Boost Your SAT Math Score: Strategies for Improvement

[anthonych414]

Hello everyone, I'm currently in high school and will be applying to universities this summer. I recently took my SATs and, although I did pretty well on the english sections (Writing=650 and Reading=600), I was extremely disappointed by my maths score (640). Now I'm not generally weak in maths (I have a 91% in Calculus) but for some reason I seem to make the silliest of mistakes in SAT math. SO my question is : Is there anything I can do to improve my maths score? And if so what should I do to improve?

 

[Stengah]

I was disappointed with my math score the first time I took it too. I bought a book of practice tests and took 4 or 5 of them. My math score improved 100 points.

 

[Thundagere]

The thing is about SAT Math, is that there are people who get 5s on AP Calculus tests but bomb the SAT Math. The reason is a lot of it is less about whether you know the stuff (which you do have to) and more about test-taking strategies. With this in mind, I would also recommend looking at Practice books, they can definitely help.

 

[mathwonk]

I took it last in 1959 or so but the same principles probably apply now. It is a timed test, and a short answer test, so practice helps. I was on the math team at my school and we practiced for those contests by taking lots of standardized tests and timing ourselves.

I took the SAT once and got over 795/800. (I recall it as 797, but I am told that is not now a possible score.)