<p>I started taking practice SATs about a year ago. My Verbal/Critical reading was never a problem as I always scored 770+. My Writing was suspect, but after some focused studying, it's become realistic to expect even an 800. However, the same cannot be said for Math. I always scored about 650-700 on the Math, and lately, I've been inching towards about 730. I've hit what I call the "Math Wall". Of the 54 math questions in the SAT, about 51 of them are "preppable", meaning that they're the same types of questions that simply have different values from test to test. Then there are the 3 big ones; 3 questions that seem to come out of nowhere, have no precedence in previous practice tests, and put you on the spot. These are the questions I get wrong, and no matter how well I prep, I just can't see the solution in time. Then compound 1-3 stupid errors to the 3 unavoidables and you get a lousy math score. With 3 wrong, that's about a 700-730, and if I ace the other two sections, I'll be very happy with that score. But I feel frustrated in that my life could be so much easier right now if I could regularly nail even just one of the elusive 3, but I just can't. Anybody else have the same problem, and has anybody hopefully overcome the wall?</p>
<p>I will tell you if i ever get to that wall, lol.</p>
<p>chris - Maybe repeated exposure to math will do it. Whether it's studying for the math SATI/SATII, or math classes in school, being in that atmosphere and learning to think quantitatively and logically should help...</p>
<p>i have the same problem man and i dont known what to do about it either.</p>
<p>Yeah dude don't worry you're not alone. I feel your pain. Atleast your other two scores are really strong so your overall score will be very solid.</p>
<p>I too experienced this math plateau at about 710 about 2-3 months ago. I then stopped taking math SAT's and focused on school math a lot and then tried looking at every problem in a different light. I also played a lot of chess. Then I came back to the math in about 3 weeks and got one wrong 780-790 and consistently performed at that level ever since. I believe i got 1 maybe 2 wrong on the actual March test so practice does correlate really well. Overall math just check over your work a lot and make sure you don't make stupid erros like i did. You'll kick yourself for two months if you do. Good luck on your math, it's all about test day though.</p>
<p>Note to self: play more chess?</p>
<p>(My highest score on a real or practice SAT has been a 680. Bleh.)</p>
<p>Hey nbachris2788 (or anybody else)</p>
<p>What kind questions are you getting stuck on? Geometry? Algebra? Word Problems? If you can find an area thats causing you troubles, it'll be easier to focus in on the area (Geometry for me) and, like someone previously said, expose yourself to more math (whether at school or just by yourself)...</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>I get stuck on geometry, too. And, as a point of interest, on the PSATs, I got all of the 'hard' questions correct; missed one 'easy' and a few 'medium'. One I got wrong because I can't read my own handwriting (labelling a diagram). </p>
<p>I'm sure I could improve my score if I work at paying attention. Sometimes I think too hard; sometimes I assume a problem is simpler than it is; sometimes I just get stumped by confusing diagrams with lots of pretty letters.</p>
<p>...Math is for losers, anyway.</p>
<p>For geometry, you just have to check your answer like 10000000000 times... Its usually asking you to find like a weird angle plus or menus a weird angle... </p>
<p>Math is not 4 losers...</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>me to, up until a week b4 the exam i was gettin like 5 wrong when i though ti got em all right, i decide to instead of workin ion the last two problems of each secoin if i couldnt see what they were askin and the easy way to do it, i go back and check EVERY answer, while checkin also after i do every quesoint, usually catch mistakes, and most of the time can go back to the harder ones and figure out the "trick" to em, the last full test i did i only got 2 wrong! (grid ins) i hope i did as well on the real one :)</p>
<p>Grid-Ins... Gr....</p>
<p>Grid ins, I find, tend to be easier than the hardest MCs. Since you have to find your own answers, the CB people probably toned down the difficulty a bit. The worst thing is when you're marking your own tests, and you're doing fine until you get about 3-4 wrong on the last section. That's my danger zone; I usually get about 2-3 wrong from the first two sections, which would still get me a fine score, but then I make a bunch of stupid mistakes in the last section which kills my score. </p>
<p>I thought the new SAT's golden benchmark would be 2300, since it's a nice "double 0" number like 1500. I wanted to get about a 730-740 so I wouldn't have the pressure of getting perfect CR and WR scores in order to get a 2300. But from what I'm hearing, it looks like a 2250 is more suited to replace the 1500.</p>