Preparing for PSAT/SAT?
My friend took the Official SAT Online Course and it helped her score so much! She went from a 2000 to a 2200. I would highly recommend you take it and its relatively cheap for a prep course ($80 I believe). I'm planning on taking it myself! Honestly, I would not recommend taking those prep courses by Princeton, Kaplan, etc. Those classes work by their curriculum and never specialize in your weaknesses. You end up paying more than $1000 for something that claims to improve your score almost drastically, when in reality, your better off with The Official SAT Study Guide by College Board, who actually makes the test. If you feel like your weak in one area, find a local tutor who specializes in your subject. Start preparing a bit this year, but really get to work after you take the actual PSAT because then you will get a College Board code which takes you online to My College Quick Start and shows you each question you got wrong and why. It also tells you what you're weak in and what exact skills you need to improve. Good luck!
First off, save your money.Some people will recommend buying books. SAT books are ridiculously high-priced, because they know kids will buy them thinking they’re the only way to study for the SAT.Perhaps you enjoy reading and working from a book, in which case you can disregard the rest of this answer. But if you don’t want to spend money and do want to get a personalized study plan, I highly recommend Khan Academy.I linked my Khan account with my College Board account, so that I could get tailored study plans to work on what I missed most on the PSAT. I also opted to get daily reminders to do 10 SAT practice questions. Admittedly I didn’t do the practice every day, but they were helpful nonetheless.Khan Academy has its own, full practice SAT tests as well as videos explaining key math concepts (not sure about English), and full explanations for practice-test answers (both math and English).If you like pencil and paper, then I’d recommend printing off a few of the CollegeBoard’s practice tests (here) as well.Take some Khan practice tests a night or two before the big day and you’ll do great!I got a 1210 on my PSAT, but after studying on Khan I got a 1550 on my first test then 1560 on my next (1590 superscore).No, I’m not being paid! I just highly recommend Khan Academy.Best of luck to you!
What is the best SAT/PSAT prep course?
What is the best SAT/PSAT prep course? Amazon.com has a massive collection of SAT Prep books and Subject Tests to buy cheap, both new and used and offers trade in on your old textbooks as well. SAT Exam Resources: http://www.amazon.com/SAT-Exam-Resources-Books/b?ie=UTF8&node=11682&tag=yah-book-20 SAT Subject Tests: http://www.amazon.com/SAT-Subject-Tests/b?ie=UTF8&node=7290952011&tag=yah-book-20 As you prepare for the SAT you need to remember you are not alone. There are a huge range of guides and practice tests to choose from to make it a little easier. Because it is Amazon you know the prices will always be cheap but if you are on a budget many of their books are available in used options where you can save substantially. Take a moment and read the customer reviews which will help you select the right solution for you.
Absolutely. In fact, many high schoolers don’t realize they can take SAT Subject Tests in sophomore year, when many kids take classes like AP World History.Also, the decision to focus on the ACT over the SAT has no bearing on whether you should take SAT Subject Tests. In the old days, many colleges accepted ACT scores in place of both SAT Reasoning and SAT Subject scores. Colleges seem to have finally wised up, which means the ones that want Subject Test scores don’t care if you submit SAT or ACT scores.For more on this issue, check out When Should You Take SAT Subject Tests?
What SAT and PSAT prep books should I get?
