<p>I used it when I needed a push into the 700s in CR, and it did that, but beyond 700 it's ineffective. No, you're not going to get an 800 if you don't know much advanced vocab besides the vocab offered in this book, or unless you're very, very lucky. Barron's 3500 did that for me.</p>
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<p>It was ineffective for you; let’s not generalize. Direct Hits has been very effective on many of the recent tests, especially considering its brevity. Will it continue to do that? I’m not sure, but many who used it in the past are thankful for having done so.</p>
<p>I took the May test… it was effective on some but if it weren’t for Barron’s list I would’ve probably missed 4-5 sentence completions. You can’t rely on DH alone.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure there was a ‘hit list’ comparing different vocabulary list, and even being a meager ~400 words, DH had the best hit ratio among all of them, including Baron’s 3500.</p>
<p>^Yes there was, but it merely compared the ‘hit rate’ which is the total words/hits. Obviously since Barron’s is so vast it had the lowest rate. But DH had 10/20 hits whereas Barron’s had 17/20, and allegedly more according to some posters. I definitely remember seeing that comparison.</p>
<p>Does anyone have the link?</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/669189-vocab-book-performed-best-march-14-sat.html?highlight=hit+list[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/669189-vocab-book-performed-best-march-14-sat.html?highlight=hit+list</a></p>
<p>Thank you. Here is the relevant part:</p>
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<p>Clearly, Direct Hits was the most efficient. Although Barron’s did indeed have more hits, it had a very low hit rate; most people aren’t willing to study over 3,000 more words to get a few more hits. And one poster reported:</p>
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<p>14 hits compared to 19, however, the ratios are vastly different. </p>
<p>That said, if you’re not up to crunching through 3500 words, DH is the way to go.</p>
<p>DH is a gamble - some tests it has 14 hits, others, like the one I took, it’s not as lucky. Barron’s is a surefire for every test.</p>
<p>It mostly lists difficult words, so I suppose it didn’t waste space for ones like perplexing and intemperate.</p>
<p>Those are words you should know without studying.</p>
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<p>No, but it probably does usually have more hits than DH. If someone is willing to spend the time and effort to go through Barron’s list as well as Direct Hits, then that will make them likelier to know all the words. But most do not have that willingness; indeed, their time is likely better spent on preparation with practice tests.</p>
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<p>I’m pretty sure “intemperate” shows up in Volume 1 of DH (but please, nobody kill me for revealing this word -_-).</p>
<p>YOU AGAIN! STONE THIS COCKROACH!
jk thanks for the words dude =D. I did get the new version but your list made finding the new words easier.</p>
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<p>DH is neither a gamble nor the panacea some pretend it to be. I hope that there will be day when students might realize that the value of little books such as DH does not come from … listing words. </p>
<p>Fwiw, except for an incredibly small numbers of students, Barron’s is an incredibly poor choice in preparing for the SAT as it is nothing else than a time sink. Feel free to read my expanded thoughts on the subject and links to … list of words. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/764274-vocabulary-lists-pros-cons-old-links.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/764274-vocabulary-lists-pros-cons-old-links.html</a></p>
<p>One more thing: there is NO validity whatsover in the “hit analysises” that compare various lists of words, and this for the simplest of reason, namely that the choice of difficult word is entirely subjective. In the past, people who compiled such statistics (and I did it to DEMONSTRATE how ineffective list of words are) have to make assumptions about the difficulty of the words and tend to include words that do not deserve to be listed as tough.</p>
<p>Look at this list of words: </p>
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<p>It is just silly to include most of those words. Obviously, 8 out 10 words listed are listed to nake a point; a point that is not worth making! Look at the best one: the word METAPHOR! </p>
<p>And, if people want to know, there is a company that produced a list of about 100 words that appear on all SAT tests. However, the same company is adamant about the fact that studying lists of words is simply an exercise in futility. I could not agree more!</p>
<p>In fact since all lists are based on compiling words from past tests, the simplest and more effective way is to READ those past tests. No matter how one slices it, reading the past tests will ALWAYS identiify more words than any editor would.</p>
<p>Are words from past tests used again?</p>
<p>which company are you referring to that produced a list of 100 words that appear on all SAT tests?</p>
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<p>Yes.</p>
<p>(word count)</p>