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<p>The content of the book has largely been done for some time. (I finished up most of my contributions about two years ago.) Various sources of busyness on my and my co-authors parts have stalled things over time, though. I still hope to get the finished product out as soon as possible. I think its a fine work that could help a wide group of students. I will post updates on the project here as they are warranted. Thanks for asking.</p>
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<p>No test date is intrinsically superior for a high score over the others, because of well-designed curve normalization procedures. In general, Id say take the SAT when you feel youve prepared to near your potential or youve lost the fire to dedicate productive effort into preparing. May sure you take it at least once before you finish junior year. If one is already a senior, take it in December, as colleges dont universally accept late January results.</p>
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<p>Rhetorical questions are principle-driven, similar to the Improving Sentences questions on the SAT Writing section. First rule out any choices that contain ungrammaticality of the technical sort. Then favor clarity and precision of meaning, for which context must be considered. Among any remaining choices conciseness ought to distinguish.</p>
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<p>To my knowledge Australia is not among the more salient countries whose US applicant competition is most brutal. That knowledge is limited, though. Your most telling option is to learn what the history of applicants from your school or region is; compare those applicants profiles and results to your application to see what you ought to expect. Best of luck.</p>
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<p>Choice (A) uses an adjectival clause to modify areas: where deer roam freely. Where is an acceptable relative pronoun in this context because it links to a location.</p>
<p>Choice (B) also employs modification of areas but using a participial phrase: roamed by deer freely. This is also an acceptable way to describe areas. The problem with (B) is that roamed is in the past tense, which is not logically parallel with the use of the present tense in the independent clause. The sentence means to indicate that deer continue to roam freely.</p>
<p>Choice (C)s modification flavor is incorrect. Freely roamed by deer is also a participial phrase as in (B), but the comma after areas renders the phrase a non-restrictive (also called non-essential) modifier. This indicates that freely roamed by deer intends merely to describe areas rather than specify to which particular areas we are referring. Logically, we intend to restrict the infinite potentialities of areas down to only those areas where there are free-roaming deer. Choice (C), like choice (B), also incorrectly uses the past tense.</p>
<p>Choice (D) uses an adjectival clause to modify areas. So did choice (A) with the substitution of in which for where, which is fine. However, the comma after areas repeats the aforementioned problem from choice (C): The modification should be restrictive, which cannot be achieved when the modifier is separated by a comma. </p>
<p>Choice (E) is wrong because free should be freely; adverbs, not adjectives, modify verbs. Here freely modifies the verb roam. </p>
<p>Choice (A) is the only correct option.</p>
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<p>2190 is a very good score, and you and your daughter should be proud. That score alone wouldnt have made her uncompetitive for even the most selective colleges. I hope her admissions results included at least one school she likes.</p>
<p>For your children who havent taken the SAT yet, my preparation advice is that which I generally give. In summary, I recommend focusing on slowly taking official practice tests in order to master the question types and reasoning methods, eventually practicing speed and efficiency by taking timed tests. This preparation can be augmented with supplemental knowledge acquisition, such as learning any math concepts with which a student is unfamiliar, reviewing some vocabulary lists if Sentence Completion questions pose a problem, and learning fundamental grammar (for which my guide in particular should be of use). You can read the rest in the original posts of this thread.</p>
<p>If school distractions impinge upon SAT preparation to a stressful degree, preparing during the summer is helpful. Your tenth grader can prepare this summer and take the test sometime during her junior year. Your youngest can wait a couple years before thinking about the SAT; in the interim, he should focus on exerting himself in his classes, finding his extracurricular interests, and otherwise enriching his academic and social lives however he likes. Good luck to them.</p>
<p>I apologize for this litany of response posts, belated at that. I am glad that students are still finding worth in my guide and hope to be around to answer any new questions.</p>
<p>Silverturtle, this sounds like excellent advice and I will follow! Regarding my oldest daughter and her college applications, she applied to eight colleges. One safe school, a couple “challenging” schools and the rest reach type of schools. UConn, Boston University, Boston College, Amherst College, Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth and Princeton. Accepted to UConn honors, BC, BU with presidential scholarship. Rejected SCEA Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, Princeton and Amherst. The rejections were hard pills to swallow, especially Yale all the way back in December. Had to wait a few months for an acceptance and that was hard on all of us. I think I might of made a mistake by giving the colleges her SAT scores and her ACT score of 30 composite. Looking back, I probably should not of given the ACT score at all, what do you think? I thought colleges would just take the highest scores and not hold a lower score against her for some reason.</p>
