<p>Tips on How to Get a 2400 on the SAT
Hey guys, I am a fellow college confidential user, who just got a 2400 on March 9th 2013 SAT test. College confidential has been a valuable tool for me in my years of preparation for SAT and other tests. I would like to contribute to the college confidential forum in exchange for the help I’ve received. Below I have posted a guide to do well on the SAT imbued with my personal journey. </p>
<p>Personal Belief:
First of all, I’d like to say that wherever you are you can definitely improve, and I would go as far as saying ANYONE is capable of achieving a 2400 or close to it with enough effort. The SAT is a STANDARIZED test, and hence it does not measure raw intelligence or skill at all. Taking the SAT is like figuring out a unique code (excuse my poor analogies, the SAT does not test analogies anymore :P). Once you discover your unique code or battle of attack, the SAT becomes more of a matter of repetition and practice. Once you find something that works for you, you need PRACTICE. The SAT does not change its level of difficulty and that being said once you get a sense of questions through practice (CB tests) you’ll do extremely well. Never give up! Good Luck!</p>
<p>Personal Story:
I’d like to say that I cannot be considered intelligent or have a superior IQ to my peers, but I will admit to developing a good work ethic. I took my first SAT in 7th grade to qualify for a CTY program. My scores were abysmal, in my opinion. I had scored a 1580 (490 on Writing, 580 on Math and 510 on CR). I was terribly shocked but as a carefree 7th grader I did not heed much to my base score. I retook in 8th grade again with minimal prep (skimmed through a Princeton Review?), and achieved a slight increase to a 1810 (510 Writing, 710 Math, and 590 CR). Yes, to some that score may be good but I was not satisfied. I suppose the inherent competitive attitude of my school pushed me harder. While I nonchalantly accepted an 1810, other kids in 8th grade were breaking 2100 and one girl even scored a 2240 (IN 8TH GRADE !!). I understand you might say we shouldn’t compete and only worry about our own success independent of others’, but competition added that extra motivational push. I figured as middle schooler my scores were above the average and so I did not need to worry. I put off any serious worry about the SAT until I took the PSAT my sophomore year. After getting my sophomore PSAT score back, I was shocked; I got a 196 (63 CR, 80 Math, 53 WR). I barely improved and I realized I needed to get down to business especially with writing (though arguably writing is insignificant to many top colleges, it still can be a valuable factor). I began loading up on prep books from Kaplan’s to Princeton Review to Barron’s. These books were good to familiarize myself with the content of the SAT as for practice but most are highly inaccurate in terms of actual rigor of tests. I looked over the review content especially for Math and Writing. What I did for writing and math was sit down with Barron’s 2400 and review the content tested. After doing that I followed “How to Write a 12 Essay in 10 Days” by Academic Hackerz here on college confidential. I spent part of my sophomore summer researching essay examples ahead of time and pre-planning a template*see below. Then I utilized college confidential to find a writing buddy who would exchange essays and grade completely objectively based on the CB rubric devoting approximately 2 minutes for each essay. One valuable link I utilized was Preparing</a> For SAT Test. This site has previous essay prompts from past SAT’s, enough to satiate even the most enthusiastic SAT writer. I did several of these essay prompts and tried to do one daily following my template and pre-planned examples. I acknowledge that writing an essay on a trite CB topic is tedious but as I said the test is standardized the more practice the better. For math, my foundation was already strong. I did review some content from Barron’s 2400 and the CB Blue book but outside of that I did not try to enhance my Math skills for I was proficient; I did, however, need to practice, and avoid stupid mistakes. With Critical Reading, I began to build up on vocabulary. I started finding all sorts of SAT Vocab. Prep books and began memorizing and kept on finding new sources. I went through Sparknotes 1000 Words, Barron’s Hot Words for the SAT, Direct Hits, PR Hit Parade etc. I kept on memorizing until I exhausted my sources. I used quizlet and physical flash cards to aid in the process. Every day I tried to look over the words and add ten new ones and gradually my vocabulary grew. As for the actual Reading in “Critical Reading” I have to say that I struggled greatly. It was hard for me to see “objectively” what the passage was saying. I used some strategies like margin notes, and writing down the main idea and that worked for me. I began taking practice tests in the summer very frequently and each time I finished a practice test, I would annotate in a notebook every mistake, detailing my error and rationalizing why I got such and such wrong. I only used College Board tests, and I cannot stress that College Board is the real deal and anything else is not sufficient. You will NOT accurately measure your ability via Kaplan, PR, etc.Taking many practice tests is not enough, you must also thoroughly go through your practice tests and comprehend your errors and through that you will improve. For Writing if I got a multiple choice question wrong, I would mark the right rule next to