{"id":12115,"date":"2024-12-09t11:30:57","date_gmt":"2024-12-09t19:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/sat\/?p=12115"},"modified":"2021-01-06t13:52:39","modified_gmt":"2021-01-06t21:52:39","slug":"how-to-improve-your-sat-score-by-300-points-or-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/sat\/how-to-improve-your-sat-score-by-300-points-or-more\/","title":{"rendered":"how to improve your sat score by 300 points (or more!)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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so you want a better sat score…<\/p>\n
you’ve taken the sat — or maybe even just a practice test — and you’re not so happy with your score. so what did you do? you googled! well…that’s not a bad start — it may have led you here!<\/p>\n
lucky for you, here at magoosh we’re ready to guide you towards the study strategy that will be most effective for your unique test-taking skill set. so maybe googling wasn’t so bad after all! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
the amount and rate at which you can raise your sat score depends on how willing you are to change the way you study — and they way you take the test. here are some general factors that will influence what kind of improvement you can expect to see:<\/p>\n
so let’s start talking numbers. for every 50 points you want to raise your overall sat score, you will need to pick up roughly 4 or 5 more questions on the test.<\/strong><\/p>\n in the official sat statistics published by the college board, the average sat score improvement on a retake is around 40 points<\/strong>. that makes a 150-point improvement pretty darn good. a 300-point improvement is incredible<\/em>. and improvements of 500 points would be incredibly, incredibly rare, but not entirely unheard of for students who are not natural test-takers, but prepare at length for the exam (maybe a year or more). <\/p>\n so your sat goal is a 300-point overall score improvement — it can be done! on average, you’re trying to pick up 150 points in each section (reading & writing and math) and make no mistake, this is going to take a lot of work.<\/p>\n let’s say you’ve scored similarly across the board. in that case, you’ll want to focus on each sat section more or less equally. however, if one of your sections was much weaker than the others, that’s definitely where you should direct more attention.<\/p>\n it’s time to take a look at some concrete strategies for how to improve your sat score by 300 points. we’ll start with a few things that will benefit you across all parts of the exam, and then get more specialized in later sections of this post.<\/p>\n unfortunately, doing well on the sat is not just about how much you know about math, reading, and writing. your final score will depend largely on how much you know about taking the sat<\/em>. this is an exam that follows some very specific sets of patterns. if you don’t know the question types, you’re going to have some trouble. luckily, how to take the sat<\/em> is a skill you can totally learn — but to do this, you must study with realistic sat materials. if you don’t, you’ll develop bad habits and learn the wrong skills.<\/p>\n i (of course) recommend magoosh’s sat prep<\/a>. our experts know the sat inside and out, and they make sure that the difficulty and types of questions match those on the actual test. plus, the materials are constantly being updated to match the newest versions of the sat, and we’re a lot more affordable than the other test prep resources of our caliber.<\/p>\n if you choose to go with a different study resource, just be sure that whatever materials your using are extremely high quality. if you see bad reviews, or you’re not 100% sure about a company, don’t use their materials!<\/p>\n it’s basically impossible to effectively study for the sat without a schedule. <\/strong>there are a lot<\/em> of areas to cover, and you need to break things up into bite-sized chunks, so that the information isn’t just going in one ear and out the other. luckily, there are a lot of free sat study schedules<\/a> available to keep you on track. just pick the schedule that best fits how much time you have before the exam, and follow it!<\/p>\n taking the sat is a lot like running a marathon. it’s long, and if you don’t train for it you might not make it to the end. the absolute best way to prepare for test day, is by realistically simulating what the test will be like (ideally more than once). taking realistic practice tests will not only familiarize you with the format of the sat<\/strong>, but also increase your stamina<\/strong> so you can make it through the big day. our study schedules<\/a> include a number of realistic practice tests, but worst-case scenario, make sure that you at least take the official sat practice tests<\/a> that are put out by the college board — you can be confident that those tests are the real deal.<\/p>\nhow to improve your sat score by 300 points<\/h2>\n
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strategy #1: only use high quality study materials<\/h3>\n
strategy #2: stick to a study schedule<\/h3>\n
strategy #3: take practice tests<\/h3>\n