<p>For all of you that have gotten an 800 in any of the three sections, please share with us what you did to get those last 50 points. That is of course if you moved from a 750 -> 800 with preparation. If you got it naturally, then, nice work....</p>
<p>I quit worrying. I went in to improve my math score (I needed 60 points in order to teach SAT for my test prep job), and accidentally perfected my reading and writing score.</p>
<p>I just feel so unsure about myself, and on top, if being partially based on luck, doesn't that kill every student out there wanting that perfect score.</p>
<p>Yeah yeah I know, a 2330 is the same as a 2400 as is a 2270, </p>
<p>I haven't really done well academically in life, and this is a chance to prove I can show excellence</p>
<p>So, about that 2400, any ideas.</p>
<p>My son got an 800 on the math and 790 on writing with very little preparation. But he prepped like crazy for the CR and couldn't crack 700. </p>
<p>For the math, if he didn't know how to solve the problem, he used process of elimination to rule out answers.</p>
<p>For the writing he "silently vocalized" the sentences and picked the ones that sounded right. He also goes to a school that teaches grammar, so maybe that helped.</p>
<p>For the CR he was stumped.</p>
<p>Wow, that makes me feel that the last 150 points are actually in your hands. From what I have heard on this forum, its luck at the end, and I don;t want to believe that.</p>
<p>it's not luck :) it's just that on the SAT, as on most things, an imperfect approach won't get you all the way to a perfect performance. crack down on those last 50 points the same way you did on all the points leading up to them. it's harder, but you can do it.</p>
<p>Oh, please elaborate on what a perfect approach would be ;)</p>
<p>haha :)</p>
<p>you've already modified the approach i'd recommend. which is fine, of course--i agree that personalizing an approach is the way to go. i guess what i'm saying is that i can't necessarily tell you what it would be for you. you've written in other posts that you were able to refine an approach based on a few sources and your own experience with the test. i'm suggesting that there might still be some slight room for more refinement in that approach.</p>
<p>why don't you post a couple of the questions you've missed and been unable to figure out, and we'll go over them?</p>
<p>Yes, I agree, there seems to be some glitch in my method.
But the sad thing is, the questions I do get wrong are so random, as if they were meant for me to get them wrong, even though they are not necessarily the hard ones.</p>
<p>Example, page 789, number 19, its har to tell what the author's assumption was</p>
<p>Otherwise, I got them all right</p>
<p>Page 798, number 8, I was torn between A,D, E. Then I realized, D, E have nothing to do with the lines referenced</p>
<p>Page 799, number 12, I eliminated it to D, E, but picked E when it was D</p>
<p>Thats only a few, thanks for the help!</p>
<p>for 789, number 19, i read only the cited lines. the physiotherapist says "you're the neurologist--you must see this all the time."</p>
<p>we're asked what that assumes.</p>
<p>when a statement assumes something, it means that the assumed fact MUST be true in order for the statement to be true. so we're looking for the answer choice that MUST be true if the physiotherapist's statement is true.</p>
<p>(a) could be true or false without affecting whether we can expect a neurologist to know how the nervous system adapts.</p>
<p>(b) is the same--they could all follow the same path or different paths, and it wouldn't change anything about whether a neurologist must know about the adaptability of the nervous system.</p>
<p>(c) must be true or else the statement doesn't have to be true. the statement is that "you're a neurologist--you MUST have seen this." in order for this to be true, it must be the case that ALL neurologists have seen what the physiotherapist was talking about. that makes this the assumption made by the statement.</p>
<p>(d) is irrelevant--nothing in the statement has to do with the muscular system.</p>
<p>(e) is also irrelevant. for one thing, a statement about "some neurologists" can't be the assumption underlying a claim about what ALL neurologists MUST do.</p>
<p>for 798 number 8, it sounds like you arrived at the right answer, right?</p>
