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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 Before we get into the serious stuff...

2 October, 2018

3 March, 2019

4 December, 2019

5 A final comparison

6 General tips and tricks

7 Books and resources used

8 Almost the end...

Before we get into the serious
stuff...
Why am I writing this?
I hope to prove that taking yourself from the 45th
percentile to the 99th is completely achievable,
given that you are willing to sacrifice and be
dedicated to improving your score. I will walk you
through how I went from 1090 on my first-ever
practice SAT to 1510 on my last SAT exam by talking
about how I prepared for each test, which gives you
the worst and the best ways to prepare for the SAT
to help you learn from my mistakes.

Why should you listen to me?

I was in the same boat that you might be in right now.
In 2019, I was a high school student who wished
someone would tell him the best way through first-
hand experience without trying to sell him
something. I had to find the way myself, and here I
am on a full scholarship at New York University Abu
Dhabi.

TL;DR (too long; didn't read) of the

events inside
As a high school student, I was determined to
improve my SAT score from the mid-1200s to a
higher range. I took the test three times: October
2018, March 2019, and December 2019. Each time, I
prepared differently and saw significant
improvements in my score.
October 2018
I was a junior in high school and had very little focus
on academics. I did not formally prepare for the SAT,
but my mother signed me up for an "SAT crash
course" with private tutors for reading, writing, and
math. I did not pay much attention in these classes
and only completed homework at the last minute. I
was not the best student, and I knew my college
hopes were not the highest at that point in my life.

March 2019
I was still a junior and had my second term's school
final exams two weeks before the SAT. I had not
studied for the test, but I received an email that it
had been postponed for a week in my country. I knew
I was not ready and started thinking about putting
great effort into the test and seeing my score
improve. I decided to shift my focus toward reading
and writing, as I knew a huge improvement could be
made in these sections. I studied some writing and
saw an increase in my score.

December 2019
I was a senior and had a different mindset than my
previous test-taking experiences. I was more
dedicated and focused on improving my score. I
used a combination of online practice tests and
resources to prepare for the test by myself. This
strategy proved to be successful, as I achieved a
score of 1510 on the test. This score allowed me to
apply to my dream universities and pursue my
education and career goals.
How will this help you?
Through reading my journey of preparing for the
SAT, you can see the importance of mindset and
dedication. You will learn the value of finding
efficient study methods and seeking help from rich
resources. With hard work and determination, it is
possible to significantly improve your SAT score and
open up new doors of opportunity. My story proves
that you can achieve the 99th percentile on the SAT
with the right mindset and approach to studying.

Disclaimer!
1. This book will not solve your problems; you have
been warned! Instead, it will inspire you through
my journey and give insight into how I achieved
what you might want to achieve.
2. This book is my entire brain dump; I imagine
myself having a conversation and just talking
(except I am talking to a keyboard). Therefore,
there might be a bit of disorganization here and
there, but I am not a professional author.
3. Do not blindly follow my advice! Instead, read
what I did and see if it works for you, or use it as
inspiration to find what works for you. I am not a
certified professional in this field; I am only a
student.
October, 2018
Early in my junior year
I was not the most careful about my academics then,
to be completely honest. Going to a very rigorous
high school, I had a little background about what
would be on the test. Two months before the test, I
did not give it any priority and did not prepare for it
formally- not a single day. An "SAT crash course"
with two private tutors sounded good: one for
reading and writing and one for maths. I honestly did
not pay much attention to the tutors, so I only
picked up very few things from the classes. They
used to give us homework, so I always completed it
at the last minute before the class. I was not quite
"an exemplary" student. However, the math tutor
had written a book that contained all the math
concepts on the SAT, which was extremely useful.

The minimal practice that I did

At the time, I scored in the high 1100s and the low
1200s. I had always heard that we must practice
rigorously for the SAT, but I always thought, "flip
that; I am not free." I was always busy with
extracurricular activities and the other academics
that I had at school. I started practicing for this test
about a week before it. I opened Khan Academy and
solved a daily test, which cemented my score in the
mid-1200s. I knew that I had little time left to make
any massive improvements to my score, and
rightfully so. I went to my first official SAT and
scored 1280.
Final thoughts
I admit that my college hopes were not the highest at
that point in my life. I wanted to get into an okay
university in the US so that I could live in the US. I
was pretty satisfied with 1280; I was wrong: my
mentality, my preparation, and my score needed a
massive push. I admit that preparing for this SAT was
the worst I could have ever prepared for a
standardized test. If any of the above sounds
remotely like you, this guide is for you!

