<p>Hi, I took a extensive course over the summer to improve my score from 1800 to 2230. 2230 was my highest score I received from one test and I always got an 800 or 1 wrong on math. Weeks before the October sat I was getting 2100's on all of my tests. I always took practice tests worry free and was not nervous at all. The night before the sat I was son nervous and before I took the sat that morning I was still nervous. I came home that day promising my parents that I at least got a 2100 and I thought i only got 1 wrong on math. Today I opened up my score report to find that I got a 1990. This broke my heart because I know I have the capability to do much better than that. What went wrong I don't understand. If the score I received is because nervousness, how can I eliminate that factor. I think I studied enough cause I took 20 practice tests over the summer and after about 8 I was out of the 1900's and entered the 2000's after 15 tests I entered 2100's and I fluctuated in that area. Can someone please help me so I am more prepared for the next test?!?</p>
<p>A 190-point increase is tremendous. Do you realize that only a small percentage of students who retake the SAT get anything close to that. You had no reason to presume that you could get a 400+ increase - that is almost unheard of, especially between just two tests. Here are the basic statistics: the majority of students (55%) who retake the SAT improve their scores, but less than half of them increase their scores by more than 50 points. I am sorry that you received some bad advice, and have built your plans on a very implausible scenario. It was statistically likelier for your scores to go down than it was for them to go up by more than 50 points. You accomplished something that would have most seniors doing cartwheels. Congratulations! I am so sorry that you are not celebrating when you should be. </p>
<p>The hidden secret of many test prep courses is they don’t give you the real test to practice on - they are “equivalents”, not the actual test and tend to overstate how you will perform. Also, to get a true picture of how you will perform on the test, you need to take it under test-like conditions. Same order, same breaks, same time of day, everything the same. Taking it parts will naturally give you a higher score because you’re rested, not exhausted, for each part. </p>
<p>Test prep companies are known to promise the moon, but I don’t think any of the promise an increase from 1800 to 2230 - the tests just don’t work that way. Congrats on the increase to 1990, that is an accomplishment.</p>
<p>Thank you for the encouragement but I know that the tests I took were actual SAT tests because my tutoring company basically paid people to get the question and answer service and then they rewrote the tests. So the tests were perfectly okay and it was the same time of day, same day, same breaks, and same order. I am frustrated because I actually received 2100’s on actual SAT tests. The only difference I can think of is that the night before the real SAT I slept 8 hours and usually I sleep like 6 hours. </p>
<p>It sounds crazy, but you might want to talk to a sports psychologist. You psyched yourself out.</p>
<p>Hi!
I was in the same boat as you and I increased my score by 200 points! Here’s what I did
1.) I got a private tutor. the price ended up being equivalent to what a class would have been and he was very helpful in terms of really isolating what I wasn’t getting and focusing in those areas. 1 on 1 will always yield better results
2.) DO NOT OVER PRACTICE. I know SAT is practice practice practice but I only allowed myself to do a few sections the week before the SAT or else you just get tired of it.
3.) I know it’s so easy to say don’t get nervous but for my first SAT test I was HORRIBLY nervous to the point where I was sweating. I obviously didn’t do that well…my second time I just told myself I can always retake it and that the national average is pretty low so at least I KNOW I can do better than the average</p>
<p>Rewriting the tests is not the same as taking the actual tests. Sorry, but the tests are written in a very specific, tested way, and the rewritten questions are not the same thing.</p>
<p>And yes, psyching yourself out is a real possibility. Test anxiety is a real thing.</p>
<p>Things happen. My D thoroughly practiced for the SAT over the summer after sophomore and reached a plateau score at 2300+ consistently the month before her first SAT. She ended up getting below 2100. Then she retook SAT 3 months later after a few more practice. Still, she could only only get it a bit over 2200 which is around 100 below her practice score. On the other hand, she got her practice score of 35 at her first ACT attempt at the same time. It could be just a few tricky questions or a bad essay, getting 100-200 lower than expected is not that uncommon.</p>
<p>By the way, there is no such thing as over practice. One would reach a plateau but would not go down hill by practicing more.</p>
<p>I have heard, from people that I think have a good sense of this, that the SAT questions are a bit trickier than ACT questions, and thus that the SAT more adversely affects those with test anxiety than the ACT. I have no citations for that; make of it what you will. </p>
<p>My first SAT i scored a 1700, since then i have been taking practice tests and consistantly scored in the mid 1900s — i just got my score for this Octobers SAT when i only had gotten an 1840 — im still devestated </p>
<p>I’m curious about those of you who have been disappointed in your SAT scores. How did you do on the ACT, and if you didn’t take it, what’s your reasoning?</p>
<p>Psyched yourself out plain and simple. You put so much pressure on yourself with your expectations and what you thought/knew you’d get that you killed your chances as soon as you sat at the desk. Sorry man, should be proud of what you got anyway. Still 93rd percentile.</p>
<p>I think what ScFalcons74 is completely right. I put so much pressure on myself and wanted to do so good. The first I took it in march 2013 I wasn’t nervous and got a 1800. Is there any way I can not be nervous? Yoga or anything? Also is this a factor? I went to sleep that night without being sleepy so it took me longer to go to sleep and that entire time I was thinking of the sat. And I arrived at the sat 30 minutes early and I was nervous that entire time. Should I go to sleep when sleepy and should I arrive later?</p>
<p>I’m beginning to think there is no rythme or reason to these tests. Daughter scored pretty low on SATs first time last Spring (1900) compared to her GPA (4.2 UW), grades, etc. So she decided to try the ACT, figuring she’d do awesome, she bombed that bad (25). She just received her retake grades on SAT and bumped it up 200 pts !! She is pretty happy with that, but in the end, her CR is still just at 600. She is an avid reader, has great vocabulary but for whatever reason isn’t doing well on that one part. Pretty sad to have 750 on the other two (one of which doesn’t count in most cases) and bomb the CR. So I personally think its a crapshoot LOL.</p>
<p>@ParasPatel, there are many ways to try to moderate nervousness. Some of it is a matter of definition: if you think of it as being energized and excited rather than nervous, things can improve. Some people find that breathing exercises (conscious breathing) helps.</p>
<p>The reason that I mentioned a sports psychologist before is that this is something that affects athletes all the time.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>I heard that if you chew gum then you aren’t nervous anymore because the body thinks that you wouldn’t be eating if you are nervous. So can a solution be as simple as chewing gum?</p>
<p>Don’t over-analyze this. The score you got is your actual score. It’s pretty impressive that with all of your hard work you were able to increase your score 200 points. You should be very proud of that. I’m not sure where you got the idea that you could possibly increase your score by 400 points. That’s almost unheard of.</p>
Update: it actually was that I was stressed out and overthinking. I got a 1990 on December one and didnt study from December to January except 1 section of math and about 50 vocab words. I then hung out with my friends the Friday before the january test and I slept because I was tired not because I wanted to sleep for the sat. I ended up getting a 2150 so I do think overthinking can affect your score dramatically.
- from October to january