<p>I'm prepping with Kaplan to take the test over a second time. I got a 1740 at first, and I'm also doing practice tests from the blue book by college board. My question is though, are the kaplan practice tests from their books accurate or do they help at all? Do you guys think if i constantly keep practicing from the kaplan book my SAT score will improve?</p>
<p>It’s roughly accurate for me.</p>
<p>Personally… I hate prepping from accurate material like the blue book. I prefer test to feel easier when I take the real thing. After only prepping with Kaplan test, my actual SAT score was about 300 points higher than my average Kaplan score. When I took the SAT I found it to be easier than Kaplan. So as I was taking the test I definitely had a confidence boost, which always helps. </p>
<p>Although, I don’t think a lot of people would agree with me. But again, that’s just me. Best of luck!</p>
<p>I personally prefer the Blue Book, but Kaplan is decently accurate. I took a prep course with them. My scores improved drastically every time, and the last test I got a 1940. I took the SAT two weeks later and got a 1950.
So they’ll help you, but I think the BB is the better tool for score improvements.</p>
<p>I took an SAT prep course back in the fall and we tested using Kaplan materials. I found the practice exams to be rather difficult compared to the actual SAT.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t quite say they’re harder, they’re just different which to me is a bad thing because you won’t get an accurate feel for what the questions are gonna be like on the real thing. I would recommend sticking with Princeton review instead since their stuff if indistinguishable from the real deal.</p>
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<p>PR is not better than Kaplan. The tests from both sources are equally poor.</p>
<p>1st question no…second quetion no…</p>
<p>Yes, Kaplan tests are definitely harder than the real thing. I got a 216 on the PSAT, then took a Kaplan test and got a 1960. The best I ever got on a Kaplan practice test was a 2220, and I averaged in the 2100s. I ended up with a 2330 on the SAT the first time taking it. Expect your score to rise, especially on CR.</p>
<p>If you REALLY want to get a GREAT score, throw these books away, cause they will ONLY confuse you AND deteriorate your level GREATLY. Just get BARRON’S SAT Main Book and study it hardly, AND get College Board’s Official Blue Book and ANY REAL (Issued By The College Board) TESTS and solve them and your score WILL DEFIINITELY RISE.</p>
<p>I did Kaplan test prep before the may 2012 SAT paper, and I have to say the kaplan practice tests were MUCH harder. Idk if the May SAT was just not as hard as the usual ones, but it seemed doable to me… ?
Of course I havent received my results yet, so I’m not exactly a reliable source, but hope this helped anyway? :]</p>
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<p>@ziggi:
Are there any sources besides Collegeboard material that you do find useful for practice tests? I’m running a bit low on official tests.</p>
<p>^I’ll answer that for you and @xiggi can answer you when he’s logged in.
NO. The CB material ALONE WILL give you A GREAT sense of the real test. EVERY other source has its defects, Barron’s is TOO exaggerated and confusing. PR, Kaplan’s, McGrawHill’s, etc… ARE HOGWASH AND SUCH A WASTE OF TIME. Believe me, I bought ALL of them and went through them just to realize I’ve wasted MONEY AND TIME AND EFFORT AND ,MERELY, CONFUSED MYSELF.
Real Tests are sold in some libraries (which I don’t know their names). They are tests that were ACTUALLY conducted by the CB, BUT NOT OFFICIALLY RELEASED. You search for them in a big library or something, and BEST OF LUCK in your journey.
Also, you can get CB’s Official Online Course. It has 7 or 8 Real Tests. Print them and SOLVE. That is, if you haven’t already done that.</p>
<p>Also, if both options fail, GO through the real tests you ALREADY have AGAIN. Believe Me, it WILL help.</p>
<p>The Kaplan tests are much harder than the actual SAT. My highest score on the real SAT was a 2230, but my highest Kaplan score was a 2000…I got consistent instructor-graded 3s on my essays, and a 10 on the real thing.</p>