Hey guys, I’m Anna, and I'm gonna share my SAT journey with you guys today because
I feel like it’ll be helpful for anyone studying for it still.
For those of you who aren’t here from reddit, I got a 1600 on the September 23rd SAT I took,
and a lot of people DMed when I offered tips, so I figured making a series of videos would
be the most efficient way to get all my tips out there for people.
This is going to be more about my specific practice strategies, what I did to study,
and test day tips, but my other videos will cover specific reading, writing, math, and
essay tips.
Ok. Let's start from the beginning
I first learned what the SAT was around 6th grade I think, because my dad
tried to hype me up by getting these two thicc
practice books and some flashcards.
At this point I was still in my literally reading the dictionary for fun phase,
so I was excited about the vocab flashcards, but I never really used the books.
And the format changed so all of those resources became pretty obsolete, so there’s that…
In 7th or 8th grade I downloaded college board’s Daily SAT practice app and every day when
I would wait awkwardly for my friend to meet me at the bus stop I would do the little daily question
I’m not sure if this app is still a thing, but I had it for so long that it cycled through
the question database multiple times, and it was a fun way to more casually introduce
myself to the format early on without being too insane about it.
Anyway, I forgot about the SAT until my ninth grade PSAT, when the school gave out this little
practice booklet, so I just did the practice test in that, but they gave me the wrong one
so I actually did the PSAT 10 practice test.
I ended up getting a 1420 on it and I was really happy with that.
Rinse and repeat for the PSAT 10 except I didn’t take the practice test in the booklet
that year, and got a 1440.
I was maybe a little disappointed I didn’t improve a whole bunch but also I didn’t put
in like any work, so it was to be expected.
After that, I got a lot more motivated to improve, so I started using Khan Academy’s
free SAT practice, and I would highly, highly recommend this for anyone who needs help with
the fundamental concepts or wants to get to know the format of the test better.
With Khan Academy alone someone in the 800-1300 score range could potentially improve
by hundreds of points if they’re motivated enough.
That being said, after about 300 questions I did notice questions within my struggle
areas repeating themselves, and I had felt like I personally kinda exhausted the resource.
Around this time, I read prepscholar’s how I got a 1600 article and that got me actually
really excited to study, because it was an inspiring story and ahh I just really liked
it for some reason.
After reading a few more prepscholar articles peppered with little advertisements for their online
prep course, I finally caved and asked my parents for it around AP season so I could
procrastinate studying for my APs by studying for the SAT (big brain strategy)
Sadly, my dad made me wait until June, probably for the better, but of course found other
ways to procrastinate.
I found prepscholar to be really helpful in that their practice questions were almost
identical to what you would see on practice tests, and I ended up studying a total of
about 50 hours using prepscholar.
The one drawback is, it cost about $400 a year I think, and I know not everyone has the financial
means to afford that.
So I wanna say right now, it definitely isn’t necessary at all to purchase any books, tutoring,
prep programs, or anything like that if you’re self-motivated to seek out the resources you need
on your own, which I assume most of you are since you’re still watching this, but I
did find that prepscholar was helpful in getting from a mid 1400 to a mid 1500.
The most important resource I used was the free practice tests from college board.
I took 6 of these before my first round of real SAT tests and the NMSQT and they were
incredibly helpful.
Now, every time I took one of these tests or was doing prepscholar practice questions,
I would record every single mistake I made and even some of the answers I was unsure
about in this notebook and later on in this spreadsheet.
I also color coded the different kinds of mistakes and why I made them.
For math, if it was a dumb mistake, I marked it blue, and if it was a concept I wasn’t
quite clear on, I marked it in one of two shades of red.
For the reading and writing, I racked my brain and read the explanations or answer keys and
then tried to figure out how I would avoid making that mistake again.
This was literally the most important thing I did in my studying,
and if you're not doing this,
then you’re not utilizing these resources to their full potential.
Sometimes it’s brutal to do this and it seems easier just to write it off as like a
weird question on college board’s part, but I promise you in the long run, it’ll
help you see patterns in the mistakes you're making,
and you'll thank yourself for it. So, finally, after all this it was time for my tests.
I took the October 2019 one and got a 1530 which really took a lot of pressure off, because
I was excited about that score.
I had run out of time on the reading section though, AND I misbubbled a question in the
frikkin writing section about like its vs it’s...oh my god...so I still felt like I
could potentially improve, so I signed up for the November one too.
Ok...fun?...story time with this one...I’m 90% sure the person in front of me peed their
pants because there was an overwhelming smell of urine like 5
minutes into the reading section and they kinda ran out of the room reALLY quickly and panicked.
I felt really bad for them, but yeah, I don’t blame them at all cuz the SATs are really
stressful and...it be like that sometimes.
I’m still not sure exactly what was going on there, but no matter what it was, I was
a little disgusted, and a lot distracted, so I ended up doing a lot worse on the reading that time
I got a 1500 overall, but actually improved on the math, so my superscore between the
two was a 1540, which was a complete win in my book.
I decided to take a break until the free one my school was gonna give in April,
thinking it would just be a non-stressful, last effort at improving, but we all know what
happened before then.
I was all but ready to submit my 1540 to colleges when my school announced in September that
they would be proctoring the free SATs that were supposed to be in April in the next few months.
