<p>My goal is to raise my lowest score, math, by 100 points or more. I have a superscore of 670 in critical reading, a 650 in writing, and a 570 in math. Outside the testing world, I am fairly good at math. I have all a’s in my math credited classes, and have taken all of the math credits my school has to offer. The biggest issue for me is geometry. I suffered a severe concussion that took me out of school for half a year. I was tutored, but my math suffered. My gpa has risen from a 3.49 to a 3.85 to a 4.33, and finally to a projected 4.7.</p>
<p>I am very busy outside of school, and I’m worried that I won’t have the motivation to raise my math scores alone by this much. Should I look into a tutor, a good program, or is it ultimately too late? My goal junior year was to break 2000 on my sats, but I’m 110 points shy. The scariest part for me is that I’m going for computer engineering, a math based major. I am sure this will hurt my chances at any engineering school.</p>
<p>I would always say self-study, but it depends on what your needs are and how much you have already tried.</p>
<p>Try going through Khan Academy’s SAT Math videos/practice questions for some free practice. Hopefully you already have the Blue Book (if you don’t, you definitely need it), so you can do some math sections without timing yourself. Anytime you come across a concept you’re unfamiliar with, just look it up. Then find additional problems corresponding to the concept and keep doing them until you master the concept.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the info! I have had good luck with khan academy in the past, I will definitely use that. I’m talking to my parents about purchasing the PWN the SAT Math as well – I think a combination of these two and my Princeton review books will do the job. I’ve heard good things from my friends about Dr. Chung’s, but I doubt I’ll have enough time to commit to it. I have decided to drop an A.P. elective and study instead during that time. I’ll still end up with highest honors if I skip it, and I feel like I will be better prepared to take another swing at the SAT.</p>
<p>I actually went up 120 points in math (got a 560 in psats) with about 2 months of on and off studying. I of course did more as the test date got closer and personally, I have the PWN book and i’ve read about 50 pages of it before I got bored and stopped. I don’t know, I couldn’t exactly tell if it was helpful but I feel like I would have gotten that 670 even without it. The main problem was I had to choose between reading the separate book and doing the actual practice tests because reading the book is very time consuming, especially since I had school. So I chose practice tests about 50 pages in.
How I self studied is that I always timed myself and reviewed the ones I got wrong. Then if that question had an easier trick, I would memorize the steps so on a similar question, I can use that knowledge. Also, some of the harder questions I couldn’t get through without memorizing the formulas, like the distance formula. So I made sure to memorize it and terms I didn’t know, like rational/real numbers. Just practicing in general is what helped me out. So if you just studied hard dude, I don’t know how you could go wrong. But if you have the money for a tutor, definitely go for it. </p>
<p>tutor if you have money since it would provide an incentive, but 800 in math is definitely attainable. As long as one does not make little mistakes, the math is actually relatively elementary (go take subject test 2…now that’s murder)</p>
<p>@Annl233 one thing I really emphasize when I teach it is, the “distance formula” is not really a formula. It is exactly the same as the Pythagorean theorem. Don’t “memorize” it!</p>
<p>@penfan321, much of the SAT is simply knowing the strategies around it, including how to work quickly and efficiently. I raised my writing score 100 points instantly by just reviewing strategies and commonly-tested grammar rules (most of which I already knew). For geometry, knowing how and when to apply the rules is key, and never assume anything! (unless you can prove it or if it’s an otherwise valid assumption). However, it is quite possible to self-study your way up to an 800.</p>
<p>If you have tried self study and are not improving much, If you can afford it, get a tutor. The test is not just about concepts but strategies and speed. If you have the Maths right and just need test preparation, I would say don’t go beyond 20 hours of tutoring to get to know how to tackle questions with gaps of days to practice in between say 2 hour sessions.</p>