<p>What if you were a victim of “New Math”, where for years you had been in classrooms “discovering” the answer while working “collaboratively” with your peer group (using colorful, photograph-filled texts which included lots of social-engineering). </p>
<p>What if you were using a calculator way too early in elementary school, and had little experience in computation. What if your basic math skills were weak from lack of practice, but you kept getting passed with B’s and C’s (because the school calculates math grades as much from homework completion as test scores).</p>
<p>What if all of this was made worse by your own lazy attitude, hatred of math, and math-anxiety?</p>
<p>Now you are about to be a junior and will take the PSAT’s. Your parents have paid a fortune for tutors along the way,but you are still just keeping your head above water. What would you suggest to do over the summer (specific curriculum or books if possible) to make an attempt to catch up?</p>
<p>If you know about Saxon, do you think doing Advanced Math (with the Dive PC program) will provide a good background for the PSAT’s and SAT’s?</p>
<p>another option for test prep is the Chalkdust SAT Math prep series – it is specifically meant for prepping for the SAT, while Saxon is an actual math course. </p>
<p>If you are weak in math skills and want to improve overall – not just as test prep – check out <a href=“http://www.aleks.com%5B/url%5D”>www.aleks.com</a> the program is relatively inexpensive and you pick what class to start in. The program is online and assesses you, so you test out of stuff you already know. It is an easy way to cover alot of math topics that need review and relearning.</p>
<p>Yeah, I think it’s better to focus on improving your general math skills by working through various textbooks that cover the topics listed in the PSAT syllabus. After that, prep books will be useful, and they should be a breeze.</p>
<p>I’d start doing more math in your daily life. Like figuring out how much time til a TV show starts, then converting it to seconds. Go to the grocery store and find best values by determining oz per dollar. Determine the tip at a restaurant. Add up receipts. Just stuff like that. The more you make Math practical, the better you’ll understand it.</p>
<p>Math anxiety, sound like my D. She spent time prepping during Christmas breaks and got 800 for SATI, so the point is not to brag but to tell you it can be done.
I’m a little worry right now because she is not studying for the coming SAT IIc Math subject test in June, she has other tests at school to study.</p>
<p>IMO, you should ALWAYS try and compute everything in your head. sto pusing a calculator. For example, i took a practice SAT today and did all the math problems in my head, because i lost my calculator and i still only got 2 wrong. This really helps.</p>
<p>You sound a lot like me. I take SAT maths tutoring right now 12 hours a week (for a total of about two weeks). Of course, being in a centre where I have to do my twelve hours a week (plus homework) is a strain but also building incredible diligence. I get excited when I conquer a hard problem I never thought I could do. A few things to keep in mind:
1.) Each SAT maths problem should take 1-2 minutes, and most will be closer to one minute. If it is taking you longer than that on problem (with a very few exceptions), you are missing the trick. With your tutor (if you have one right now) or with a practice book, start re-learning those tricks.
2.) As you enter into taking the PSAT and then the SAT in the spring, set reasonable goals. Set goals, and shoot high, but don’t set a goal you are going to kill yourself trying to reach. My goal with the almost thirty hours of tutoring is to raise my maths score only 40 points on the SAT, from a 560 to a 600. I work confidently towards my goal, and also know that I may fall short. If I do fall short, I will lower my goal for the October test and be proud of what I accomplished during my prep.
3.) Be proud of your goal. 600 is not a particularly high maths score, but I will be thrilled beyond believe if I reach it. Like you, I have other strengths. If I reach that 600, my superscore (my CR and writing from my last test date and the 600 from June) will be in the 97th percentile.</p>
<p>Carpe, thank goodness for reason. OP, please read
Carpe’s post carefully. Set reasonable goals and be happy when you reach them. Not everyone is destined to do well on the math SAT and most adults-myself included-have no recollection of what their math SAT score was.<br>
Posts about students who “had math anxiety” but prepped and got an 800 kill me. IMHO anyone who can get an 800 on either SAT I has a lot of natural ability, combined with careful preparation. The SAT is not designed to be a test where you can just study more and go from a 550 to an 800. From a 600 to 700, probably but not a jump to 800.</p>
<p>D started out with 690 and that’s exactly what her PSAT predicted. After 2 weeks and a lots of practice she got 800. We almost cancelled her score after she took it but she did tell me one of the prep books said not to cancel the score if you feel you did poorly after the test, in fact people who felt pretty good after the test usually don’t score as well.</p>