<p>for 799 number 12, i read only the cited lines. they say that "race and gender are transformed when they are present together." this doesn't say anything about the two things being similar, though--it just says they change in each other's presence. the difference between "combination" and "mixture" here, referred to in line 19, is the telling detail. in a mixture, two things intermingle but don't change; in a combination, they come together to create a new thing. similarly, a gaseous mixture of hydrogen and oxygen molecules is different from a glass of water. (you don't need to know chemistry to answer the question, but i thought that example might help.) so the "influences" in the answer choice are the two -isms, and their "unique" product is the "combination" in line 19.</p>
<p>does that help? i think this is probably the same approach you've been taking, or at least very similar to it. the thing is just to become so familiar with it that all the questions become easy. it looks to me like you're right on the edge--most of the questions are easy for you, but every once in a while one throws you. what do you think?</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>Exactly, that is how I reason in my head on what answer is best. However, I think that my subconscious mind fills in any ambiguities I come across, and that means outside information, which is a pitfall. If I don't completely understand a passage question, my mind automatically tries to make sense of it, and that can lead to assumptions. So, if I were to take everything literally, very literally, except where they ask for inferences, would I be able to steer clear of common mistakes? </p>
<p>Also, Q, 19, pg 789, I though it was A because the line says "...-you must see this", so I though that the patients should know something additional...</p>
<p>Great chemistry reference!</p>
<p>hi akahmed--</p>
<p>exactly, just take it literally. in fact, i'd even say you could take the inference questions literally, as strange as that may sound (if you post one that has given you trouble, i can show you what i mean).</p>
<p>also, i see what you mean about question 19, but the meaning in the statement was more like "since you're a neurologist, i'm sure you've seen this a million times . . ." don't worry, though, as i very much doubt that the idiomatic usage of the word <em>must</em> will come up again on test day :)</p>
<p>Thanks again, you're a great help</p>
<p>On page 554 number 15, I thought that the girl might have liked Clayton, so I picked E, when the answer should have been V, How do I avoid these mistakes?</p>
<p>pages 676-679, I got 8, 10, 13, 15, 19 wrong, which is a lot for me. Do you see any trend?</p>
<p>hi akahmed--sorry, i somehow missed that there were more questions in your last post :)</p>
<p>for 554, number 15, the sentence notes that the wind is "whipping her blue." this is an idiomatic expression that means the wind is blowing very hard and she's cold. not sure how to avoid that specific thing again in the future, as i suspect that what might have thrown you is the idiom, and i doubt you'll see this particular one again.</p>
<p>for those other questions, which answers did you pick? also, how did you feel about the passage in general? to me, this passage has some similarity to the "trabb's boy" passage on 865--how did you do on that one?</p>
<p>I guess I should have taken the question more literally, I knew she was getting cold, but I assumed they were talking about how short the while was and how she would want to spend more time with him.</p>
<p>The other Questions</p>
<p>This passage was hard to understand, which led to failure in answering the questions.</p>
<p>8) I put D,
10) B
13) D
15) A
17) B</p>
<p>Its not that the language was flowery, just that it was hard to penetrate, get into the author's words and understand it.</p>
<p>Interesting, I did the Clayton passage today and I got all of them right and you are doing much better than me in CR so far, so I guess that shows how random the errors can be. </p>
<p>That same question did bother me too akahmed, though. I figured because she mentioned the wind bothering her, that it was physical discomfort.</p>
<p>You're right,</p>
<p>I get a lot wrong and then a few, (alot = 4).
The thing is, sometimes I fully understand a passage, like a science passage. But sometime, these narratives just kill me.</p>
<p>Hehe, same here akahmed. History/humanities/social science articles are pie for me, and science aren't usually that bad.. but fiction and narratives hurt me the most. My last practice test I had 5 wrong in a row in one passage... I hate that trabb's boy. :(</p>
<p>akahmed, do you ever go on aim? I'm in a very similar situation and going for the perfect score next month. LMK if you want to talk.</p>
<p>Do you guys have a different approach with the different passage types?
If its a narrative is it best to read the whole thing once, rather than chunks at a time?</p>