p>

<p>Best of luck! </p>

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<p>@hkkid2014 - awesome advice, but we need to know where you are starting from and so do you:). </p>

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<p>Exactly! </p>

<p>@testadvice Thanks. </p>

12

<p>I’m confused about what you mean by the '2250 cutoff"…?</p>