<p>Hey. I’m going to be an incoming sophomore this September. I took the SAT in June and scored a 580 on the Critical Reading, a 720 on the Math, and a 570 on the Writing. I scored an 8 on the essay portion, but my MC score was really low. I would really like to improve my CR and writing as quick as possible. I would also like to improve my math score to the 750-800 range. What should I do? (I know I’m worrying about this too early, but I want to be done with the SATs by June of 2009.) Done means around 2250. =)</p>
<p>Why did you make the mistakes you did in critical reading and writing? What can you do to fix your mistakes?</p>
<p>If you can score 720 on math, then you can probably work your way up to an 800. A 720 is like getting 3 wrong I think? I’m assuming that you don’t have trouble on the math section, and the only ones that you get wrong are by stupid mistakes or not reading the question fully. So just be careful, and double check all of your questions. Writing is pretty easy to improve on as well. Just force yourself to practice grammar. Then once you understand things a bit more, you’ll be able to figure out the answers on the test pretty easily. You just have to ask yourself, “Does this sound right? Is something missing?” And I’d say critical reading is the hardest to improve on, well at least for myself. For sections like Math and Writing, there is only one clear cut right answer, but in Reading, at least for me, I feel that there are several right answers, or at least “close” to right answers, and the trick is to look it over carefully in a broad sense, and figure out which one is “most right.”</p>
<p>From the beginning of sophomore year (taking a practice test in actual test taking environment) to the end of junior year I managed to improve my score 380 points =).</p>
<p>Good luck, and I’m sure that you’re going to be able to do well.</p>
<p>Oh and a 10 essay isn’t that hard to write either.</p>
<p>For your intro, you want a general statement, a thesis and a structure statement. Then in each of your body paragraphs, the first sentence should relate to the thesis, and throughout the body paragraph, you’ll want to try and prove your thesis by the points you’ll be writing about. And in your conclusion, there shouldn’t be anything new, and you should just be rehashing your thesis and what you wrote in your body paragraphs but in different words =)</p>
<p>The people who score your essay is mainly looking for people that are able to write a simple organized essay. Organized being the key word. You don’t have to have the most eloquent and deep/awe-inspiring ideas. I wrote about Harry Potter and Lord of the Flies, and I managed to write an 11 essay. However, I kind of think the person that gave me a 6 must have been a Harry Potter fan =P</p>
<p>Thats pretty good. 2200 shouldn’t be too difficult you if you study throughout the course of you’re sophomore year.</p>
<p>trust me, even if you get that 2200 by the end of Sophomore year, inside, you’re gonna want to retake in October of Junior year for a 2300… and even then, you’re gonna wanna retake for a perfect score.</p>
<p>I agree. I had a 2400 hundred by the end of sophomore year, but I only had a 11 on my essay, so I retook it. My first try I actually went done to a 2400/10, but on my 2nd try I finally accomplished it. Who says 3rd times the charm? The 17th time was the charm for me.</p>
<p>Oh. Okies. LOL. Thanks for the good advice. Do you mind listing your score (before studying) and your score after studying and how you did it? Thanks!</p>
<p>The CB people gave me a 2600 on my SAT; 200 points extra cause they patted me on the head for asking for advice on a forum instead of studying!!!</p>
<p>You actually met the CB people? Were they hot?</p>
<p>keep in mind that your essay score is out of 12; you could definitely improve upon an 8. the first time i took the SAT i hadn’t practiced at all (never even looked at guidelines or a book) and didn’t really know what they were grading for when they looked at the essay. after ONLY having read the criteria, i scored an 11. </p>
<p>i also agree with the comment above about your math score; i improved from 740 to 790 just by taking the test again. i think it’s pretty well known that the curve changes (my 740 was from missing two questions!)</p>