<p>hello everyone. I am an IB student. I scored 2050 in the june 2010 sat (got the result ystrday). October will be my last chance as I am in my senior year now. CR n Writing (essay) are my main worries. I got just 740 in math, whereas i was lookin for an 800. I have tons of pdfs and digital books n prep material. i am ready to buy any new books. Please suggest something... Also, this has been my lowest score if u take into account the practise tests. I got 2150 in CB's official online test n 2290 n 2300 in other tests...Screwed up big time when it mattered d most. This might actually be a blessin in disguise 4 me as i can look at a 2350+, coz i have time on my side... Vocab, passages, essay, n tough error ID questions have given me sleepless nights.. I am an ivy league aspirant.</p>
<p>why cant you take it in november?</p>
<p>Cus he/she probably has SAT II to do in november</p>
<p>October/November are last SAT befor Early Decision applications, meaning you can take it December as last time before Regular Decision deadline.</p>
<p>Hey shaheiruddin, is it possible to take November SAT and still apply Early decision (if the ED deadline is Nov 1)?</p>
<p>^ I currently have a 2100 and am retaking SAT one last time October before applying ED to a certain school. I'm taking one last SAT 2, Math 2 this November those will also be in time for ED, for the schools I'm applying to.</p>
<p>I'm not sure about this, but it's true for MIT: When you apply to a college as an international applicant, ED is not a possible undertaking for you. I believe international applicants are forced to apply Regular. Or maybe that's just at MIT.
At any rate, if you do only have til October, just study. There are no shortcuts or tips or whatever. Get the BB, study, you'll improve. It's not like you're short on time. I took the SAT 3 times:
January - 630 CR, 720M, 720W (though I expected 800's on the latter 2 and as it turned out from the QAS, my mistakes were unbelievably careless and I should've gotten them had I been more attentive)
May - 620 CR, 710 M, 790 W - I actually went slightly down. Note that for the first 2 times I studied nothing. And in May I only got like 5 hours of sleep before the test so that was my own fault - I wasn't able to concentrate at all on the last 2 CR sections - plus the test takers made us start late and we ended up finishing the test at around 3PM - which did NOT help, and definitely made it worse. My errors were also careless (in math.)
June - with studying for around 3 weeks between May and June - 660 CR, 800M, 800W. Just to show you how little effort (in terms of time - I actually put in a huge effort in what little time I had) it takes to go from ~700 to 800 in M and W. CR is a different story.
And a small tip for the writing help: You might not notice it, but writing in 100% proper language everywhere (including online, in chat rooms, or on forums like these) will help your grammar. You'll find yourself knowing everything subconsciously. Seriously. I studied literally nothing for writing. Went from a -3 in the MC first time to a -0 second time and [at most] a -1 third time (I've yet to check the breakdown - though it might've been -0.)</p>
<p>Good luck.
P.S. - Get the Blue Book. It's the single most valuable practice book for the SAT.</p>
<p>That is just MIT. You can apply ED as an international to most other schools. As for the scores, you can send November scores if you apply ED/EA but you must rush to send the scores (an option on CollegeBoard but you have to pay extra).</p>
<p>Most colleges say that they won't have considered your application files until the November scores are in, rushed that is.</p>
<p>Also, do not give up. I went from 1930 to a 2270 - I was getting 2250-2350 in all practice tests but they just never came to in the actual tests.</p>
<p>WOW, that's a really great improvement. Congrats. I want to improve from 1850 to 2100. And i have till October. Any tips?</p>
<p>I went from a 1950 to a 2240 in basically a month of studying through simply Direct Hits and Blue Book. Granted, I did not study at all for writing and still got an 800, but my 150 point improvement in reading was all due to practice. Before I decided not to retake, but now I'm feeling ambitious and may retake to try to get a perfect (although I know it's highly unlikely). Still, it'd be nice to break the 2300 barrier.</p>
<p>I feel that going from 2050 to 2350+ is highly improbably in 3 month. Why?</p>
<p>He has to reduce his lost points from 350 to 50points. As we all know, studying for the SAT incurs serious diminishing returns once you hit around 2150. At that point, it comes down to many many many many hours of studying for marginal increases in points. Just 1 wrong on math drops you down to a 770. 2 wrong on math and you're out of 2350+ zone. 2 wrong on CR? 780.</p>
<p>Source: 2350+ scorer</p>
<p>^^somebody just took an econ class.</p>
<p>And 2 wrong on CR is almost always 800. 2300 is certainly feasible in my opinion if you can study all summer.</p>
<p>The thing is I don't understand why you're aiming for 2350+ when anything 2200+ is perfectly GREAT. Especially if you're starting 150 points under that.</p>
<p>^2 wrong in CR is, in most cases, an 800, and otherwise, a 790 (though very rarely.)</p>
<p>At any rate, I guess it's just MIT. Though I still don't see the benefit in applying Early anywhere.
