<p>Hi--has anyone tried either of these? I have been getting consistent 600s on my Math practice tests, and I'd like to figure out how to do better. I'm not very fast with my calculator and some of my senior friends who are say it helps them a lot with math. I'm interested in hearing other people's experiences.</p>
<p>Thanks for your input!</p>
<p>Even my efficiency with my ti-89 calculator can’t get me in the consistent 700s range. Seriously, the calculator isn’t much of a help for the SAT reasoning test.</p>
<p>I found that my calculator helped me a lot on the SAT, with both checking my answers and working faster.</p>
<p>I didn’t have either of these books, so I can’t tell you if they’re any good–it looks like the second one is more geared towards the math subject tests as opposed to the general test. Remember though that your calculator isn’t going to be helpful for you at all if you can’t figure out what the problem’s asking in the first place.</p>
<p>A calculator is very helpful for math II, but it’s pretty much useless for the SAT math section - as someone who got an 800 on the math section, I can say that I only used my calculator for basic addition, subtraction and multiplication - a four-function would have been fine had I not had a graphing calculator available. While I’m too lazy to dig out the study, I remember reading that graphing calculator-users averaged about 30 points higher then people who did everything by hand.</p>
<p>kingcobrah,</p>
<p>I’ve been getting about the same on my practice tests, though I’ve gotten a few around 700 as well. I’m not sure how much these books will help, but I’m actually going to order them anyway. I’ve tried practically every sat book out there with varying success, so i figure spending $10-30 is a pretty good deal if I can get a scholarship to college. I’ll report back when I get the books and let you know what I think.</p>
<p>sat2400fish</p>
<p>hi again,</p>
<p>So for whoever’s interested, I received both of these books today. I haven’t had a chance to look through them too closely, though they both seem to have fairly good tips. The first one is definitely more geared to the SAT reasoning math, and I’ve found a few tips so far which I think will actually be pretty helpful, especially on some harder problems. It also has some normal math shortcuts.
The second one is geared more toward the subject test, and as such focuses a little bit more on using your calculator to evaluate expressions so you don’t have to know as much math. Both books have a fair amount on how to use your calculator in the first place.</p>
<p>I’ll look into these books in more detail later.</p>
<p>sat2400fish</p>