Low PSAT Score? Worried..?

akula123
Wed, 09 Jan 2013 01:31:04 +0000

You can achieve this goal.

First → Identify your mistakes, look at your weakest sections.

Second → SAT classes are nice, but they won’t help you unless you can’t study alone. Instead, purchase books and dedicate your summer to studying. I did it, and though it was painful, it did work out quite well.

Third → Buy the College Board Bluebook. Buy the College Board online course. Buy the Princeton Review (11 tests and just the general one with 4-5 tests). This now amounts to around 35 practice tests in 4 books. Also get the Grammar Workbook by Barrons.
DONT TOUCH KAPLAN, MCGRAW HILL, PETERSONS etc.

Summer → Dedicate around 15 or so tests to being practice ones. That is, don’t sit down and do these for 4 hours. Instead, break tests into separate sections and tackle individually. This will train your actual skills better.
E.G. I will do 2 CR sections today and 1 Math section today.

ALSO, IGNORE TIME LIMIT at first.

END OF SUMMER (HAMMER TIME) —> Work VERY hard now. Take a full length practice test every 1-2 days for an entire two weeks. By this time, you should have gotten seriously bored of doing these (cause they are getting easier). Save 3-4 for later.

Before 2013 PSAT → Use the remaining tests as necessary. You might just want to focus on grammar, etc.

Before SAT (TAKE THE DEC ONE) → Same as PSAT. Don’t work too hard the week before.

NICE TIPS:
-If you hit a score plateau on practices, don’t worry. Take some time off and start later. However, this doesn’t mean ignore the prep for 4 weeks. Also, your plateau will go away on the actual test (anxiety will keep you sharp).

-If you get bored, take a break. This might be a good sign if your scores are reasonably good.

-IF THIS DOESN’T WORK, STOP AND CONSULT COUNSELOR.

-Study vocab and read good literature (google for whole lists).

-Relax and good luck!