How to Increase Your SAT Score

Successful people set goals, develop a work ethic and focus on attaining those goals. It is no different with standardized tests such as the SAT. The following list is a recipe for SAT success:

• Start early, take the PSAT in 10th and 11th grades
• Buy a review book in 10th grade and get familiar with the question formats
• Read one article per day from a prominent newspaper
• look up words you don't know from your daily readings
• Join a review class in 11th grade
• Do as many practice tests as possible under actual test conditions

All great athletes, musicians, performers and students share the same characteristic--they practice, practice and practice, and by doing so, they put in the time to be great at whatever they do.

Student Comments on the October SAT

Here are some actual comments from High School Students regarding their October 2009 SAT experience:

“I felt the test wasn't too bad but it had some challenging parts and the passages weren't as confusing and complicated as they usually are”

“I didn't finish any part of the SAT”

“i took the SAT Saturday but I don’t think I did too well. I didn't like my essay and I think that preoccupied my mind throughout the test. I didn’t finish the first reading so I went back to it during second section which didn’t give me enough time to finish section I was supposed to be doing”

“I'm still feeling a little brain dead from the SAT…..Ill keep doing some reading sections because that's what i thought i struggled on the most today”

“The test was fair, yet I still managed to find somewhat of a problem while doing the critical reading section. It was not the passages yet the questions were all hard, and often were misleading”

“I don't know if the test was good or bad, but i felt less stressed during this one and hope for good results”

“I thought the sentence completions were average, and fair”

“I found the critical reading still the hardest part although it was much better than last time. some writing questions were difficult too. However I found the math sections very easy. I'll keep my fingers crossed but I think I improved this time around”

“Overall, I didn't think the test was was too difficult. Surprisingly, I thought that the sentence completions were the hardest part of the whole test. Many of the vocab words and wordings in the sentences I found to be very difficult to make out. I didn't have too much trouble with the passages and I found that the math and writing sections were fairly easy”

“The essay I thought was a little ridiculous. It was about laughter. The questions for math were very easy but the writing was just to hard. The reading was what i expected. all in all it was an SAT”

“The essay and most of the math was pretty easy to me. The rest i had some trouble with. My timing was not to good either. I did not complete the 35 question writing section, two reading sections, and one math section”

Reasons to Read the Newspaper

An article a day will help a student several ways:

• by making her aware of current events which allows for some timely essay topics
• by practicing reading, she learns to analyze details, and this results in an
• increase in word power, and an
• appreciation of good writing

Most students do not get their news from newspapers. But they should try. There is no downside to reading the New York Times. It may not be cool, but the benefits outweigh the perception