How can I increase my chances at an 800 SAT Math?

June 6, 2008 1:34 PM

I've studied for weeks (20 hours per week these past three weeks), I've paid attention in math class for years, and I've taken dozens of practice tests. But how to go from 780 to 800?

I just finished my Junior year of high school, and I'm taking my SAT Is for a second time tomorrow. I've been focusing on my math lately, because I scored high enough (for me) on the reading last time. I've managed to bring my math score up a, quite respectable, 110 points from 670 since my last real SAT. I've always been good at math, but I never did any prep for my first SAT. At all.

Now, however, I want an 800. I consistently score 780/800's on my practice tests (the official ones from the blue book). Out of the 8 in the book, I think 2 were 800's and 6 were 780's (missed one).

My question is, how do I increase my chances of not missing one? I really want this 800, if not just for applying to schools, but for personal pride.

I heard someone say one time, in reference to SAT prep, we can pull anyone from 600 to 700 in three weeks, guaranteed, but we can't pull anyone from 700-800 in thirty with the same guarantee. I can tell that the last points are the hardest, at least for smart kids, but how can I increase my odds?

I've done all 8 official tests, 12 in the Kaplan practice test book, 3 in a different book, 500 assorted SAT Math sample problems from another book, and however many came in the Princeton Review book (already forgot).

I've practiced all I can for this, is there anything more I can do? Any advice any of you have?

posted by Precision to education (41 comments total)

If you can get up to the 780/800 level consistently, but simply haven't quite gotten to it in the real thing, you're basically coming down to what you had for breakfast, the light level in the room you're testing in, whether a butterfly in Egypt flapped its wings.

You're massively well-prepared. You're basically guaranteed to do Really Really Really Well. Just chill out, take your 780, and go to college. SAT scores stop mattering the minute people start getting into college, and even the most ultra-competitive Ivy schools will not be picking someone's 800 over your 780 purely on that basis. Relax. You've done the work, now get the damn test out of the way and enjoy (if that's the word for it) the last year of high school.
posted by Tomorrowful at 1:47 PM on June 6, 2008 [2 favorites]

My only suggestion would be to re-write until you get 800. It will be a crap shoot. As a Canadian I went to the US to write it for scholarship purposes but I saw kids in 9th grade writing the SAT the day I wrote it - I was told they just kept at it until they got a high enough score over th next 3 years. I'm not sure if they still let you re-write it indefinitely.
posted by GuyZero at 1:50 PM on June 6, 2008

At that level, it's down to luck. Nobody gets 'em all every time.

One hint, may or may not help: if a question seems unusually tedious or like it's taking more time than it ought to, you're probably doing it wrong. One of the questions I know I missed on my math GRE (I still remember it clearly, it was just such a d'oh! moment afterwards) was to calculate the area of this complex shape that had all these circles and triangles and such cut out of it; I spent ages brute-forcing it piece by piece, but only after the test was long over did I realize that you could just rearrange the pieces into a plain old rectangle.

It's haunted me for years, obviously :)
posted by ook at 1:53 PM on June 6, 2008

Man. You are asking, what can you between today and tomorrow to increase your chances of improving from a 780 to an 800? I've been in this kind of situation, and speaking as much to my old self as to you, this question is insane. There's nothing in particular you can do at that margin, other than not freak out, try to sleep, eat breakfast, stay with your normal caffeine routine, etc.

Without meaning to increase your anxiety level, your main task is to translate your 110 point improvement to a "real" 780. If you get there, a tick up to 800 is gravy.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 1:54 PM on June 6, 2008

Okay, I was in the same boat as you, when i took it. Getting a 1600 was a mini-obsession.

If you haven't hit 800 by now, there's nothing you can do to really prepare for it. The kids that I knew that got 800 consistently were amazing at math, and no amount of prep was going to help them- they hit 800 from the get go.

The kids that were "coached" up, well...we just have to be lucky. an 800 to a 780 basically amounts to luck- it's basically two questions. The only factor you can control is your mental fatigue- you can get rid of this (or try to limit it) by taking lots of full-lengths.

