<p>I am a high school sophomore and I recently took to the PSAT. My score was ok (around 1600) and I was wondering what the best tools/resources and books were to help prepare and study for the real SAT, which I am planning to take sometime this spring. Obviously, I am looking to come as close to a perfect score as I possibly can, and I am willing to put in the work to do so. Also, any books/resources that I should be aware of as being unreliable or are "Red Flagged" I would like to be aware of those as well. Thank you.</p>
<p>Definitely buy Collegeboard’s “Blue Book” which is their official SAT guide. It really is just a giant, blue book that you can find at most libraries or bookstores.
For math, I’ve heard that you can practice with Gruber’s. I did, but only after I had tons of experience taking practice tests. Some of the math problems in Gruber’s are really hard and would never actually be found on the SAT. After taking a ton of practice tests, I kind of had a feel for which questions in Gruber’s were that level of difficulty and I usually just skipped those. But in short, Gruber’s is pretty good for math. I used Barron’s math workbook for math- there were some mistakes and I’m not sure how much it actually helped. But then again, I’m naturally pretty good at math, so Barron’s was good for practice.
Get the Barron’s writing workbook- to excel in the writing section, you really just have to memorize a bunch of writing rules and those are all featured in the Barron’s writing workbook. And since it’s a workbook, it gives you practice.</p>
<p>Some people might recommend Direct Hits for vocabulary. That’s cool and all; you can also buy flashcards and most SAT critical reading books have lists of vocab. You can find lists of vocab pretty much everywhere. I believe Sparknotes has one?</p>
<p>I recommend that you stay far, far away from any Kaplan books. </p>
<p>The best way to study for the SAT is to take lots of practice tests. There are ten- I think- in the Blue Book. Once you finish that, you can go online to Collegeboard’s SAT course. The lessons themselves aren’t particularly helpful, but it features ten additional practice tests.</p>
<p>I think if you look around on college confidential, you should be able to find plenty of free tests. And you can always use PSATs to study for the SAT, as well. </p>
<p>Use this for essay advice:<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/645763-how-write-12-essay-just-10-days.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/645763-how-write-12-essay-just-10-days.html</a></p>
<p>Finally, cut out all the questions you get wrong on the practice tests and tape/glue them into a notebook or composition book. Review those questions and make sure you really understand how to do them and why you got them wrong.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Cool, thanks. What were your scores like?</p>
<p>I took the SAT three times during my junior year:
October: 2150 (730 math, 680 reading, 740 writing)
January: 2260 (800 math, 720 reading, 740 writing)
March: 2290 (800 math, 690 reading, 800 writing)
Superscore: 2320</p>
<p>I took the PSAT twice; sophomore year I got a 201 and junior year, I got a 231.</p>
<p>Wow, those are great scores. Thanks for the help!</p>
<p>You’re welcome! PM me if you need anything else!</p>