Reckie

I'm a senior, and I'll be taking the SAT for the last time this coming November. I took it last May, in which I got a 630CR, 580M, and 610W. I then took it again October 6th, and I won't be getting my scores back until about a week before the November test, so I'll be studying and taking the one in November no matter what. I think I did much better on math,(my weakness, ironically) and MUCH worse on CR / Writing unfortunately. My goals are 700's in both CR and math, and a 2020+ super scored. I'm hoping to get into Binghamton, although with my 86 average I'm banking on my SATs and essay to do so. I've never been much for studying, and although I know making this thread won't get me to do the work, I'm hoping it will keep me focused. Whether you follow my progress or not, I'd like to hear your stories, advice, and any tips you have.

heyhihello

advice for writing: learn the common idioms, like "not only... but also..." and others like that cuz they show up on the test a lot and practice subject-verb agreement i think writing is the easiest to improve in. critical reading is the hardest, i'd say, but just remember that the answers are in and between the lines... just knowing what an author is trying to say, even if they say it in an obscure way, will help you a lot so try to practice with some passages by old people haha. math is just a logic kind of thing, once you see a kind of question if you've done one like it in the past you'll know how to do it so i guess what i'm trying to say is.. practice practice practice! haha probably not what you want to hear tho.
my first diagnostic score was 1990 and all throughout summer prep class i was getting <2100. the last two weeks before the test i cracked down and got to business (esp with vocab, and also it's a good idea to practice essays and formatting), and i think i can look forward to at least 2200/2250 on october's test.

Reckie

@heyhihello - I've always been pretty good at english / writing, but the whole 25 minute essay thing just isn't for me. I've known pretty much every vocab word I've seen on any practice SAT, but on this particular one(two days ago), I didn't know several including polymath.

Thanks for the advice, I'm going to start cracking down tomorrow.

TicTacChill

Good plan, hopefully it goes well!

Do you know what SAT score and average is needed to get in to Bing and what SAT scores and average for guaranteed admission in to binghamton

Reckie

I believe the SAT scores(25%-75%) are CR 580 / 670, Math 620 / 700, and 91-96 GPA.

With my 86 GPA(although I'm doing extremely well this year), I'm still very much under what they want. I'm already in around the 50% for CR, and with the SAT I just took I should be around the 50% for math as well, but I'm aiming for 700's because of my GPA.

I have no idea about guaranteed scores, but I'll definitely ask around. Thanks for the encouragement.

Reckie

October 8th.

Today I wrote my college essay, a very very very rough draft. That was about it, besides doing all the homework that we got for this "break."(Apparently a three day weekend is considered a break) I also researched some SAT practice books, deciding on Dr. Chungs for math and Rocket Revolution for CR. Getting home at noon every day gives me a lot of time to study, so it's up to me to put in the work... or not.

For tomorrow I am going to pick up the Dr. Chungs + Rocket Revolution, and start studying away. Hoping to put in at least 4 hours, but... we'll see.

Spykid9849

hello everybody!
i am appearing for SAT on nov 3
Should i depend only on direct hits for vocab???

Reckie

@Spykid9849, Direct Hits is very highly recommended by many people, and I just ordered two books from them about 20 minutes ago. I wouldn't rely solely on it though, as you can read a (good) newspaper, read some interesting articles online, and try to incorporate the words you do learn into your homework/essays. If you make your own thread you'll probably get more responses as well. Good luck!

Spykid9849

@reckie i have soft copies of DH books . maybe i can share it with you!

VSJon300

Where would one get an idiom list?

Reckie

@VSjon300 I'm sure you can find some online, I'm not sure if any review books have something like it, but I'll check online for you when I get home.(on my phone)

October 9th.
Today I bought the review books I will be studying from, but did nothing more than a few math practice questions. The books will be here Thursday, but I can't do nothing until they get here. Tomorrow I need to do at least a full practice test.

Reckie

October 10th.

Today, I did one practice essay and one section of math.(20 questions)

Not going at the rate I should be. Too many excuses, not enough effort. Tomorrow I need to do... more. Hopefully my review books arriving will give me a boost.

PreludeInE

I'm taking the November SAT too. Let's kill it!

Ugh, the 25 minute essay thing isn't for me either. I don't understand how people on this site write such amazing essays within the time limit. It sucks because the writing section was the only section that came easily to me on the psat, and now, because of the stupid essay, I'm scoring lower than I did on the psat. And also, I hate math. I got Dr. Chung's too, and I can't even read it. It's really confusing. I'm using Gruber's math now.

Anyway, sorry for the semi rant. 23 days left...

Reckie

@PreludeInE, reading novels such as Animal Farm and the like can in some way be used to prove or disprove basically any idea, so I'm going to to go back and Sparknote all the books I read in 10th grade. Knowing about the world and just basic current and historical events is also very helpful. All you have to do is take a position on the prompt, agree/disagree and prove it using 2-3 examples from the aforementioned works; concluding with a restatement of the examples and points you made. That's how I look at it, and I usually end up getting 5's and 6's. After your done you can check it for grammar/spelling and substitute in "better" vocabulary to strengthen your essay.

Since 25 minutes is such a short period of time, writing a few practice essays prior to the test and having a good baseline knowledge of the books including the authors saves a LOT of time. The questions are usually open-ended, and it really isn't hard to write 2 or even 3 pages in 25 minutes when you have the examples ready.

I haven't tried Dr. Chungs yet, but I'm literally just about to. I'll update on how it goes! Hope this helped.

Reckie

Dr. Chungs seems hard and long, but the tips seem good and it has a LOT of practice questions.

The Direct Hits vocab is absolutely AMAZING. I learn the words so quickly and retain them better than I ever have.

I'll be doing 2-3 tips and 10-15 vocab words per day so I finish all the tips and words before the November SAT, reviewing the tips and terms from the day prior as well as learning the new ones.

This, in conjunction with some practice tests seems like a viable, steady way to approach practicing, and hopefully it works. It's only 7:30, so I have another few hours of work I can do tonight before I update on the days progress and tomorrows goals.