<p>I would say I have a similar shot at a 2400, but I’m starting to doubt my Critical Reading score (I have two wrong according to the consolidated list, and it isn’t even complete) and I’m not too sure about writing either. It doesn’t hurt to hope though.</p>
<p>^man, i wanna be you lol. how long did you guys prep for the SAT? and how many practice tests did all of you 2250+ scorers take to prep? </p>
<p>also, curious…for the Writing section…I am slowly starting to ‘feel it’ and am on a roll kinda. I’ve done 3 writing parts of tests and have gotten -2, -3, and -2 in that order. </p>
<p>So, I want to get to perfect obviously, but my question is…How, on the real SAT when you write it, can you get perfect? I know, weird question, but I mean, when you take the thing for real, I would be so concerned about ‘not messing up’ and not getting perfect on MC.</p>
<p>Since, 3 errors drops you to -4 technically, your scaled score will be ~71. So, saying a 9-10 essay, you will get around 710…which is absolutely bull**** considering you made only 3 errors on the entire section. Why is this section, and math, so steep and how do you NOT MESS UP? </p>
<p>Don’t answer with a dumb response…it’s an honest question. How, under the stress, anxiety, pressure, do you pull it off and not worry about it? When I take practice tests at home, I am so relaxed and nonchalant, which works for me, but in the real testing environment I crack and stress and run out of time. How do you overcome this and nail a section and avoid the 3 dumb errors costing you the 800 and rendering you to a ~710?</p>
<p>ViggyRam: I understand what you are saying: at home, I almost always score an 800 on my math practice tests, but on the actual January SAT I scored a 770 (one wrong). It is quite difficult to not crack under the pressure, especially when you are going for the perfect score. I can’t really say how to nullify the stress, since I was a victim of it, but the best I can say is to simply disregard your surroundings and just focus.</p>
<p>^yea, it seems so awfully tough. I despise that every section except CR has a harsh curve when you get near the top. Think about how nice a feeling it would be to get -3 in Math and walk out with a 750-760 and a -3 in W and get a 750-760. lol, instead, it’s more like 710 and 710 for each of those sections.</p>
<p>Like that’s a 180 pt. difference! That could drop a score from 2300 (which is a pretty good bet to get into at least 1 top college barring any major flaws …you know what I mean) to a 2120! Unbelievable! </p>
<p>i guess that’s why people write it twice, but still. You’d think that accounting for such a small margin of error would be very difficult, regardless of the number of times you write the SAT.</p>
<p>Also, should I be getting 800s consistently in W and M to even conceive the notion of getting 800 on the real thing? if I get mid-700s, high-700s, and 1 or 2 800s tossed in there, is it unrealistic to think that I’d rise to the occasion on the real thing?</p>
<p>It isn’t unrealistic at all. Especially at the scores you are getting, the only difference between an 800 and a 750 (hypothetically) is one or two questions.</p>
<p>ic, yea, im gonna write a pract. test today (it’s past 12 lol), to see what i get in W. Hopefully, my recent good scores aren’t attributed to luck and are just me finally ‘getting it’. We’ll see tomorrow.</p>
<p>Good luck. I’ll be studying for AP exams throughout my spring break…</p>
<p>My personal strategy:</p>
<p>First off, I work extremely fast. I wrote down my extra time left in each section after finishing the problems (before going back to correct) and averaged 14 minutes on each 25-minute section, 10 minutes on the 20-minute sections, and had 6 minutes left after the 10-minute writing section (might not remember times perfectly, it’s been a while). This leaves me a LOT of time to go back and check my answers.</p>
<p>As I do each section, I circle any problem I’m not 100% sure about to go back to later. While checking, I go first to the circles, then re-check every problem at least once, maybe twice if I have the time.</p>
<p>Math - I’m naturally best at math, taking Calc BC as a junior with ease. However, more importantly, I have a Ti-89, which does symbolic algebra. I do every problem out by hand, verify with the calculator, and I’m done. Then, when I’m checking my answers, I plug them into the calculator again (in case I mistyped) and carefully reread my answers. I misread one math question on the PSAT and my score actually went down from my sophomore year, so I’ve learned to be really careful.</p>
<p>CR - I used to always struggle with reading. I dunno why, it’s probably because the answers are always so objective. Then I prepped for the SAT II Literature (hardest SAT ever…really) by taking like 6 practice tests and reading through the Barron’s book. Though the fiction terms / concepts don’t apply so much to the SAT I (btw, the SAT II itself had absolutely no questions asking “which term is used here?”, I was mad), I think it really helped me develop my reading comprehension–that is, finding and figuring out the thematic elements and such. Mostly because some of the poetry in the SAT II Literature takes like 10 read throughs to figure out, unless it’s like a Shakespearean sonnet or something.
As for the actual test, I like to read the passage quickly (though not skimming…read and establish an idea of the theme and such before looking at the questions). Then I read and answer each question, referencing back to the line numbers even if I’m fairly confident in my memory–better safe than sorry.</p>
<p>Writing - Man I hate writing. Half the intuitive answers are wrong. I guess the only thing you can really do for this is take a lot of practice tests, learn your grammar rules (especially punctuation usage, prepositions, and such), and read each question extremely carefully. </p>
<p>In total, I did maybe 3-4 practice tests. This was my first SAT; I took the PSAT in my sophomore and junior years as well. Chemistry subject test last June, English Lit last December, and Math II last December.</p>
<p>I guess the best advice to avoiding error (for me, at least) is to work as fast as comfortably possible so as to maximize review time: after you’ve had a couple minutes you can look at more difficult questions with a fresh eye and hopefully pass more reasonable/logical (that’s what the SAT I measures after all) judgment.</p>
<p>edit: man that’s one wall of text.</p>
<p>I’m hoping for a 2100+. A 2200+ would be nice, too.</p>