<p>My current SAT score is 1520. Yes, I know it is quite low… I paid for SAT classes the previous summer and throughout my Junior year, whenever I take my SAT practice test during my tutor sessions I can score a good 1700+ (which still isn’t very high) but when it comes to the real deal, I just fall apart… I’m worried about applying to college with this SAT score… I have already began studying again, but from here on until the October SATs, would it be impossible to obtain a 1800? I want to apply to schools like RPI and Binghamton, but with a score like this… I fear it may be impossible. I could use any advice, any comments out there. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>here’s one… READ THE STICKY</p>
<p>I am currently reading the list of strategies offered right now. But the main thing is that would it just be enough? Time isn’t exactly on my side anymore.</p>
<p>Instead of thinking weeks, think hours. There’s always enough time-- if you’re willing to spend it.</p>
<p>You can find all the info in the stickied posts and the posts mentioned in them, however, to mention few of the easier and less time consuming things you could do:
Read two volumes of Directs Hits
Memorize PR’s Hit Parade words
Do at least two CB tests per week and thoroughly REVIEW them
Get over your “falling apart” technique of losing 200 points.</p>
<p>Although Barron’s is not deemed very effective here at CC, I think with 1500 you might find it useful.</p>
<p>Btw, what practice tests are you doing? The scores you get on practice tests are usually pretty much what you get on the real ones. Depending on your nervousness you get approx 50 point differences between practice tests and real tests, but not 200 point differences.</p>
<p>Memorizing vocab does NOT fall under the “less time consuming” list.</p>
<p>The practice tests I take are straight from the Barrons and Princeton Review study guides. I’ll try my best to do what you suggest.</p>
<p>Yeah… you didn’t read the sticky did you?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is like stage fright. For the SAT.
It’s probably not just the studying part you need to work on, it’s your test-taking behavior.</p>
<p>Maybe you need to use the college board’s real tests from their “blue book”. It might be better than the PR and Barron’s practice tests.</p>
<p>might…?</p>
<p>Use BB. K?</p>
<p>@Bigb14
I thought so too until a week ago I made 200 flash cards in an evening out of words I didn’t know from the Hit Parade and learned them in three days. I’m seeing lots of immediate improvement in the sentence completions and not as significant but still very helpful improvement in reading comprehension.</p>
<p>You can miss almost every sentence completion, get no passage based wrong, and still pull a 700. It’s easier to improve on passage based than sentence completions… therefore, memorizing words is inefficient.</p>
<p>I find it harder to improve on passage based. I believe, learning vocabulary, especially from DH, is a much easier way to gain a 100 point increase, since vocabulary is useful for not only sentence completions but also reading comprehension.
But probably depends on where’s the most room for and possibility of improvement.</p>
<p>How is the score distribution?</p>
<p>The score jump shouldn’t really be considered as a serious problem in that score range.</p>