How to Improve SAT Score

Test Preparation
1

Hey guys!
I’m a rising junior, and I plan on taking the old SAT in October and (possibly) January.
I have taken 4 practice SAT tests, and am currently taking SAT classes. Despite the classes, my scores seem to be either staying the same or decreasing. Do you guys have any techniques to help me improve my score?

Out of my practice tests, my superscore is:
CR: 650
M: 790 (so close!)
W: 690 (I had writing instructors grade my essay)

2

I was able to improve my SAT score from a 1760 to a 2300 using these techniques.

Reading: (went from 530 to 730).

Vocabulary: memorizing flashcards helped me, but I’m not sure if you’re taking the 2400 or 1600 SAT. With the former, memorizing flashcards of SAT words is good. With the latter, they have a new design with how vocab is tested (it’s going to be related to words college students use I guess). Therefore you should try learning roots of words (like how the prefix con means (with) and viv means (life) ). That helps alot. It doesn’t hurt to study SAT words too even though the test is changing.

Now, passages.When you read, outline the main idea of each paragraph. Get engaged in the reading. CROSS OUT all unnecessary information. For example:

i.e. June, on the night of her wedding, was frightened–shaking all over and trembling.

You can easily get the main idea by crossing out the prepositions for it to read:

June was frightened.

You read it once with the superflous details to get the picture, then you cross out those details to get a main idea. Now, when you go to questions, any main idea question will be somewhat easier because you’ve condensed the material. If you need those superflous details for any other questions, they’re still there for reference.

Now, when you answer questions, make sure to eliminate what you know to be false. Answers must be TRUE and must be found IN THE TEXT; play devil’s advocate. Why is this one the right answer? If you find a reason it’s not, it probably isn’t. But if you find textual evidence and it’s a true fact stated in the reading, that may very well be your answer.

Extreme answers (uses words like never, always) are usually never the answer. At the very least, suspect these answers before picking them.

With comparison passages, write down what you think is similar and different before looking to questions. Some people like reading the questions first, but I feel reading the questions prompts you to see answer choices, which influence your first impression of the text and can make you overthinking questions.

Math: (went from 670 to 770).

Ok so you have a really good math score I don’t think you should change what you’re doing. Sometimes it comes down to luck. However, if you need some tips:

Math on the SAT isn’t math. It’s logic. Literally, every question can be solved without a calculator. In the SAT classes I took, the math teacher said if you’re doing complex algebra or trig to solve a problem, you’re wasting time.

Plug in answer choices. Backsolve. Draw pictures. The most complex algebra you’ll use is applying slopes, maybe getting a polynomial you have to FOIL or something (or applying formulas for area of a circle or square or something). Yet don’t lose yourself in complex math. Each question has an easy way of being solved.

That being said, a 790 is almost perfect so you got Math down I think

Writing: (went from 560 to 800)

So going from the bad performance scale in writing to the good performance scale in writing, I think I can assess the mistakes most people make in writing.

The Essay:

Most people think the essay is a complex piece that needs an intro, body, conclusion etc. Some of this is true. Not all. What you should do is:

  1. 2 sentence intro. 1st: Answer the prompt, which is a two-tailed assessment on how one aspect of something does action A or action B essentially. Pick your position. i.e (Although action B is true, I feel that ______ .... and go on to say how action A is more correct). This is your first sentence. In your second sentence pick two examples you will use to further your point. Each example gets its own body.

Note: These examples don’t have to be real. You can make up a book or show or even a personal experience. You can use things familiar to you (literally, I used the novel “Avatar” (not a novel lol) and talked about how Katara fights for revenge and managed to get an 11/12 lol). You only have 25 minutes so don’t spent more than 2 thinking of examples.

Now, conclusion. You don’t need one. Is it the defining thing separating 11s from the 12s. Not necessarily, but it could be. Then again, a 12 is really necessary if you have an 11.

Other things to note: Use big words whenever possible. Make sure your pronoun verb agreement is spot-on. No run-ons.

Multiple choice:

Common wrong answers:

  1. Parallelism: ie. Jack was eating, drinking and to eat

All actions don’t agree in terms of tenses.

  1. One vs you.

If one is to _, then you should .

Both pronouns must be either one or you, not both.

  1. Verb agreement:

He eat the pasta.

No. “eats”

  1. Run ons, either/or neither/nor. Look out for these.
  2. Idioms. "I have a preference to ____". No. It's "I have a preference for."

There’s many more that you can look up online. It’s really about assessing the types of mistakes and correcting them.

Good luck~