March, 2019
Late in my junior year
My mentality was the only difference between March
2019 and the test before it. I was blessed with a
friend who inspired me to improve in many ways.
One of the things he inspired me to improve was my
SAT score. However, the odds were against me at
first. We had our second term's school final exams
two weeks before the test. I did not study for the test
at all. Two nights before the test, I got an email that
the SAT was postponed for a week in my country. I
was relieved because I knew that I was not ready.

A slight mentality shift

Then, I started thinking about putting effort into the
test and seeing my score improve. I knew I had
limited time, so I had to figure out a smart way to
approach the preparation. I did not want to waste
time on things I was already good at. Thus, I decided
not to study for the math sections much, so I solved
only two or three math tests.
Furthermore, I decided to shift my focus toward
reading and writing. Usually, an improvement over
time is a logarithmic function like the figure below
when there is a limit to how much you can improve.

Hence, I knew that there was a huge improvement to

be made in the reading and writing sections. At the
time, I only solved more than half of the reading and
writing correctly. I knew it; this was going to be my
way to skyrocketing my score.

You can easily improve writing

I was extremely tight on time, and I did not have an
hour to waste. The first thing I did was get a book
called “New SAT Grammar,” which was covered in
dust on my bookshelf. I later discovered that this
book was one of the keys that enabled me to score
globally on the SAT in the 99$^{th}$ percentile. All of
the SAT writing concepts are covered in this book in
great detail, with some questions about each topic at
the end of each chapter, and there are about 15
writing practice tests at the end of the book. I had
this book, and it was time to improve my writing. I
covered all the concepts in the book in one day,
which refreshed them in my head and made me
ready to start solving them.
I solved my first practice writing section and could
already feel myself being a tad bit better at solving
the writing section. I felt I knew the concepts and the
strategies to solve them instead of guessing some
questions. I also started to see some patterns and
found ways to find the answers to specific questions.

Never cram for SAT reading!

Knowing that I had even less time then, I was trying
to figure out a way to push my reading a little bit
quicker. I crammed a bunch of SAT reading YouTube
videos and started practicing immediately. I was
using the Barron’s reading practice book. Honestly,
this was not to much avail, and my reading did not
improve much. It was because I tried doing
something unrealistic: improving substantially
quickly. This never works, seriously, do not try
cramming such a huge test.

Didn't do much for math...

I was already scoring fairly well on the math sections,
but I was not yet acing them. I solved about three
practice math tests. Honestly, that was about it for
the math sections. I got warmed up solving SAT math
and was "ready" for the test.

Final thoughts
As you can see, I was not doing any serious
preparation or boot camp for the SAT, but I wanted
to improve, and I shifted my mentality from careless
to wanting to improve. This was reflected in my score
when I improved by 50 points in the March 2019
test- I went up to 1330. So, as you can see, only a
slight shift in mentality and some effort put me
easily in a higher percentile. What is coming next is
even bigger!

December, 2019
Overview
I was a senior in high school. My mentality had
changed hugely towards academics and my future. I
had improved my high school GPA and had some
extracurricular achievements under my belt, so I
decided to apply to top schools in the U.S. I was
missing a huge piece to complete the puzzle. I
needed a much better SAT score, so this trial was my
last chance to show my potential. I decided to
prepare for this test very seriously and will talk
about how I did that. My initial goal was to score
1450+, but I scored much better than that. I started

preparing exactly five weeks before the test.

Reading was a serious task!

Studying and finding a strategy
The reading section was my weak point. I knew that if
I wanted to get a high score, I had to work extremely
hard on this section. I had bought Barron's SAT book
but never touched the English reading section's part.
I began reading about the reading section. The most
important piece of advice I got from this book was to
understand what the question wants because
sometimes the SAT tricks students into thinking the
question wants something while it asks for
something else. For instance, the question might ask
about what the author implied, not explicitly
mentioned, and vice versa. Then, I watched
Supertutor TV's videos on YouTube about SAT
reading. They are beneficial because she discusses
strategies for solving the reading section, and I chose
the best strategy that fits me:

1. Skim through the passage in no more than 2-3

minutes.
2. Understand each passage's introduction and
conclusion closely because some theme-related
questions would refer to those paragraphs.
3. Skim through the events or content in the middle
paragraphs.
4. Solve the simple questions that require a minimal
understanding of the passage. This means that I
usually started by solving the vocab questions
(the questions that asked what the word meant in
the context of the paragraph).
5. Move to the questions that are asking about
specific events or parts in the passage i.e, the
questions that follow each other about the event
and where it is in the text (these questions used
to go hand in hand for me).
6. Move to the questions that asked about the
general idea of the passage. By then, I would be
able to answer them comfortably because I had
already gathered a strong idea about the passage
by answering the other questions and built up
enough confidence by answering the other
questions.

