PWN the SAT Q&A

Hey Mike, I did the SAT in May and got a score of 1920.(700 Maths, 620 Writing and 600 Critical) I intend on doing the SAT in October and was wondering what I could do to improve my writing and critical reading scores. Do you have any books or sources which could help?

pwnthetest — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:37:47 -0400

For writing, you might want to check out the Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar. That’ll help you nail down the multiple choice, which accounts for the bulk of your final writing score. If you’re worried about the essay, I’ve written a short book to help you out. (For now, it’s only available in Kindle form. I’m working on getting a print version out.)

For reading, I can only really recommend some books to help you bolster your vocabulary: the Direct Hits books are great.

I haven’t come across any books that I think are fantastic for the passages yet. That’s arguably the hardest section to improve, but in principle the process is straightforward—get better at comprehending what you read by agonizing over every question you get wrong on practice tests. Figure out not only why every right answer is right, but why every wrong answer is wrong. That means for every question you get wrong, you’re thinking about all five answer choices.

I'm back

pwnthetest — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:56:51 -0400

Thanks to everyone for the well-wishes over the past few weeks. It’s been a tough time, but I’m back and ready for action now.

Summer is a great time for SAT prep. Let’s do this.

Do you think one requires a SAT class to do well on it? Or self studying is okay?

pwnthetest — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:52:50 -0400

Different strokes for different folks. There are certainly students who are self-motivated enough (and have enough time—self studying is cheap but it takes a lot of time) to improve their scores by themselves. There are also students who, without a structured environment, either won’t spend enough time studying to make a difference, or worse, will spend a bunch of time on the wrong things and still not improve.

It’s up to you and your parents to make an honest assessment of what kind of student you are, and plan accordingly.

Hi Mike, I was wondering what you know about ACT. I know that ACT and SAT are two different things. So, how can I prepare for the ACT? It seems to me that there aren't that many prep books or study guides. For instance, for the SAT, there are tons of prep books for specific sections like Math, CR, Writing, and Essay. So, I am so confused as to preparing for the ACT.

pwnthetest — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 08:31:13 -0400

Unfortunately, I can’t really help you out much as far as how to prep for the ACT. Where I live, in NYC, there’s just not much demand for ACT prep. So I’ve gone through some practice tests, enough to get a basic understanding of the content, but that’s about it.

These dates aren't going to know what hit them

pwnthetest — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 10:45:16 -0400

These dates aren't going to know what hit them:

http://sat.collegeboard.org/SAT/public/pdf/sat-sat-subject-tests-dates.pdf

If I score in the lower 1900s does it even make sense to apply to the following: Johns Hopkins, University of north Carolina, Duke and Purdue? I my GPA last year was about 3.2. I know this isn't your thing but if you could point me to someone or answer this I'd be mighty grateful!

pwnthetest — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 21:43:00 -0400

The answer to this depends, to some extent, on your high school. Do you have access to Naviance or similar software through your guidance office? That’s an invaluable tool.

Thanks for your patience and support

pwnthetest — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 16:01:20 -0400

Hi all,

I’ve now answered all the questions that were waiting for me. I had some time this morning and put them (and then this post) all in the queue. However, I still have to make it through a wake tomorrow and a funeral Saturday, and I will be pretty busy in the meantime, so I have to ask for more patience until Monday, when I’ll be back in NY and getting back to normal a bit, for any questions submitted today or after.

Thanks so much to all of you who have sent me notes with your condolences. It means a lot to me that you guys care.

Mike

Whenever I come to your blog I find people telling u that they got 1900, 2000 etc and I'm over her with my 1500 feeling like the stupidest person here :| ... Anyway, I took the jun test (it was my second time) but I was so nervous that I couldn't concentrate and I didn't do good so I'm gonna take it again on October, which is in 4 months.. So When do u think i should start preparing for the test again? Should I waste my summer on studying or should I start like a month or two before the test?

pwnthetest — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 15:07:54 -0400

You’re just as welcome here as anyone else!

Prep takes time. If you spend your summer prepping, and you see huge improvements as a result, then I wouldn’t call that a “waste” of your summer.

If you have the option to do light prep over the summer (just making sure you do at least 30 minutes a day, maybe a practice test every two weeks) it won’t be that burdensome, and you’ll be making progress. Then you can always ramp up the intensity in August or September when the test is closer.

So I am pretty sure I scored in the high 700s for the June Math section, which is awesome since I got 630 last time. Your book is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. However, I don't think I did so well on the Critical Reading Section and will need to prep for that section a lot until the October Test. Do you have any books/online sources that you would recommend for that specific section? Thanks a bunch, Mike! :D

pwnthetest — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 14:15:51 -0400

Thanks for your kind words about my book. I’m so psyched that it helped you!

As for CR, have you checked out Erica Meltzer’s stuff? She’s got a CR book coming out soon, and a bunch of advice posted online.

