I took my SAT and was definitely disappointed with my scores. To be fair though I hadn’t studied at all prior to taking the test besides doing a couple practice questions the day before on the college board website.
My Scores:
CR: 670
Math: 630
Writing:570 Essay: 8
Combined: 1870
I know it’s an okay score, but I have my reach schools such as UCLA, UCB, U Michigan and Columbia. I think having these reach schools impacts me positively because it motivates and challenges me to see how well I can really push myself. Although of course I’m not counting on any of my reach schools. improving my SAT scores could definitely raise my chances of in state and oos scholarships. However, I was wondering how possible it is? I’m hopeful I’m in good standing since I’ve never really picked up the blue book a day in my life. Also, I messed up so bad on my essay. I started out amazing (I’m a very strong writer, once I start I can’t put my pencil down…or stop my fingers from typing), however I got a little carried away on perfecting my essay and got the dreaded “5 minutes remaining” and I was BARELY on my third paragraph. Super screw up on my part. I heard writing and math are easily improved on compared to reading. I was surprised my Math was so low considering I did very well in Alg II this semester, however I know the questions are worded ridiculously and I’m extremely bad at picking apart math word problems to actually see what they’re asking. I’ve watched a couple videos of people doing SAT math sections in like 9 minutes because the actual math is so easy, it just seems extremely difficult. Also I’ve read from various sources that Grammar is probably THE easiest score to improve since it tests over the same material. Reading on the other hand is definitely the hardest, however when I look at my score break down, I can see I’m mainly missing medium difficult questions which is kind of surprising. I think it’s my tendency to read way into the question and dissect everything in the passage, which can affect my finding of an answer that’s clearly right in front of me. Vocab is a walk in the park for me.
Regardless, I was wanting to see and feedback or comments of improving my SAT scores? I have all summer + until October retesting. I own the Blue book, however I was thinking of buying some supplementals such as PWN the SAT Math section and The ULTIMATE Guide to SAT Grammar by Erica L. Meltzer. I’m hoping working through these books rigorously will help me learn from my errors, identify my weak points, and improve all around. Also note: I’m a very strong student in school, which is why I’m hopeful to improve my scores. I never have trouble learning new material, and I’m pretty well adaptable to situations when I really want it. I’m hoping to raise my 1870 score to at LEAST a 2050-2100. Reaching for the stars (realistically) maybe a 2200? Any feedback would be helpful + testimonials of you guys raising your scores would definitely be helpful as well.
I had a 1900 and raised it to 2210. My only sticking point was reading because I have always had horrible reading comprehension. Over the summer, I did a lot of practice tests. I did every single practice test in the blue book.
One of the most important things when doing practice tests is to review your answers. Every time you’re checking a section, go over every single one that you got wrong, figure out why you got it wrong, and try to remember that for next time. When I had 1900, I was getting like 650 or something on the writing section. Writing is the easiest section to improve on because they can only test so many grammar/sentence structures. (Just hope you don’t get lots of idioms, cause those are impossible to study for). I realized I was just being lazy and started going through each writing question I got wrong, learning the concepts that I wasn’t clear on. Before, I had just chosen the choice that I thought looked the most right on writing.
For math, it’s the same. Luckily, I have a decent base in math, and when I was scoring 1900 on my SAT, I already had a high math score. I could finish all 20 questions in the math section in less than half the alotted time. For me, it was between getting a 700-790 and getting 800. Being careful in the math section is important. Work fast, but be careful. I could answer the first 15 questions in the math section in under 30 seconds, but how many of those would end up being careless mistakes? As that question to yourself. In a way, it’s the same as writing - review the ones you got wrong and remember it for next time. I ended up getting the elusive 800 on the Math section.
For reading, i can’t help you. I suck at reading. But do a lot of practice.