In the end, I never got it. I took the SAT 6 times, with my last 3 scores being 1570, 1570, and 1580. I was upset, but in the end it didn't matter (like everyone else says). I still went to a top 5 school, and life went on.
posted by unexpected at 1:57 PM on June 6, 2008

I can tell you it's awfully hard to do and I share your frustration. I got a 780 on the math on the GREs (the comparable exam for graduate school, also out of 800) and I went around kicking myself for missing "that one problem." On closer inspection, one thing I found was that I hadn't really missed "that one problem," I had missed a few. Some I missed just out of carelessness, just rushing to get it all done in time. On one, I still insist I answered it right, but given the wording of the question they got a different result and marked it wrong. (Of course, I'm not one to hold a grudge for a dozen years or anything.)

I had that score despite the missed questions because those who administer the test do an analysis on the results and questions that are missed by too many people are deemed inappropriately difficult or otherwise unacceptable. So you might miss a couple and get an 800, but you might also miss fewer and get a 780. To ensure that you got an 800, you'd just have to know every answer and enter it correctly, obviously, but bum luck can sink you there, too. You might read something just a little off (as I did), or in a moment of less concentration, fill in one oval when you meant to fill another. You'd probably need both some good luck on questions being thrown out and no bad luck in executing your abilities. You've been working on the first half of that for years now and it sounds like you're well prepared there. On the other half, I'd just say being as calm and keeping your focus as clear as you can are all you can do, which may mean not going in thinking, "Gotta be PERFECT!! Gotta be PERFECT!!" Being a little Zen - or better, Stoic, in its proper sense - is the best thing you can do. Remind yourself that the difference between a 780 and an 800 is only a slight one and doing this well is a remarkable achievement regardless what that number turns out to be. Your best performance will come out of that, coupled with hard work and focus on the day of the exam.
posted by el_lupino at 2:00 PM on June 6, 2008

As long as it's just for personal pride--because if you worry about college admissions with that kind of score, you've got bigger problems than one question--it's all about focus and luck. Get a good night's sleep, eat a good breakfast, have a coke slurpee before the test, and don't sweat it. Or have a smoke, if you don't habitually. Nicotine, in non-smokers, is great for relaxed concentration. (YMMV; give it a shot beforehand; don't smoke; etc.)
posted by uncleozzy at 2:02 PM on June 6, 2008

Meant to make that a link to Stoicism. See? Try too hard and you whiz right by it.
posted by el_lupino at 2:02 PM on June 6, 2008

It doesn't sound like there's anything else you can do. The night before the test, get plenty of sleep, eat healthy, don't freak, etc.

Been you, done that, have since realized I didn't need to—even for personal pride. Stop obsessing over artificial testing obstacles and start making headway against real-life obstacles.
posted by infinitewindow at 2:07 PM on June 6, 2008

It's not worth it. At all. Trust me.

I got a 1560 on the SAT Is and 800/800/720 on the SAT IIs. You'd think this was a ticket to happiness, self-satisfaction, and an excellent school, right? Nope. Out of the six or so schools to which I applied, I got into only my bottom 2 choices. (My GPA wasn't amazing, but it wasn't bad either.) After I went to the mildly selective school that was #2, I never used my SAT scores for anything ever again. Once or twice they came up in conversation, and they were never a source of pride on any level--it only made me feel intensely awkward, knowing that people were judging me, not always positively, for having a score like that.

Why do you feel you need this for personal pride? First of all, standardized tests, especially tests like the SAT, are a meaningful measure neither of real intelligence nor of potential (e.g., see this article). Second, even if they were, the difference between 780 and 800 is not statistically significant--for the math section, it's most likely based on no more than 2 questions. (You could say that by continuing to pursue this goal you are in fact proving that you are less intelligent, or at least less reasonable, given that there is no rational justification for it.)