There are a lot of really great ones out there and I've worked with pretty much all of them. Kaplan, Princeton Review, adn the Real SAT tests from the college board are all good if you want to just take some practice tests. If you want to review, some of theirs are okay too (depends on specifically Whig ones since some are only practice tests). Barron's is also good, adn a lot of people say that the ones by Dr. Gruber are good. Personally, i've tried them, but I just thought they were totally irrelevant to the SAT - the questions are needlessly designed to be way confusing and really unlike anything you'll see on the SAT or PSAT. For me personally though, I think a lot of SAT books, if not all of them are all designed to be slightly Higher and not exactly like the SAT. Once you start doing more tests, you'll probably figure that out too. Every company has i guess, their different st lye so it is soooooooo necessary to buy the one from college board because that one is actually from the company, you'll actually see the style and be truly prepared. You still seem a little young to be really worrying about it tooo much, but you sound like a good student so I'm sure you'll do fine. One of my problems working with the SAT though is that I will understand the passage and question perfectly, but when i go down to decide which answer chioce to choose, its hard because they are ambiguous sometimes and you aren't quite sure how detailed or from what level exactly they are viewing the answer. A lot of my friends are doing SAT prep and spending about $2000, personally I think whether or not to take those classes is up to you. They will help most people to some degree, but obviously they can't ensure a particular score you want to reach and it all depends. Some people find that effective, some people don't. Some prefer to study on thier own, some want to study in a group. There really isn't a right or wrong way to go on that. Personally, I think it's a little early, you should just focus on schoolwork and grades, I mean there will be a lot of content you may not have covered yet in school, or because of the age difference you don't have the aptitude yet to wrap your head around some concepts especially in critically reading. In math, even if you are ahead, you still don't have enough experience around these things. Therefore, I think it's completely useless to waste your time and money now.
Do you have to take an SAT prep class to pass the SATs?
I don't think there is a "passing" grade. I think whether or not you need a course depends on how smart you are, and if you can do just as well by studying on your own. If you are having trouble and studying on your own doesn't seem to be helping, the course might be worth it if it is going to help you get into the school you want or a better school. Also, it might depend on where you want to go to college and whether you will need to get a good score to get in. If you took the PSAT that should give you a good idea of how well you can expect to do (not factoring in any future improvements). I think you can always take the test a 2nd time so you can see how you do and if necessary take the course before the 2nd time. I'm not sure if schools will consider the 1st score also.
I'm going to be a little bit harsh here, but honestly, a 1220 is not that great of a score on the PSAT. A lot of my friends (sophomores) didn't study beforehand and they received scores ranging from 1300 to 1460. I'm no expert, but I don't think that those scores are good enough to get into Penn or Duke.I recommend really working on that math score. Is math your weak suit? The English portion was kinda tricky for me, but you should try to get to the point where you can breeze through the math. It'll make your life so much easier. Also, just getting better at math will make your entire high school and college life way easier as well.I wish you luck! And don't forget about the National Merit Scholarship. If you want to be a Finalist, you're going to have to get at least 1400. But don't worry too much. A test score doesn't define who you are or your intelligence.
Can I apply to college without having taken the SAT yet?
May I ask why you haven't taken the SAT? If you're worried you won't do well in it then you should definitely know that you will do fine! You can take a Prep Course or buy the SAT Prep Book and you can learn techniques to take the test and get a good score! Colleges that don't ask for the SAT are 2 year Colleges, and I would not recommend them unless you're low on money. Going to a 4-year College and getting the College Freshman experience is the best time you will have in your life! Think about it. Take the SAT, believe in yourself, and do what you have to do! Best of luck!
Probably higher than that. The shine is off the apple, as far as taking the test goes, so you know what to expect. The PSAT is a slightly easier, more miniaturized version of the SAT, more or less.Also, you have the benefit of another year of schooling, which will help you with the math section for sure and, to a certain extent, the reading and writing sections as well.There's no way to make a numerical prediction with any degree of confidence, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if you found yourself in the 1150–1250 range, even without doing another thing before the test.If you prepared strategically for the test, however, it is much more likely that your score will be in that range.Good luck!
No, unless you know you can ace it and get a really, really good score (and there’s really no point taking it so early- maybe at most sophomore year of high school) Even then, the SAT requires at least some prep for most people. Starting freshman year, you can start taking the PSAT (score only counts junior year though) if you want to have an idea of the SAT. But most important of all, enjoy 8th grade. Continue pursuing outside interests that are meaningful to you even in high school.