<p>Hey all,</p>
<p>I'm a junior right now and I've never taken SAT yet. Of course I've taken PSAT (twice) and the latest score was 183. Yes, I have a tutor and I've raised my score around 2000 (I take Blue book practice).. The best score I've gotten was 2140, but the score really fluctuate from 1900s to 2100s. These are what I found about myself:</p>
<p>Reading: I ran out of time for one section that has two reading passages. I lose concentration so I sometimes find myself reading the same line over and over again. Yes, I try my best to refocus myself, but somehow, I can't really focus on anything... This is pretty recent, since I was getting good score for reading section. All that matter was the vocabs.. I've spent significant time on memorizing SAT vocabs (Princeton Review 500 Flashcards), but I've also worked on reading passages.. But somehow my score doesn't go up. I got 63 for PSAT but I'm still getting 660 or even worse, like 620. I'm an immigrant American, so English is not my mother tongue, but I've never felt uncomfortable reading. I read Crime and Punishment last summer, and I am reading For Whom the Bell Tolls now for my pastime. My teachers said I'm actually better at reading than many other folks, and I go to boarding school. But somehow I'm just so poor at SAT reading.</p>
<p>Math: I raised math score from 68 (PSAT) to 740, I just make mistakes, but I do have one or two questions I don't know how to solve for every practice test. Is there any book that has the hardest math questions from SAT?</p>
<p>Writing: I've been getting good score until last practice test. The score some dropped. As I already mentioned, I'm an immigrant, so I do have an instinct when I see questions "oh this is wrong," but I become really diffident when the answer is E. I somehow think there should be something wrong, and it is only me who can't catch it. I got around 740 on writing before the last practice test, which I messed up.</p>
<p>I guess the major problem is a reading section. My score never got higher than when I started to prepare for SAT (which was in December...I think. I have lots of school work so I focus on them during the weekdays and I work on SAT in weekends). And another thing is that I'm Asian, and as you know, there is Asian American quota. That concerns me a lot, I feel like somehow I need to get over 2300... How do you think? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>And is it better to focus on SAT, or should I study and try ACT too? I’m a rising senior, so I don’t have so much time. ACT seems pretty similar to SAT, but it has Science section… Math and English seemed a little easier than SAT. Is ACT easier (at least in your opinion)? Should I give a try or is it better to stick to SAT? Thanks</p>
<p>I found myself in a similar situation like yourself (196 PSAT ->2300 SAT) and I’ll give you some quick tips and tricks for the SAT as I too sucked at grammar and reading. I’m writing my own guide on how I did it and this is just a preview</p>
<p>First of all I highly recommend reading <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/750399-how-attack-sat-critical-reading-section-effectively.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/750399-how-attack-sat-critical-reading-section-effectively.html</a> and <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1390501-critical-reading-analysis-right-wrong-answer-choices.html?highlight=analysis+of+critical+reading[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1390501-critical-reading-analysis-right-wrong-answer-choices.html?highlight=analysis+of+critical+reading</a>. These two were incredibly helpful for critical reading and highly recommend you read each one and follow each to the letter. Critical reading is a ***** to study for since you really can’t study for it, all you can do is practice. However if you follow those 2 guides and practice those techniques enough I’m sure you can raise your score. </p>
<p>For writing, buy a prep book (such as barrons) and take one SAT writing section test from your blue book without any time limits thinking out everything through thoroughly. Correct it and figure out what you have done wrong. Then go through the barrons book and for every type of answer you got wrong go through it and read it and do some practice problems to make sure you’re comfortable. Then take another test this time with a time limit and see what you get wrong still. If you’re getting the same things wrong even though you know it, you now know that you must practice those concepts even more. I highly recommend writing down all your mistakes and going over them everyday, eventually they will become 2nd nature to you. For instance, I had huge trouble with pronoun plurality. I took out a piece of paper, wrote down the error and made a list of possible ways to use that error. Everyday before I take a test and in fact everytime I had some free time, I’d go over that piece of paper and slowly recognize how that error was found and utilized on the test. Eventually it became second nature with reptition, and I believe that’s the best way to learn the writing section. This is especially important for ones that you marked E, but were actually wrong. Eventually always go back and check your no error answers</p>
<p>I’ll be writing more in a guide that I will be posting on CC</p>
<p>Also if you feel like you’re constantly being **** on by CR, (like consistently 600’s, 50 hours + practice) Then maybe ACT is for you.</p>
<p>^^^ Thanks, dude! I’m pretty sure this will help me a ton. I got a little bit higher score for reading today 680, but I still have a long way to go! I always thought I should make that writing note thing, but I’ve never done it… Blame my laziness (and my schedule)! I’m about to read the links you posted.</p>
<p>And I have a question from your answer… When you said Barrons, did you mean Barrons SAT, Barrons SAT 2400, Barrons Writing workbook, or Barrons CR & Writing workbook? I went to Barnes and Nobles today, and they had multiple books on SAT. And do you think it’s a good idea to buy Barrons Reading workbook and work on it when I practice SAT? (I’m using Bluebook only at this point) Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>hey! it seems like you’re basically at the same point i was at back in december. I was consistently scoring 1990s >.> and i really wanted a 23+. I scoured through CC and I found out that after you’ve gone through one prep book, all the other ones are basically the same. The tactic I used was just Practice, Practice, Practice. </p>
<p>[4shared</a> folder - My 4shared](<a href=“http://www.4shared-china.com/folder/bfiML_d0/_online.html]4shared”>http://www.4shared-china.com/folder/bfiML_d0/_online.html)</p>
<p>I repeat do not buy anymore prep books anymore. This link has all of the released, previously administered SATs since 2007. I started this in december and I’ve done a practice test a week. My score has jumped from high 1900s to high 2100s. I honestly am horrible at cr, so I have to make up for it with math and writing :3
Good Luck with your endeavor!</p>
<p>^^^ Oh wow, it actually worked… I thought it would be a scam. But is it okay for you to post a link of another website (that is not from CC?)</p>
<p>hmm, i’m not sure what you mean by that… Please rephrase :p</p>
<p>I actually thought the barrons CR was god awful but had good practice tests. Writing was quite good, especially on the essay (I didn’t need it, but it was a good read) I didn’t get the 2400 one, but I heard it was quite good regardless.</p>
<p>I got a 710 on the math section the first time I took the SAT. I used Dr. Chung’s SAT Math and got an 800 on my next try. This book is a lot harder than the actual SAT so if you can do well on the practice tests, you’ll probably get close to an 800.</p>
<p>Why don’t you try some ACT practice test to see how you feel about it. It does have a science section that may help you to dilute the deficits in English, however, you still need to read and understand the information in that section. Do give it a try.</p>
<p>Sent from my NookColor using CC</p>