<p>Hello,
I am a freshman (I know it’s early) at an extremely competitive Jesuit high school in Cleveland.
I have a history of doing poorly on standardized tests. (especially reading)
Recently I received my results from the pre ACT PLAN test. The composite score was absolutely terrible.
Does anyone have any tips on how to greatly improve your scores over four years of preparartion for one of the tests?
I fear that I won’t get into any of the elite schools if I have poor ACT/SAT scores.
Boston College is my absolute dream school. I know I won’t get in if I get a 25 on the ACT.
Is there any way the admissions offices will understand?</p>
<p>If your problem is reading, read. Read the newspaper. Pull out those intense classics off those library shelves and read them. Or, even better, buy the books and annotate them (underline important quotes and write analytical comments on themes and symbols in the margins). This will SERIOUSLY help you improve your reading comp. </p>
<p>Suggested books include (anything of this caliber): To Kill a Mockingbird, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, Anna Karenina, Jane Eyre, Heart of Darkness, Les Miserables, The Fountainhead, anything Shakespeare, etc. OR science journals are good too, especially because those are the more “factual passages”–things are as they are told. You can start with easier books (esp as a freshman), but try to learn to progress up to this level of classics.</p>
<p>While you’re getting practice through reading tough classics, supplement with reading comp exercises. buy some SAT books with tons of reading comp exercises, and do them. Even 1 passage and set of questions a week can help.</p>
<p>As for math: practice. that’s all I can say. It’s really all about learning the shortcuts and tricks, so get some practice exercises and do them. Focus on the second half of each problem set, b/c the problems are supposed to get harder towards the end of each set.</p>
<p>Writing: this is the big problem for most Americans b/c our stupid school systems don’t teach grammar. You can either pick up a book and learn the grammar yourself, or you can do it like me and pay 1000 bucks for an SAT Writing class for someone to teach you grammar and mechanics.</p>
<p>even though it seems simple, the best tip i have is to not take the test too early. if you dont take it at the beginning of your junior year and take it three times before your senior year even starts, things will come together. youll learn things in school that will clarify the math or your reading comp will improve and itll benefit you without studying. my math score increase 130 points without even studying from the the middle of junior year to the beginning of senior year.</p>
<p>Actually, it can be beneficial to take it once a little earlier. It gives you an idea of what the actual SAT is like. None of those SAT prep books out there can really exactly mimic the collegeboard SAT; different test writers’ minds. If you take it once a little earlier (but not too early) to see how you really do, it can actually help you on the next try. 1) If you get a low score, it’ll scare you into studying super hard. 2) you get an idea of what the questions are like, and what you need to practice/study.</p>
<p>oh no i agree completely. i just mean to say dont rush to take them all early. i kinda did that and now i feel like i could have got a much higher score if i could take them again farther into my senior year</p>