I got a 710 in the English and 720 in the math section.
Weakness (610-670 range):
Algebra (especially these word problems, I think it is not the desmos skill issue here)
Information and ideas
Expression of ideas
How I prepared:
erica mietzler grammar and reading books, collegepanda math book, khan academy.
And a little bits here and there of other books.
Please recommend resources.
College board has copies of released prior tests that you can print out and take on paper. I know they have moved to online adaptive tests (they have samples of those too) but printing out and taking the printed test in a timed fashion helped lots of people before the move to online tests.
Only use official tests from college board or Khan. Other sources are often too easy or too difficult.
Make sure to take the tests timed. If you run out of time, mark where you stopped and then keep going until you finish. You need to know if it’s a matter of knowledge or mastery/time management. If you don’t have enough time to take a full test at one sitting, take timed sections.
This advice is all several years old, from when my kids took the tests. That was before the move to online tests, so I realize that some/all of this advice may no longer be relevant.
You might also want to try the ACT, which is equally acceptable to US colleges and which some students prefer. Note that the science section in the ACT isn’t really science—it’s data analysis and once you do a few of them you will start to recognized the graphs and patterns that they present.
Good luck!
These are exactly resources my kids used. They are the best. After that is practice, practice, practice old tests. Also if you miss something on practice test find similar problems somewhere and make sure you master that missed concept.
Also the SAT lets you bring a calculator if it meets their requirements and I think they also provide an online one. This can be helpful. Make sure you practice with either your own (approved) calculator or the online one which they provide a lot before you take the test. You want to know how to use all its functions that are relevant well before test day. I believe they provide a test calculator to practice on at home.
Do you have knowledge gaps at this point? If not, and you’re just looking to increase your score, then I agree that what you need right now is a lot of practice. Have you completed the old SAT tests @MMRose mentioned?
Are you able to complete every section within the allocated time?
In my books score 1430 with minimum 700 on both parts says that all basics are covered. The rest is can be detected either by professionals or it is more like pure luck from some type of question.
Completed official ones from bluebook already.
I shall go back and look at previous papers from paper SAT
I can strongly relate with this part, I remember running out of time for english comprehensions in module 2 and 1. I ended up guessing them.
I got a fee waiver for the SAT, I don’t think I would be able to afford ACT sadly.
Thank you.
I will go back and complete paper tests of SAT.
I have completed the bluebook ones.
I end up doing the English Paragraphs at the end. Which I end up guessing on 2 or 3.
I am good at using the digital calculator!
Please read this:
CB’s official tests should always be your primary source of study material. Save test 6 for last, as it is the hardest. There are currently 7 tests available, #4-#10. Tests 1-3 have been shelved.
Also, use the question bank and filter for Hard questions and questions that don’t appear on current practice tests.
Edit: Start from scratch with your bluebook tests. Retake them, starting with the first one you ever took.
Great idea to retake previous practice tests to confirm understanding and mastery.
You can also use psat practice tests if you run out of sat practice tests. They will be easier but may still be helpful l.
Last ditch — you can still use free act practice tests to practice English and math. Don’t bother with the science. It won’t be the same as sat but it has to be at roughly the same level because scores from both are equally accepted by the colleges.
But start with official sat practice tests
Why???
I am wondering are there softwares that mimic digital adaptive SAT? Back some 30 years ago there was a digital adaptive GRE version software. It saved my life :). I literally failed paper on my first attempt by not finishing on time, tried digital software and then digital GRE and scored at the very top.
I do test prep for a living and haven’t heard of anything like this. Kaplan and Princeton review have their own versions I believe, but they aren’t free.
I had a score increase like this earlier in the year, but I had 2 months in between (definitely didn’t study the entire time lol).
This is what I did for English (not an expert though this might’ve just worked for me):
-Take a few practice tests
-Identify weak areas
-Use SAT question bank for weak areas (working from easy to difficult)
-Watched YouTube videos for questions that I struggled with, to help develop a strategy
For math:
-CollegePanda
-Watched videos about Desmos
-Tried challenging math problems on the SAT question bank
Math is my stronger subject so it’s hard for me to say exactly why I improved, I think my math class helped me
When taking the English section, I started with the back half (like the transitions and then the questions with the bulleted lists), then went to the beginning, and saved inference+data questions for last (these were my weak points). Try this on a practice test before doing it on the real exam.
I did A LOT of English questions from the SAT bank, pretty much finished all of the difficult questions for my weak areas. Though I got a 750 so there’s still a lot of room for improvement.
https://satsuitequestionbank.collegeboard.org/digital/search
I went over them twice.
I’ll go over information and ideas questions in qb, I barely touched them as I believed every question in exam would be different
What is a question in qb?
Sorry, it’s Question bank