In a nutshell, I would approach the passage by

skimming parts of the passage and reading closely
other parts; then, solving the questions from easiest
to hardest consequently. By going in this order, I was
prompted to understand the passage by solving the
simple questions without wasting time trying to read
through the passage closely. I was only getting half
of the reading section correct before committing to
the actions I took and the strategy I followed. After
making the actions above and changes, I got a
maximum of 2 questions incorrect on each passage
(42/52 correct). I cannot stress how much this
bolstered my scores. Eventually, I targeted to get a
maximum of 1 mistake in each passage.

Timing the reading section

The reading section of the SAT is extremely time
sensitive, so you need to perfect timing yourself
while solving this section. It is essential to get the
timing of the reading section right because it is the
first section of the exam, and you need to set the
mood right for the other sections. For example, if
you fail to solve the reading section on time, you
might fail to concentrate on timing yourself on the
subsequent sections, messing up the entire test.

The reading section is 65 minutes and has 52

questions split amongst five passages. This means
that there are 13 minutes allocated to solving each
passage. In my personal opinion, I would make them
a maximum of 12 minutes per passage. This would
leave you at least five minutes at the end of the
section to go back to any question that you found
hard and give it a good thought, or you could use
those five minutes to review the easy questions and
make sure you answered them all correctly.
Changing my mentality about reading
Undoubtedly, I did not only change my methods of
solving and strategy. Most importantly, I changed my
mentality towards this section from thinking that I
am “bad” at reading to that I will become “good” at
reading by dedicating myself to it. Reading was the
section I practiced the most because I knew that it
was the thing that was going to push my score to
another level. I spent my free periods in school
studying and solving SAT reading. I sometimes got
discouraged because I made more mistakes than
expected or did not improve much. However, I was
sure that by staying consistent and determined to
perfect the craft of solving reading, I would get so
much better eventually.

Resources used for practicing

I did not only use Barron’s book for practice and
solving. I bought Barron’s SAT reading workbook,
which had four reading tests. I also solved Khan
Academy’s online practice tests and bought a
workbook that was sold locally that had previous
reading tests. From what I read online, I knew that
the Barrons’ books were a little more complex than
the SAT. Hence, I would mix up between the Barrons'
tests, Khan Academy, and the past tests. This created
a balance in the difficulty of the tests that I solve
(sometimes hard and sometimes exam-level
difficulty), which helped in keeping my morale high
while preparing for the test while challenging myself
to improve.
Acing the writing section
Changing my mentality about writing
I approached the writing section with a different
mentality this time; I wanted to ace it. Initially, I
thought it was impossible, but I discovered it was
achievable. I started to prepare five weeks before
the actual test by using New SAT Grammar again,
Barron's SAT, and past writing tests. I knew I had to
make the best out of those resources.

Studying and practicing for the writing section

First, I went over each topic in the New SAT Writing
book in great detail, and whenever a subject would be
complex, I would use the internet to understand how
to tackle the problem in the test deeply. Then, I would
solve the questions at the end of each chapter in the
New SAT Writing book to ensure I understood the
topic. I made sure to finish several topics a day, so I
could be done with the book in the minimum time
possible and start solving full practice tests.
Furthermore, there were full writing tests at the end of
the book. I would solve one after being done with the
day’s topics (to put the day’s studying into practice).
The improvement that was there every day was
immense by following this strategy. I did this every day
for writing until I finished the book’s topics and solved
some of its writing tests.
First, I went over each topic in the New SAT Writing
book in great detail, and whenever a subject would be
complex, I would use the internet to understand how
to tackle the problem in the test deeply. Then, I would
solve the questions at the end of each chapter in the
New SAT Writing book to ensure I understood the
topic. I made sure to finish several topics a day, so I
could be done with the book in the minimum time
possible and start solving full practice tests.
Furthermore, there were full writing tests at the end of
the book. I would solve one after being done with the
day’s topics (to put the day’s studying into practice).
The improvement that was there every day was
immense by following this strategy. I did this every
day for writing until I finished the book’s topics and
solved some of its writing tests.