I also forgot to mention - when I took the Practice Booklet last summer (I'd just finished sophomore year) I got around a 1940, which jumped up to a 2070 with no practice at all in January '10. So effectively, I've gone from a 1940 to a 2260 in a year, with less than one month of studying during that year. Don't leave your hopes down :)</p>
<p>I must say, I'm kind of disappointed with my CR increase though. I only went up 30 points, and I scored at least 30 points lower than my average BB test scores. @kobudnik - mind if I ask how you improved 150 points in one month for CR? I did around 5 practice tests and reviewed them thoroughly and I had a DH word list, and went from a 630 to a 660. Not nearly what I was hoping for - I averaged a 700 on my BB tests and once got ~780 though the curve was generous there and I cheated a bit on the vocab portion while doing the practice test :D At any rate I only got a -3 in the passages which I was very happy about. I currently have a 660, and I might retake to try and get that 2400 (superscore or not, it doesn't really matter, CR's the only thing in my way.) Any tips?</p>
<p>Well, honestly I think part of it was nerves that led to my low score on the March test (580). After that I found this site and the first and most vital piece of advice I found was that the answer is always in the text. They essentially give you the answer, but you have to navigate through the text to find it. With just that one thought in my head, I took my first BB test and got around a 680 (before DH). Then I ordered DH and memorized it and my BB test scores for CR were around the 730 area, which is exactly what I got on the June SAT. My increase was relatively easy. I simply did all the practice tests and looked to understand my answers. I thought BB was so helpful because it really gives you an idea of the answer Collegeboard is looking for. For example, I would never have chosen spare as an answer on the June SAT because I figured it was too easy for a #5 or 6 question. But after just continuous practice, I now see what ETS wants. I know I got 3 passage based questions wrong and 3 vocabs because DH didn't do much on June. So essentially I went from the 14 or so passage based questions wrong on March to just 3 on June. Just keep practicing and analyzing blue book and look for the type of answers they want. That's the best advice I can give.</p>
<p>^I used mostly the same strategy you did. That single piece of information was what helped me most, and I consistently scored 680's and above. I don't know why, but on the actual test date I found myself pressed for time. In practice tests I never had that issue, I'd finish confidently on time or a minute or 2 beforehand. I definitely tried getting into ETS's mind and I believe I succeeded mostly though I still can't identify the answer directly based on what I believe they're thinking. Good idea on the vocab though, not choosing the easy words on the hard questions, although I believe I got around 18/19 SC's right in June and the mistake was due to a misread in the sentence (I'm international by the way, so the vocab was easier than the US one.)
At any rate thanks for the advice. I'll definitely try a couple more practice tests and finish up DH and see if I can cross that 700 mark.</p>
<p>I think it's amazing you improved so high in just a month, though I guess your starting range was already at 680. Hopefully I can manage that 700.
Thanks for your help! :)</p>
<p>I found myself highly pressed for time on 2 of the 3 sections. I'm actually surprised that I only got 3 PBQs wrong because I literally only had around 20 seconds per question at some point. I spent much too much time on the vocab trying to find the answers (vocab on June was very hard). That's why in my opinion it is better to read the whole passage. Maybe I have a good memory but I took my time and read the entire passage and I really understood each one which helped me answer most of the questions with ease and rapidity. I got one short passage question wrong, and then two analytical. Hopefully if I do decide to retake I won't be rushed and I can analyze a little more.</p>
<p>Practice until you can't get it wrong! I know it's clich</p>
<p>-2 on CR is now 780ish. The Erikthered curves you guys are refering too are now outdated. As of the last 3 or 4 tests, the curves have become harsher across the board.</p>
<p>That's simply not true.</p>