<p>I'm only in 9th grade and I plan to take the SATs at the end of sophomore. I don't known if I should continue reading and just doing well in school or keep studying. Some people tell me to study later since I'll still learn a lot through the next year but my parents want me to start now. Any help?</p>
<p>Don’t start so early, you will just stress yourself out. If I where you I wouldn’t even take them until junior year. The only thing I would recommend is signing up for the College Boards SAT Question of the Day. It will get you familiar with the tests and I have found them helpful with school in general (they are great when it comes to learning basic math and grammar).</p>
<p>Why would you take the SAT at the end of sophomore year? Do not take it until junior year, there is just no point in doing it earlier.</p>
<p>I would suggest that you start studying for the SAT the summer after sophomore year. That puts you in a good position for the PSAT in fall of junior year, which is when it counts toward national merit finalist. Pick up your studying a bit in the fall and over winter break, then try the SAT in January of your senior year.</p>
<p>If you want to try something sooner, maybe study for a subject test in 10th grade. Pick something you are taking a course in anyway and take the subject test in May of sophomore year. Study extra, of course, beyond your classroom materials.</p>
<p>I took my first SAT freshman year and my second one yesterday (junior). I’d recommend taking a practice test now, just to see where you’re at. There’s a free one online on the College Board website. You might have trouble with the math if you haven’t had geometry or Algebra II yet.
However, you’ll probably take the PSAT next year anyway, which will give you an approximate SAT score.
The SATs aren’t really that difficult, though…just a bunch of multiple choice questions and an essay that doesn’t seem to count a whole lot into the overall score. You don’t need to study for two years.</p>
<p>Hell no. Enjoy your life. I wouldn’t start practicing until after your freshman year at the earliest (and only for the PSAT then - we take the PSAT sophomore and junior year at my school). There is no point, in my opinion, until you have covered the materials in school AND you will be taking the test in a few months.</p>
<p>It’s never too early to start studying. But, you should enjoy your life for the time being.</p>
<p>The best time to start studying for the SATs is not during the freshmen year, nor during middle school, nor during elementary school. The best time to begin studying would be during your time in your mother’s womb!</p>
<p>Silliness aside, most people study for the SATs around their sophomore or junior year.</p>
<p>If you haven’t started studying by now, you should probably reassess your priorities in life. You might now preform well on the SAT or go to college for that matter.</p>
<p>My advice would be to probably start studying vocabulary, but definitely study your sophomore year. Perhaps you could take a practice test right now just to get a feel of how well you already score on it, so you can target specific sections.</p>
<p>For me, I’m great at math and grammar, so I didn’t really have to worry about math and the MC writing. It was mainly the critical reading section that I found hard.</p>
<p>I was part of Duke TIP (and had supportive parents) so my experience with SAT was 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade.</p>
<p>Most people concentrate on SAT of 11th grade. It’s your choice to start early. Vocabulary and grammar can be learned slowly over years before 11th grade.</p>
<p>I would start studying in the sense of, “what kind of questions will be on the SAT?” (sign up for College Board’s Question of the Day), “in which subjects do I need the most help” (take a sample practice test), etc. Do not start studying intensely for it now, because by the time you actually take it, you’ll be burned out and won’t do as well as you could have. </p>
<p>If you have weaker areas that you find from taking a practice test (or the PSAT), then you can start reading books and work on those (for example, if you do poorly on writing, then you can check out some grammar and writing strategy books). </p>
<p>I would also advise against taking the SAT your sophomore year: just about everyone I know who took the SAT early ended up taking it again (at least once more) later on because they wanted a better score. Instead of going to all that trouble, just really prepare yourself for the one time you take it (junior year, spring semester would be ideal, in my opinion). You have more reading/writing experience by then and will be more prepared holistically for the test. One point though - if you’re taking advanced math, regularly taking a few practice math sections would be helpful, since a lot of my friends and I ended up overthinking the math sections (and didn’t do nearly as well as we could have) because we were all used to calculus level math instead of the types of problems on the SAT. </p>
<p>Take your time and relax - you still have a few years to go. It’s good to be prepared, but sometimes the cost of over-preparing too far in advance is a lot more than any benefit you might actually receive from it. If you and your parents are really intent on starting to study for it, prepare in a way that will benefit YOU instead of just working for one test. Begin reading newspapers, journal articles, scientific papers, etc. Practice writing more - not only analytical writing, but also other types of writing. Build up your logic and math skills. The tricks and cheats of the SAT test will come later - at this point, just make sure you have the strongest foundation possible for going into it and don’t worry about the test itself.</p>
<p>Preparation always helps, but to be honest there’s no point in starting too early. I’m Indian and my parents made me start prepping for that stuff since 7th grade (although not seriously until 9th grade). I’m around a 2250-2300 now, but you can achieve the same results without devoting that much time. To be honest, once you get into that 2200+ range, there’s not much of a reason to try to keep getting better. If you start prepping about a year before you take the test, and just keep doing sections, you will be fine. Even a full year might be too much.</p>
<p>No. Please don’t. I would consider preparing a month in advance to be great, especially as it’s just the SAT, which isn’t too hard.</p>
<p>That said, getting used to the type of questions it asks is always good. Just take it easy for now. You’ve got plenty of time.</p>
<p>It’s not like studying for the SAT is some arduous undertaking that would prevent you from enjoying life, as people here seem to assume. Just get a prep book and read a few pages out of it every once in a while.
Basically, if you want to start studying, go for it.</p>
<p>@halcyonheather See, I run on the “if it’s not an arduous undertaking, leave it to the last minute” principle.</p>
<p>…I should probably work harder.</p>
<p>It is always good to prepare early, but I would suggest starting maybe the summer after sophomore year. Enjoy yourself and make good grades now :)</p>
<p>I actually think that it could be a good idea to take the SAT in your sophomore year (I did too!). Other than having plenty of time if you decide to retake the SAT, by taking the SAT in sophomore year, you’ll also have less to worry about during junior year, when you’ll probably be busier. I’m not actually too sure about how much taking it a year early will affect your score, but for what it’s worth, I personally know 4 people who scored 2350+ in their sophomore year (1 of whom scored 2400). </p>
<p>However, I don’t advise that you start studying intensely yet. You can start preparing with the question of the day, reading some newspapers, or doing a bit of vocab, but if you prep more than that you’re going to burn yourself out.</p>
<p>What I did was for the PSAT (sophomore year) I went in cold with no prep. This gave me a better gauge as to how prepared I was to take the SAT, and pinpointed my weak areas. I would recommend that you do the same and take it either with no prep, or minimal prep (i.e. what I detailed above) in October. Then, if you choose to go through with taking the SAT, I would recommend that you take the January, March or May test (I took January since the March testing isn’t offered where I live and the May one is too close to my exams) and spend the months in between your PSAT and your SAT studying more (e.g. doing practice tests).</p>
<p>I found that this strategy worked well in helping me feel confident and prepared while taking the SAT, but kept me from feeling burnt out and sick of the SAT.</p>