<p>First, I’ll explain where I started from.
I took it in 7th grade as part of CTY thing and got 800M, 630CR, 530W (8/12 essay). Don’t recall exactly what prep I did then, read through 100 words of a 3500 word list (1995 Barron’s SAT lol), made flashcards of root words but never referred to them, did practice tests (more in math because I was going for an 800), and didn’t really look at the writing section till the day before or shortly before I think.
In 9th grade, I took tutoring for about 6 months at $20/hr 1hr/week. I think this really was helpful, we worked (obviously) only on english (might have used some of the time for school english), I wrote down some vocab words (never to refer to them again), and did CR practices, but what I found most useful was learning some of the basic rules of grammar that the SAT really goes after and how to recognize them and attack them.
December of 10th grade I did a practice test and scored a bit above 2200, I think about 700 in each english section (i didn’t bother with math sections), I think 670CR and 730W (assumed 8/12 essay). Then, august before junior year I got really invested in the whole prep thing. we bought 6 practice tests on ■■■■■■■■■ (along with their lesson videos). This cost about $300. Their videos explaining grammar details were helpful and when you missed a question on their practice tests, it would link you to the videos explaining the concepts involved in the question. Really was mostly only helpful for grammar, for CR I found that practice was most helpful. We also bought the blue book and the princeton’s 11 practice test book (never used) along with a princeton PSAT book (surprisingly useful). Leading up to the SAT I mainly only worked from eprep and 1 practice test from the blue book along (only CR and W sections) 1 or 2 practice PSAT tests from the princeton PSAT book, along with the practice test given by the PSAT guide (did all of it). I scored 232 on the PSAT (80M, 80CR, 72W), not quite sure, but I was probably still around the low 2200s mark when I started (possibly high 2200s) in August. I read the 500 vocab word list the night before the test and memorized all of them (or at least I think I did) and found 2 words on the test the next day that I learned the night before.
I didn’t take the SAT till june, did no practice till may (after APs). Did 3 practices the week right after APs ended and then 2-3 the week of the SAT (until the last 1 or 2 only W and CR sections). Also did hire an essay tutor for 4 weeks (1hr/week $35/week), but I don’t think he was helpful. Results came back, got 780CR, 800M, 780W (9/12 essay). I’ll break down what I thought was useful for each section and what (in my opinion) I think people should do for each section.
Math: I had always participated in a lot of math competitions, so this is probably why I got an 800 in 7th grade, I think doing math competitions and the like is probably has a similar effect on your math score that reading advanced readings and dissecting them does for your CR score, very helpful and really the best way to prepare if you have lots of time; but likely not the most efficient (in shooting for a 2300). So I don’t have any real advice here.
Critical Reading: Practice, practice, practice. It’s really confusing and I can’t even put in words what the SAT is looking for here, but the more tests you take, the better sense (intuition) you get for what they’re asking and looking for. For vocab, reading would likely help, but a 500-1000 word list looked at shortly before the test (again you don’t need this in your long-term memory) would probably be sufficient. I don’t think tutoring was at all effective here (and most of it didn’t center on CR at any rate). eprep was really just a source of practice tests, as there really is little “learning to do” so especially for low-income families, no prep needed. Get the blue book and maybe the princeton book (again doing more tests is vital), and if that is also a financial strain, try to get them from libraries.
Writing: There really are just 5-6 main rules the college board seems to test, try to learn all of them. My tutor (freshman year) and eprep helped for this, but I think (not 100% sure) that you can learn these rules on your own (again especially useful for low-income families) and may be included in the blue book (is it?) or some other prep book. to get the last 50-100 points requires nuance gained only from practice; again getting a sense for what the college board wants, what constitutes as an idiomatic error was confusing for me and practice helped me get over this. For the essay, I don’t really have any good advice. I seriously doubt my essay writing skills have only improved from 8/12 to 9/12 since 7th grade. My essay tutor told me that using 2 examples is fine as long as you develop them well which I felt I did, but online I’m reading that using 3 examples is really the way to go (I used 3 examples in 7th grade). I’d say if a family has resources, the essay would be a good place to invest them, practice is really what mostly gets the CR score up (math I have little advice) and writing is just some basic rules and practice (but again maybe learning these rules is easier with a tutor then on your own).
All in all I estimate I spent 45 hrs starting from the junior summer and 15-20hrs maybe in 9th and 10th grade for the SAT, and really the last few practice tests I did were mostly because of the insistence of my parents and likely negligibly helped my score (i was consistently scoring 2300+ by then) so was probably a waste of time. N. My advice is also to stop doing tests the week of the test as soon as you receive a great score (better than normal). Much of this is lining up your thinking perfectly with what the college board wants, and even just doing another test might set your thinking off. I wish I had stopped earlier for the PSAT as I got 2360 the monday before the test but sort of had to do more tests (parental pressure) and I feel this made my thinking dis-aligned again. For the SAT, my last test was a 2400 the night before. My parents all in all probably spent about $1000 for the SAT (but some of the tutoring freshman year was not for SAT strictly so probably a little less). really, I think tutoring is mostly just useful for the essay and maybe some of the writing. The main thing is to do practice, practice, practice, practice and learn the grammar rules really. </p>
<p>Wow, that is a lot of work and commitment, looks like it paid off… Thanks for sharing how you did it!</p>
<p>So basically, I should get a tutor, which I don’t know if I can afford. Hmmmm…</p>
<p>A tutor will not do the practice you need to do for you. Practice is the key (I probably over did the practice though), the more practice you do, the better your score. Really a tutor will only help for the essay and maybe the writing. Get the blue book, it has the most accurate practices. Also, when I missed questions on CR, I never looked up why, I just tried to think on my own way, and similarly on writing I tried to find the mistake I had made. I also did every practice under timed conditions although time pressure was never a concern for me. For CR, I actually read the questions then went to the text (like if a question asked what does this word mean in this line or what’s the purpose of this paragraph what do these lines mean etc I saved time by only referring to those lines and maybe a few before and after). Find what works for you, and the more practice you do the better your score will be until you get past about 2300.</p>