I suck at basic math

[Squirt]

Ok so my middle school failed at teaching me shit and my basic math skills suck for some reason. I only got a 410 in the sat math section.

But what I don't understand is I took Pre-calculus honors class and I Passed with an A. I learned all the concepts in 15 minutes within being introduced to them but when it comes to work from the SAT ( which is basic math and Algebra I ) I flunked it!

Is there any way I can improve this before September when I have to take SAT again?
I want to bring my score up to atleast a 650...

[SM-Count]

Practice... that's how anyone gets good SAT scores if they don't already know everything. SAT repeats questions more than the dumbest kid in your class, just go through a SAT book and do all the math sections.

Also, when you study, don't study what you already know. It sounds basic, but a lot of people of people stick to reviewing what they have a good grasp on because they feel comfortable.

[Squirt]

Do you know of any online resources? Or what topics exactly will be covered?

[SM-Count]

College board has resources but you'll only get one free sample. Going to the library and checking out a SAT book is the best way to go (or download an e-book). Work through the whole book's math sections under testing conditions (time yourself and 0 music/sound <---- very important, more so than a lot of people think. Doesn't matter if you study 'better' with music, studying is significantly more effective if your practice is under similar conditions to the actual testing environment. And if that's boring, good, it's supposed to be Farking boring, it's the SAT, if it's boring you're doing it right.)

Any SAT book worth their salt (except the 11 exam ones that only contain exams and no lessons) will tell you exactly what you need to know and how many questions you'll be expected to answer for each of those types, but here's a short-list of what I remember coming up a lot when I had to study for it. SAT breaks questions down by easy, medium, hard (or at least they did when I took it):

Easy - Order of operations, negatives on square roots, basic number line stuff, basic table reading

Medium - 45-45-90 triangles, 30-60-90 triangles, area comparison, volume increase/decrease, venn diagram questions, arbitrary function names on easy functions, double functions, inverse functions, slope, lots more geometry with triangle congruency stuff, mixture question

Hard - arbitrary function names on kinda tricky functions and having you do those functions more than once on inputs, venn diagram questions, geometry with circumscribed shapes, mixture question

[woutR]

with maths this easy, does MIT and the likes have like 'pre math' programs to get the level up to a reasonable level? Like there's pre med in college, is there also something for technical studies? I'm not boasting at all (I suck at maths) but what you just wrote looks really easy. I was just wondering how MIT can be the world's best technical university if the first year students have knowledge of only very easy maths.

[Goseki]

IIRC, SAT math isn't even up to pre-calc lvl. It's more around Algebra/Trig. I would focus more on that. Hell, even the GRE didn't have any calc.

[SM-Count]

There's no trig on SAT, only SATII Math has trig.

[Shomari]

khan academy.

SAT is full of fk.
I only got 1600 on it. I think they have lemurs grade the essays as well.
Yeah, brush up older math you haven't done. I did Calculus junior year so when senior year came and I took the SAT - I didn't remember much - especially geometry (which was a majority of the math).

did anybody else have trouble writing that paragraph in cursive? I felt retarded. I just scribbled what looked like letters.

[Mirosuke]

SM-Count, your location... really?

[woutR]

Well he could be like 50+ or he he's like ~25 and wants us to know he's making mad money and gonna retire soon and **** hooter chicks all day while cruisin in his pimped out mustang with vanity plates called "SAT? LOL!"
Given that he has infos on recent SAT I'm going with the baller mad money retire @ 30

[MrTwilliger]

Off topic, but his location could be a reference to a superannuation fund and he may well not be planning retirement for any time soon. Ever since I started working (at 17) I was "saving" for my retirement. I salary sacrifice a small amount of my wage and it goes directly into my retirement fund (and our government gives us a large incentive for doing that). We are eventually trying to phase out the retirement pension and focus more on being self sufficient in our later years, so it's pretty much a given that you should start thinking about your retirement as soon as you start working.

[woutR]

the hooters scenario is more fun

[SM-Count]

SM-Count, your location... really?

yeah, I just bought into a mutual fund after maxing out a Roth IRA. ****, people my age shouldn't know what those words mean Q__Q

By which I mean I've already bought a cruise ship and decked it out in bikini clad babes and honestly had no where else to throw my vast fortune thus I had to start saving money for retirement.

Oh, and words of advise, once you're in college start looking towards saving for retirement if you have a part time job/summer job. No, I'm not kidding, you'll thank me when you're old and I'm dead.

[woutR]

[EvGa]

SM-Count, your location... really?

yeah, I just bought into a mutual fund after maxing out a Roth IRA. ****, people my age shouldn't know what those words mean Q__Q

By which I mean I've already bought a cruise ship and decked it out in bikini clad babes and honestly had no where else to throw my vast fortune thus I had to start saving money for retirement.

Oh, and words of advise, once you're in college start looking towards saving for retirement if you have a part time job/summer job. No, I'm not kidding, you'll thank me when you're old and I'm dead.

OP, Count took care of you.

This thread is now about retirement planning and/or other related financial planning and preparedness advice. Go.



SM, have you finished your CS degree yet? Just curious.

[SM-Count]

Nope, still undergrad, going Bio CS double major to get into Bioinformatics in grad.

[Goseki]

Nope, still undergrad, going Bio CS double major to get into Bioinformatics in grad.

We had a program like that started back when I was a freshman in undergrad. I just didn't like programming so i didn't look into it. No doubt to be a big business though. One of the programs we used senior year was made by a professor's kid. The kid is now retired at like 28 while his dad is still working at like 60+ lol.

[EvGa]

Nope, still undergrad, going Bio CS double major to get into Bioinformatics in grad.

That sounds really interesting. I liked bio/A&P/etc in HS and college... might have to look into that. I have 22hours left in my degree then it's either off to grad school or the real world, haven't decided.

[SM-Count]

I think someone at our school wants to make a bioinformatics undergrad major, but I doubt that's gonna happen. No teachers and not enough exposure for people to want to do it, anyone that's smart enough to do it is probably premed or BME.

I heard from everyone grad school sucks T_T

[EvGa]

Yeah, I've heard the workload increases significantly, but with classes that are a lot more in-depth and geared towards your interests it can't be too bad. If I go it will be at Texas A&M and they have some really interesting graduate CS courses. But I'm still undecided about grad school, job sector, military... I have 1 year to decide lol.

/Thread derail yeaaaa.

OP, find any good online resources yet? If ya do post them, I'd like to pass them along to my brother who's about to be a Junior in HS.

[apan]

PRACTISE!

We don't have the same system, but after half a year I had 0/5 in two classes, now I've got 4/5. Which should be like a B in america or something, anyway practise!

[Doron]

Elementary summer school?

[William-CL]

I don't suck at math, in fact it's my best Subject, but for some reason my college is requiring me to take MTH254 when I'm still in MTH065. (That's 8 classes total in 2 years) So I have to double up on it and do a Summer Term as well. Although I did get kicked out of high school and miss a lot.. So yea, needless to say I feel a little stupid as well considering I have to make up my best subject..

[Ownage]

I have done quite a bit of studying for the SAT, and I can tell you it is more of an aptitude test than one containing stuff you learned in high school. If you want a test with stuff you learned in high school than I strongly suggest the ACT since most universities now accept that as well. The math section is very tricky, they know its easy math so they try to throw you off. I don't know why but I always think of it as a riddle section rather than math.


Btw if you don't know already, the easiest way to get a 12 on the essay is to write fill up all the space they give you on the paper. Writing 2 pages is a guaranteed 11-12.