<p>Okay, I’m no genius like the kids on this site, I rank only in the top 20%, I only have a 3.86w/3.75uw gpa, I’m not that involved in activities and I have no hope of being something great, but I was really excited about my psat score. I got a 185, 90th percentile, which is considerably higher than I was expecting. I performed better than a lot of my classmates, and even though it’s not a good score here on cc, for me it surpassed my expectations. My breakdown was a 64 (cr), 52 (math- my apparent weakness), and 69 (writing). I’m pretty convinced that socioeconomics play an important role, since even though I’m black, I performed equally/better than the majority of my classmates. My ACT conversion would be about 29, my SAT conversion (new one) would be 1850, and my old sat conversion is 1270-1290. In wake of this, I’ll be taking my first ACT in april, and my first SAT in may, followed by the june administration. Would you have any suggestions for how to raise my math score? I’m not a good test-taker, and when I get frustrated in math, I have the tendancy to randomly guess and give up. Any suggestions would be most helpful.</p>
<p>P.S.- My parents think my interest in meteorology is just a whim because a year/year and a half ago I said I was thinking about journalism or law school. I changed my mind because I like essay writing, not journalistic writing. And law school was just something that sounded cool at the time. So even though I’m more talented in writing, science is where my heart lies. She’s worried that there isn’t a good job outlook for it, so I’m also considering engineering. I’m the most interested in aerospace/aeronautical, but I’m also interested in chemical and mechanical. I have researched meteorology pretty thouroughly, and I’m beginning to research engineering. I just feel like my parents think I made a commitment to journalism when in reality I was just saying it was something that I would like to look into.</p>
<p>firstly, congratulations on your score! i’ve found that the best way to get better scores on “standardized” tests is to practice your test taking skills. All “standardized” tests like the ACT, SAT and PSAT are pretty similiar, so i suggest you go to the library and check out (or buy from a bookstore) a copy of 10 Real SATs and just keep taking practice tests. If you take one once a week and then go over all the questions you missed and fully understand why you missed them, you’ll be able to familiarize yourself with the test and become more confident. I’m a senior right now, and when I first took the SAT junior year, I got about a 1250. Last October, I recieved a 1460 on the real thing because I’d practiced taking the test so many times.</p>
<p>Great job Celebrian25. Search the cc forum under Xiggi, the master at providing the absolute best SAT practice tips. The good news is that the math portion is the easiest to prep for, IMO. Good luck.</p>
<p>Oh yes! There is a reason I’m taking the ACT and the SAT. Since most schools I’m applying to will probably be ohio and other midwestern states, who prefer the ACT, it makes sense for me to take both. In fact, it’s more common to take just the ACT than just the SAT here. I was trying to format a list of colleges I am interested in, and here’s my present list: Cornell (state school part), Ohio state, Penn State, Wittenberg, Miami (oh), Purdue, UMIch and the U. of Cincinatti</p>
<p>Even eastern colleges accept the ACT. S did way better on the ACT than the SAT. He submitted his ACT score to his ED school and was accepted with half-tuition scholarship. The beauty of the ACT is that you can request they send one testing date. Collegeboard sends every SAT score on file.</p>
<p>Good job Celebrian - agree with all the above. DD had to bring up her math too - the answer is practice (10 Real SATs), and analyzing the questions you missed. Review any concepts - just keep doing it.</p>
<p>Celebrian, I have always followed your posts with interest so I feel like I ‘know’ you — so I am thrilled to be able to say “good job” to you. I suspect you will have many choices next year. My daughter scored just below you on the math PSAT - she is following the “xiggi” method to prep for the SATs. We haven’t discussed taking the ACT so thanks for jogging my mind about discussing that with her.</p>
<p>“Would you have any suggestions for how to raise my math score?” </p>
<p>Make sure you learn math thoroughly. It is VERY unlikely that your school courses have done a good job of preparing you for math-demanding careers, but there is help available. One thing you can try as soon as see this message is a free forty-eight-hour trial of ALEKS </p>
<p>which is an online tutorial service for math. All of the explanation comes by writing on the screen (there is no audio feature to ALEKS), but it is solid instruction and a pretty well-designed syllabus. You can take as many free trials as you like–that’s something I learned from a local friend who telephoned the company to ask about that. </p>
<p>I may have some more ideas for you about studying math. If this thread sinks out of visibility, remind me to bring those up by a private message. </p>
<p>Here’s a favorite quotation of mine about learning math, which comes from a different era but still applies today: “The proper thing for a parent to say is, ‘I did badly at mathematics, but I had a very bad teacher. I wish I had had a good one.’” W. W. Sawyer, Vision in Elementary Mathematics (1964), page 5.</p>