How I Went From a 165 PSAT to 2190 SAT

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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<p>This method worked for me and got me into a lot of my dream colleges, so I’d like to share it with you guys. It involves a lot of smart work rather than hard work and should be started at least a month before your SAT’s!</p>

<p>Here’s exactly what I did: (What you shouldn’t do!)
Oct 2006 - Took first PSAT, got P@WNED with a 165
Summer 2007 - Went to asian prep school and attended classes involving 2 full SAT sections a day and review of them afterwards. Worked only because it forced me to practice, although albeit unefficiently.
Oct 2007 - Took 2nd PSAT, got 201. (National Commendation)
Slacked Off. Grades dropped, SAT practice was nonexistent.
May 2008 - First SAT: 1990
Researched and tried every single SAT prep method, from Xiggi to Grammatix to Gruber’s to Asian Prep one practice test a day BS…
October 2008 - Second SAT: 2190
Now: getting college acceptances! yay!</p>

<p>So what worked?
The only times my scores increased were when a lot of practice was involved. However, the asian prep school and a test per day method overworked me. Grammatix had no practice but a lot of strategies. Useful, but I had no real chance to apply the tips as I had exhausted the collegeboard book. The only way I improved was by finding an optimal amount of practice everyday that allowed me to turn the strategies I read in books into test taking habits?</p>

<p>So basically, to get up to around a 2000, you just have to do problems and go over your mistakes. That’s all I did in an asian prep school and it worked. Here’s what I did between my first and second SAT attempts to get that 2190:</p>

<p>Day 1 - 1 Math Section with focus on strategies
Day 2 - 1 Writing Section w/ focus on strategies
Day 3 - 1 Reading Section w/ focus on strategies
At this point, I would create a list of mistakes that I made in each and would use the list to gauge what I should look out for in the next couple of practice tests.
Day 4 - 2 Math sections focusing on list of mistakes
Day 5 - 2 Writing Secs " " "
Day 6 - 2 Reading Secs " " "
This combination of strategies + learning from your mistakes is foolproof and efficient, and it also slowly builds up your SAT stamina!</p>

<p>I’m in a rush so I’ll elaborate tomorrow!</p>

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<p>can you go over some of the strategies you used for each sections?</p>

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<p>the jakezhang method lol</p>

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<p>Just to put your “success” in context, what schools did you get accepted at?</p>

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<p>im so envious lol</p>

<p>the march test was my first test,im very curious as to what i got</p>

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<p>As an international student, I suck at CR. At the first time I took the SAT, I earned only 500 on this section, the second time 560 :frowning: - still too low for many of the schools in my list I suppose. </p>

<p>Now that I have like two months to go before the third attempt, have you got any words of wisdom to offer me? Again, I-am-an-international-student and my target CR score is 650</p>

<p>Thanks A LOT, guys</p>

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<p>Oh just want to add that I already aced the Sentence completion questions, so please advise me exclusively on passage-based reading, OK? </p>

<p>Thanks again ;)</p>

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<p>^^ Check out Ziggi’s tips</p>

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<p>@Erasmus_otSR, you mean Xiggi’s* tips (and not Ziggi’s)? lol</p>