<p>hello, i’m a senior and i was wondering if anyone could recommend a book or something for my dangerously low math sat reasoning score (560). I have taken the test three times now, only to score a 560 twice and then a 530. (ugh…) i am really not bad at math, I have generally a’s in honors and ap math classes at school. My combined score on the sat reasoning is a 1960- which is not horrible, but not good either (esp. for the colleges I am looking at). I have taken $400+ worth of sat math prep, but it has obviously not helped. I want to take the test one more time in October before I apply. Does anyone have any advice or know of any book that can do wonders? …If this helps at all in what I should do, I am extremely good at memorizing things. thanks a lot.</p>
<p>560 out of what? </p>
<p>I suggest you keep taking practice tests over and over and over again. You’ll only improve your scores this way:</p>
<p>*10 Real SAT’s
*The Official SAT Study Guide
*Princeton Review’s New SAT</p>
<p>560 out of 800…</p>
<p>drsarah…how can u recommend him something and you dont even know what the maximum score is? was that a joke or something?</p>
<p>take more practice tests, and on the questions you get wrong check what type they are and work on those type of problems. remember to not randomly guess either. that really makes a difference.</p>
<p>which schools are you looking at?</p>
<p>i think practice is a better way to go…practice practice practice. the 2400s are either really very smart or have practiced a TON before they put their foot in the testing room. if you’re good at memorizing, then i guess you can look at this book (i don’t remember the title, but it’s on amazon) where they teach you to ace the SAT using the TI-83’s, and all the programs in them. for ppl that are good at memorizing, its a good one to look at…i honestly couldn’t use that book because i suck at memorizing all the buttons and stuff.</p>
<p>memorization may be your pitfall. don’t fall into the trap of memorizing the ways of approaching a problem, because you’ll be tempted to solve them the usual way. plugging in the answers, simple estimation - all of these tactics are far more effective than straightforward algebra. (alert!: algebra is very important… i hope you actually do know the algebra behind the sat i’s math portion… and i hope you recognize the reason you use these shortcuts is to save time ^^; it seems like your problem is the test, not the knowledge, as proven in your classroom experiences. btw, that’s good. colleges will see your cumulative good credit, so even if you end up with a bad sat math subscore, they’ll write that off as problems with the test, not with the math) </p>
<p>there really is no ‘miracle book’, but i support drsarah’s books and i appreciated kaplan’s texts in the past as well. the miracle lies still with you. you have to practice.</p>
<p>on another note, how are your english and writing scores? is math hurting you this badly?</p>
<p>thanks to everyone for your comments so far. in response to snowfinite’s question, my english score is a 680 and my writing is a 720 (so, good, but not excellent). I am thinking about applying early decision to tufts or william and mary, and I’m pretty sure that I NEED to improve my math score in order to be considered for tufts… any more advice from anyone?</p>
<p>i got into Northwestern with a 600 math/800 verbal … get your math up a bit, yes, but if verbal is your strength, but all means focus on that. they say your verbal matters more for admissions than math anyway.</p>
<p>Haven’t you already taken the SAT three times? I wouldn’t take it anymore, even if it is a bad score.</p>
<p>sorry, my bad, i was thinking of something else. but yeah, those tips really work. the ones that i gave before.</p>
<p>i had the same problem with reading, but i just kept working at it. if you took ap calc what score did you get on the ap test? if you got a 3 or more, your math score is out of place. try the SATII math tests instead, maybe you’ll do better which just means you cant do well on the SAT math for no real reason</p>