<p>Hi all, I will be taking the SAT at the nearest opportunity and I wanted to ask users basically the title, what prep books do I need to buy in order to get a 2400.</p>
<p>I will be self-teaching and studying independently for it, and since its summer, I want to prep ahead now. </p>
<p>This topic has probably been overdone before - but I am asking specifically. </p>
<p>Which books are imperative to purchase to get this score. I have access to all the past papers from the past 10 years IIRC.</p>
<p>I intend to go thoroughly through the guides and hit the past papers in time and so I need to buy the guides asap.</p>
<p>I’m in the same situation. I just scored a 2380 on a practice test from the BB, and I will say that I have only used 3 books:</p>
<p>The BB
Direct Hits 1 and 2</p>
<p>I learned my strategies from Silverturtle/Xiggi/CheerioswithMilk’s guides on CC</p>
<p>The guides have a plethora of information, and I found that I didn’t need any additional books to use once I read the guides. </p>
<p>DH 1 and 2 are for vocab: the words are well chosen and a good majority of them frequently show up on tests. I made flashcards and went through them. You don’t have to memorize the definition, just get a sense of what the word is and how it would be used in context. </p>
<p>The Blue Book: it has 10 official practice tests. I suggest you do the Xiggi method: take 1 practice test untimed and have the answers open and in front of you. Then you can figure out your weak points and strengths. Then take the next 2 timed, but you can still have answers in front of you. Make sure that every time you get a question wrong, you must figure out WHY you got it wrong. Then take the rest as you would if you were doing the real thing. Your score should gradually go up.</p>
<p>Essay: Read the How to write a 12 essay in 10 days thing on CC. Nuff said.</p>
<p>If you run out of BB tests, you could probably find some old released PSAT’s and SAT’s from TCB if you do some googling. But do NOT use tests from Princeton Review, Kaplan, Barron’s, etc. since they are not official tests.</p>
<p>If you really need help with specific sections, I suggest Barron’s writing workbook for Writing, Erica Meltzer’s for CR and writing, and PWN the SAT for math. </p>
<p>i prepped entirely from the official CollegeBoard blue book and got a 2350 (800R 800W 750M - damn that one math question) on my first try.</p>
<p>in my experience though, you really need to be a strong reader and writer. you want to aim for a 9-12 range on your essays (more an 11-12 if you’re going for a 2400). this was something that just came naturally to me, so i didn’t have to study a lot. same with CR. i used the blue book mostly for practice, not for actual test tips. but the blue book simulates the exam questions pretty well IMO. nothing on my test was a surprise.</p>
<p>If there no budgetary constraints, I would suggest Erica Meltzer’s books for CR & W (one for each) and PWN the SAT for math. Maybe the black book as well.</p>
<p>@fnaticMSiNate It really depends on the person. It was the only book I needed because I was already a strong reader and writer, and simply needed the books to practice the types of questions and the time limits. Are you averaging relatively high on practice tests? If so, and if you are good at CR and the essay, you should be fine with the blue book. If you are not, and you need more guidance with these sections, I would still recommend the blue book, but I would say get another one to complement it. The blue book does have coaching sections before the actual practice tests, but since I spent minimal time on those sections I can’t really speak for the assistance it provided.</p>
<p>However, I can say that the more you practice, regardless of the book, the better you will become. Even if hypothetically you are an abysmal test-taker or cannot for the life of you figure out the CR section, the more practice sections you do, the better you will become at cracking the questions because you will be so used to what they are asking that your score will automatically improve.</p>
<p>Good suggestions here. The Writing essay is an easy way to lose points so make sure you get 10+ consistently.</p>
<p>Finally I want to add that while 2400 is a great score, colleges don’t give you any more credit for a 2400 vs a 2350. If you’re already at a 2350, your time is much better spent on your extracurriculars and building your application profile. </p>
<p>@neuerman The difference between getting a 2350 and a 2400 is very small - one wrong math section. So it shouldn’t be too much of a hindrance, but definitely need to ace the math section.</p>
<p>I am sorry to ask my question here but I still feel it might be better asking here than in the "SAT Books? Do not start new threads. Post HERE’’ announcement thread because that hasn’t been active in about 18 days or so and the latest questions have still gone unanswered . </p>
<p>Anyhow , I am wondering what are people’s views on Gary Gruber’s SAT books? (especially the 2015 edition)</p>