I took both the ACT and the SAT practices on Princeton Review on separate occasions. I have straight A’s and will do AP’s the next two years, and in general have great test taking skills. I scored a 27 on the ACT and about a 1270 on the SAT, the writing essay could not be scored so I don’t include that, but I expect the essay to be a strong point for me.
Anyways, i was hoping to gain admission to an elite school. My real question would be, should I be worried, or set my sights a little lower? I am white and ,living in a small town in the middle of nowhere with a crappy public school that is in a financial crisis, will have no real hook and probably not the best ECs. Also on a sidenote, how much have you guys raised your scores from the first practice test you took to the real thing?
Thanks from a worried sophomore.
<p>Just study more. I always did better on the real test. Your ACT and SAT scores are about equivalent s, I'd bet you score in the 1300-1320 on your first time. That's very good. If you study you'll do even better.</p>
<p>thanks but not being able to spend a million dollars preparing can i muster a 1500 (or a 33/34) or better at some point?</p>
<p>If nothing else, I doubt any practice test can accurately predict one's future scores - I mean, off the PR practice for World History, I was destined for something less than a 700 on the SAT II, and lo and behold - 770. I don't know about SAT Is, but I didn't touch the PR book (use the Collegboard one - it's from the official source at least) and I totaled 2310. </p>
<p>SAT scores don't get you into places though (but they might help), I'm told it's more of a qualifier... Like, without something really special, x school might consider only students with a certain score and up... But nothing is a sure thing in college admissions. You're only a sophomore - you have time yet, good luck.</p>
<p>thanks for the info</p>
<p>before you take a princeton review practice test, or kaplan practice test, remember one thing: these companies make money when you feel you need to take their prep classes. if you were designing a practice test with that in mind, would you want people to score as well as they would really do on the real thing?</p>
<p>the only thing you should practice off of or use to gauge your current level of performance is a real released practice exam.</p>
<p>thanks but not being able to spend a million dollars preparing can i muster a 1500 (or a 33/34) or better at some point?</p>
<p>You can muster a 1500+. Just learn the structure of the test and practice ;-).
You don't have to spend a million dollars preparing. Get the College Board's official book for the new SAT, use it to practice tests and to identify your weaknesses, and brush up on your weak spots with specialized workbooks from companies like Kaplan and PR.
I admit, I've never taken an SAT/ACT prep class (I've used the above strategy; it worked for me), but I don't see how they would provide extra help if you're the self-motivated type.
And yes - Kaplan and PR tend to underestimate your scores on the real thing.</p>
<p>You said you were a sophomore. There is no why to know your final SAT score will be, but 1270 isn't bad for a sophomore. Get used to the math section and read alot for the verbal section. Take it at the end of junior year for real. Then you can take it again in the Fall when you go back as a senior. (For regular admission, you can take it as late as January of your senior year.) Don't take it more than twice if you can help it, and three times is max. Being from the middle of nowhere will help you since schools like geographic diversity (North Dakota is good).</p>
<p>Dude, on a PR test I got an 1890 and I was like ok....but on the March test I got a 2140 and I think I did better on the May one too, so don't stress.</p>
<p>I bombed the first PR test, and then when the real thing came about my score jumped a substancial amount. Half probably being from their instruction the other half from them giving their students probably a very difficult test to start out on, so improving scores is very easy.</p>
<p>Most people's scores will rise automatically from sophomore year to junior year and even senior year. It's a simple matter of another year of learning.</p>
<p>Also, the PR tests are not always an adequate indication of how you will do on the actual tests - the PR does NOT use the actual college board test questions. </p>
<p>A better choice is the College Board's own "Real SAT" study guides which do use the actual College Board test questions. </p>
<p>My daughter consistently scored 50-100 points lower on the PR tests over than the College Board's "Real" SAT tests. Ultimately, her score on the actual test was significantly higher than any of her "practice" tests, so until you take an actual test, you can't really count on how you will do. </p>
<p>If you haven't taken the PSAT yet, that can also give you a better idea than the practice tests of how you may eventually do. But there can even be variation between the PSAT in early October and the SAT in May or June, so don't worry too much! Just get the college board books and go over both the questions you get right and the ones you get wrong === eventually you will start seeing the patterns in question types and that will help boost your score.</p>