I imagine that you are envisioning using this number to compete in nerd dick-measuring contests, as I did. You will be sadly mistaken. If you end up at a classic "nerd school" (Swarthmore, MIT) you will see pretty quickly that this number has no reference to reality and is taken seriously by no one except first-semester freshmen. If you don't, you will have no opportunity to whip it out, and if you try to do so you will be given a funny look or a wedgie.

This number is not worth spending time, money, and stress on. As a college applicant you will have plenty of time to bite your nails to the quick as you wait for those admissions letters. Don't make the process any harder on yourself than it absolutely has to be. (By January of my senior year the anxiety was almost unbearably unpleasant.)

Finally, as far as college admissions is concerned, SATs don't work like that. There's generally a certain cutoff (around 1500) beyond which additional score improvements don't meaningfully help your case. It is more than likely that the number will be used to do an initial filtering of the application file and never look at again thereafter.

Good luck.
posted by nasreddin at 2:15 PM on June 6, 2008 [3 favorites]

You might make sure you are properly caffeinated the morning of the test. Not over, not under. I am dead serious.
posted by notsnot at 2:16 PM on June 6, 2008

Get more sleep. Most teens need 9-10 hours per night. Unresolved sleep debt accumulates over time. You can't expect to work it all off tonight, but do try to get your 10 tonight.
posted by neuron at 2:20 PM on June 6, 2008

The SAT books say that when a college sees a score, they interpret as being in a range of 60 to account for little things like, as Tomorrowful said, what you had for breakfast and such. So a 780 is really a 750-800. I'm assuming that is in fact true. It makes sense to me, at least.
posted by Corduroy at 2:22 PM on June 6, 2008

The last time I took the Math SAT, in 1969, I wanted to lower my score from my first test because I was getting a D+ in Calculus, so I did the entire test in my head, without doing any calculations on paper (this was before calculators existed; for all I know, you can use a calculator now when you take the SAT). So anyway, I managed to lower my score from something like 754 to 714. I'm not sure why I'm telling you this, except that it's something that I remember all these years later.

My older brother was the first person anyone at Exeter and Harvard had ever heard of to score 800s on the college boards (he is now 61 years old). It's not something we talk about now, but maybe he's still proud of that achievement. Maybe I should ask him if he wants that mentioned on his gravestone, should I outlive him.
posted by thomas144 at 2:23 PM on June 6, 2008

Problem solving ability? I'd start by analyzing the reasons for missing the questions you've missed. Rushing? A particular blind spot in your thought processes? Luck? Fatigue? Figure out what the causes are, then address those causes.

Just another problem to solve.
posted by amtho at 2:24 PM on June 6, 2008

Aim for a 790. The top colleges all take pride in publicizing how many 1600's, 800's, and valedictorians they reject each year. Since the meaningful differences between a 800 and 790 (or 780, for that matter) are nil, I'd say there's, if anything, probably a slight bias against the 1600/800/valedictorian.
posted by decoherence at 2:26 PM on June 6, 2008

Yeah, I think the only way you can guarantee an 800 is if you take the test enough times. It really does vary, and you're probably smart enough and prepared enough to hit the 800 mark with a few tries.

But man. That's a lot of time spent studying, and a lot of Saturday mornings, and a lot of stress, for twenty points. You could spend all that time and energy on extracurricular activities, or interesting volunteer work, or maybe some cool research project since you're smart. Those will help sway the admissions office, too, probably more than those last twenty points can.
posted by Metroid Baby at 2:34 PM on June 6, 2008

Wow, well done so far!

Here are some post-test tips so you don't end up remembering that one question for the rest of your life:

- Call Grandma. Tell her how you feel, pretty much what you said here. She might give you advice like you've heard above, that no matter what your test scores are, you're still a crazy-smart person who'll go far in life.

- Decompress. Get a massage, head out to a beach, have a zombie-movie party with your friends the next weekend.

- Don't neglect the rest of your work too much. Once a huge hurdle has been crossed, it's tempting to rest on your laurels, but remember that colleges want you, not a test score.

