<p>After taking the PSATs in October and getting a 219, I've been struggling with raising my score despite lots of practice. At this point, considering the tests I've taken, I'm at a 2230-2250 right now - just a bit off the 2300 goal.</p>
<p>It's ridiculous. Last August, after barely being able to crack 2000, I thought 2300 was ridiculous. Now I feel even more ridiculed that I'm so close buy so far.</p>
<p>Is practice the only way? I'm scoring above 700 on all sections, what can I do now?</p>
<p>You’ve been able to raise your score from 2000 to 2250, that’s great.
I’m in the 1900s now and find it hard to boost my score past the 2000s. You said you were barely able to crack 2000, but you’ve done it now, can you pls give me any advises on how did you manage to do that?</p>
<p>Thanxx =)</p>
<p>Dude, it’s 10 times more difficult to raise one’s score from 2350 to 2400</p>
<p>Garfieldkiller: good point : P</p>
<p>BlackBunny103: All I really did was study grammar rules, improve essays, and practice. I practiced like crazy to go from 590 to 72 on my PSATs for CR. Practice tests, basically, and finding a strategy that fit my way of thinking helped.</p>
<p>Now I’m in cleanup mode… and it sucks.</p>
<p>“Practice makes perfect”, guess there’s no other alternative >.<"</p>
<p>Oh btw, how did you manage to NOT RUN OUT OF TIME on CR? I usually run out of time on CR section where there are 1 short passages and 2 long passages.</p>
<p>Good luck with that lol. I’m in the 1900s too and it sucks.</p>
<p>Ps, uhm… you don’t play the tenor sax by any chance, do you?</p>
<p>There was a CR guide somewhere here where you’re supposed to first skim the questions and look for any numbers, like “lines 39-43” or something. Stuff like that, and active reading, helped me.</p>
<p>It was supposed to represent tenor drums for Indoor Drumline… well until my mom made me quit to focus on my studies :o I do play alto and baritone sax though :)</p>
<p>Practice is indeed the only way.</p>
<p>@Tenors: I already read that guide, it did help with boosting my score, but timing is still my weakness >.<" Any suggestions? How did you manage to complete in time on CR section where there are 1 short passages and 2 long passages?</p>
<p>For Math try to employ the rush as fast as possible and recheck strategy. It gets me 800s consistently.</p>
<p>I like the strategy of starting with the last question and working to the first. That way, as you get bored of doing trivial math, the problems gets easier and thus require less concentration. At the end, the last problems can be redone after your head has forgotten about how you did it.</p>
<p>Haha garfield that is what I do</p>
<p>Ironically I believe that the key to raise your last 50-70 points to a 2300 is not studying much. Just review material that you have the most trouble with, and these are the key difficulties that you should consider when reaching for a high score like 2300+.</p>
<p>Critical Reading:
There are 7 types of wrong answers.</p>
<p>Irrelevant</p>
<p>Confused ideas, pieces of information put in the wrong order</p>
<p>Extra information (an extra word/phrase added)</p>
<p>Appears Elsewhere (appears in the wrong sentence separated by a pivot such as But, However, Meanwhile, etc. OR appears in the wrong line reference)</p>
<p>Unwarranted explanation outside of what is being presented (basically for these answer choices you make inferences too much)</p>
<p>Extreme (look out for + avoid answer choices that contain the words like anyone, everyone, every, any, all, only, etc. but the word “absolute” tends to be the right answer)</p>
<p>Contradictory/Direct opposite</p>
<p>Math:
Operations described by words
Ratio and proportions
Quadratic functions
(I forgot, there were two more topics, but I will add on or wait for someone else to add)
and lastly NOT rushing over the questions unless you are completely confident with math</p>
<p>Writing: (for me these were the errors that brought the most trouble)
Diction
Redundancy
Pronoun ambiguity</p>
<p>You could also limit your time. Instead of giving yourself 25 minutes, give yourself only 20-22 minutes to complete a section. This will train you to work faster and more efficiently.</p>