<p>I am going to be studying for the SAT this summer and wanted to get an effective study plan. So last year as a sophomore, I got a 158...48 CR 59 M 51 W. I know, terrible. I want to raise it to a 200 for the junior psat.
These are the books I am thinking about buying:
• The Insider's Complete Guide to SAT Vocabulary: The Essential 500 Words
• Erica Meltzer's "The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar"
• PWN the SAT: Math Guide
• SAT Prep Black Book
I work until 6 every weekday so I would study after. Is 2 hours a day enough to see such a significant boost?
I can take a full length test once or twice a week also. </p>
<p>Since I am very weak in CR, should I focus on studying vocab and the Black Book to start with? Then move on to the Grammar Guide, and lastly the PWN Math Guide? </p>
<p>I am fairly confident in my ability to boost Writing significantly using that book and believe I can also raise math, but am not confident in my CR abilities. </p>
<p>Any suggestions for my study plans and do you think I am being realistic with my goals?</p>
<p>All of that stuff is good to hear, but the most important thing that you need to do is actually practice. Get the College Board Blue Book and just do practice tests. </p>
<p>For vocab, I just did the Hit Parade from the Princeton Review and did some of the Monster List, but I am not that good with CR (waiting for scores to come in).</p>
<p>Best way to improve Math is to do A LOT of practice tests, checking the answers, and reading the explanation. If you don’t read the explanation, then you basically wasted your money and 25 minutes of your time.</p>
<p>Your plan sounds good as long as you also take the first piece of advice <a href=“mailto:from@Eggyolk”>from@Eggyolk</a>. I would suggest replacing your vocabulary wrk with more specific focus on the CR section using Erica Meltzer’s The Critical Reader. You can learn vocab from reviewing all the words you don’t know in the practice tests. If you’re focused and spend enough time reviewing each practice test (so that you would get an 800 if you retook that test) you should see significant progress.</p>
<p>I used the 500 Essential Words and I have to say that it’s nothing short of Golden. I would highly recommend it. I’m pretty sure I got in the low 60s on my sophomore PSAT and wound up with an 800 Reading score because of that book. </p>
<p>For math, I would recommend Dr. Chung’s if you want an 800. Otherwise, prep books don’t really do too much unless you do lots and lots of practice tests. </p>
<p>For writing, Meltzer and Sparknotes are the best resources for the writing section multiple choice. </p>
<p>The really important part is doing practice tests from collegeboard. You’re wasting your time if you don’t do practice tests. </p>
<p>Yeah, I will most likely get Dr. Chung’s after I start getting around 650-700 consistently. I heard that’s the best point to get the book at to reach for the 800. Also I heard that the Critical Reader by Meltzer doesn’t help much and pretty much every other book has the same strategies.</p>
<p>I see that guy xiggi running around all of CC telling people to avoid Dr. Chung while others say it got them to 800.
So I think once someone is already at that point where they need to move onto the next level to get a near perfect score, it seems like Chung’s hard problems will get them there.</p>
<p>^If you read the thread you’ll see that many people find Chung’s confusing and somewhat off topic. If you get a chance, its probably best to take a look at several different books (including Dr. C) before purchasing one and see which seems best for you.</p>
<p>On top of what the others said, be ready to think strategically. I did practice tests once a day for two weeks and, after finishing each day, I graded each test by myself (get actual released tests so you can determine your exact score instead of a range) and kept track of what I missed. I went back after finishing grading and spent time thinking of how to answer those questions and didn’t move on until I’d identified an approach that I felt would’ve given me the right answer to that question had I used it. I also tried to think of how the test-makers were approaching the questions and what they were expecting from test-takers.</p>
<p>The next time I took a test and encountered a similar question, I had another approach in my toolkit + when I had to make guesses, I’d gotten an idea of what sort of answer was more likely to be correct. Of course, this didn’t make huge changes between two single tests- but over time, I was able to refine my approach and achieve results.</p>
<p>Of course, before you get to that stage, you might want to fill in the knowledge gaps (vocab) and work on weak skills (reading, critical thinking, mathematical thinking, etc.) themselves- which isn’t really a requirement for SAT prep. I don’t think you should just focus on the SAT until you get to at least 1800 because at that stage you’ve got some fundamental problems to work on that don’t arise from your “weak test-taking” or the design of the SAT (i.e., they’re actually things you need to work on and their value isn’t tied to just looking better as a college applicant).</p>