You might also be interested in this article, about a guy who tried to use his knowledge as a neuroscientist to do well on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.

Given all that, though: perfection is rarely attainable, and being human means we never stop wanting something better, even if what we have is perfect. I'm not advocating mediocrity, but you might want to look at some wider philosophies or ideas about obtaining the most or the best or the highest level of something, like the Swedish concept of Lagom.

So while getting a perfect score on a test is an awesome achievement, be sure you understand the consequences of sacrificing other valuable things in your life - relationships, reading for leisure, or being active and healthy, perhaps: all things I remember giving up from my SAT-taking days.

A final anecdote: during my two weeks of International Baccalaureate exams at the end of my senior year, I went kayaking on a local lake for a few hours on the Saturday between the two weeks of exams (so, not a big time commitment) with a really close friend. We talked about his dog, our families, sports - nothing about school or exams. We fell out of our kayaks and into the lake many times and couldn't stop laughing. The lake patrol had to come and pull my now-sinking kayak out of the water. It was hilarious, really.

But more than that, it was totally what I needed to relax and focus on the joys in my life and a very useful talent I possess - telling stories - and it came when all my other IB-exam-taking friends were burning the midnight oil trying to remember, say, what pre-WWI European alliances looked like, and perhaps feeling buried under a mountain of information.

I showed up at my exam for IB European History HL on Monday sunburned and a bit sore but happy and well-rested. I rocked it so hard that I needed an extension booklet to finish my essay answer, and ended up with the highest possible score. History for me sounds like math for you - I love the stuff, can't get enough of it - and I loved that I had enough energy that day to really let myself shine, because at that level, I already knew that I was really really good, but having harnessed a talent of mine which one can't study just a few days before made what I was thinking come out as writing which somehow just resounded with the examiners, I think.

A math exam isn't exactly like this, of course, but I imagine you're probably very good at solving problems of a logical sort. Perhaps take a break tonight, then, and do a few logic puzzles. Think about a solution to a problem around the house, at school, or in another system you understand well. Perhaps you won't find the answer tonight, but who knows - that extra edge might really help you tomorrow.

Good luck!
posted by mdonley at 2:47 PM on June 6, 2008 [2 favorites]

Check your work. Seriously go back and check it. Unless the tests have significantly changed from my days, knowing highschool math is sufficient to get an 800 (I got an 800 on the math portion on my PSAT, all practice tests, and the actual test 13 years ago), if you can get a 780/800 each time then you know everything, you just have to not be careless.

I bet that time isn't an issue for you. In that case, when you're finished, start back at the beginning, cover up your previous work/answers, and start all over again. Re-doing the problem is more likely to find a mistake than checking one's work.
posted by nobeagle at 2:49 PM on June 6, 2008

Strategy. You can gain an edge by having a very good understanding of the way a test is scored. Get just a little bit faster on the average problems, and you'll have more time for the really hard ones. Can you have scratch paper? Note the numbers of questions you want to go back & check, or that you left for last. Be really methodical and organized. Good luck.
posted by theora55 at 2:50 PM on June 6, 2008

You've talked a lot about the cumulative work that you've done, but you haven't talked about targeting your weaknesses -- like amtho says, are you consistently getting the same kinds of questions wrong? Is there a kind of question that flummoxes you, such that you have a hard time concenrtating on the ones that follow? Or is it a time management issue? Or a fatigue issue, where you just get exhausted by the sheer number of questions? How many times are you able to check your answers once you've done a section?

(I ask these questions as somebody who basically spent every summer from the age of thirteen through seventeen practicing the math section on the SAT's and prepping for 'em. That's right. Four summers. And I was still the first person in my family to take the SAT's and not get an 800 on the math section. Oh, the Asian shame.)
posted by joyceanmachine at 2:51 PM on June 6, 2008

Wow, some great advice here.

nasreddin, thanks. You *all* are right in that it's an irrational, never-useful-again number. I probably have put too much importance to it. I'm not applying to a perfectly top school, somewhat of a mid-selective school. Obviously, I'm applying to more than one, but that's the one I want to go to. I'm quite confident I'll get in, I have a ~3.94 unweighted GPA, 4.3'ish weighted. Top 2% out of a large school (so no impressive top 10 numbers). Fairly decent community service, I've won some contests/awards in my field of study (computer science), I play varsity tennis.

