<p>Anyone here have any good tips for taking the SAT’s? I’m going to take it in 5 days and I need to do good the first time. </p>
<p>My practice tests average anywhere from 2250 - 2400 (only once).<br>
I asked this on the other threads, but they say the same thing - don’t worry about it :(</p>
<p>BTW, I got a 223 on my PSAT -> which is really not the score I want 
:(</p>
<p>And so will I say, dont worry…just practice them more n u will get 2300+…</p>
<p>Yeah, but a practice test cannot compare to a real test. In a practice test, you’re biased. YOu give yourself the benefit of the doubt and also because I have no idea what a 12 on an SAT essay looks like (the CB website 12’s are so different from each other and none of them match mine)</p>
<p>A 223 on the PSAT is like a 2230 on the ‘real’ thing. If you’re not happy with that kind of a score - you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. The difference between a 2200 and a 2400 is getting 5-7 more questions correct. </p>
<p>Which book are you using to practice from? CB’s book is the most accurate when it comes to tests.</p>
<p>well, that is a fact…
Writing scores do matter but not that much…(I remember a huge discussion on this topic)…
Just do more practice n u will get 2300+ in real time…</p>
<p>I use the CB and a bunch of books I borrowed from a friend</p>
<p>ajayc: Well, i won’t recommend choosing a college based on your expected major. What do you want to do after college? If your aim is NASA, Research or even nice job then a lot will depend on your masters degree. UG will matter little then. Personally i would stay in Indian rather then attending any college outside top 15, simply because it’s not the worth of money. </p>
<p>UT-Austin gives little aid. BU would be awarding need based awards from next year. If you need aid then the only option before you is Ivies, MIT, Stanford and LACs.</p>
<p>EDIT: There’s a thread down in the archive about college that award significant aid to int’l.</p>
<p>Lac? … the problem is that I need US citizenship to become an astronaut so that is why i want to leave for US as soon as possible!</p>
<p>Another thing is that I dont have a choice for aerospace major in top 15 man. I would rather go by aerospace rankings :)</p>
<p>Btw are you sure BU will give need-based?</p>
<p>Liberal Arts College: eg: Amherst, Swarthmore, Macalester, Williams, et al. A different type of educational philosophy, I’m not sure if they offer engineering courses though; (kriti might know more about this since she’s applying to many LACs)</p>
<p>[Liberal</a> arts college](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_arts_college]Liberal”>Liberal arts college - Wikipedia).</p>
<p>Several LACs do offer engineering. Swarthmore, I think, has a good programme. </p>
<p>ajayc, even if you don’t make it to the US for undergrad, do not worry. I have an uncle who’s pretty much a Bangalore boy through and through (and how I hate that phrase, but I’m not in top writing form and can’t think of anything better to say at this point), and he works for NASA right now. It will be fine. And I agree with Abhi, to an extent – if you don’t make it somewhere truly fabulous, and if you find better opportunities within India, stay here.</p>
<p>BTW, if you guys think I’m stressing out too much for the SAT, you should see some of my friends. ONe chinese guy in my school actually looked through the dictionary and found all the relevant words and memorized them! 
</p>
<p>Every time we see each other we just quiz each other with impossible words</p>
<p>@ naidu – On test day, whatever you do, DO NOT PANIC.
Even if you miss a question, DON’T PANIC.
A 2290 is better than 2100 caused due to panic…
That’s all the advice I can give…panicking screwed up my first SAT…</p>
<p>HOw do I stop myself from not panicking? The only thing I can think of is to not see is it as the ultimate decision of my life </p>
<p>naidu90 – Memorising the dictionary is patently useless, to be perfectly honest. Vocabulary isn’t the entirety of the Critical Reading section, and being able to define ‘pulchritudinous’ (to use an amusing example chosen at random) ain’t going to help much. ‘Don’t panic’ is the most sensible advice possible, as well as being a fun reference to Douglas Adams. :)</p>
<p>And this is not the ultimate decision of your life. A 223 PSAT is good, guarantees a decent SAT score, and frankly once you’re in that sort of range a few points here or there fail to matter. Simply having 2300+ won’t get you in (and if it did, some of us on this thread wouldn’t be stressing), anyway, so don’t worry about it. It does not matter.</p>
<p>Ah (my apologies then for posting incorrect info); what can I say, maybe the vector proofs got to me! :D</p>
<p>Are we starting the Douglas Adams bit again? :D</p>
<p>NOldo, I know memorizing the dictionary is useless. That’s why I made fun of him when I found out (he tried to hide it ;)). I just memorized the Barrons 3500 words (i knew most of them beforehand)</p>
<p>Would anyone have any objections? 
(To the Douglas Adams bit, that is.)</p>
<p>naidu90 – I can’t speak for the helpfulness of Barrons, not having tried it myself. Still, if you think it’s going to help, it’s time well-spent, in that the SAT is about how prepared you feel and not how much so you really are.</p>
<p>I’d second everyone’s advice with regard to the SAT; in no way is CR about memorization; between Shri and I we’ve got 3 800s in CR and we’ve never found the dictionary to be the most fascinating read. 
CRs about having a love for reading and the ability to make sense of a nonsensical passage that could be about anything from calypso music to Argentinian penguins.</p>