***January 2016 SAT (US Only) Thread***

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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This is a thread for anyone considering to take the SAT onSaturday, January 23, 2016 in the United States.

Use this thread to discuss preparation tips. The registration deadline is Monday, December 28, 2015.

After the examination, you may discuss test questions, but do so at your own risk. Do NOT, however, post links to Google Docs, as they will be removed. On a similar note, do not ask for them either.

Good luck! :wink:

NOTE: This is the final administration of the current SAT. Beginning in March, the College Board will begin administrating the redesigned SAT. For more information, visit https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/.

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have you taken the old test before?

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Woahhhh

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If I hit my target score before this test, I will not do it.

However, I highly doubt it. What about you guys?

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Good luck studying for the January SAT guys!
Went from 1800s in 8th grade to 2370 first try junior year (770m 800cr 800wr mc 80 essay 9)
Not too qualified to give advice on the essay, but I’d be happy to give some tips and maybe provide a practice schedule. You guys have 3 months which is plenty of time to increase your score.
It would be helpful if you could provide your current scores so I can try to give more specific advice.

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@NotBadNotGood Hey, it’d be amazing if you could do that!
I’m a current junior, with 2140 (670cr, 730w 72mc 10essay, and 740m)
I know that I can get 800 on math, and I really would like to score above a 2250.
I’m taking my third time on december, and if I don’t break my goal, I’ll probably take it again on jan!
Just hoping if I could score 800s on both math and writing, since that will just boost my sat significantly.
Any help would be appreciated!

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@kbj5332
Math
You have a great score for the math section! Are these careless errors or problems you don’t understand(if so try Chung’s sat math book)? If it’s careless errors, make sure to reread the question before bubbling and make sure you are answering the question. Sat writers are tricky son of a beaches and will do everything in their power to screw you up like they did to me :C. So be careful and don’t end up like me.

Otherwise, start doing practice tests and make sure you CUT OUT ANY PROBLEMS YOU MISS AND GLUE THEM INTO A NOTEBOOK. I cannot stress this enough. If you don’t learn from your mistakes, I guarantee that you will not improve. If you do, its pretty much impossible to not improve.

At the end of every week, go back to your notebook and look back on your mistakes, write the proper solution and internalize the problem.

Critical Reading
For Cr, are you having trouble with sentence completion or passages?
If you find yourself missing more than one sentence completion per test, you are giving College Board your points back. Go through Direct Hits (you can find copies online, not advocating this just noting that they exist). Direct Hits volume 1 and 2 have 400 words total. Just try to memorize as many words you can each day. Since you have around 30 days, 10 words a day sounds reasonable. A good way to internalize words is to write down a memorable/humorous sentence for each hard word. Skip Chapter 10 (the hardest words)- since the probably won’t show up- if you are feeling like you don’t have enough time. Start today!

For the passages:
If you haven’t read Apoc’s or Noitaraperp’s advice go and read those immediately. I used to suck really badly at passages, missing 4-5 each section. I did around 60 sections of cr and it went down to 1-3 questions. For me, cr was kind of about something clicking, allowing me to move on to the next “level”. Not sure how many practice tests it will take you but I will guarantee it will not happen without practice. So don’t worry if your cr score doesn’t make any dramatic increases, just give it some time and practice. Cr is all about finding out what kinds of answers CB likes. That being said, do not take any practice tests that were not made by CB. Baron’s Princeton’s are pretty much useless and will set you back. Find some QAS tests on the internet and finish the blue book. Just stay away from non-CB tests like they are the plague.
Also, if you’d like some more concrete instruction in the form of a book, I would recommend Erica Meltzer’s The Critical Reader.

Writing
Essay
Nice essay score! Perhaps read academichackers’ how to get a 12 in 12 days if you want to improve upon that. I practiced writing an essay every other day. Just pick a random CB prompt and give yourself the essay sheets, a number two pencil and 22 minutes. It is important that you give yourself less time and take it in the same manner you would for the real thing.

Grammar
If you don’t have The Ultimate Guide to Sat Grammar, stop reading and get it from Amazon now. This book will be your savior. If you don’t mind shelling out more money, the workbook companion is really helpful because her problems actually resembles that of the real sat, something most other prep books can’t say. Otherwise though, apply the same technique I gave you for math. CUT IT OUT AND GLUE IT IN YOUR NOTEBOOK. Review ALL mistakes weekly blah blah blah. Try for a section or two a day, and do all of the questions in the book. Hopefully since it looks like you are good at the essay, you can afford to miss one tricky one.

Practicing:
Alright this is the most important part. If you haven’t done the blue book do those, then move on to QAS tests.
(if you don’t know where to find any of these things please pm me and I will help you!)
I know that school is very demanding but try to squeeze at least 1-2 hours a day for studying (more on this in the bottom). If you are naturally good at the math section don’t waste your time doing them. Try for 2 sections of cr and one section of wr every single day at the very least. Saturday, go for a full test (everything), build up your stamina. Save a good chunk of time to go over mistakes

As a final note:
Please remember that this test is probably the most important test you will take in high school. So put in as much effort as humanly possible. But know that whatever score you get, as long as you worked your butt off for it, is a good score.
Also don’t study the week before the test and get 9+ hours of sleep every day the whole week before. Your brain will feel refreshed and ready to destroy that test.

