what did you get on your ACTs and or SATs and did you take a ACT/SAT prep course???
January 29th, 2010 | 
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Posted in sat scores
Hi and welcome to my blog,
I opened this blog to help anyone who is preparing for his SAT.
I remember myself when I started - I was so lost and in such a panic.
Luckily I got this great SAT guide that helped me a lot . So study hard and good luck!
Posted in sat scores
I got a 1540 with no course (on the old SAT, out of 1600), but:
On the PSAT, my converted score was 1390.
The first time I took the SAT, I got a 1460.
The second time I took it, I got a 1540.
Moral of the story? No matter what you do, take the freaking test more than once. It’s not like the GRE (grad school), or the LSAT (law school) where they’ll look at your scores and think less of you if you took the test more than once.
For the most part, college applications will ask you for your highest score on each section, even if you got those scores on separate days! So if you do really well on math one day, but bad on writing, and do great on writing the next time, you can report the math score from the first test and the writing score from the second test on your application.
I’ve taught lots of SAT prep classes, and I think it really depends on the student and how much work you’re willing to put into the course. If you’re just going to go, and half-listen in class, and not really do the homework, then it’s probably a waste of money. But if you have the time and motivation to attend class, pay attention, really think about the material, and take advantage of the expertise of your teacher, you’ll get a lot out of it… ESPECIALLY if your diagnostic or PSAT scores were average or below average.
I’ll plug Kaplan here. They really know what they’re doing.
ACT (from Dec. 2006)
Reading: 33
Math: 31
Science: 30
Writing: 33
Combined Writing: 33 (11 out of 12 sub-score for essay)
Composite: 32
No, I didn’t take an ACT prep course although I had a Peterson’s prep book (which I recommend as it actually has authentic old exams) and a Kaplan prep book (which was so, so).
Get a good night’s sleep (for any standardized exam) and remember to pace yourself when answering questions. In the case of the ACT, if you have one minute left and multiple blank answers, guess; there’s no "penalty" for guessing.
The ACT is better (performance-wise) for people who have more "book knowledge" (even though you don’t need any to do well) and have traditionally been good at memorizing and have clear paths of logic while the SAT is better for people who like to extrapolate and reason things out.
i got a 1280 on the old SAT’s…No prep course. Depending on which oen you go to…and whetehr or not it is legitimate, it may/may not help you. Most of the stuff you either know it or you don’t…there noway to study for it.
Composite score of 35 on the ACT, I used a Kaplan online course.
Honestly, an online course or independent study can be just as good as a class course, depending on your learning style. If you are able to learn better in a group, go for the class. However, if you find individual study better for yourself, save the money and sign up for the online course and/or get some prep books from nearly any book store. Don’t study on the last night and only go over main test tips during the last few days.
Remember to dress in layers so that you can make yourself comfortable in any room, bring a snack, and bring a watch in case the clock in the room is not visible. Good luck.
I got a 1310 on the sats (before they added the new part, when it just had the two). My recommendation, this may seem strange, don’t go to sat prep course, waste of time/money. Study some of the most common vocabulary and their LATIN ORIGINS!!! It helped so much. Even if you don’t know the word, if you have an idea about the origins you can make an educated guess. Really, it helped me so much.