<p>Okay, so the first time I took an SAT was in my freshman year. I scored 580 Reading, 530 Math, and 590 Writing (8 Essay) for a 1700 total (no studying whatsoever). I took it October 2013 and scored 780 Reading, 680 Math, and 730 Writing (8 Essay) for a 2190 total. I am really aiming for the Ivies and I want to make a 2400! I mostly self-studied and have completed the blue book. </p>
<p>What do you guys recommend for those last 210 points? As you can see my essay did not improve--I'm a little disappointed, as on my practice essays I'd increased to 9s and 10s and I had been feeling secure about it. I'm not sure what else to do for math, but I think the harder fill-in-the-blank questions are the problem. For reading I believe it's the occasional weird vocabulary word or a tough passage question.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your help! :)</p>
<p>Math should be the easiest thing to get a full score on. It’s seriously not that hard and presumably you should be able to do all the math problems if you’re aiming for Ivy Leagues. </p>
<p>What I did was do one or two practice math SAT sections daily (these can be from any prep book, you just want to do a LOT of problems) for three months, and I upped my score 100 points to a 760. The math curve for the SAT is pretty bad so you really need to aim to get all the questions right.</p>
<p>The fill-in-the-blank questions in the reading are just process of elimination, but knowing vocab does help. The yellow Gruber’s SAT book has a great list you can go through. Still, 780 is VERY high and I don’t think you really need to worry about that.</p>
<p>By the way, you can have 2300+ and that should be enough for Ivies; schools don’t really care anymore once you get above 2350.</p>
<p>unluckily for you, the last 200 points are the hardest to get, especially since they are spread mostly throughout more than one section. If it was only one section that was the problem, it would be much easier. </p>
<p>That being said, it is good that your CR is the highest because that is usually the hardest to increase. Math isn’t too difficult to bring up with some practice, and neither is writing. Just practice a ton, and make sure you go over your practice. Good luck!</p>
<p>@stronkstudent I know what you mean, and I’m sure there are students who do struggle more with math than with reading, but the method of training someone to do math is much more clear-cut and a lot simpler than teaching someone how to analyze a text. Math is objective; there’s only one answer, and once you’ve done a lot of drilling or practice and know how to do a problem, there aren’t many variations of solving it that differ too much from each other. On the other hand, some people struggle with reading because it’s subjective. There can be multiple answers, and though on the SAT there are generally two answers that are most certainly wrong, for many, the difference between the “good” and the “best” answer can be so slight it’s almost indistinguishable. Furthermore, it’s very difficult to learn a ton of vocab.</p>
<p>Back to the OP lol - practice, practice, practice.</p>
<p>@stronkstudent OH WOW sorry, brain fart there XD</p>
<p>How have you been practicing for the essay? </p>
<p>The essay is actually a pretty easy score to improve. 1) you should have a basic outline prepared in advance with several exmple options that can be used. the wording of your intro and conclusion can be similar regardless of the question. 2) practice creating outlines and coming up with examples. Use the sample essay prompts that can be found online. Set a timer. give yourself exactly 5 minutes to read the prompt and come up with an outline that includes your thesis and examples. 3) find your weakness (from previous practice essays) and improve on that. Is it transitions, conclusion, vocabulary, sentence structure, grammar, etc.? wherever there is a weakness practice and be prepared. for example if you struggle with transitions, write a list of transition words (or look up a list) and then practice using them in sentences.
Hope that is a little helpful. Good luck!</p>
<p>To all freshman: Do not take the test your freshman year unless you are positive that you will ace it. The NMSQT given early sophomore year will project a future SAT score as does the PSAT Junior year.</p>