<p>I am currently a high school Junior and I plan on taking my SAT in May. I have like 8 months to prepare and i've already bought a couple of books for the SAT, but I want to see if I should buy separate books for different portions of the SAT. My goal SAT score is to get a 2100-2300. I took the PSAT my sophomore year and got a 1500, took a free Kaplan practice test and got a 1650. I have to increase this score by 500-700 points.... Oh boy.</p>
<p>I've been doing my research and it seems that people buy SAT prep books, then when they break into the 2000s they tend to buy the Barron/Kaplan 2400 to hone their skills and increase their score even more. What I planned on doing was buying one of the 2400 books, but buying one or two additional books for general practice to get my score up to 2000 before I started using the 2400 book.</p>
<p>I know for a fact my weak spot is math (500), I'm average at writing (540), and I'm breaking 600 on my CR (from the practice test). I'm looking for a book or books that will generally improve all of these scores, but I need substantial help on math.</p>
<p>Here are the books i've bought so far:</p>
<p>The Blue Book (CB SAT Book)
PR 11 Practice Tests for the SAT
Grueber's Complete SAT Guide 2011</p>
<p>Anyone recommending books? PR Cracking the SAT? Barron? Kaplan? Etc?</p>
<p>8 months is a lot of time so a huge score increase from 1650 to 2100+ is very possible. I bought the PR Cracking the SAT and it helped a lot in CR, but not so much on writing. I didn’t use its math section yet so I don’t know how good it is. Kaplan Premier is a nice book overall but its practice tests aren’t too accurate and it doesn’t provide a scale to score its tests. Anyways, get whatever books you can afford and take BB practice tests every week or so.</p>
<p>With the time that you have and the scores you are getting, your best strategy is to stay away from the general test books for a while. Instead take the time to focus on the specific sections, and then go back to the general tests. At least that’s what worked for me. I was scoring just a little above where you are now and i improved to a 2290. These are the books I used to help.</p>
<p>Reading: only CB material, i couldn’t find any other realistic practice stuff</p>
<p>Math: 5 SAT math practice tests</p>
<p>Writing: 5 SAT writing practice tests, 3 min. a day to improve SAT essay</p>
<p>Vocab: Direct hits, and Essential SAT vocabulary for reading</p>
<p>So, take a deep breath. Work hard, and you can totally get to where you want to be.</p>
<p>I used Kaplan’s Premier Program, and when in June 2009 I didn’t even know the full form of the SAT, what were the total marks, what sections it had… in June 2010 I took the exam and got 2280. The book covered the entire syllabus and taught me good techniques and strategies for all sections. I didn’t take any of the practice tests in the book because I didn’t wanna take any practice tests from a third-party. No matter what the maker claims, such tests will always be synthetic and will never reflect the actual test.</p>
<p>For practice tests I bought the official Study Guide and took the practice tests in that. I didn’t even complete all 10 (just 3, lol). 10 tests are more than sufficient all the practice tests you’ll ever need, if you take them smartly and not just mechanically. After taking a test, don’t just score your test and dump the paper in your drawer. See where you went wrong, open your reference book and beef up that section. Similarly, improve all your weak areas. Then, take the next test. Look out for new mistakes. Be wary of committing new mistakes. Examine your errors. Improve your understanding of those areas. Rinse and repeat. Rinse and repeat.</p>
<p>You have a lot of time. you can easily improve your score substantially. I only started studying for my test in November and finished the course within 2 months (I went very leisurely). I took a 3 month break from all things SAT to concentrate on school and only took a few practice tests in May. More than enough for me.</p>