<p>^ It seems that her application strategy was solid, but with mostly ultra-selective schools on the list, one has to be ready for a handful of rejections, no matter how qualified he or she is. I certainly wouldn’t attribute the rejections to having also sent the ACT score. Because her SAT score was clearly better, colleges would have indeed simply disregarded the ACT score.</p>
<p>I hope she is happy with her choices and congratulations on the BU scholarship.</p>
<p>Hello Sliverturtle, I am one of the many people struggling with their SAT endeavors and am seeking advice from an expert like yourself. I completed my second SAT in January and scored a 1700 (prepared some but not nearly enough), adequate to be accepted to all of my safety schools but none of the selective schools in the state. In November I will be applying to Davidson College through early decision. The middle 50% of students accepted this year had SAT scores ranging from 1880-2160. I am now feeling very pressured because there are only two more opportunities to take the SAT until the application deadline (taking the Bio M and Math 2 subject tests in June). I feel that if I can improve my score to the high 1800’s or low 1900’s I can gain admission gain admission to Davidson. Currently, I am signed up to take the May 4th administration of the SAT and might even resort to giving it one more try in October. What would you recommend I do to prepare for the May 4th SAT? I can start as early as today and I hope I have not waited too long to begin review… </p>
<p>For each section this is what I have observed:</p>
<p>Math- I am a good math student, scored 620 on the previous test. I find myself omitting one or two questions and missing 1-3 per section. </p>
<p>CR- I cannot seem to make myself interested in what I am reading. I feel like my mind is going blank when reading, I do not comprehend the passage and run out of time searching for answers as a result.</p>
<p>Writing/Grammar- I can pick up on basic errors, I have noticed that I am a lot better at making the sentence correct as opposed to finding where the error is located in the sentence. </p>
<p>In addition, I have began AP exam review (taking 4 AP exams) and will still need to balance my coursework (4 AP’s, one honors course). </p>
<p>Thank you for your time,</p>
<p>~Nate</p>
<p>Also, I think I could allot one hour during weekdays and 8-10 hours of review time during the weekends.</p>
<p>Hi, Nate. A salient concern that strikes me as I read your plan is the overload of non-academic stress at a time when you’re finishing a semester whose grades are of utmost importance. You don’t want to prioritize anything else related to college admissions over your grades this semester. </p>
<p>Imminently ahead of you are final exams, AP standardized exams, SAT, and Subject Subject tests. I think you’re entirely capable of improving your SAT score into the range you are hoping for, but perhaps it’s not worth it in the interest of time management. Have you considered skipping the May SAT administration, putting off preparation until you have more time during the summer, and then retaking in October? Is it necessary that you apply to Davidson via Early Decision?</p>
<p>Also, regarding AP exams, are you taking these in order to gain college credit? If not, cutting these out of your schedule may be smart too; they’ll have a negligible effect on college admissions. </p>
<p>If you decide to stick to the plan and take the May 4 SAT, I would sit down right now and draw out a preparation schedule for yourself. You have just short of four weeks, so you’ll have to be efficient with your time. You certainly can improve satisfactorily in these weeks, though, and I don’t think it should require as many hours on the weekend as you wrote. </p>
<p>How are you doing on the Sentence Completion questions? If you think your vocabulary is lacking in a big way, spend around an hour total each week reviewing vocabulary terms. If they aren’t a weak point, neglect these altogether during your preparation. On the Math section, what do you generally attribute your mistakes and omissions to? Are you unfamiliar with some of the concepts, short on time, or just have trouble reasoning your way to a solution? Not knowing the specifics on what you could improve on and assuming your math fundamentals are comfortable, I would say to apply my general advice of going through each Math sub-section (timed at this point, because the test is relatively soon), carefully finishing up any omitted questions after time is up, grading the test, and then spending some time understanding what went wrong on anything you missed. Briefly look up any new material you think you’d benefit from in solving the questions. I wouldn’t spend more than about three or four hours per week total on Math, because your score is already solid. </p>
<p>It sounds as though you would most benefit from focusing on the Critical Reading passages and Writing. </p>
<p>Regarding the passages, you are on the right track simply by trying to make yourself interested in the works, even if you are finding it tough at the moment. For many students, it seems that this is a trick that is frustrating at first but nonetheless eventually clicks, and everything just seems a lot more likable and in turn understandable. It’s a technique reliant upon psychological adaptation. Imagine that you must genuinely hang on to every word; that’s how much you enjoy these passages. Do it slowly at first and amp up your haste over the new few weeks. That you find your mind going blank while attempting to employ the “pretend to like the passage” method suggests you may be thinking too much about that method as you read or you are reading too quickly, causing you to space out from the words. Just read the passage for the words and how exciting they are, and speed and comprehension will follow. </p>
