Hey everyone, I’m currently a junior and I’ll be taking the October SAT. I started studying for it after taking a practice test in late July, which I got a 2020 on. I then bought the Critical Reader, PWN the SAT Math, and Insider’s Guide to SAT Critical Reading and Vocabulary.
I started pretty hard during August (5-6 hours a day), but a week before school started on the 24th, I went on a short vacation and had my wisdom teeth removed, so I wasn’t able to study the week before school. I got pretty worried about the SAT, so the Sunday before school started, I took practice test #4 in the Blue Book, and much to my delight, I got a 2140 on it!
I have 4 AP classes this year, and since the first two weeks of school already gave me a bunch of work, I only practiced my essays during that time period. Then, I took practice test #5 today, and I got a 2000 on it
Do y’all think that it’s because I haven’t studied the SAT (except for essays) during the past two weeks? Or maybe my 2140 was not an accurate measure of where I was? Or is there anything wrong with practice test #4 or #5 in the Blue Book? This is making me feel pretty down right now… And I really want to get a 2150 in October…
First off your score can definitely fluctuate at that level on the SAT. The diffirence between a 2000 and a 2140 is between missing 4-7 questions.
Getting a great score on practice tests is good, but don’t expect to perform to that level on test day. Most students (there are some exemptions) preform worse on test day due to stress and the new environment.
@SternBusiness So is more practice simply what I should do now? I’m considering waking up at 4:00 AM instead of my usual time at 5:30 AM because I normally finish homework around 10 on weekdays, and it’s super hard staying awake while practicing for the SAT after that time.
I seriously don’t think losing sleep will help! Maybe an hour a day (or less) study will do and a practice test every weekend to measure your progress. I’ve learned from my prep class that once you break 2000 it becomes unpredictable and tends to fluctuate. Just keep up with your studying and when it comes time to take the practice test give it 100% focus. Good luck!
Your going into your junior year correct? Losing an hour and a half of sleep every night is not worth it. Try to do your homework faster and squeeze in an hour before you go to bed.
If you are a junior, you are ahead of the game. A lot of people I know waited until the early spring or end of the year to take the SAT.
@a20171@SternBusiness I normally sleep at 11:30/12:00 when I try to include SAT prep in my schedule. The issue is at that time, I can hardly stay awake while prepping for the SAT, so I feel like studying at that time isn’t effective at all. What I’m planning to do is get all my homework done by 10, then sleep as soon as I finish, then wake up at 4 to start SAT prep. I am so much better at staying awake in the morning, so I feel like it’ll be more effective prepping at that time.
Regardless, I’ll be getting the same amount of sleep. Normally, I sleep from 11:30 PM - 5:30 AM, but now I’ll be sleeping from 10 PM - 4 AM. And I am only stressing the SAT now to take the old test while I still have a chance. Also, I’ll be packed with AP coursework during spring, so why not take care of this test before that.
@neoking It could be kinda hard to change your sleep pattern. How many AP classes are you in?
If you really wanna ensure enough time to study for the SAT, just study less for your actual classes. A lot of people I know spend so much extra time on classes than what is really needed for the grade they want. Just cut out some HW time and put in SAT time. SAT is more important than whether or not you get a B+ or an A- in a class.
@SternBusiness I’m in 4 APs - Physics 1, Chem, APUSH, & Lang. Chem seriously eats up my time, and since it’s more difficult than my other classes, it takes me longer to do chem homework.
I wouldn’t want to sacrifice my grades because Texan public universities care a lot about rank. Currently, my rank is 5 out of 667, so I wouldn’t want to give that up lol.
Hey I know this is unrelated to the topic but I wanna share the advice my AP Chem teacher gave today because you said it takes up a lot of time. She told us to get into pair and to split assigned readings for outlining up and then share the outlines. seriously. The amount of reading for that class is insane. Get a group of 2-4 together and divide up big reading assignments. For example, my teacher told us today we have a test on 120 pages of material (3 chapters) so we divided it among 6 people and are doing 20 pages each and sharing our outlines. It is crazy to do all that work on your own.
