Good grades..bad SAT?

Question

im a great student, work hard. and make all a's and high b's in all honors courses, but i took my PSAT, and i bombed. i have bad test anxiety and it kills me! help before i take the real SAT?

Answer 1

You can do better on your SAT by doing a few things. People will say go read this book or go read that book, but that's not the key. The key is practice. So much practice that you have mastered all the types of questions on the SAT. I started off with a 1700 on my first go around. I studied and took a course with kaplan for about 900 bucks. It was total garbage. The sat tutor merely read from a book for about 10 one hour sessions. I didn't improve at all. Eventually, I bought a review book off tutorfox.com for 10 bucks. It was a well written book. I also bought the Princeton Review's sat guide. I used both books and was able to improve my score significantly. I got a score above 2200 and was accepted into UCLA...

Answer 2

One bad experience with a test prep company shouldn't be the end all of the program.  If you dont see a 200 point improvement you should have asked for your money back, or have them work with you free until you do get that improvement.

Improvement takes some work!  Generally students want the process to be easy and take lots of short cuts that hurt then when it really counts (test time!).  If you think that practicing 30 minutes a day for a few months is easier than working hard during 10 hours of a test prep class, then go for it!  Something tells me your effort is well placed in the the class :)

Answer 3

I suggest enrolling in test prep courses.  Your local library may offer them for free.  If not, you can pay (big bucks) for them. Also, there are resources online where you can take practice tests.  

Bottom line, you MUST practice for these kinds of tests, especially if you're a test-phobe.

Answer 4

dont take the SAT! ACT is way easier!

Answer 5

SAT are really hard but you shouldnt be stressed

about it, thats probably whats making them harder

just study and relax and when it comes to answering

a question almost always pick your first choise thats

normaly the right one.

Answer 6

i know exactly how you feel--i was the same way! first and foremost, don't stress out. this will only increase your anxieties and make you less likely to perform well on the exam.

when you are researching schools, you may find that a lot of them don't regard the SAT score as highly as you think. some schools actually base the bulk of their consideration on your school grades, the classes you took, and your writing abilities. when i was researching schools (7 years ago, before they changed the SAT to its current format), several of the admissions offices explained it this way: if you receive high marks in your classes, but an average score on your SAT, they see that as a sign that you are an exemplary student but a poor test-taker. and vice-versa, if you receive low marks in your classes but a super score on the exam, it's clear to them that you are either not challenged or lazy. when i heard that explanation, i felt a bit more confident about my own score.

ultimately, it's one score. and the only thing for which it matters is college applications.......it has absolutely no use in the real world (i've found). after all, when can you ever recall a presidential candidate saying "well i got a 1564 on the SAT. therefore i am qualified."

relax. study everyday for about 30 minutes (if you can) and that morning wake up and eat a healthy breakfast to clear your mind. you can't ever be prepared for what will actually be on the test...so take each question as it comes to you. don't worry about the question that is 2 pages away. remember, the whole point of the PSAT is to help you learn the skills necessary to answer the questions and write the essays.

also, see if there is a tutoring class available to help you! it certainly helped me!

GOOD LUCK! :)