So I’m taking the January SAT. I’m not very good at math, and I’ve been taking practice tests. I just finished a practice test, and my writing and cr were in the low 600s (fine for right now, i’ll improve). However, my math was in the love 500s which really worries me. I need to get at least a 600 in all the sections, that is my goal. I know I can do it because my PSAT scores were superb and for some reason math was my best section!
I just need tips on improving my score in the math section. I do really bad on the last questions in the math sections when they get really hard, such as triangles, constants, etc.
The best solution is simply, practice with the harder problems. Assuming you have taken algebra and geometry, you should have sufficient knowledge to answer every question on the mathematics sections. You should also see why you’re missing questions. Is it due to lack of time, or don’t remember the theorem/concept, or some other reason?
If you know all the content, the basic idea is to be meticulous, not rely on the calculator, and practice what your weak points are. There’s really not much else to it. Come up with a checklist for common techniques to apply, especially for the geometry questions, and you’ll be set.
@MITer94 I just don’t get how to do the problems. I have plenty of time. I’m just not thinking hard enough. I’m in Pre-Calc now so I should know them all.
Yeah, some of the harder problems require a little cleverness, but you should be capable since you probably know enough. I recommend only practicing with the harder problems to build problem solving ability (you don’t have to restrict yourself to SAT questions - you can use AMC10 questions for example), and every time you begin a problem, make sure you interpret it exactly as it is stated.
@MITer I hope so! I haven’t been doing too well on the math but I’m definitely thinking harder and getting better. I watched some helpful videos so I should be good. I’m taking it this Saturday so wish me luck.
Invest in a book with practice SATs, but take a look at the book before you buy it. At the end of each exam, look for a page with a grid. The grid should list the types of topics, then the numbers of examples on that particular topic. I know Barrons does it-- they call it “Identify your weaknesses.” I’m not sure who else does.
Then take 2 or 3 practice exams under normal testing conditions. Grade your exams.
OK… here’s the important part. Hit that section for each exam you’ve done. Highlight every question you got wrong, and circle the number for every one you skipped.
You should start to see some patterns. Are the proportions giving you trouble? The average questions? The ones on functions and their graphs? Any topic you’re consistently getting wrong is costing you points… either learn the topic or learn to skip those questions. (for the exam the day after tomorrow, I would suggest skipping those topics; you don’t have time to improve significantly, but at least those topics won’t pull your score down.)
The more practice problems you do, the better an indication you’ll have of which topics are your weaknesses. Focusing on them should direct your studying and help pull up your score.
This may be too late already, especially since it might require you to change the way you are approaching the questions, but remember that the SAT is not a Math test…it is a reasoning test and the harder questions will not necessarily involve harder Math, just better and more effective problem solving. Obviously a solid foundation in the fundamentals helps, but the Math is not complicated and pre-calc goes way beyond what is tested on the SAT. Some really hard questions deal with remainders and other concepts that we learn in like 2nd grade.
So before you start really working through any problem, especially the harder ones, give yourself a chance to really reason and problem solve and make sure that whatever path you take is one that you believe will quickly and effectively get you to an answer. If not, then maybe consider if there may be other ways to solve the problem. Or even see if you might be able to make a quick but very educated guess (there are often really hard geometry questions that would allow you to narrow down to 2 or even 1 answer just based on eyeballing the diagram and estimating). The test rewards creative problem solving so make sure you are giving yourself a chance to do that before you dive into the actual Math because once you do that you are unlikely to pick your head up and consider if you are taking the right approach until its too late!