I took the SAT in October and got around 2100. But I need to raise up Critical Reading and Math by about a 100 points each. I've taken classes and practiced and prepared. Is there a chance that I will hit this goal on tomorrow's SAT? At all? :S

pwnthetest — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 13:22:58 -0400

I realize that this answer is basically useless to you now that the test is over, but it would have been useless to you before the test, too. If you were hitting 2300s on recent practice tests, then you had a decent chance at hitting it on the real thing. Otherwise, your odds weren’t great. :/

Hi Mike, there was one question in the math section of the administered SAT that really stumbled me. I've taken a number of practice tests before, and this was the first time I've seen this question. I'd like to know how to attempt this question if it ever comes up in the future. Q: If x is inversely proportional to y, what does the graph look like?

pwnthetest — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 12:30:24 -0400

Inverse proportionality is when y = k/x, where k is some non-zero constant. So plug in a value for k, and graph! Here’s a graph for y = 2/x:

Not a question...just a whole hearted thanks for answering me in times of need. You made the SAT seem easy to me. Thanks a lot!

pwnthetest — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 11:37:42 -0400

Thanks for this. You’re very, very welcome.

hello! i got a 1920 my first try and live in the TX area (i dont know if that really helps); is this a good enough score to not retake the SAT?

pwnthetest — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 10:45:37 -0400

Don’t worry about where you live. Worry about the schools to which you’re applying. The thing you want to look at is the middle 50% SAT scores of students admitted to the schools you’re applying to. Here’s an example from Rice University. If Rice is your dream school, you’ve got more work to do on the SAT.

Not every school publishes middle 50% data, but most schools publish some data. For example, here’s some data about the 2012 admitted students at UT Austin. There’s no middle 50% stat, but if you scroll until you see the SAT data, you’ll see that a 1920 puts you in the 1800 to 2090 range, which is the largest group of admitted students, although the 1500 to 1790 range has a bunch of admitted students, too. That indicates to me that if UT Austin is your top choice, you can probably set the SAT aside and focus on other things.

What do you know about getting scholarships with your SATscores?

pwnthetest — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 09:52:58 -0400

I don’t deal very much with this, but some schools offer merit scholarships to students based on SAT scores, so there are times when small SAT improvements could mean big bucks. However, that’s mostly on a school-by-school basis.

Your best bet is to ask admissions officers at the schools to which you’re applying whether their schools offer merit aid, and what the requirements are to receive it. They may or may not give you cutoff scores, but it’s worth asking.

Need a few days

pwnthetest — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 13:42:14 -0400

Guys,

There has been a sudden death in my family and I need a few days to get to the questions for which you’ve already been patiently awaiting answers. Thanks for your understanding.

Mike

heello! i was wondering if i made up quotes by siddhartha gautama (buddha) and rong hong (the first chinese exchange student, graduated from yale), if graders would be likely to catch it? also, if i made up a story/quote from "the things they carried". THANKS!

pwnthetest — Fri, 31 May 2013 14:16:02 -0400

Unless you’re actually as eloquent as those two, your readers will probably be able to tell. Then, it’s up to fate whether they’ll just ignore it, or spend the whole rest of your essay being angry that they’re not supposed to care about accuracy, and looking more carefully than usual for other reasons to give you a bad score.

I am taking the SAT tomorrow but I haven't done much studying for it. I was hoping to get at least a 1700, but if I don't I was going to take it again in October. If I take again in October will I have my scores in time enough for early admissions? What do I do if I don't have my scores in time?

pwnthetest — Fri, 31 May 2013 13:22:53 -0400

SAT scores come out on the third Thursday after you take the test—you’ll get your October scores while still in the month of October. I am not aware of any October early admissions deadlines. You’ll be fine.

How to use a colon? (:)

pwnthetest — Fri, 31 May 2013 12:56:00 -0400

Colons are almost never tested on the SAT, but if this is what’s keeping you up at night, read through Tumblr All-Star The YUNiversity’s colon lesson.

If 3/7 of n is 42, what is 5/7 of n?

pwnthetest — Fri, 31 May 2013 11:37:48 -0400

You can really simplify this question when you realize that 3/7 and 5/7 are, themselves, in a simler 3:5 ratio. Then all you need to do is set up a proportion and solve:

x = 70

If I got a 1510 on my last SAT score, is it possible to raise it up to at least 1900 on the October one? & if yes, how would you plan my summer studying guide?

pwnthetest — Fri, 31 May 2013 10:45:36 -0400

Anything’s possible. But you should know going into it that a 400 point improvement is hard to do.

I can’t schedule your summer for you. Consider doing so your first display of initiative, which you’ll need plenty of to achieve a 400 point improvement on your own. I’ll give you a generalized roadmap, though. Use this as a basic framework around which to design your personal study plan.