I wouldn't say that I "coached" myself up to this level--I've always been good at math, I just really blew off my first SATs. I pulled myself up to 760-800 level within (seriously) four practice tests of serious prep, and haven't dropped below 760 since.

The thing that really frustrates me, and pushes me to do more and more, is the fact that no matter how hard I study, I can't be guaranteed an 800. There's no amount of work I could do. There could always be that one funky area problem that rearranges to a rectangle, that one silly problem that's worded just a little odd.

Reading all these, you guys have helped so much. I've finally released all my stress, and tomorrow, I'm going to go get my 770+. I never planned on joining in on nerd-dick contests, or even whipping it out in casual conversation. It was always just for me. I've always pushed myself so much harder than my parents, teachers, or anyone else has, I just get such a rush from exceeding expectations a thousand times over. This is just one that I can't be assured of a 100%, and that's been bugging me.

nasreddin, infinitewindow, el_lupino, tomorrowful, rancidchickn, thanks for your answers.

Thanks, everyone, for the kind words. Feel free to leave more~
posted by Precision at 2:54 PM on June 6, 2008

nobeagle said exactly what I was going to: finish early, double-check your work. Anything you aren't 100% sure about should get a big question mark next to it for you to go back and redo with your calculator for sure. You already know all the material cold after this much practice, so your job is to prevent misreadings or mistypings.

I managed to squeeze out a 1600 with one verbal question wrong, so I think you have a tiny bit of leeway.

All that said, the MeFites who are lecturing at you are right. You clearly have it together and getting a 780 or 790 is not going to work against you. Aim for the top, but don't beat yourself up if you don't get it. Good luck!
posted by svolix at 2:57 PM on June 6, 2008

In all seriousness (not that my previous comment wasn't), once you're already near the top, the only way to ensure perfection is to take every single practice test you can get your hands on under rigidly timed conditions. That may sounds like overkill, but it's exactly what you need to do. You begin noticing patterns in the sorts of questions they ask, and what to watch out for, and nailing these questions becomes second nature to you. As others have noted though, it's not worth it -- it may take 20 hours of studying to get to where you can hit 780 reliably, but another 40 hours of studying just to marginally boost your odds of hitting 800.

Also, not to be a downer, but even if you feel you're "locked in" at an 800, there's a pretty good chance you'll see a dip on the actual test day. The reason is nerves, and the impossibility of ever replicating true testing conditions by practicing, always with the knowledge in the back of your mind that it's not yet "for real."
posted by decoherence at 2:59 PM on June 6, 2008

Ah, to the responses since I last refreshed to post that comment^^^

I have targeted my weaknesses, yes. I've brushed up on a few embarrassing algebra concepts I'd gotten rusty on that I'd always just kind of "cheated" by using my TI-89. I memorized the stupid formulas for combinations and permutations, because those dumb ones about picking 3 unordered from a list and 4 ordered are ridiculous. I most certainly have looked over every question I've missed, thoroughly understand why I missed it, what concept(s) it's testing, and what I should have done to solve it quickly and accurately.

I don't constantly get the same questions wrong. There are no more holes in my math education from Arithmetic to Algebra to Geometry to Trig (still working on the Calc, lol). The prep's made sure of that.

I finish each section generally with enough time to check every answer in the latter 3/5 of the test or so. The first 2/5 I never miss any, so no point in even going back there.

