<p>Would it be humanly possible for me to get a 2200+ SAT score by December 4th? How many hours would I have to commit to studying in order to achieve optimal results? All I care about is getting into UT Austin, and I will be denied admissions with my current score. What should I focus on to get optimal results with my scores? (670 cr, 600 math, 630 writing). I have ten days off for Thanksgiving break, so that gives me ample time to buckle down and study. More than 50 hours will be spent driving over the break so I can take practice tests in the car without any distractions. Afterward I have a week left to study for the SAT. I am stressing out because this is my LAST chance to get into the university of my dreams. </p>
<p>How should I go about studying? What method would you recommend, and how can I improve my weakest areas (math and writing) quickly?</p>
<p>sorry, it mostly depends on luck now. Some people have reported a 300-point jump from say, 1900-2000, but those people comprise the minority of the test-taking group. So cramming for a week or so hardly ever works for the SAT. You gotta have two-three months of time prior to the real test.</p>
<p>Okie, so I suggest the following plan This might help you to optimize your score. However, you will have to extremely lucky in order to achieve what you want to, at this stage.</p>
<p>Scheduled Plan:
20th - 27th </p>
<ol>
<li>Most important: Thoughtfully identify and make a list of your strong and weak topics (For ex - algebra, SC) in order of strength.</li>
<li>Pick up one set of strongest and weakest topic each day and practice a LOT on both of them. So this way you practice 2 topics every day for the next 7 days.</li>
<li>Attempt one section of each subject i.e. around 30 mixed questions of Math, Reading and Writing everyday to be in touch with pace and other topics.
Your target should be that every day you improve your accuracy in the sections you are attempting.
Give a full length test at the end of this week. You should see a 150+ score improvement. If you do not, then you did not do the above properly.</li>
</ol>
<p>Last Week -
28th - 3rd
Attempt one full length test each day. Focus on time and accuracy. Review and practice the topics, questions from which you did not get right in this test.
Keep doing this process throughout the week.
Make sure you are taking this test in same timings that you will be taking the real SAT.</p>
<p>Feel free to write to me about your progress and pain points.</p>
<p>Thank you neo. I’d say my strongest attribute is sentence completions (miss at most 1), and my weakest are Geometry and “number trick” questions on the math section. What is the best way to increase my “sat math”? I understand all the fundamental concepts (99 in precal), but the way the SAT presents the questions perplexes me.</p>
<p>Its great that you are aware of strengths and weaknesses.</p>
<p>2 ways to go from here.</p>
<p>1st, if you think your concepts are clear then I’d still ask you to follow the above plan</p>
<p>2nd, you can consider taking a few tutoring sessions this weekend (6 hours max) on SAT Math. These will brush up your understandings along with how to approach SAT Math problems and further help you to concentrate just on practice.</p>
<p>Neo… great post… i was searching for an answer. i really wish i could go up from an Oct. 1980 to a nice 2200 or something… i know it sounds impossible but i think it can be achieved. Though i havent studied anything yet (im not motivated except when i get my grades for Nov. Which are on Monday), ill do all i can to achieve that goal. Btw, im in gr.11. and next dec. will be my 3rd time taking the sat, do u think it will do any harm if i enter it like 4 more times which gives us a total of 7 tests and then picking the best marks out of them? or will colleges be suspicious of taking 7 tests?? i want to know so i can decide if I should Practice the *^it out of myself now, or just do it in my senior year thanks :D</p>
<p>From my personal experience, it’s easier to raise a score that is your lowest instead of trying to improve your best score. That being said, the entire process takes time, which don’t have much of. </p>
<p>I think your best shot if focusing on reading + writing. This is because it’s generally easier to be consistent in reading/writing after many practice tests. Since sentence completion is your strength, your vocab base is probably very strong so you don’t need to memorize more words. I can’t stress enough that it’s not how much time you spend that matters, it’s how you spend it. I would suggest you take 3-4 full length practice tests and carefully look over your answers. Make sure you solidly know why you got the questions correct/wrong. Look for patterns and see which types of questions you miss the most and focus on those.</p>
<p>For Math, I’m a little hesitant to give advice because I don’t think I know what it takes to improve math scores. My math scores were always very high so I don’t know what to say, except for the hard problems, it’s all about how you look at things and interpret information.</p>
<p>If you haven’t yet, I suggest you read the 12 essay in 10 days sticky and silverturtle’s guide for writing. You’ll have to practice math and reading independently though I think.</p>
<p>So I just bought myself the McGraw hill 2008 SAT guide (5 practice tests +review of all material). Will this suffice? Only 5$, from half price books!</p>
<p>I lost mine, (bought it last year and used it for a couple of hours)… I do have access to the online SAT course however. But since I will be traveling it was best to just use a book to study from. Is McGrawhill a decent book?</p>
<p>You really should get the blue book again…
That’s the BEST book for practicing… Then you can study with the McGraw Hills but the blue book will give a more accurate score…</p>
<p>I think it would be pretty difficult to jump 300+ points. Especially if you feel like the first test was an accurate portrayal of where you were when you took it. </p>
<p>I took the SAT today (my test center was closed on Nov 6 and this was the makeup) and I am fairly confident that my score will improve by ~200 pts. Mostly this is due to the fact that I was very ill when I took it in Oct and scored 100+ pts. less than the practice tests I was taking at the time. I also studied during the 1.5 months between the tests and I attribute some potential increase to that. So, it seems like it would be nearly impossible to improve THAT much in such a short period. I wish you the best of luck, though. :)</p>
<p>Also, get the BB again… McGraw Hill is useless compared to it.</p>
<p>What do you think abut a book by “Peterson”…Is it good. Actually I have finished BB and Princeton Review, and while searching I found this one in a library …</p>
thanks :D</p>