it. For CR I would read the online College Board explanations and rationalize the answer. For math, I would typically just punch myself for a silly error and detail my mistake in a notebook, writing my errors. Slowly, through each practice test, I saw improvement and I began inching up from sub 2000 to low 2100’s then 2200’s and finally low 2300’s. I remained determined and just put more emphasis on CR. I began to take timed sessions in less time and further scrutinized my details to a point where I rewrote the question and wrote an explanation of why the answer was such in my own words. Yes, laborious, but this process solidified my sense for the CR and made me ready to more fully tackle it in March. I walked out of the test in March feeling a bit ambivalent on how well I did. And March 28th, I reluctantly refused to check, until finally to my parent’s nagging I capitulated and saw the glorious triple 800. I suppose what I hope everyone gains from this story is that wherever you start is irrelevant. If you’re willing to put in the effort and time, you can get a 2400 on SAT. I started with a 1580 and I moved up, so I would definitely encourage you to adopt the “can-do” attitude. </p>
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<p>Content-Tips on Each Section
Writing:
Multiple Choice:
Writing is by far one of the easiest to improve. I started out with a 490 and worked my way up to 800 on the Writing section. The key to doing well in writing is learning the rules. I would say learning the 14 essential rules are the most vital part. Everything after that is applying the rules to practice tests. Erica Meltzer created a great blog: ultimatesatverbal. blogspot.com and this site has the essential rules under Reading</a> and Writing Tips for the SAT and ACT: Complete SAT Grammar Rules. Learning those rules is really all the preparation you need to do, then you just need to practice. I also got the Erica Meltzer’s book “The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar” and found it very thorough and directly pertinent to material only on SAT Writing. The book is an awesome supplement but I’m sure the link with the rules is sufficient. Once you know the rules enumerated in Melzer’s guide, you shall be ready to handle the Writing multiple choice. For error-Id whenever I got a question wrong, I would simply annotate the rule I forgot to employ (Subject-verb agreement, pronoun shift etc.). By doing that, the rule stuck in my head better. For sentence corrections, one needs to again know the rules and PRACTICE. Similar grammatical construction errors repeat all the time, and with more practice the more keen your eye becomes. All in all, I encourage you to check Meltzer’s website and if you still need that push consider buying her book. Take note of the grammar rules and maybe even apply them. When checking your work, try saying the sentence out-loud and mentally justify your answer.
The Essay:
As said before the essay was mainly about practice. I believe in pre-high school I scored 4’s on the essay. However, I used onlinemathlearning.com to find essay prompts and I followed Academic Hackerz guidef: “How to Write a 12 Essay in 10 Days”. This guide taught me how to develop a template and pre-plan examples. The SAT essay does not measure your writing ability in any way and only is a test to see how well you can follow the rubric. All you need to do is mechanically follow a template, use some good vocabulary, and have varied examples. Personally, I used one literature, one historical and one science/contemporary world example. The personal examples detract from your essay and should be avoided (though as last resort may be unnecessary). Typically non-personal examples show a greater level of scholarliness and may impress your reader but I suppose if your writing style meets the rubric the content is irrelevant. Even if you feel like you’re stretching your examples, it’s okay because in the end the writers only spend a few minutes on your essay and analyze the writing style more than the content. Even some very minor exaggerations are alright, but don’t say something blatantly erroneous for that shows incompetence and will detract the reader’s opinion. On the essay in March, my examples on the topic of the value of details were greatly stretched but by following an effective writing style I got a 12 on the essay. I’ll try posting it later (be warned my handwriting is sloppy). I suggest directly starting the essay off with your thesis, and just developing 2-3 sentences supporting your claim. A hook is not necessary to get a 12 and in fact spending time thinking of a hook may just detract from time spent on writing the actual essay. Then devote 3 body paragraphs to examples (diversity!) and in each body paragraph summarize the plot in relation to the thesis and be sure to connect the example to the topic (e.g “From this example, one can see how honesty may not always be necessary and how Lennie died happily with George’s lies. “ ) This connection shows how you are a competent writer and can incorporate the example into the essay. Transitions are okay to use, despite teacher’s protests of their inherent clich</p>
happy testing</p>
I personally agree with everything you’ve said. I don’t think tutors, classes, or anything like that are necessary, or even desirable. It’s just personal tenacity and practice. Great advice (my little sister’s actually a 9th grader and starting to prepare a little early, and I’m going to show this to her!) Thank you so much for writing this!</p>