Also, this quote really helped motivate me.
“Never give up on a dream because of the time it will take, the time will pass anyways”
This last summer, I got rid of the video games I played in order to focus on studying. Please just get rid of all distractions and anything not of importance for just 2-3 months. Don’t waste your time thinking you can’t achieve your goal or waste time in general. Spend that time preparing. Afterwards you can party all you want with no regret.

If you ever feel like in a slump just watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXsQAXx_ao0

If any of this confused you or if you have any other questions please pm me or reply in this thread. Also sorry for the poor grammar and late reply. This took me quite a while to type up and I’m too lazy to check it :P.

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@NotBadNotGood thank you for being so kind!

I’m also a junior with 2110 (CR 600 M 740 WR 770 E 10) (writing MCQ dragged my score down, the improving sentences/paragraphs)

Thanks for any advice you might have for me!

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Hey @BethanyD

Looks like you and kbj5332 have somewhat similar scores so the above advice could help you.

Looking through your earlier posts, I have noticed that you have purchased The Critical Reader. One piece of advice about going through that would be to go slowly. Don’t try to rush through and spend plenty of time on the review questions to make sure you truly understand the right answer. Also take advantage of the fact that she labelled each question in the blue book by topic. Make sure you identify your weak spots and go over the related chapter several times over

You also said that occasionally you sometimes have trouble understanding math problems. Next time that happens in a practice test, just move on to the rest of the questions. Don’t spend more than a minute on a question. Going back to the question might result in an Aha! moment. Otherwise just do as many qas math sections as possible. Most of the questions CB will ask will be very similar so you can prepare for them.

It looks like you are doing very well in writing. Have you gone through any of the QAS tests? If not, you need to start working on them and keeping track of your mistakes.

Just wanted to say something about 800 in writing. I definitely think I got lucky on the MC (80) and sometimes you just aren’t going to get that one tricky redundancy question or idiomatic expression right. Improving upon your essay will help make sure that such a mistake will not take away your 800. A 12 essay will generally let you miss 2 grammar questions which is huge. Practice some of the harder prompts as well. A good example of this would be 2014’s should young people be forced to do community service prompt. This will help prepare you for any oddball prompt that might otherwise throw you off.

To everyone else out there preparing:
I would recommend starting from 2013 October exam then going backwards in date. Once you get to the last 2 weeks, do the 2014/2015 ones. Also don’t do the nov 2014 one as there is no answer key.

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@NotBadNotGood thank you so much! Yeah, I do like 3-8 pages of the book daily and revise what I highlighted as important the next day. I also do a section utilizing the tips of the book. :slight_smile: My concern is November’s SAT: I’m worried CR would be the easiest then and I’d miss the chance! I really do hope January’s wouldn’t be as hard as October’s. (I did the test without sleeping, if that explains anything… I had to skip the last section of CR)

If you’d give me a schedule to make my 740 in math an 800 by November, what would you say? I do 3 sections per day (2 at school, 1 at home)
as for reading, I do 1 per day once I finish with the book as well as study new vocabs from word lists.

In fact, I know my issue. in the grammar MCQ’s, I might get stuck because I reach two choices in which the sentences/phrases seem to be combined well. I cannot tell which choice is combined better.
I do not have problems with idioms and prepositions and diction, even those in #29!

Anyway at this point of prep I do not really pursue an 800. I will first chase an 800 in math and 730 in reading. If I have time, I will certainly chase a perfect writing score. Priorities!

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@NotBadNotGood I read your other advice too, so helpful! Thanks a lot for dedicating time to helping us.

Today I did another math test and got 780. My mistake was that I misunderstood a choice in #16 in the last section (it was a “which of the following must be true” with statements describing a table of info)

What really pisses me off is that if I understood it well I would have scored 800. I have extra time in the end BTW, so what would you do in this extra time to make sure you didn’t misinterpret word choices?

I normally take note of the phrase I misunderstood (f.x. today when I read “all”, I should be looking for the sum/total) and I solve the questions I got wrong the next day to make sure I never forget them. I also put a star next to questions I wasn’t too sure I used concepts in correctly to ask my math teacher the next day. Anything else you’d do for an 800 ASAP? I hope to get an 800 on math this November to be able to focus on reading for the Dec and Jan SATs.

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@BethanyD
Wow good progress.
Definitely keep on recording your errors. Are you doing these tests when you are feeling tired? That might be why you have trouble understanding answer choices sometimes. Taking a 30 min nap before practicing really boosted concentration and better comprehension for me at least. Also don’t forget about just going back to that problem after checking through the rest of the section.

Your current math schedule looks great! As long as you keep finding errors you make you can keep accumulating knowledge of what not to do. Eventually you will get to a point where no math question stumps you. Just got to trust in yourself and keep practicing no matter how grim it looks. Also make a habit of rechecking both the answer and the question even when practicing. It might seem tedious and time-wasting but as the saying goes, you perform how you practice.