After being done with the New SAT Grammar book, you
are free to do whatever practice you see is fitting,
depending on your case. If you are already acing the
writing section, I would recommend solving a writing
test daily to maintain the understanding of the
concepts and to keep them fresh in your mind. If you
are not yet acing the section, solve it daily while
studying the concepts you get wrong and
understanding how to solve them. Eventually, you will
ace it after filling all the empty gaps of knowledge you
have.

Timing the writing section

I believe it is essential to mention the importance of
timing when discussing SAT writing. I always had a
stopwatch with me while practicing. Since the writing
section is only 35 minutes and has four passages, I
would split it into two halves, meaning I have 17
minutes and a half for each half. On the first two
passages, I would focus on solving them thoroughly
without looking at the timer (except if I feel that I am
taking too long, of course). Then, look at the stopwatch
and ensure I am on pace. If I am not on pace, I will
make sure I go quicker in the second half. Going faster
meant skipping the questions that needed inference
from the text, sentence relocation questions, or
sentence deletion questions. Then, I would return to
those questions at the end when I am done with the
rest. I would highly recommend timing yourself while
practicing for writing; it is vital to be on pace. If you are
not on pace while solving the writing section, you
might miss a set of questions at the end due to taking
too long on an inference question per se (not worth it,
in my opinion).

Another guide to cover math in depth!

Overview
The math sections were my strong point because of
my high mathematics background. Studying math was
not about learning the concepts but about staying
sharp and finding optimized ways to solve the
concepts that I know. I mainly used Khan Academy's
videos and just random resources from the internet to
familiarize myself with the concepts. Not one resource
significantly stood out to me while preparing for math.
After much effort spent practicing and improving, I
found ways to ace the math sections consistently. I am
writing a guide about how to consistently ace the math
sections exactly as I did, which contains the approach I
took to solve each concept and the logic behind it. I
will include solved examples and demonstrations in
the guide I am writing while also providing tips and
tricks that will help you improve your math score.
Final thoughts
This test preparation was the best out of the three
tests that I took. Taking the full responsibility of
learning everything on your own and tailoring the
learning experience for your needs has to be the best
method to prepare for the SAT, because no one knows
you better than you do. The SAT is all about learning
the concepts, building strategies to solve them, and
practicing as much as you can.
A final comaprison

October 2018 March 2019 December 2019

Private tutors

New SAT

Writing book

Barron's
English SAT

workbook

Khan Academy

practice tests

Math practice

Writing

practice

Reading

practice

Personalized

strategies

Preparation

bootcamp

Score 1280 1330 1510

Now you can get a feel of what worked and what did
not...
Books and resources used
1. New SAT Grammar: used for studying and
practicing writing.
2. Barron's SAT: used for studying reading and
practicing full tests
3. Barron's SAT Reading Workbook: used for
solving reading sections
4. Khan Academy: used to revise math
concepts and to solve full practice tests
5. Official SAT PDFs: used for practicing full-
length past SATs
General tips and tricks
1. Focus on mentality and goals. Knowing my end
goal and working towards it was the key to the
improvement that I saw in my score.
2. Time yourself while practicing. If you do not time
yourself while practicing, you will not be used to
the exam's pressure. Always have a stopwatch
while solving, whether you are solving a practice
test or the real exam.
3. Add some factors while practicing that will
resemble the exam hall environment that might
affect your performance. For example, have a
friend proctor you and tell you the time out loud.
This might affect your concentration in the exam,
but you do not want that. Be ready for anything
being thrown at you.
4. Practice prompts improvement, and
improvement prompts perfection. Hence,
practice makes perfect.
5. Know the limits of your knowledge, and do not be
afraid to skip a question if you do not know or are
unsure! Maybe the answer will be easier to find
two minutes later when your mind takes a break
from thinking about it.
6. All questions have equal weight. Solving one hard
lengthy question will not outweigh getting three
easy questions wrong. I always liked getting the
easy questions out of the way first before
approaching the more difficult ones.
7. Make sure you fill the bubble card correctly! I
cannot stress the importance of this. Ensure you
leave a minute or two at the end of each section
to check that you have filled the bubble card
correctly. Alternatively, you can check that you are
filling it correctly every ten or fifteen questions, and
it will not take more than thirty seconds of your time.

Almost the end...

This is the end of my story. If you have read this far,
thank you for your time. I wish you the best of luck in
your journey, and I hope that reading my story helps
you improve in any way. If there is one thing I want
you to take from reading this guide, it is to take
action, start working, make adjustments by listening
to your intuition and consulting external resources,
and stay at it! Seriously, eventually, you will get it
right. I know that sometimes throughout this guide, I
sounded like a self-help guru, but I preached what
they were right about.

The end.