Realistic SAT improvement

I took the SAT in the fall and got an 1170 without studying whatsoever. I will be taking the August, October, and December SAT (if necessary) I would like to score between 1380-1420. How likely would this be with studying and how much would I need to do? I would love any advice/ personal experience.

It is definitely possible but it is important to actually learn the material for example on the math section, like if you haven’t taken algebra 2 yet.

I had studied for my first SAT and got a 1420. But for comparison of not studying vs. studying, on my PSAT in sophomore year which I didn’t study for, I got a 1280. On the junior year PSAT which I studied for, I got one question wrong on the math section and got a 1500.

If it’s possible to go from 1280 to 1500 with studying then it’s definitely possible to go from 1170 to 1380.

For practice I got a tutor with the company prepnow, although it didn’t really help except with keeping me on track with my practice. The biggest thing you can do to help yourself is to take actual college board SAT practice tests because these are actual SATs released from previous years.

You can always start with the free SAT practice from Khan Academy. Once you set up an account, you can link to your College Board account. It will import your prior SAT performance and customize the curriculum for you. I agree with #1 that it’s important you have covered math through Algebra 2. If not, a tutor would probaby be most helpful.

Possible, but at the upper end of expected improvements. Iirc, 70-90 points is typical, and over 200 is rare.

The fact that you did no prep (why?) might make it a bit more possible.

People, the OP took that SAT in the fall of 2018, and is presently an undergraduate student. I do not think that the advice is all that relevant for them at this point…

@jeepjeep College Confidential recently covered this topic in general in an article that may help answer your question. Read more here: https://insights.collegeconfidential.com/faqs-sat-practice-tests