<p>I know my math score is awful and very laughable, but in all seriousness I’m freaking out because I’ve just taken the SAT for the 1st time on Dec 7th and I didn’t do too hot on the math as you can see. I wasn’t taking college seriously up until a few weeks ago when my parents threatened to cut me off- up until that point I didn’t want to go to college.
I finished senior year this past June and I didn’t exactly take math senior year since I completed the graduation req and I was so bad at it.</p>
<p>Considering this, today I studied for about 7-8 hours on the math section (I used Gruber’s Complete SAT guide 2009 which seemed to be helping) and then I did the diagnostic test and I got 5/36 correct. I’m freaking the **** out right now. I was looking around on the forums for the past hour searching for ways to improve my score, but most of the kids here are already scoring 600+ in the math section so I don’t know if the methods they’re using would apply to me since I’m very rusty.
Should I continue with the Gruber’s book? I also have one of the recent Blue Books. Could I just use these and reach 600+ from a 310? What are the best books for someone scoring my range?</p>
<p>I mean, when I took the SAT on Dec 7th, I left a lot of the math section blank. I probably only answers maybe 2 or 3 questions per section because I was scared of losing points if I got an answer wrong. Obviously, my score is horrid and I should’ve at least attempted the other questions- I know that now. I really need someone to guide me to the proper course of action since the next SAT I take is on Jan 24.</p>
<p>It’s gonna be difficult, but it’s definitely not impossible. </p>
<p>I’m going to go ahead and infer from your 310 that Math isn’t your strongest subject. Don’t be sad though, math is one of the easier sections to raise scores. I would suggest Grubers after you master more of the elementary concepts. There’s a book called the SAT Math Bible that I use to tutor students with lower scores. I would suggest that one first, and then if you have time left over, Grubers and the CB book.</p>
<p>Since you are already out of high school, unless you graduated top 7% of your high school class as a Texas resident, these schools are probably all out of reach. Have you considered starting at community college, and then trying to transfer to another school after establishing a strong track record?</p>
<p>I usually try to avoid giving advice on test prep books, but in your case I want to make sure you do not waste time, get frustrated and give up quickly.</p>
<p>I would strongly recommend that you do NOT use any of the “more popular” SAT math prep books, at least until your score is over a 400. You need to use a book that is more targeted for you.</p>
<p>I would suggest the Princeton Review’s Math guide. It really helped me a lot! It has all basic math concepts explained in depth and as you progress it’ll teach you some shortcuts to solving math problems you might find easier. Be optimistic and don’t stress. Don’t worry too much about missing a question it. If you can eliminate at least one choice go ahead and guessed. The first time I took the SAT I made a 550 on the math and I literally guessed on half. :)</p>
<p>And I agree with Texasmomof3. Maybe you should consider community college. I had a friend who started with community college and later did a transfer. Worked for her just fine. :)</p>
<p>Well I graduated home school so I guess my class rank is 1%… (i assume)
And what do you mean by ‘graduating as a Texas resident’- UT doesn’t like out of state students?</p>
<p>To be frank, I don’t want to even consider community college. I figured if I’m going to college I might as well get the full experience and dorm and all that jazz- not commute.</p>
<p>Texas state law says that anyone who graduated from a public school in Texas in the top 8% of graduates earns automatic admission to UT. Roughly 80% of UT students come from this pool of “auto-admits.”</p>
<p>Since you didn’t graduate from a Texas public high school, you won’t be eligible for automatic admission. Instead, you will be judged by GPA, SAT/ACT scores, teacher recommendations, essays, strength of schedule, AP successes, what you have done since high school, etc. As a home schooled student, it is important that you have solid SAT/ACT to back up your GPA, as an outside measure of your abilities.</p>
<p>Unless you’re missing a ton of points due to careless mistakes and guessing improperly, 310 to a 600 in less than a month would be extremely difficult. If your skill level is much higher than a 310, then you should see a nice jump fairly quickly as you begin practicing.</p>
<p>southseventh, I’m missing a ton of points due to the fact that A) Math is my worst subject, and B) I was scared of attempting any of the questions because if I got it wrong I didn’t want to lose points.
I mean I remember there was a question about finding the arc of a circle- and in school I was really good at that- but I guess I had a giant brain fart and I forgot how to approach it, therefore leaving it blank.
I purchased ‘28 SAT Math Lessons to Improve Your Score in One Month’ the beginners course aimed at students currently scoring below 500…So far so good-I feel like a weight has been lifted and all the stuff I learned in school seems to be coming back to me.
I’m just going to use this and see how I fare on the test. I don’t fear that I’ll struggle on the upcoming SAT since this book makes it easy for me to comprehend, and I’m not zoning out every 5 seconds because it is concise.</p>
<p>That’s good to hear mate. Remember, once you have the basic concepts down, just keep practicing ALOT and don’t be afraid of getting the wrong answers</p>
<p>There are only so many types of questions they can ask you on the SAT … Often, you will see similar questions with different numbers and such. Maths is really one of the easiest sections to raise your score </p>
<p>The difference between a 300 and a 600 are just a couple of easy and medium questions and just to save up time I will advise you to skip the hard ones that are usually at the end of every section.</p>
<p>Mate I wish you the best of luck for this upcoming SAT’s and my only advice will be to keep practicing and working hard because from what I have seen you are very motivated and that’s a good thing. Keep it up!</p>