SAT 2009

[stephaknee]

Remembered another reason why you should take the ACTs: most colleges (private universities, at least) require SATs and SAT IIs (subject tests) OR just ACTs (which is already technically a "subject test"). So it's not only easier, but it saves you money and time.

[Teiku 5]

got a 770 on my math and 690 on my critical reading. i'm so siced. this is gonna boost my merit scholarship out big time.

[Dogenzaka]

770 on math? Shit son. Congrats.

The SAT caught up to me and I'm busy the next few days and so I didn't have much time to study, but that's okay, because I'm taking it again in January in case I fuck this Saturday up.

[Grace Assassin]

I wouldn't say I'm someone you ought to take advice from on this.

The first time I took it, I studied a lot, went in, answered every question, got a 1960. I was actually surprised it was so "low" because I felt I knew the answer to almost every one.

Six months later I decided to wing it and see if I could boost my score. Hadn't studied at all in the interval. Got a 2250. I suppose the difference was in my decision to skip some questions which I wasn't so sure of.

If you learned anything from that, don't study and skip questions. (I know you don't lose points if you skip questions, I guess I was surprised the first time at how many I got wrong.)
:D

Originally Posted by stephaknee

Remembered another reason why you should take the ACTs: most colleges (private universities, at least) require SATs and SAT IIs (subject tests) OR just ACTs (which is already technically a "subject test"). So it's not only easier, but it saves you money and time.

The ACT is utter bull.
It's the same. exact. thing. as the SAT, just condensed.

Well, not the exact same. They do have a "science" section. Turns out it's just analyzing data, graphs, trends, and all of that good stuff (some of it was harder than it sounds though, surprisingly).
Can't even remember what I got on it because it was such a waste of time. It was above average, but I didn't care.

All of the high end schools that required it only put me on their waiting lists anyway.

[Dogenzaka]

Well if according to my SAT study guides, if you want to make between a 700-800 on any part of your SAT, the most questions you can leave blank is 1. lol.

My problem areas I suppose are remembering quadratic equations, absolute value crap, statistics, and rules for angles/shapes in geometry.

Haven't looked at the English portion of my study guides yet, and I better do so. LOL.

[Grace Assassin]

Originally Posted by Dogenzaka

My problem areas I suppose are remembering quadratic equations, absolute value crap, statistics, and rules for angles/shapes in geometry.

They've got most of the formulas and basic info at the beginning of the section that you need.
I don't think it's all there, but most.

Any problem areas of memorization for the math portion, there's an easy solution. Save the formula on to your calculator just in case.
They don't check what you have on there, just that you have an appropriate calculator.

To be honest, I saved some formulas on there for good measure and I don't recall ever having to check.

[Riel]

No amount of studying is going to prepare you for the english sections. The difficulty with the languages lies when questions like 'what will Bill say' or 'how should john say this'. Yes, technically, there is a 'proper' way of saying it, but sometimes they're asking for what someone would ACTUALLY say, and very rarely do people speak properly.

Like the above. 'People speak properly very rarely' would probably be better, but I said it in a different way. If you had to choose one of the two for the test, there's a fucking moral quandary with 'do I remain truthful to the real world' or 'do I lie' or 'is it possible to kill myself with this piece of paper?'.

[Teiku 5]

Originally Posted by Riel

Like the above. 'People speak properly very rarely' would probably be better, but I said it in a different way. If you had to choose one of the two for the test, there's a fucking moral quandary with 'do I remain truthful to the real world' or 'do I lie' or 'is it possible to kill myself with this piece of paper?'.

i hate the English sections.
i feel stupid when i pick the same letter several times in a row. i feel like maybe i picked the wrong answers XD.

lol @ bold.

[Grace Assassin]

That's why I hate the subjectivity of the reading comprehension sections.

The moral of the story is:
a.) Don't be bad
b.) Be good
c.) Be better than neutral
d.) Act good

[LionHeart14]

I just took my PSATs a couple weeks ago.
My biggest problem was the time limit lol. We only had 25 minutes per section and each section had anywhere from like 25-40 questions. For the English sections, reading the stupid paragraph things took up most of that time o.O XD
Do the actual SATs have time constraints?

[Teiku 5]

all standardized testing has time restrictions and if you're not good at test-taking, then you're not likely to finish all of it.

its how they know its fair for everyone since everyone is graded on the same basis.

[Dogenzaka]

Well I took it today.

I'm disappointed because I think I did better in English (which I was already good at) and worse in Math (which I thought I'd gotten better at).

Math sections covered everything I thought I knew in a way that I didn't know it, and everything I studied didn't come up on the test whatsoever :l

Also, fuck functions.

reading the stupid paragraph things took up most of that time o.O XD

There were only two stories in the entire test that I actually read the whole way, and even that was skimming.
The key to those boring-ass excerpt questions is just to go directly to the questions, skip reading, and try to answer the most specific questions first.

[LionHeart14]

Originally Posted by Teiku 5

all standardized testing has time restrictions and if you're not good at test-taking, then you're not likely to finish all of it.

its how they know its fair for everyone since everyone is graded on the same basis.

That shouldn't be a problem... It just takes me awhile to actually read those stupid articles and pay attention to what I'm reading XD

Originally Posted by Dogenzaka

There were only two stories in the entire test that I actually read the whole way, and even that was skimming.
The key to those boring-ass excerpt questions is just to go directly to the questions, skip reading, and try to answer the most specific questions first.

I like that idea XD