<p>I have a 550 in math and I have exactly one month before the test. I'm determined to get a 650 or higher on the math portion. Which studybooks are the best for an improvement of 100 points in exacty ONE MONTH. I already have Grubers but should I study something else? Thanks for input.</p>
<p>I've heard that Gruber's is good for math but never tried it myself. I think if you want practice tests you should use the College Board blue book. For harder stuff you might want to try Barron's.</p>
<p>Practice Practice Practice!
Here's the best tip I can give you: do NOT memorize formulas. Instead, learn how they can be applied to the problem. it is the key to success!</p>
<p>Agreed with anhtimmy- sooo many of the difficult math questions can be solved by simply plugging in numbers and applying simple math concepts. Don't get tripped up by those difficult questions.</p>
<p>Also, just to add bit. There's usually an easy way and a hard way to do each math problem.</p>
<p>By easy, I mean it shouldn't take you longer than a minute, whereas the the hard way would take you 3-4 minutes. </p>
<p>So, something I found that helps me a lot is to finish the beginning math problems quickly (remember, they are in order of difficulty) so you can accumulate a lot of time for the last few. It's not always easy to spot the short way to solve some of the harder problems and you WILL need quite a bit of time thinking about some, so make sure time is available.</p>
<p>Once you know all the fundamental formulas, definitions, and ALL the special triangles (make a point to memorize the special right triangles, b/c you WILL use them :p ), the best thing you can do is take practice tests. Time yourself, work through the tests, and check your answers. If you miss any (this is key), make sure you CAREFULLY review them and see exactly how they were solved. This is a huge problem with the Blue Book as there are no explanations to the answers. So if you have a specific question, I'd strongly suggest you post it on here, or stick with practice tests WITH explanations. </p>
<p>Once again, I hope I was at least somewhat helpful. If you aren't catching on already, the best way to improve any section is simply practice. Period. :)</p>
<p>Kind of a side-note as I'm reading over this: Most of these tips assume you already know the basic math formulas, definitions, etc. If you don't know these yet, don't even pick up a practice test until you have them memorized. Most review books have a very useful summary section of things you should know. I used Princeton Review and think a lot of their techniques on the Math section are quite helpful.</p>