<p>I'm a (well, I suppose soon-to-be) transfer student, and I wanted to retake the SATs to help boost my chances of getting into a better school. I took the old SATs (730v/540m), and my biggest concern is bringing up my math score. I did no prep work and only took them once during my junior year (prior to completely alg II), so I'm hoping that if I put in a bit more effort, I can boost my score. Does anyone have any helpful reccomendations for books or online programs? Is the new test considerably different in terms of the math? What else should I be on the lookout for?</p>
<p>The new test will be easy on math and won't have quantitative comparision questions so you can smile, it has 44 mcq's and 10 grid-ins but I find the essay section completely bad, they want me to type in words like mellifluous, obsequious, tumult, and buccaneer if I want even a strictly decent score, picking out answers is another thing but cramming up words and hunting places to spill them not me.Work hard on the essay part and try making it look really polished.</p>
<p>There are many ways one could prepare for the test. However, the king of all preparation books is the blue book: <a href="http://store.collegeboard.com/productdetail.do?Itemkey=007182%5B/url%5D">http://store.collegeboard.com/productdetail.do?Itemkey=007182</a>. This book is the only book made by the College Board for preparation for the New SAT (a.k.a. its the most accurate). While it does have eight realistic (although, not real tests) practice tests, you must remember that it does not come with any explanations, so if you get stuck on a question you are going to have to seek a "SAT expert". The book doesn't do a good job at teaching you the topics but definitely is necessary if you want PRACTICE. </p>
<p>Watch out for other books made by the Princeton Review, Kaplan, and various other test-prep companies. While they do have there own niche, their tests aren't extremely realistic and usually contain several errors which could confuse you and otherwise put you in the wrong state of mind.</p>
<p>Thanks so much, I really appreciate your advice. Do you happen to know if there are any statistics on how people fared on the math/verbal sections in terms of scores, from the old test to the new test?</p>
<p>Also, I took two years of AP English and made 4s on both of the exams. Is the SAT essay similar, or can I expect to do reasonably well? I'd rather focus most of my attention of the math, since it's obviously not my strong point, but I'd hate to blow off the new writing section if people who have taken it felt ill prepared by AP tests.</p>
<p>After taking AP English, you should be fine for the writing section. Review some grammar for the MC though. I suggest that you spend most of your time preparing on your Math.</p>