A bit of backstory:
So I recently discovered that a college in my state offers massive financial aid (my COA would be around $9000 a year when it’s usually 23k+) if I get a 1400+ on the SAT and I major in a qualifiying engineering major - so because of this I’m trying to get my CR+Math score above a 1500 - so that I have a VERY GOOD chance of getting accepted.
My question:
I’m not focusing on the CR section right now - but for math, I’ve got a bit of a strange problem: I don’t think I’ll have enough practice problems to get consistent 750+'s - see even with the site ■■■■■■■■■■■■ - say I’ve got 30 tests, each with an average of 12 hard problems which give me trouble, that’s only 360 hard problems - and I’m afriad that I’ll use up all my official SAT prep problems and still won’t be getting the scores I’m shooting for. My main problem is time - I know the content, if I have even 5 more minutes I can get my goal almost every time, but the time limit is killing me and the only way to practice against that is with the real SATs - which leads to them getting used up and I’m not sure if I’m improving (I haven’t yet done enough to see a definite change)… Has anyone else had a similar experience?
I’ve been searching all over, and I haven’t found concerns about this - which probably means that anyone who took the time to do all those wasn’t having that issue (which is, of course, encouraging, but I don’t want to lean on that too much, because what if this IS a problem and I end up wasting all my tests?)
I really wanted to post here before I start because I see really no way to solve this problem - but maybe it’s a common/uncommon thing and someone can help me out?
If you consistently are running out of time, you need to get creative. Try doing full sections with 5 minutes less than the allotted time. Perhaps change your bubbling methodology to save time. If you consistently get the easy and medium questions right, try doing them extremely fast. You need to see what works for you, but it seems you need to focus on time now - not content or strategies. You should not need more than 30 tests to do this.
@CHD2013 - Yeah! I’m actually going for 15 minutes per section, based on a math post regarding 800 on the SAT from prepscholar.com - and I haven’t done enough tests to consistently see my weaknesses (I’m saving all the paper I use, and I’m even writing how long each question took me so I know what a good time for each question is…) My concern is really that I may not identify enough consistent patterns to work on in the length of those 30 tests, or if I do, the 30 tests won’t be enough for me to fix them… I mean, even SAT pros have trouble with new questions sometimes, because there’s so many ways for them to get twisted, and I’m wondering, if there’s so many potentially different questions, how are you supposed to prepare?
It’s not an issue at the moment, but the problem is: if it does become an issue, there’s no going back (I will have already taken a bunch of the tests) which is why I posted here as a preemptive measure…
The issue of running out of tests is a canard. What you seem to do --and I am speculating here-- is to find a test that will fall in your wheelhouse to get a higher score. That is NOT the way to go about this. There are more than sufficient tests to build up your knowledge and there is no difference in 10, 30, or 100 if you do not address the real problems of (probably) lacking the strong base of knowledge or simply not understand the way to “shave” time. A big issue that puzzles people is to fall into the time sink traps. You need to learn to recognize those and have a sound strategy that is all about scoring sufficient points in a certain amount of time.
My suggestion is to start again with known tests (most have been discussed here) and to start threads about the problem and the approach you sought. Pay attention to the different solutions proposed and move through the tests.
It should NOT take a mountain of tests to place you on more solid rails. Doing test upon test WITHOUT addressing the problems in depth is just pointless. And, do not feel bad, most … do!
@xiggi - Ok, awesome, yeah I scored the same on the past two I just took, I’m going to take two more today and see what that does to my score and once I have that solid evidence I can move on with a plan. I keep an Evernote of all the things I think I should be doing better or what I think I have problems with and I try to fix those problems as I go, I even record myself to see how I spend the time - I’m getting to the point to where I have enough time to go back and check everything, my only problem is generally not understanding how to do one of the last questions. If I can get that mostly patched up and can make my checking thorough enough to not make careless errors, I think I’ll be good.
I would recommend to only take one or two sections at the most from one test. Stick to the time allowed and review ALL your answers including the correct ones. Come back here and post the problem to start a discussion and show what you did and let the resident experts make suggestions. Again, volume is not the issue here. Really understanding what good testers do with certain question is more important.
If you consistently miss certain questions, try this. Go through one test WITH the answer sheet in front of you. See what happens when you see a problem and have the answer spotted t0 you. You might see the 4 wrong answers more clearly. Make sure you develop a mechanism (in your head) to recognize answers that HAVE to be wrong.
All in all, the “trick” is to get your mind working like the test … writer. Given the number of tests you have gone through, this will come easy.