Calculate your potential SAT Score improvement
In the course of tutoring, almost every student asks me to calculate their potential SAT score improvement. In fact, if you're reading this, you probably want me to calculate your SAT score improvement.
The truth is that there is no set formula for knowing how much studying can improve your SAT score ... but I use one anyway. It's highly inaccurate, becuase there are so many factors that determine your SAT improvement:
The top 5 questions to know "How high can I score on the SAT?"
Nevertheless, one of our star question authors, Elliott Rosenberg, provided me a good rule of thumb:
In 8-12 weeks of disciplined study motived students can reliably close one third of the gap in each section between their current SAT score and a perfect score.
Let's look at some numbers. If your current score is 620 on math, then the current gap between your score and a perfect score is 180.
|
Perfect Score
|
800
|
|
Current Score
|
620
|
|
Gap to Perfect
|
180
|
Closing one third of that gap would mean improving by 60 points. You can decide if that feels like a big improvement or a small one and if you want to devote the study time to that.
Of course mileage may vary. The SAT isn't a terribly accurate test. So, if you're scoring at a 770 right now, that means you could easily score anywhere from a 750 to an 800 tomorrow with no additional practice. If you're scoring a 200 right now, you should probably be tackeling more fundamental issues than SAT prep.
In general, I've found this rule of thumb is pretty good for those in the 500-700 score range.
Of course, this approach requires you to have a baseline score. For that, there's no substitute for taking a full-length Blue Book test. They are the most accurate predictor, but for a faster (and still pretty accurate) prediction we've created a series of rapid SAT practice tests at Testive.com.
Photo Courtesy j9sk9s
