<p>Hello everyone. I don't post on CC too often, but I read through the threads practically everyday.</p>
<p>I had a quick question. Whenever I would read about someone's study plan, they always claim to study solely from the BB. </p>
<p>I have the BB, and like others, I wish not to exhaust the material from it and wish to save it for last.</p>
<p>Since I am taking the SAT in a little less than a year, I am confused on what prep resources to use. I have a few already, but since I shouldn't use the BB in the large amount of time I have, then what should I use?</p>
<p>Money is not an issue at all for me. The prep books I have are:</p>
<p>BB
Grubers
DH 1&2
Barrons
Dr. Chungs.</p>
<p>Now, my main question is, since I have a year to study for the SAT, how should I utilize the BB. What other prep materials should I get? Should I expand the BB overtime or use it last. If I use it last, what practice tests should I use?</p>
<p>I don't want to do something I'll regret in terms of going through all my CB practice tests.</p>
<p>For those who have gone in a similar situation, please give some advice/success stories/methods that increased your scores! I am scoring in the 1700's right now (I hope for a 2100+). I am willing to work hard, just need a boost. </p>
<p>Thank you!!</p>
<p>The best prep, or one of the best, is too read as many books as you can. Read classic novels. 19th century novels. It will build your vocabulary and reading comprehension at an alarming rate. Trust me. I went from 580 to 720 CR in between the march and october tests from doing that.</p>
<p>Oh really? I am a painfully slow reader, so the benefits might be good. What books did you read?</p>
<p>I feel that one year out is a little early to be hitting the prep books. You can definitely start now be reading, though I recommend reading magazines like TIME (personal preference) that have a lot of high vocabulary. </p>
<p>Start vocab now. Compile lists of words that you don’t know and look up all their definitions. I would also recommend sparknotes 1000 and 250 words lists. Vocab is the one thing that can constantly be improved, so starting earlier will be a big help.</p>
<p>Schedule it out so that the ten tests from the blue book coincide with the 10 Saturdays preceding the actual test so that you get the greatest effect. (You may want to start 12 weeks before, just to make sure that you finish them all). If possible, find some more practice tests to take during the summer. You may want to buy the online collegeboard prep course. It’s 10 tests for I think $22, and will give you a lot more tests to study. Most other tests from companies aren’t as good as the blue book for obvious reasons.</p>
<p>Start methodically reading through those prep books and doing the exercises during the summer, since that’s the best time to study. Note that the blue book is not super helpful in terms of tips, and is actually more prized for its practice tests. However, Silverturtle’s SAT guide (which is stickied, just search the thread for a pdf) is quite useful in terms of tips.</p>
<p>One final tip that I wish I knew earlier. Compile a notebook of all the questions you missed on practice tests. Just cut them out and paste them into a notebook so that you can quickly review all past mistakes.</p>
<p>Anyways, that’s pretty much what I did. Studied over the summer, took practice tests every Saturday (I’ve taken around 18), and just built it into my routine. I ended up scoring a 2250 in October, and am retaking in December.</p>
<p>Good luck over the next year!</p>
<p>Wow! Thank you very much! Very motivating, and thank you for giving me a game plan for the rest of the year! I really appreciate, thank you.</p>
<p>Time magazine is pretty bad. Maybe try Harper’s, Atlantic Monthly, Smithsonian, New York Times Magazine, N+1…stuff like that…</p>