Need helps from 800ers in writing and math sections

Astonisher
Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:05:55 +0000

I’ve never gotten a 12 on the essay, I’ve just gotten two 11’s, but chronicfuture hit the nail on the head.

You literally have to write by the formula. It’s not going to be a fancy essay like the ones you write for your AP English class. Just do the standard 5 paragraph format: Intro, 3 supporting arguments for your thesis, conclusion.

On my december SAT, I got an 800 in both math and writing (and a 690 in CR so yea I’m one of those skewed people hahahaha), and I wrote a one sentence BS conclusion BUT I filled both pages down to the very last line. As much as CB says it’s about “quality” and not “quantity,” the longer essays always seem to get the 11 and 12s. So, what you need to do is follow that format and fill up two pages. Also, try to throw in nice SAT vocab words (correctly of course). I’m 99% sure this is why I got an 11 instead of a 12 (and the conclusion lol), so learn form my mistake: use good vocab, and at least a decent conclusion.

As for your three examples… I’ve heard of people making up personal examples and score 12s, so it’s possible. Personally, I always stick to books/history/current events. I actually made a list of 10 different books/historical events, etc. I could use just so I have a good pool to draw from. I’d suggest you do the same.

As far the MC for writing, I think I can help you there as well because I used to score around high 600s in writing when I first took a practice test (beginning of junior year). On the december one, I got an 80 on MC portion. Basically here’s what you want to do: Get a good review book (I used princeton review and found it very helpful) and memorize which rules come up often (because a handful show up all the time, like misplaced modifiers, subject/verb agreement, etc.) Once you are brushed up on the basic grammar, you just need to take timed practice tests, and carefully review what you miss. It’s as simple as that.

In no time you’ll begin to see how college board seems to use the same stuff. Also, as a general rule of thumb, ONLY go by if something “sounds” right or not on the easier questions. If you find nothing grammatically incorrect with an awkward sounding sentence (and especially if it’s a harder question), do NOT make the mistake of selecting the incorrect-sounding portion.

**By the way, I MUST stress that you absolutely and positively understand WHY you missed any question. Frankly, the blue book sucks in this department as there are no explanations. If you don’t understand something, ask someone on here or use another book.

**Also, I want to add that you need to work fairly rapidly for the writing sections because the time is generously less in comparison to questions. So if you’re not a person who can process information and read quickly, get a speed reading training program like AceReader or something equivalent. If you feel pressured for time, you will most likely make mistakes, so always be ahead and in control.

And finally for math, you’re already in the general ball park. Unfortunately, with the SAT math section, for the most part, you have to get them all right. So your goal is minimizing (or I should say, eliminating) mistakes. How do you do this? That’s right, practice tests. Though one tip I can definitely give you is don’t spend too much time double checking your answers to the easy questions. I stated before in reply to someone that there’s usually an easy (short) way to do a math problem and a hard (much longer) way. Your goal is obviously to spot the short way However, for the last few problems, this can be quite difficult and take up time. So work quickly through the easier ones and make sure that time is available. It may seem obvious, but I always had a habit of second guessing myself (and still do) and can never seem to move on until I have checked the answer to the last question at least once mentally

That’s all I can think of at the moment, and I probably wrote a mini novel haha, but hopefully you found something helpful in it :)