<p>I am currently a high school freshman and in an effort to improve my ACT test-taking skills, I have bought several test-prep books, with two of those being preparatory for the ACT. One is Barron’s 36 and the other is Princeton Review. I am currently reading the book sponsored by the Princeton Review community but I have been only 1/5 through the book. Today I just tried out the free SAT practice exam, which incorporates reading, writing(grammar and essay), and math. I had to admit my scores were somewhat distorted-I went to eat dinner when I was completing one of the sections and I accidentally clicked review section on one of the other portions of the test, resulting in a reset of the timer. I remembered what time I left off with, so I had to waste ten minutes off the timer by doing something else to try to prevent a distortion to my score. Anyway that is not important. What’s important is this: After finishing the essay and completing the sections I got a ghastly test report of 530 on Reading(41 right and 26 wrong with zero omitted), a 680 on Writing(40 right and nine wrong with again zero omitted, I got a 62 on MC, Sidenote: What does MC mean?, and I got a 12 on essay prior to an asterisk, indicating that the score was actually doubled and I actually got a perfect score of 6.), and a 520 on Math(32 right and 22 wrong). After adding those scores the computation equated to a 1,730. Should I be concerned? I just took the Explore exam two and a half months ago and I got a composite score of 18 on that test, indicating that I am am only bound to get a 26 on the ACT two years from now. I mean, I am very worried because I have set high expectations for myself on that test to score 30+, and most favorably 32-35 because I want to apply to the most selective colleges in the country. Look, I know in my guts if I am accomplishing a task well, and it’s looking grim for my high expectations so far. I swear, I have a history of recurring troubles with reading comprehension, and I had to admit I didn’t fully understand what the passages were talking about. The questions were structured in difficult manner too, and it seemed as if two to three of the choices on the multiple-choice questions were correct. I had a really hard time deciding which of the answers were truly right. On the math questions there were plenty of questions I vaguely understood so I tried to come forward to best solution. The writing portion was much more easier for me, because I could understand the grammar more clearly and efficiently. But overall it was a ghastly performance for me. I thought I did better on the SAT practice, but as a high school freshman, should I be concerned about scoring a 1,730? Because that’s like a 23 or 24 on the ACT. Help, please? Is there a wide disparity between the ACT and the SAT and will my continuation to review the ACT test-prep books help my SAT prep practice? Comments? I suffered the most on passage-based reading questions and barely nothing on sentence completions, and on math I suffered the most on geometry and measurements(well of course I am only on Algebra 1 right now). Is there a difference between junior level reading/senior level reading and freshman level reading? I think it’s hard to measure, but overall to me the difference is little. I am very scared of these middling scores. What can I do to improve these mistakes if I want to get a high score?</p>
<p>MC = Multiple choice</p>
<p>Use paragraphs - your wall of text is indecipherable. Read some of the pinned topics here and learn about exam preparation. It’s totally doable but you have to put in the time. The issue is that you don’t have a lot of the requisite knowledge. </p>
<p>Why are you worried about the exams a a freshman? Focus on learning and doing well in your classes and you’ll see your performance improve just like that. By Soph/junior year you can focus on exam prep and crush the SAT and/or ACT. </p>
<p>For a freshman that is not bad at all. As you advance in your studies, study more and you will probably do great when you get to the time that it matters. Good luck!</p>
<p>@An0maly As I said I want to get the highest score as possible and I am obsessed with getting into colleges like Harvard. </p>
<p>I improved 300 points from freshman to junior year with pretty much no prep, so you should be fine–especially if you prep more</p>
The SAT is changing, so these scores should mean nothing to you because you will be giving a different test.