🧑🎓How to improve your SAT reading score?
❌The reading section of the SAT is usually avoided by exam takers until the last moment. Having realized that this part of the test is more difficult to progress through, candidates tend to not practice it, with the idea in mind that if they spend time on writing and math instead, they can increase their overall score by a greater margin. Therefore, their reading scores are stuck somewhere at 250 out of 400.
👨💻To remedy it, they have to practice MORE. The reason I capitalized the word more is not because they have to do millions of practice tests, but because this more means different things to different people. Our brains are structured differently, and thus their capacities vary greatly. For a guy who works full-time and studies SAT on the side, more means 1 practice test a week. For a teenager who only focuses on the SAT, it is 3-4 practice tests a week. So, identify your more and stick to it.
🤫We haven't solved the problem yet: there is a difference between practice and practice. It might sound ironic, but it is true. When I say practice, someone might think about doing 54 out of 54 questions, getting the results, and looking at the number of mistakes they made. Right?
👎Wrong. You shouldn't do that. The ideal way (very subjective) of doing a practice test is to do it once under the exam conditions and then analyzing it.
How to analyze?🤔
You redo all the questions that you guessed or messed up without a time limit but with your dictionary so that you can jot down all the new words you get. Having understood every single mistake you made, you transition to the rest of the test where you would pick new words (even from the question you didn't have a problem with and got correct answers). Then you learn the new words. There are a lot of methods of vocabulary memorization. And you have to pick the one that works with you.
Is that it?🥳
🤬Nope. You should work on your weak points, afterwards. This part is very crucial but mainly neglected. Having analyzed your practice test, you reflect on it by figuring out your weak points (the question types you make a mistake on regularly). Once you spot them, you go back to the books like Erica Meltzer, Panda, and the black book or education websites like Khan Academy to review the corresponding chapters and doing some exercises on those question types. See those books as the references you get back to every time you make a mistake.
So here is the rough formula:
1️⃣Practice
2️⃣Analyze
3️⃣Work on weak points
4️⃣Repeat
📌Yes, repeat. Your score isn't going to grow overnight. As the saying goes, good things take time. Thus, you should keep doing it until you get what you want.
All credits go to Parviz.
❌The reading section of the SAT is usually avoided by exam takers until the last moment. Having realized that this part of the test is more difficult to progress through, candidates tend to not practice it, with the idea in mind that if they spend time on writing and math instead, they can increase their overall score by a greater margin. Therefore, their reading scores are stuck somewhere at 250 out of 400.
👨💻To remedy it, they have to practice MORE. The reason I capitalized the word more is not because they have to do millions of practice tests, but because this more means different things to different people. Our brains are structured differently, and thus their capacities vary greatly. For a guy who works full-time and studies SAT on the side, more means 1 practice test a week. For a teenager who only focuses on the SAT, it is 3-4 practice tests a week. So, identify your more and stick to it.
🤫We haven't solved the problem yet: there is a difference between practice and practice. It might sound ironic, but it is true. When I say practice, someone might think about doing 54 out of 54 questions, getting the results, and looking at the number of mistakes they made. Right?
👎Wrong. You shouldn't do that. The ideal way (very subjective) of doing a practice test is to do it once under the exam conditions and then analyzing it.
How to analyze?🤔
You redo all the questions that you guessed or messed up without a time limit but with your dictionary so that you can jot down all the new words you get. Having understood every single mistake you made, you transition to the rest of the test where you would pick new words (even from the question you didn't have a problem with and got correct answers). Then you learn the new words. There are a lot of methods of vocabulary memorization. And you have to pick the one that works with you.
Is that it?🥳
🤬Nope. You should work on your weak points, afterwards. This part is very crucial but mainly neglected. Having analyzed your practice test, you reflect on it by figuring out your weak points (the question types you make a mistake on regularly). Once you spot them, you go back to the books like Erica Meltzer, Panda, and the black book or education websites like Khan Academy to review the corresponding chapters and doing some exercises on those question types. See those books as the references you get back to every time you make a mistake.
So here is the rough formula:
1️⃣Practice
2️⃣Analyze
3️⃣Work on weak points
4️⃣Repeat
📌Yes, repeat. Your score isn't going to grow overnight. As the saying goes, good things take time. Thus, you should keep doing it until you get what you want.
All credits go to Parviz.