<p>I’d also refer you to my specific logistical recommendations on the passages (found at the beginning of this thread if you haven’t seen them yet): reading the introductory blurbs, marking line references before beginning, pausing in your passage reading to answer the relevant marked questions, and finally answering questions on general purpose and tone. In answering the questions themselves, remember too that the Critical Reading writers require that a correct answer clearly be supported by what is either directly stated in the text or clearly implied by any reasonable reading of it. The approach to consider whether, given the passage, one could make a cogent case for the wrongness of any choice, is a potent tool to rule out wrong but superficially attractive answer choices.</p>
<p>For Writing, you say that you can reword the sentences into grammatical correctness but can’t necessarily identify particularly how and why the original sentence was ungrammatical, right? I find this to be a common problem among those with acute ears for good writing and grammar but who haven’t yet familiarized themselves with the concepts of formal grammar or spent much time thinking about language analytically. The explanations on the College Board’s Website that accompany the official study guide practice exams are helpful in understanding some of the ways in which grammar drives the Writing section. I’d also recommend, if you have the time, giving my grammar guide at the front of this thread a read; I think it’s a good way to obtain a sturdy grasp on the objective grammar that, on the SAT Writing section, makes the difference between an answer that sounds right (which works at least half of the time) and an answer that is certainly correct. But don’t forget to spend at least a week taking official SAT Writing sub-sections in order to apply whatever grammar you learn.</p>
<p>I hope I’ve given you some ideas that will help you make a decision about how you’d like to proceed. If that means preparing for the SAT in the coming weeks, I also hope my advice makes those sessions productive. Good luck as you finish up your junior year; stay strong.</p>
<p>If unhooked, do you really need a 2300+ SAT for competitive schools?
If so, would it be possible for someone to jump ~200 points to get there?</p>
<p>^ Most students with 2100 should be able to work up to 2300 unless they’ve already applied good strategies for a long time and have nonetheless plateaued. </p>
<p>Scoring at 2300 or higher is not necessary to be admitted to the most selective schools, even if you’re unhooked. Just aim to score as well as you can. Don’t retake if you’re already within a handful of questions of a perfect score. If you have 2100 and have the will and time to improve that, spend it if the most selective schools are high on your list of desirable colleges. If you don’t quite hit the mark, it will not tank your application. If an unhooked applicant with 2300 is accepted over another one with 2200, I would not even be tempted to attribute the result to the score differential.</p>
<p>Hey silver turtle, I was wondering how important awards are for college admissions. I am going to apply to college next year and I don’t have any school or national awards.
Thanks</p>
<p>Thanks, silverturtle, I really appreciate this SAT guide you put together, but even more so that you take the time to answer all the questions you get!</p>
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<p>Most awards that students earn have little to no impact on admissions, because the population they beat to win the award is relatively narrow and admissions officers therefore can’t interpret it as a meaningful signal to distinguish you from the other highly qualified applicants. Prestigious national or international awards can certainly help, though. If you are a USAMO qualifier, for instance, it will garner you an extra look, especially from technically oriented colleges. And if you’re an international medalist in one of the Olympiads, your admissions future looks very bright, because colleges do seek those who have clearly demonstrated themselves to be among the most promising future scientists. </p>
<p>Awards can also be a way to complement a cohesive extracurricular portfolio. If you say you love writing poetry and drawing but have nothing to refer to beyond that stated desire, it may not resonate effectively. If you have a slew of awards in your area in writing and artistic competitions, you’ll appear more passionate. Perhaps this is unfortunate, because many students just do what they enjoy for themselves and don’t participate in contests to validate it. In any case, not having any awards is not explicitly detrimental; it’s just that having some, if they are the right ones, can be an opportunity to convey more to admissions officers. </p>
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<p>Happy to.</p>
<p>ok thanks silver turtle. I recently took the sat and scored well on cr and math. However, my writing score was horrible. I was wondering how much weight these schools put on the writing section. (Duke, UNC, UVA, Columbia, and Northwestern)</p>
<p>This is amazing!</p>
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<p>What do you feel is causing you problems on the Writing section? Have you read my grammar guide or any other?</p>
<p>Off the top of my head, I don’t know about the Writing section consideration policies of the colleges you mention. Most colleges used to consider the Writing section less closely than the other sections (if they looked at it at all), but it seems that it’s increasingly being considered at least on equal ground. Contact the admissions departments and you might get a better idea.</p>
<p>If you have the time to prepare for a retake, it’s likely worthwhile to get that Writing score up; it’s entirely possible because the section revolves around learnable grammar principles.</p>