<p>So I recently got my PSAT score back and was fairly happy with the score (major improvement in two sections from my 10th grade PSAT), but there is defiantly still a lot of room for improvement. I have the goal of raising each section by about 100 points (though since this is my first SAT I would still be happy with a little lower) and will be taking the January SAT. What methods have people on CC used, is this goal reasonable and are there any other suggestions you guys have?</p>
<p>I hate to bump, but help please?</p>
<p>The best thing you can do for critical reading is read the new york times every day. Go to the website if you don’t get the paper, find a topic you’re interested in, and read an article or two every day.</p>
<p>Take this with a grain of salt, as my score is mediocre compared to most others on this forum:</p>
<p>Concerning the CR portion of the test, which was my strongest section, I really just read a lot. Read journals, novels, nonfiction, etc. Even though I’d avoid Internet forums for the most part, you can find some pretty cool stuff online, though I personally have a strong bias toward print sources. Even though it may seem like there’s some secret to doing really well on the CR portion of the test, it really is as simple as spending more time reading. It really helps a lot, and I think if you’re aiming on getting into the 700-750 range, reading a lot becomes a necessity. There are some vocabulary questions on the exams, and the reading will help a lot with that. The words aren’t terribly obscure, but some can be kind of tricky, like ‘sanguine’ on the last test, which I missed. You should probably study word roots (my freshman year teacher forced me to read Word Power Made Easy - though it’s kind of a slog sometimes, it’s pretty good for common roots). If you’re taking a foreign language already, try to take note of some of the cognates. That’s definitely helped me a lot with the SAT, but if you don’t know another language, that’s fine. Just read, review, etc. </p>
<p>With math, I’ve heard that Dr. Chung’s SAT Math book is great, though I went into the test twice without having done any prep, so I can’t vouch for that at all. The best thing you can do for math is practice and make sure that you have a solid grasp on most geometrical and algebraic concepts. Know when to apply them appropriately on the test. The prep books probably help you on this, though, again, I did minimal prep for both of my sittings, so I wouldn’t know.</p>
<p>I’d like to say that the writing becomes intuitive if you read a lot, but it was my weakest section by far at a 620. I’d recommend picking up an SAT book so you can get a general sense of how you should plan out your essay. I glanced at the Princeton Review guide for ~10 minutes at my local bookstore for the writing section. Reading a lot does admittedly help with the writing section as you’ll get a pretty good sense for mechanics as you read. However, brushing up on a few things would be helpful, particularly dangling modifiers and subject/verb agreement. Study each sentence closely, but don’t agonize over any one of them and, above all, practice. My test score was overall unflattering not because I didn’t know the answers, but because it took me way too long to answer them correctly. If you aren’t happy with your score in January, don’t be afraid to take it more than once (though I’d avoid taking the test more than three times, four at the absolute maximum).</p>
<p>In a nutshell, that’s what I’ve gathered from my time spent here. Others can correct me if I’m wrong, of course. I really don’t know what I’m talking about. Nonetheless, good luck!</p>
<p>(for reference, I went from a 63 PSAT CR score to an 800 SAT CR score)</p>
<p>May anyone here please grade my essay and give me some tips for writing it more appropriately? :(</p>