After months of preparation, I walked into the March SAT relaxed and ready. The whole test was fine until I got to a data-analysis math section for which I had never prepared. I felt okay about it, but knew that I scored much lower than other math sections. I had been scoring in the 2100-2200 range on the practice tests, but scored a 1990 on this SAT. Should I retake my SAT class (which is free to do) or just continue with practice tests?
Hi, sounds like this was your first time taking the SAT. Many, many people improve a lot on the 2nd and 3rd tries. After going through the real life experience, they know what to expect next time.
How did you do on the other sections? Do you think you would benefit from taking the class again?
It sounds like you have the drive and determination to self study. Maybe continue to do practice tests, practice sections, from real SATs in the blue book and the SAT online course (which costs money but has 10 additional tests). One strategy is to do practice tests untimed until you are consistently getting above 700, making sure to write in a notebook what things you are getting wrong and fully understand why you got them wrong and what the right answer is (every math problem can be googled). Once you are breaking past 700, and definitely within a few weeks of the test, take the tests timed. Do at least a test a weekend fully timed, since the time is part of the challenge.
PWN the SAT math is pretty good, and Khan Academy has an SAT math prep section that has quizzes and sample problems from the college board, for each level of difficulty of math problem (level 1-5).
Good luck, don’t let this get you down, use it as motivation for the next time! Good luck.
I have taken BOTH SAT and ACT, and based on my previous experiences, SAT math is much more trickier than ACT math. On the other hand, ACT math is simply harder than SAT math.
If you can’t tolerate seeing the forest beyond a tree (not implying that you are), I’d give ACT a shot.
Best of luck