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I've earned a score of 1300 on the SAT, 670 verbal 630 math. This was with not much preperation other than doing 1 practice SAT from that "10 real SAT's" book. What can i do to get it in the 1400 range? how much work will i need to put in?

By Dwaynehoover (Dwaynehoover) on Tuesday, March 18, 2003 - 06:27 pm: Edit

For math, you can have two very qualified mathematicians in school, each getting A's in their courses yet their SAT math can differ 200 points. SAT Math is all strategy and knowing the game---the math is not difficult -- the trick is to check yourself after each question asking yourself

1)Did I fall for a trap?
2)Did I not compensate for negative values.
3)etc.

Just make sure to keep your eye out for the tricks, and traps -- because the SAT knows likely stupid mistakes you will make and they ween you towards them.

I got a 610 math in 8th grade, and now I am in 10th grade and i get consistent 780-800's. I did not learn any new math that pertains to the SAT after 8th grade --i finished geometry in 8th grade...So basically--take lots of practice tests and get used to the traps, and train your eye to be very vigilant.

AS FOR VERBAL...grr I'm still having trouble wit this, my range is from 600-700 on this one, and it varies enigmatically...I have a feeling i have a substantial vocabulary -- i just follow into traps and I get very frustrated with the critical reading--I'm very argumentative with the test makers as to their selections of passages and answers..i think most of them are way too vague and need a lot of reform. So for verbal, I guess its just luck, knowing their trade, and not falling for traps.

Hope i helped ^^ good luck with the grueling machine that is the SAT...grrr..

Just curious, what grade are you? i'm 10th, i think it was aforementioned.

By Pat57575 (Pat57575) on Tuesday, March 18, 2003 - 07:52 pm: Edit

I can relate dwayne... 640v, 780m. You're right about the math too. I knew no more math when I got the 780 than when I took it the first time (and got a 690).

By Peach (Peach) on Wednesday, March 19, 2003 - 12:04 pm: Edit

Cam, definitely take some more real practice tests. Are you good at math? How are your grades?

How did you do on the different question types? Try one of the tests in Cracking the SAT (there's a free one on PR's site, too) - it'll tell you where your weak areas are, so you can practice those more.

By Cam (Cam) on Wednesday, March 19, 2003 - 08:32 pm: Edit

i'm alright in math, making about a 89-90 in pre-cal, but i really hate it. English is my strength probably, i have a good solid A in my AP course. I was actually kinda suprised i didn't do better on verbal, i didn't miss any analogies and only 3 sentence completion, but didn't do great on reading comp. Math was just all around bad. by the way, i'm a junior.

By Peach (Peach) on Thursday, March 20, 2003 - 12:08 am: Edit

Yeah, it's hard to do well in a section you hate!! And RC is tough too. Just practice more and you should do better on both sections. I think PR really is the best one for verbal, especially RC. The strategies are pretty good. I hate the RC part, because they deliberately make it boring (easy to tune it out), but the tips to get thru it are helpful. Work on those, and take more real SATs, and you'll definitely go up.