Barron's or Kaplan 2400?

<p>On recent practice tests, I've gotten 760+ (through 800) on critical reading and writing. Do you guys think that getting one of the 2400 books would help virtually assure me an 800 in those subjects. I think it would be very nice to get a perfect score (duh) and was wandering if these would help (to get more practice on the tough questions). Also, which one would you guys recommend? I've read some reviews by major companies saying that the Kaplan is slightly better but the consensus here seems to be Barrons. Suggestions?</p>

<p>And please don't say, your score is high enough. I know, but I'll be glad to fork over $15 and get a 2400 instead of a 2350.</p>

<p>I own a copy of the Kaplan 2400, its a good book, and it covers the various types of passages, and the steps to tackle them. Also covers the several types of questions and solutions to solve the; however, with your 760 its very tough to raise the score any higher due to the fact that your 760 is gonna be your plateau thats difficult to cross(sry had to say it =). So what i recommend is to just keep practicing with sample sat questions, and buy a copy of the The offical SAT Study Guide(Blue Book). These questions are more rigorous; however, does not give an explaination of answers. just the answer.</p>

<p>If you have money to dish out, go and snag a copy of the book, hey it might even give you that 40point boost</p>

<p>...well if nobody is gonna say it, then I will...2350 and 2400 are virtually the same score...now I'm not telling you that your score is high enough, nor that it's high enough at that matter, but 2350 and 2400 are in the same scaled score range and therefore don't have a difference....</p>

<p>Except a 2400 is a perfect score... it's kind of a big deal. That's a difference!</p>

<p>And also, the 760s (2, actually) were somewhat flukes. I rushed through two practice tests (had something else to do) on different days and made errors on easy questions I'm sure I wouldn't gotten right. On one practice test, I read "affected" as "affecting" which completely changed the meaning of that answer choice so I picked something else. On that same test I switched two names in the question and answered it "backwards". On the other test, I determined my answer from the wrong line reference (dumb) and just got plain lazy and picked an answer without reading the reference. So I think had a been more serious about it (and I only needed one less wrong answer each time) I would have gotten 800 (as I have on other tests). I'm just looking for a way to strengthen my skills on the hard questions. Ironically, though, I didn't miss any level "5" or "4" questions on the practice test but all the questions I did miss were dumb mistakes.</p>

<p>Then don't rush. I am at the same plateau as you are (and I know how annoying it is). Just boost your self-esteem by a lot of practice: memorize the 3500 Barron's word list, use smartdoodle, sparknotes, and read newspapers (international herald tribune online rocks).</p>

<p>Thanks debate! I'm not going to memorize Barron's list. Actually, (and I think you should do this too) I'm going to study a list I have of about 400 sat words starting from 2004 (on almost all the official exams). It also has the context of some of the more recent tests, which is nice. Then, I'll probobly move on to Kaplan's word list (about 500 words). Then I'll move on to Sparknotes (1000). By then, and after more practice tests, I think I'll be fine. I'm going to work my way up with gradually longer and longer word lists as I learn more and more words. That way, I don't stop Barron's after getting lazy and don't learn any unneccesary words. Also, overlap between the lists will only strengthen knowledge of those words and the context. Should be sweet...</p>

<p>whats a better book OVERALL? to raise all 3 scores?</p>

<p>I haven't used Barrons, but I did have the Kaplan and was very impressed with it. Nice, hard questions with good explanations.</p>

<p>How about this... I don't care about math, so which book has better writing and critical reading sections?</p>