Your welcome. Fee free to ask me or anyone else on this thread any question you might have!
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My 10th grader received approximately a 1240 on the PSAT and we want to improve her scores into the 1500 range. (She had been a Duke TIP kid, too.) What do you think about her doing summer prep with a tutoring center like Test Masters?
Iām not too familiar with these tutoring centers since I was never able to afford them anyways. I would say that if she uses prep books like Barronās and Princeton Review, she should be able to raise that score. However, if those tutoring centers seem to have a good track record, I would say do it then.
First of all, Iād like to thank for being this generous as to offering your advice to us for this. I appreciate your willingness to help those around you with something like this and Iām sure that everyone on this discussion does as well. Iām currently a HS freshman who is scoring in the high 1400s to low 1500s (consistently 770-800 in math, 700-740 in reading), and Iām shooting for a 1570+ on my first (and hopefully last) SAT in August. Iāve bought Erica Meltzerās book for SAT Reading and Iāve been doing light practice for almost two years now. I feel like reading through the Critical Reader book and doing Khan Academy practice (and reflecting on my mistakes) will be enough to earn the score I wish to get if I devote 3-4 hours a day to SAT prep starting in June. I feel like the only section I need to improve on is the reading section (I feel like I can score an 800 on math with little issue), so Iāll spend most of my prep doing Reading and Writing practice. Do you think this plan is good enough to get me the 1570+? Is there anything else you would recommend that I do?
Your plan is identical to what I did. I think you will be able to reach a 1550+. A 1570+ is very hard to achieve and scores can vary based on tests. I would recommend reading up passages from the Lincoln Douglas Debates, anything to do with womanās suffrage, and possibly some founding father documents like the Constitution or the Articles of Confederation.
In addition, I would also recommend reading CNN articles, WIRED articles, National Geographic articles, and the Economist / The New Yorker. Often times College Board will directly take passages from these companies and put them as a reading passage.
OK, thank you so much! Are there any specific genres of news that you would recommend reading on these websites? They obviously wouldnāt include politics. Should I focus on reading more of the science/social science articles?
A quick shout out to @GoBears2023 for this thread and adviceā¦thanks a lot for taking time to give tips and talk to us. I just got my scores backā¦scored 1590 (essay 21).
I took my first SAT in the fall - I went into that first test without preparation (bad idea, never do that) - I may have done a few practice tests and thought I was readyā¦didnt do well. After reading thru CC, realized how important it is to prepare systematically with solid material first. So went back and this time, prepared with Erica Melzerās books - then practiced tests (only English though - am fortunate to do well in math consistently and it saved time). For the tests, I critically analyzed the incorrect answers and went back to Melter chapters for any repeated mistakes (I didnāt had any particular trend though). Got one incorrect in reading to score 1590 - better than what I was aiming for. Thanks to CC and this thread for awesome tips - no one in our school talks this stuff (wish I got active on this forum earlier)
Congrats!!!
How long did you study to raise your score to 1590? And how did you prepare for the essay part? I will try to prepare this summer. Can you share your advice?
@Valchoi
The amount of time may not be the same for everyone - so I would rather limit my advice to āwhatā and āhowā to study. First of all, find your weakness section: for me, it was very obvious from the beginning, itās EBRW (based on an SAT I took as a 7th grader and then again as a junior). For my second test, I know I have to improve EBRW and before starting the prep, took an official practice test in that section and used it as my baseline benchmark. Using Khan Academy and others, I tried to see if I have any particular weakness - I had more incorrect answers in English language conventions category. I was also missing some key points while reading complex passages. So I decided to work on improving my grammar rules foundation and also adapt better reading comprehension strategies that fit me. Based on recommendations, I studied thru Erica Melzerās Reading and Grammar books - cover to cover, doing every question it has. I did this over a period of 2 months - on and off and during the peak schedule for myself, so I may not have done it perfectly (advice to any math competitors - donāt schedule your real SAT during Feb/March when the peak math season is going on - it was a stressful month for me). Anyways, after completing the Melzer books, I took another practice test - and went thru the test to understand why I got the questions wrong. I think this was my major difference from the 1st test - this time I did a better job of analyzing the errors (ps: took help of my parents in this). I may have done another 2 practice tests with a thorough analysis - afterward its practice and practiceā¦ just do as many practice tests as possible.
Lessons-learned and advice: Use the official practice tests effectively - donāt rush thru them at the beginning of the preparation cycle. I would say first do one official practice test for baselining - then work on the weaknesses. If weakness is EBRW, I highly recommend the Melzer books; if math I am not sure - I didnāt do any separate practice for SAT Math. After you are happy with your foundation training (Melzer books and any Math resources), do a second official practice test - rebalance your weakness. Go back and read the material if you are getting more incorrectās in any particular sub-area. Then third testā¦and so onā¦ at some point you may see that all you need further is just practice and go thru rest of tests you have. Have one official practice test for practice for a couple of days before the test. Go into the test confidently, tell yourself that itās only a test - if you do bad, you can always retake (I mean, donāt put too much pressure; personally I do worse when I hype too much about a test). Good luck.
Congrats @hs2020kid
Thanks for sharing your journey with SAT prep
It makes me so happy that youāre passing on your knowledge to everyone else. Way to go!
Can you also suggest any good books for preparing SAT Bio and Math 2? Thanks.
Sure thing! For Math 2, I used Barronās. Do keep in mind though that I had a very strong math background and the Math 2 test was fairly easy for me. As for SAT Bio, I just used Princeton Review.
What books would you recommend to help with your Physic?
Thanks for all the advice.
Hey, Iām a freshman, and I wanted to see where I am in terms of SAT to see if Iām on track. Does Khan Academy offer a diagnosis test to see where youāre at?
Can you recommend? Thank you
Yes, Khan academy has a diagnostic test you can take!
@visaoanh
You have to be more specific.