My freshman year of high school, I scored a 1090/1600 on the PSAT. I am currently a sophomore and retook the PSAT receiving a 1250 without doing any studying for the PSAT since the previous year. I scored a 690 Reading and a 560 math and rank in the 95th percentile nationally. However, 1250 is no where near my goal score and I need about 300 more points to be happy with this score. Is this possible? Are things like Khan Academy and free online material sufficient, or should I purchase a program like Prepscholar or Kaplan? How much time should I be spending on SAT prep per month? Per week? Per day? I am finishing my sophomore year currently so I do have some time before my official SAT, but I still have to worry about upcoming things like National Merit Scholarships etc. Thank you!
From my experience, the best thing one can do to prepare themselves is practice tests. Taking one test a week for just a couple months can massively boost your score. Just make sure you are actually learning from the mistakes you make; read explanations for the questions you get wrong. Again, this is my personal experience, and it might not be best for everyone.
Since your math score is lower it might help to focus on math a bit… there tend to be certain kinds of math present in the exam so if you can focus on those when studying, it might help you move through that section more quickly and accurately.
I agree with @CheekyNandos. Get official SAT practice tests, and just run sections over and over. The most important part is that you recognize why you missed a problem, not only that you did so. It’s not enough to say “I didn’t know how to do this problem”. Go through and dissect the mistakes. Why didn’t you know how to do it? Was it disguised in a form that you didn’t recognize, or was it content, and if so, how do you fix that? The three weeks before my SAT, I ended up running a full test every weekend and a section of a test per day during the week days in order to keep myself sharp.