<p>Hi everyone! (: </p>
<p>(My friend recommended me to come here so here I am!)</p>
<p>I'm currently in my senior year, recently took the June 2013 SATs and got a score of 2040 (700 Math, 670 for both CR and W), and that was my first attempt (very late, I know, but I've decided to stop harping on that). I was aiming for a 2300, and fell really short, and I did study really hard. </p>
<p>I come from an institution in which the average SAT score is 2200. I have many friends who're gunning for admissions to US universities with scores of 2300+, and our school has a really high application (and even acceptance) rate to top US universities. I'm looking at studying Geography in either UCB/UCLA, and I know that as an international applicant, I'll need a much higher score than 2040. I know SATs isn't the sole factor but it's still important. </p>
<p>I should probably retake my SATs, but I'm taking my A levels this coming November (which only ends in end-Nov) and Prelims end in end-September, so it'll be really hard to squeeze in time to prepare for either the Oct/Nov/Dec 2013 SATs. Although I think I can if I want to, but I've heard that it doesn't necessarily translate to score increases - should I give up thinking about going to the US?</p>
<p>So yeah I would really appreciate any advice from anyone out there, and thank you very much in advance, really!</p>
<p>Did you self-study or take prep courses? How long did you study for? Also you should check for what specific sorts of problems you’ve missed when the score report comes out.</p>
<p>But still, I’d definitely retake. A lot of my friends said they improved on their second try, and that’s the general idea as well :)</p>
<p>Thanks corsairre! Nah, prep courses aren’t really that popular in where I’m from, and the norm in my school is self-studying for the SATs - even so, many manage to attain 2250-2300! I believe I can do that too since that seems to be the standard, and I’m not very financially well-off. </p>
<p>I studied for about 1.5 months, which in comparison really varies; some of my friends did for 2 whilst some only did one week before and got 2300+. </p>
<p>Yup definitely waiting for the score report, thanks so much for your advice!</p>
<p>Ah, ok. I definitely think you should retake it then. I just took it this June as well, but I actually didn’t study until 2 days before the thing (lol was caught up with APs and I was lazy after they were done…), which meant taking 1 practice math test and looking over essay topics. I did take it freshman year though, after studying quite intensively the summer before. I think the key to it is just familiarity with the concepts - I knew what the SAT was like for ~2-3 years (also because I did PSAT in school for 2 years), so I was pretty familiar with what was going on. You should do a lot of practice tests to get used to the speed - imo the SAT is mostly about how fast your mind can work, and not necessarily the hardest concepts. You do need to know basic concepts though. For writing, the advice I can give you is to be really focused on the grammar, and basically memorize every single possible/common grammar mistake they might give you. I don’t think essay is /as/ important as the mc - I only got a 9 on essay but still ended up with a 790 - so focus more on the stuff they might throw at you and skim the questions to immediately find the error. For CR/math I can’t really give any advice since I’m not too experienced with those sections…I hope you got something out of my post though. GL!</p>