<p>i was wondering if i have reached my potential or not in SAT. I took the SAT 3 times and scored the following : first time (1390) second time (1520) third time (1640)
i am going to take it again in oct 5. Do you think i can increase my score!</p>
<p>you definitely can increase your score to around 1800+ with a bit of practice</p>
<p>I’m just going to speak for the math, but what I’m going to say can probably be applied to verbal also.</p>
<p>At any given time each student has a “potential” SAT math score. As an example, maybe a student’s current score (score on last college board SAT) is 400, and their potential score is 550. A good SAT math study program will increase the student’s current score (400) to their potential score (550) while simultaneously increasing their potential score (maybe in this scenario the new student’s potential is 620).</p>
<p>The current score can be raised to the potential score pretty quickly just by learning SAT strategies and practicing in an efficient manner.</p>
<p>Potential score can only be increased by raising your level of mathematical maturity. This is a longer and more difficult process, but a good SAT math study program (course, tutor, or self study) will accomplish this.</p>
<p>So in theory, any student is capable of getting an 800. But only a small percentage of students have a natural potential of 800. Most students would have to work very hard to increase their level of mathematical maturity so that their potential becomes an 800. </p>
<p>Note that an increase in level of mathematical maturity is not as simple as being able to solve more problems than you previously could. It’s something much deeper than that. For example, a student with a very low level of mathematical maturity would need a teacher to show them step by step how to solve each new type of simple math problem. A student with a very high level of mathematical maturity would be able to teach themselves calculus with just a text book, and then get a 5 on the AP Calculus BC exam.</p>
<p>So when you are asking if you reached your potential, the answer is probably that you are pretty close to your potential (but of course I have no way of knowing this for certain - if I was your tutor I would be able to better make that call). So in order to increase your score, you probably need to raise your potential - this requires a bit more effort than simply increasing your score.</p>
<p>I hope that helps.</p>
<p>Just to expand on what Needprep said - I’m guessing the reason he gave the number 1800 is because you can get about an 1800 without answering any Level 4 or 5 questions. For most students that are willing to put in some work (and you probably fall into this category), this is not too hard to attain. So it is possible that your current potential is about an 1800. But again, we don’t know that for certain since I haven’t actually seen you solving any problems.</p>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>
<p>Needprep and DrSteve thank you for your postive comments !</p>