<p>I took the SAT for the first time with no preparation or study and got 1390 (R:490 M:450 W:450).
For how long should I prepare for my next SAT if I hope to achieve a minimum of 1800? (R:620 M:560 W:620). Is a month enough or do I need longer than that? I will get a tutor or take classes</p>
<p>What year of HS are you in? Had you previously taken the PSAT or had any SAT practice?</p>
<p>In general, the kind of improvement you are looking for is very unlikely. If it is going to happen at all, it will take a significant amount of time.</p>
<p>If you had no prior practice on the SAT at all, a retake may provide you with a modest boost in score now that you are more familiar with the process. However, a boost of over 400 points is an unrealistic expectation. Expect something closer to 50 points.</p>
<p>I have already graduated high school (taking a gap year), the last time I took SAT was last year (oct 2013). I will be taking SAT classes and practice tests till I feel like I’m ready to excel it, I just want to know if this process will take me longer than a month</p>
<p>The best advice I can give you is to make reading and math a part of your daily life. Don’t expect tutoring or prep courses to do all the work for you. Read novels on a Sunday afternoon. Solve math problems on your phone when you’re standing in line somewhere.</p>
<p>The fact that you’re in a gap year can actually be a disadvantage to your SAT performance, since you do not have school to keep your academics fresh and focused.</p>
<p>Ideally, you would have started this process the moment you decided to take a gap year, making sure every week had reading and math in it. By now, you would be more ready to make a significant gain in score.</p>
<p>Starting now, with only a month to go, I would expect a modest 2-digit increase at best. I’m sorry to be so blunt about it, but it is important to realize that a 400-point jump is extremely rare even for students who are retaking the test in fall of their senior year, and those students have the advantage of being in a constant state of preparation.</p>
<p>I will try to give it two months then, I still have a lot of time. Also, I’m taking part-time courses at a local university right now (i’m taking an english course so that’s good, however, i will need to focus on math but that shouldn’t be a problem since the math part of SAT is more basic than the english one).</p>
<p>Thank you for your help! 
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<p>You are receiving very poor advice. Search this forum a little, you’ll find many suggestions for improvements over 80 points.</p>
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<p>Elucidate.</p>
<p>am in the sane situation as you .i got 1740 last year…been out of highschool. .i self studied and increased by 160 to 1900</p>
<p>^^Start with the pinned threads atthe top of this forum, especially xiggi’s and silverturtle’s</p>
<p>I remain curious to know how it is very poor advice to say a 400-point bump is unrealistic. The College Board’s own statistics show that 1 in 25 senior year retakers improve a single section by 100 points or more. To improve all three by ~137 points each in a month is not impossible, but it is highly improbable. </p>
<p>By all means, consult the wealth of information this forum offers. There are many threads that provide sound strategies for improvement. To be at their most effective, those strategies require time and effort. When time is a limited resource, it makes sense to limit one’s expectations proportionately.</p>
<p>The right strategies, and disciplined study of them, can make one month of work have the same value as two months applied less efficiently. They cannot, however, function as magic beans.</p>
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<p>I agree that 50 points is typical, but kids using advice from xiggi and silverturtle often improve much more.</p>
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<p>None of the advice above is bad in a vacuum; however it is poor advice in the context of specifically trying to improve SAT scores. More directed activities can be much more efficient.</p>