Metroid Baby, the time probably couldn't have been spent better. I've kept up with my volunteer responsibilities (4 hours a week, and occasional 8 hour weeks), my part-time retail job (32 hours a week at Target), and I've hung out with friends. Not too much interesting volunteer work, either, around here. Oh well.
posted by Precision at 3:04 PM on June 6, 2008

As others have noted though, it's not worth it -- it may take 20 hours of studying to get to where you can hit 780 reliably, but another 40 hours of studying just to marginally boost your odds of hitting 800.

That's precisely what I've done, decoherence, almost down to the hour (I've probably topped that just a bit), and I'm convinced that it's impossible to ever "lock it in". I'm over that.
posted by Precision at 3:06 PM on June 6, 2008

After you finish with the SATs, you might enjoy reading Nicholas Lemann's The Big Test, which is about ETS and standardized testing and meritocracy and whatnot.
posted by box at 3:25 PM on June 6, 2008

If you want some extra math contest practice, write the Euclid, the Fermat or the Hypatia. (no, not that Hyapatia). If you can ace those you can ace anything. The format may be too different from the SAT to be directly useful, but think of it as cross-training.
posted by GuyZero at 3:28 PM on June 6, 2008

Bah! to those who say it's a meaningless number.

In 11th grade, my goal was to get a 100% on the NYS Chemistry Regents. So I prepped like I never had before, and I felt ready. Testing time: I complete the entire exam with only three slight qualms answers. I recheck them and feel 100% confident on two (even correcting one answer). The third, however was either A or C, depending on how I interpreted what the question was asking. Something to do with salt and a battery I think. A basic principle, but I was over thinking it.

For 30 long minutes, I went back and forth. A. C. A. C. C? A! A? C! My professor hovered around from a distance, knowing my dilemma. In the end, I stuck with the old adage: don't second-guess yourself / go with your initial answer. So I did. C! And when I turned in the exam, my professor was there to woefully tell me, "Nope! A!"

Forever and ever it will be the 99% that will haunt me.

So my advice, the advice I wish I had 10 years ago: feel free to second guess your first answer.
posted by yeti at 3:32 PM on June 6, 2008

Just a quick note, not sure if anyone covered it, but I missed one question on my SAT math, and still got an 800. Remembered which one it was too, silly little thing. This was back in 2001, though, don't know how scoring has changed since then.
posted by theRussian at 4:12 PM on June 6, 2008

There are very few things in life that are really worth having that can be completely guaranteed before you get it - it almost always takes a little luck along with a lot of hard work. So this is good practice for finding the mental place where you strive for a goal but allow yourself the grace to accept that it might not be. So, this is a chance for you to practice an important life skill - maintaining perspective.
posted by metahawk at 6:07 PM on June 6, 2008

According to the college board, the margin of error for comparing the SAT scores of a group of 10 students is around 30 points (source, pdf). This page implies that for an individual the margin of error is plus or minus 30-40 points. What this means is that an individual testing event of 780 is statistically equivalent to an 800. It is meaningless to compare the two scores unless your sample size is >20 people. Not only that, they are both 99th percentile.

The odds are in 5 years you won't even remember your SAT scores. Hell, I don't even remember my GRE score at this point, and really, that's been a lot more significant to my life than the SAT.
posted by advil at 6:50 PM on June 6, 2008

The difference between a the average major league 2nd baseman and a the best AAA 2nd basemen is simply mental fortitude. The difference between a 780 or 800 is mental concentration and focus. For the entire test. Get sleep and practice staying focused. Stress yourself mentally for the weeks leading up to the test until you become so comfortable with stress that it is no longer stress.

For those who say your SAT scores don't matter, they did not read your question. They matter to you. Point of pride. Kid, fight for the things you believe in and constantly seek to challenge yourself.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 7:07 PM on June 6, 2008

"The thing that really frustrates me, and pushes me to do more and more, is the fact that no matter how hard I study, I can't be guaranteed an 800."