I signed up but knew I wasn’t a high priority student since I had already had plenty
of opportunities, but a whopping 3 days before my test date I got a notification that
I would be taking it that Wednesday.
So in a somewhat panicked state, I spent the next 3 days taking as many of the new practice
tests as I could without going insane.
I wore a mask while taking them at my own dining room table, which probably seemed crazy
to my family, but there’s this psych effect where if you study something in the conditions
you’ll be in on test day, you have a better shot at recalling what you’ve learned.
I quickly figured out from my practice tests that I had forgotten all the little tricks
the SAT likes to throw at you in the reading and writing sections, but I was consistently
doing better in math.
I made it my goal to just get an 800 on math, so I started taking just the math sections
of the tests, and the night before at 11pm, I scored an 800 on TWO of them and flipped out!!
I also noticed that my brain was feeling a little less fried after taking the practice tests...like before I would have to
to put aside a whole day to rest up afterwards, and I would slog through the readings,
but everything was just coming a little bit easier.
I can only imagine that this is from taking a really rigorous junior year course load.
I took 6 APs, including bc calc and ap lit, and these really helped me with my problem
solving skills and reading comprehension.
I also had helped my friend with Algebra II over the summer, shout out to you if you’re
watching this :):), and that actually helped me with the skills that I hadn’t
had to use in a couple years, which was also really important.
I went into the test the next day feeling really confident and relaxed, since I knew that no matter
what happened, I already had a score I was happy with.
I also got BLESSED with the absolute best testing environment EVER.
There were only 8 other students in my room since we all had to social distance, and I
had 3 of my friends in my room and that really helped calm me down beforehand.
Like there’s something really awkward and stressful about driving 40 minutes away and then
waiting alone outside the test room where everyone else seems to know each other, and
you're just standing there...it's just really...aaaa
and say what you will but I think it helped me psychologically, which is half the battle.
And you know the little spiel they always give, like ok keep your calculator flat on the desk, don’t look at ANYONE else
and don’t let them look at you at aLL cOsTs
Like I feel like half my brain power always just goes to,
am *I* cheating, is somebody else cheating off of me...what's going on?!?!
So not having that to worry about really helped me focus on the actual test a lot more...
I felt really confident coming out of it, but figured I probably made a mistake
on the reading, or something like that.
When I saw that I got a 1600, I honestly thought there was a mistake.
It felt surreal, and I couldn’t believe that I did better after a year of minimal
studying than when I was actually putting in the grind.
I’m telling you all this lengthy tale because there’s some wisdom to be taken out of this.
First of all, please note, it’s fun to get a 1600 and all, but it’s not essential for
college apps at all, and anything from a 1550 up looks basically the same.
So please don't stress about getting a perfect score, especially now cuz it's a pandemic
and a lot of colleges aren’t even considering scores ANYWAY for the next few years!
Ok..first piece of wisdom...
yeah I worked hard to get here, but maybe in a slightly unconventional way.
I didn’t have any private one-on-one tutoring, I didn’t spend an hour every day since third
grade preparing for this, and yeah I had prepscholar, but I’m not even sure that was completely
necessary or where the bulk of my improvement came from.
The real key is to be your own motivator...it’s the one thing no one else can do for you.
You have to be harsh on yourself but also understanding as you’re going through all these practice
tests and studying.
Take the most rigorous classes available to you, start finding joy in reading books you don’t
quite understand, and try to see the math in the everyday world around you.
*Hot take here, but the SAT is kind of a stupid test.*
It measures wealth, privilege, and your knowledge of the SAT far better than it measures your
ability to do something impactful and meaningful with your life.
If you’re close to your goal SAT score already, don’t dedicate your whole life to it.
Spend your time having fun learning, and you’ll start to see that transfer over to the SAT.
There’s something to be said for learning the format of the test and learning the basic
math and grammar skills you need for it, because you’ll
start to notice patterns in the similar question types, but keep this to college board’s
real practice tests or resources that do their best job at matching those question formats,
and don’t let it overwhelm your life.
Second piece of wisdom, testing environments are everything.
My score went up a hundred points between the crappy testing environment and my ideal one.
This just goes to show if you’re aiming for a 1600, there’s a lot of luck involved.
No matter what score you’re aiming for, I recommend taking it a couple of times, because
even small differences can translate into vastly better or worse scores.
Also, that cushion of already having an acceptable score really helps to calm any test day nerves,
although I know this might be kind of a difficult year to do that with lots of tests getting cancelled.
And, even though I’m not eligible for testing accommodations, I highly encourage anyone
who is to apply for them, because that might make a monumental difference in your score
even if you might not think it matters.
The most important thing on test day is getting into the right headspace.
Remind yourself that even though those around you may be nervous, you have no reason to be.
You’ve prepared hard for this, and whatever the end result is won’t dictate your life.
You’ll have other chances, and plus colleges are moving away from standardized testing anyway.
So relax, bring some snacks and water, and have some fun with it.
You never know what might happen.
Thank you so much for watching this, and I really hope it was helpful or reassuring in
some way.
If this wasn’t quite what you were looking for, I have separate videos on each individual
section which give actual specific strategies, and maybe in the future I’ll make videos
where I go over whole practice tests and explain how I would go about each question.
I’ve linked all the resources I talk about in the description if you want to go check
them out, but know that there are infinite paths to getting to a 1600, and what worked
for me might not necessarily work best for you.
See you all soon!
Bye.