<p>I have been taking BB tests for the SAT math sections, and of the four tests Ive taken so far, Ive only gotten a 710 as my highest, and the other three have been 680s and 690. I do tend to finish these sections early, maybe 10 minutes sometimes, but I never feel like I'm rushed. But when the scores come out its usually like 3-4 careless errors and maybe 1 that I really didnt know. This was the same for the real SATs that I took and got a 690 on. Now I'm really hoping to get around 750, at worst a 720 would bring my score to 1500/1600. However, I'm really starting to worry because I seem to be actually stuck in the 690s, like I'm maxing out. I feel like practice is just not working.</p>
<p>Are there any tips on how I should be taking these tests to improve? I already have gone through the untimed process, and I do go back after every test and look over my mistakes, but because the majority of them are just careless, there's not much to look at. I have the blue book, and 6 tests left, but I don't want to go any further if I'm taking them "wrong" or something. </p>
Remember, practice is working everytime, except when you don’t know theory well, what couldn’t be related to your Math scores. My advice, just review wrong questions.</p>
<p>I do plan on still practicing, I was just wondering if there were some better strategies or more efficient methods or something. I have read all the guides in forum and in prep books, and all they basically say is to practice, but what if im practicing wrong?</p>
<p>There is such a thing as ineffective practice. Imagine practicing for a marathon. What dave did was run 100m as fast as he could 4 times instead of taking it slow and working on cardio and building his stamina. If you’re finishing a math section in 10 minutes, you’re rushing yourself whether you feel like it or not. Even though the SAT doesn’t require you to show your work or check your answers, you’re better off systematically checking your answers after every problem. I finish a 25-minute section in around 20 minutes, even though I can finish one much faster than that, and get an 800 almost every time.</p>
<p>Yeah Redemption, thats more along the lines of what I meant. </p>
<p>The thing about the time, like I mentioned, I never feel like Im really rushed, i generally feel confidant about my answers, and sometimes even go over them twice before moving on, but I still make dumb mistakes. Is there like a mental checklist that I should be going through or something?</p>
<p>REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW. After you’ve quickly completed the section, don’t sit back and relax, go through each and every question as many times as possible, until the proctor tells you to move to the next section. Chances are that you will find those careless mistakes, and rectify them.
If you are scoring ~700, it means you don’t have a conceptual problem, all you need to do is concentrate, and review.
Practice. Practice to concentrate.</p>
<p>I’m in the same boat as you are, dave93. I keep getting 700-720 on every math practice test I take. I think reviewing incorrect answers should prove to be effective - it’s not that I don’t know the content for some of the problems, it’s just that I didn’t take a certain approach to those problems. There are also problems that require a lot of time to solve (not just problems I don’t know how to do), and I’d like to improve my time on them…</p>