This is life. Nothing is ever guaranteed. If you can't get used to that, you are going to have a very hard time.
posted by oddman at 7:11 PM on June 6, 2008

If you are smart enough to get an 800 it will just happen. If you obsess you will just get an ulcer. With this attitude you have you are headed for some serious issues later in life and will likely make some therapist very, very rich, or some dealer. Either way is not good. Relax, and do your best. I suggest some deep breathing exercises just prior to the test.
posted by caddis at 8:07 PM on June 6, 2008

Just a word to the wise... I totally get where, you're coming from. And having read what you wrote, I'm confident you will hit 800 (it might take a try or two; it really is just luck). But at some point in your college career you're going to come up against something that you simply can't ace. Something where you are no longer the best. And no amount of trying will help. For some people -- the people who grew up being the smartest kid in the class -- that can be a real shock. It hits 'em hard.

Which is a long way of saying, maybe you shouldn't sweat it so much... 20 points is very unlikely to make a difference in which colleges you get into (and it won't make a lick of difference in anything else!) I think you will be surprised how little anyone cares about the SATs once you graduate High School.
posted by meta_eli at 9:23 PM on June 6, 2008

I got an 800 on the math SATs back when it was hard, and like nasreddin it got me into my safety school in spite of my shitty GPA, but not into Caltech or MIT; it didn't impress anyone in my department once I was there; and twenty years later I can barely do arithmetic. Don't sweat it.
posted by nicwolff at 10:23 PM on June 6, 2008

I forgot my calculator, decided I was screwed and couldn't do anything about it, so was totally relaxed -- and got an 800. So, er, relax. (I'm not sure I can conscientiously tell you to forget things!)
posted by obliquicity at 10:25 PM on June 6, 2008

If you're trying to get an 800 for your own self-satisfaction go for it, but as many people have said in this thread, a lot of it will come down to luck.

If you're trying to get an 800, because mathematical skill is one of the areas that you want to highlight when you market yourself to schools, remember that SAT math is not a strong differentiator in this respect: you are far better served taking AP exams. Not only will the material be considerably more difficult, but they will they allow you to skip out on introductory-level courses at most schools.

If you're trying to get an 800 just to show off your math skills, don't bother, since as nicwolff suggested above, SAT math isn't really even that hard. Sure it's long and tiresome and tricky, but the material it covers is pathetically easy when compared to actual university level mathematics (calculus, real analysis, number theory, differential equations, stochastic processes, etc.)

Also remember that, as most people have suggested above, your SAT score doesn't really matter once you get admitted to a university unless you really want to work for an investment bank or similar institution. Don't ask me why, but for some reason, a lot of them like to ask for SAT scores on the application forms for new hires. (It's not clear how much they really care, though.)

One last bit of advice: all universities in the United States are run like businesses, and every school heavily markets itself to attract students and research dollars. At the same time, within any given tier most undergraduate programmes are roughly about the same, and a student's individual success will primarily rest on the effort he puts into studies and enthusiasm he has for learning. Universities, however, will have no qualms trying to convince you that your personal success will correlate more strongly to the awesomeness of their long-since graduated alumni. Pick a school that is good for you, one you are confident will provide an environment that will motivate you to succeed. What's the point getting into a school that will impress the neighbours if you burn out your first semester?

Also... make sure you can afford tuition...
posted by Sangermaine at 12:15 AM on June 7, 2008 [1 favorite]

All these answers are wonderful.

I'm headed out to the testing center now. Wish me luck, and thanks, again.
posted by Precision at 7:17 AM on June 7, 2008

Well, to follow up, I took the test today, and the general consensus among my friends/among online message boards is that the math sections were the hardest of all the tests this school year. Most people who usually score 780/800's had to skip 1-2 questions, and most missed another. Most people estimate that the average 780/800 did so bad on today's test that no curve they've ever applied will make up for it. So either, they'll throw out a question or two or this'll be a down month for scores.

Either way, I'm not too worried anymore. Not stressed at all. I'll take my 740-760 I estimate, I think I owned the critical reading, 780+, and my writing scores were already good. I'll retake in October for math. Thanks all!
posted by Precision at 7:19 PM on June 7, 2008