Sat study help!

Test Preparation
1

<p>Dear CC,</p>

<p>Hello!
I am a high schooler and have just received my PSAT scores.
They are as following:
Cr: 63 Math 62 Writing: 61
The problem with these scores is I have actually got a LOWER math score than 8th grade, and considering I have studied for the sat between 8th grade and now, my scores have not even been raised by 10 points.
This has been very discouraging to me, sometimes I just feel like giving up.
I'm currently doing Barron's for writing, but my score fluctuates a lot.
CR score pretty much won't budge, and I try in math but my score fluctuates just like writing.
Are there any tips to raise scores/ understand the test problems?
What has worked for you?
Are there any studying schedules that
Anything will help! I'm very scared and discouraged.</p>

<p>On a side note, my friend who got accepted to Cornell says that the admissions officers don't really take into account the SAt writing score. Is this true?</p>

<p>Thank you very much!</p>

<p>Sincerely,
A high school student</p>

2

<p>My favorite book by far was Kaplan. (the BIG purple book) My suggestion would be to take as many times practice tests as possible - just getting the timing down can up your score by 100s of points. For CR, I’d suggest using Quizlet to improve your vocabulary. Just getting those first 5-6 questions at the beginning of the sections will give you a huge boost. Either make your own list of problem words or search for an existing list. Read, read, read anything to improve your passage reading time. Best of luck!</p>

3

<p>Oh, and schools will say on their websites whether they consider the writing section.</p>

4

<p>I find Dr. Chung’s SAT Reasoning Math book really helpful. It is harder than the real SAT math, but when I took the real SAT, the math portion felt easier. My score went from 690 to 790 with Dr. Chung’s…though I don’t really know whether that was just pure luck or the book did help.
Good luck and don’t panic. What you took was just the PSAT. There’s no need to worry over it that much.</p>

5

<p>Here is the self-study plan followed by my two sons with positive results (SAT1 scores ~2380)

  1. Critical Reading - Vocab (study Direct Hits, volumes 1 & 2), Reading Comprehension (apply Notiraperp’s critical reading methodology at [Noitaraperp’s</a> Critical Reading Method: How to Attack the SAT Critical Reading Section Effectively](<a href=“http://criticalreadingmethod.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-attack-sat-critical-reading.html]Noitaraperp’s”>Noitaraperp's Critical Reading Method: How to Attack the SAT Critical Reading Section Effectively))
  2. Writing - Essay (read SAT Essay formula by Rodney Daut at [SAT</a> Essay | SAT Preparation | SAT Test](<a href=“http://www.sat-essay.net/sat-ebook.html]SAT”>SAT Essay | SAT Preparation | SAT Test)), Grammar (read Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar by Erica Meltzer)
  3. Math - relied on knowledge gained from high school math classes
  4. Practice taking past SATs published by College Board (see Official SAT Study Guide for 10 practice tests). Practice writing essays and submitting to Daut for grading.</p>

<p>I applaud you for taking a hard look at your test prep approach. The SAT content is the same as that tested in PSAT except it includes an essay and is longer (3 hours, 45 min for SAT vs. 2 hours, 10 min for PSAT). During the breaks between final sections of SAT, my sons ate light snacks to keep up their energy.</p>

<p>Good luck mujigae! Don’t give up - with some adjustment to your prep approach, you should see an improvement in your scores.</p>