<p>I've heard that the College Board book is easy and Barron's is hard, and stuff like that. Now I'm gonna buy my first book and I want to make sure that I buy an easy book, both math and critical reading. Which book do you suggest? Also, I see books with different editions (published in different years), are they that different than each other?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance</p>
<p>The book my kids used was “The REAL SAT Book” by College Board that has real tests in it. We also borrowed a vocabulary book for S, “Tooth and Nail,” a myster using a lot of the vocab words. He found it amusing how many unusual words they worked into the story (it had a built in glossary & reads like a novel). There are other versions but that was the original. Would recommend you look around your local library & bookstore and pick something you’ll actually USE–does no one any good gathering dust.</p>
<p>Test preparation books are usually at the same level, if not a tiny bit harder, than the actual test. When I was preparing for AIME and USAMO competitions, the practice exams, called “mock” exams, were much more difficult than the actual exam.</p>
<p>The collegeboard book, given that it is written by collegeboard and includes several old tests, is right on par with the real thing. Same with the online course.</p>
<p>Take the Princeton Review CR questions with a grain of salt. They rarely make line references (which the Blue Book questions/actual SAT almost always do) and the answers are all so convoluted/debatable.
PR’s math practice questions are excellent, though. They’re tougher than the real SAT math questions.
I’d start with PR’s math practice, Barron’s 2400 (writing section), and some Critical Reading guides from College Confidential. Don’t start on the Blue Book until you feel that you’re completely ready. I blew through all 13 of the official tests in two weeks (7 of the tests between BB1 and BB2 are the same) and now am just twiddling my thumbs until Saturday.</p>
<p>I would say stick with the SAT tests from Collegeboard. They have a very specific style that one needs to internalize. A lot of the easy and medium questions are often slight tweaks of older questions. It is okay to use general books for learning concepts, but please spend your valuable time on official questions.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about blowing through official tests. There are currently 37 official practice tests that you can access.
BB2 with DVD: 11 tests
BB1: 1 test, rest overlap with BB2.
Official online course: 10 tests
SAT QAS: 2006 to 2011: 10 unique tests(The 2006-2008 overlap with BB2 and online SAT course)
Official Practice Tests: 5 unique(Links here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1277787-links-additional-official-sat-practice-tests-collegeboard.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/1277787-links-additional-official-sat-practice-tests-collegeboard.html</a>)</p>
<p>37 tests should keep anyone busy. :)</p>
<p>where do you get access to the “10 unique tests”?</p>