Also wanted to say something about writing. Just like you, I would only rarely score 100% on the writing, always getting tripped up on 1-2 weird questions. I didn’t give up on the dream of 800 and you shouldn’t either! Just keep practicing! Keep recording your errors. There is not an infinite number of errors you can make, as there are only a certain number of grammar topics they can test. As long as you are ironing out errors daily, cutting them out and gluing them into your notebook, there is no reason to think that eventually you will master all of the questions they can throw at you.

“I really do hope January’s wouldn’t be as hard as October’s. (I did the test without sleeping, if that explains anything… I had to skip the last section of CR)”

Not quite sure what you mean by this statement, Did you do the october sat without sleeping because of anxiety or something? I know this is a big test and all but there’s no reason to lose too much sleep over it (took me 2 hours to fall asleep that day so make sure you go to bed way before you want to fall asleep). Just get a good night’s sleep so you can bring out your best, being groggy and tired will only hinder your score. A good, well rested mind will surely get you a higher score on the cr section. Also, my above advice of not practicing in the few days prior to the test might seem counter-intuitive, but at least try it for the November exam and see how it goes. Lastly, don’t stress out if you don’t get an 800 this next test. I know people who have never scored less than 800 on practice tests, natural math geniuses, who get 740 on the real thing. Personally, I would get 800s pretty often and it was a careless error that was my undoing. It’s a bit of luck, but remember that “chance only favors the prepared mind”. This is no excuse to not practice and just hope the stars align however :P.

Also if there’s any question you don’t get, search the problem on google or just ask on collegeconfidential. Especially because you said that often 2 answer choices in writing seem the same to you. Pwnthesat usually has great explanations of the the differences between them but you can always just ask people here if you need additional clarification. Don’t be shy about asking for help. I did it all the time when I was practicing. People are more than happy to help.

Again sorry for grammar errors and lack of clear structure but i hope you get your dream score.

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Also quick public service announcement for y’all.

If you would like to keep your sanity and not have anxiety attacks, I would suggest that you stay away from this thread after the test is over, at least until the scores come out. Many of the people who come to these threads after the test are essentially idiots who think they got all the right answers and are basically internet tr0lls (got censored lol ) . I remember checking the October thread and thinking I missed 2 writing and 5 reading. Turns out I missed 2 reading and 0 writing. Don’t waste your energy arguing for your answer choice like everyone else will and stressing out. You can’t change your answers for that test, but you can “change” your answers for the next test.

Just focus on studying for December and January if you are planning to take them or binge watch shows/play video games that whole weekend if you aren’t planning to take it again.

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As a follow up of Post #12, that’s great advice. However, I’d like to add that reading the answers of other test-takers can be beneficial in helping you identify any obvious careless mistakes that you made; just take the responses with a grain of salt. Know that, regardless of what you do, your score is set in stone the moment you step out of the testing room. It’s best to just put the SAT out of your mind until the scores come out.

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Thank you @NotBadNotGood for the awesome tips and help. I really appreciate it.

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I’m going to be taking this test. I’ll keep you all posted :slight_smile:

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I’m using Erica’s Grammar book (2nd edition) and I’m currently on page 110/134. (Going to finish the book today) and take a full grammar practice test; see how I do, then I’ll begin to study CR by Erica today :’)

What methods are you using to study CR, on top of that, any great strategies? :’)

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I, too, am using Erica’s critical reading book. It’s amazing.
I will be using it, studying roots and new words, and solving practice sections.

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@BethanyD lol, personally I’ve skipped pages 37 - 80 (vocabulary) and went on finished pages 92- 168 (I’m still doing the BB questions on page 169 and 170.) I’ve skipped the first 37-80 pages because I felt like it wasn’t necessary to learn first compared to learning the other CR stuff; therefore, I plan to go back to pages 37-80 when I finish the whole book, while learning the roots and vocabulary in the end.( I have a solid knowledge of a latin roots from previous years, so I think I already have the basic foundation)

Any suggestions / feedback on what you think I should do / or should I continue and start off with the sentence completions vocabulary?

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Hello everyone, I’m considering taking this test, but I’ve done so poorly on practice math sections in the past (got a 570 on a Kaplan practice test). What do you guys recommend me doing to improve my math score in time for January?

I haven’t signed up for the January test yet, but I am also considering not taking the test, period, because I took the new PSAT and found the entire test, including the math section, incredibly easier. But I don’t know if that’s a wise decision or not, so thoughts?

Also, I haven’t studied for the SAT yet, new or old. When should I seriously start studying? I know “now” is always best, but I have other things in the near future to concentrate on, so I would like to know when I should forget practically everything else and concentrate solely on the SAT lol.

Also, I’m okay at the English portion. Need to improve in essay. When I took the Kaplan practice test, I got a 690 for CR, 700 for Writing, and an 8 on my essay. Any advice to better my score would help.

Sorry for all the little questions; I would appreciate it greatly if anyone could answer them the best they can.