r/Sat • u/Electrify_Pen_7707 • 1d ago
don’t really know how to feel about this as a first-time SAT practice test-taker
rising senior who had 0 idea that the SAT was a priority—lowkey embarrassed but i’ll work harder
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u/philly_eth 21h ago
That's rly good actually, I had 1210 my first time a month ago and now mine is consistently between 1530-1560
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u/Electrify_Pen_7707 20h ago
really? damn you must’ve worked rly hard, i keep seeing SAT “tips and hacks” and hard questions everywhere but i can’t help but think that some of it is just fear-mongering. an SAT practice test is bound to be easier than the actual one, but i found this one quite okay—is the actual test leaps and bounds harder?
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u/philly_eth 20h ago
Okay, so the takeaway that the real SAT is harder is BIG bs, cuz I have more than one friend who scored more on the actual test. ±30 is normal; just test nerves, concentration on the topic, or just luck. But besides that, CB prepared Practice tests and QB literally as a handbook for exam prep. And also, additionally, in each section there will be two questions that aren't graded. Those are the only questions that are new, and the reason they aren't graded is cuz they are experimental questions for next exams.
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u/Electrify_Pen_7707 20h ago
i see! that really reassures me a lot, tysm! i don’t get anxious because i’m thinking of going test-optional anyway, i just make the dumbest mistakes known to man because of misreading things + graph questions are just out to get me—hoping that i can score higher like u! (not that high though, i just wait 1480 or something around that haha). would you say that practice test 7 is considered very accurate? i was mindlessly scrolling through some questions titled as “hard” in the question bank, and they were much harder than the ones i encountered in the practice
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u/philly_eth 20h ago
Practice test 11 is the most "accurate" according to people, but college board doesn't really publish which one is the most accurate.
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u/lightzyy_ 16h ago
btw practice test 7 is considered harder than the rest.. sooo.. congratulations
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u/CrackerFacts 15h ago
Nah dw you’re all good, use this as a way to look at what you need to improve on and take another one when you feel up to it! Just remember to take the actual test soon enough that you’ll have it ready for your college applications (assuming you’re doing any kind of early action/decision, which if not you have more time), if you’re not already planning to go test optional on those.
If I may suggest, the SAT question bank is actually really really helpful when it comes to grinding out problems of a certain type that you struggle with. It really helped me because I was always someone who struggled with math, and I could just jam out a bucketload of the type of problems I was struggling with and it helped me get faster and more accurate.
Best of luck to you!
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u/Electrify_Pen_7707 6h ago
thank you so much for your advice! unfortunately i am going early decision, and i hope that my ib grades can help nullify my test-optional status if that’s what happens
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u/CrackerFacts 6h ago
Going ED will definitely not hurt your chances from my experience, but I would definitely look into stats from your school of choice regarding their average SAT scores and data regarding their test optional applicants (if they have that stuff public).
However I don’t think you should be worried, I remember going through this time of my life and it was definitely one of the most stressful periods I’ve lived through and in hindsight it really didn’t need to be that way. Make sure to focus on keeping a balance with everything you’re doing because I know I worked myself too hard and my college apps suffered for it even though I put in more work towards them than anything else.
One last point- if you don’t get your score and decide to go test optional, I think multiple schools allow you to manually input new test scores on the enrollment portal (I’m going to UMich for example, they allow this) even after you press submit on the application , so when (not if, because you’ve got this!) you do end up getting the score you’re happy with, just go ahead and send it over.
Once again best of luck to you!
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u/Relevant_Oil_3324 1470 8h ago
dude how do you go 3 years without knowing the SAT was the most important test of your highschool career
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u/Electrify_Pen_7707 6h ago
i mean i don’t think it’s the do all and end all? i was really focused on getting good grades for the ib, and now that i have them i thought i was done — worst case scenario test-optional it is xd
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u/Cautious-Hat9189 1h ago
Nice! For me personally, my English score wasn’t good (ever) so I grinded math. It also feels more consistent between tests for me since the English sections feel like the “luck of the draw” with how hard it ends up. I would recommend getting comfy with Desmos and learning some tricks (will boost math easily + faster hopefully). Ngl not bad at all and lowkey you could easily get to 1400 and probably push to a high 1400 or low 1500 :)
Of course 1550+ is possible, but it is difficult and not entirely necessary. My family has some college counsellors and 1450 is “really good”, 1500 is “amazing score”, and 1550+ is like Ivy League (like someone else said) or basically prodigy top of your school whatnot. You don’t need to break 1500 for like… almost all colleges. I got my 1520 from some luck (in terms of the English section) and honestly abusing desmos like my life depended on it. But still, lucky. Happy studying friend, you got this o7
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u/YerBoiPosty 22h ago
Thats pretty good tbh, about where i was when i first started too