<p>1) how much time should i spend on vocab.. i used to do 80 words a week when i had barrons vocab flashcards because it was easy to go through... but now im going to get that 750 word thing but its going to be much harder to study from because its a list rather than flashcards (studying for these words takes FOREVER XD)</p>
<p>2) How do these books scores compare to the real test... in the barrons on average i get like 1750 (guesstimate) and in the CollegeBoard i get 1970 (guestimate again:P) yeah its a huge gap</p>
<p>3) As i was saying those scores are guesstimates.. how do i find out a more accurate score because these books keep giving me a HUGE score range (xpecially the CollegeBoard)</p>
<p>4) my english tutor keeps giving me 11s and 12s for the essays and im like *** im not a good writer... is just writing a coherent essay that proves a point with 5 paragraphs enough/ she keeps telling me shorter is better .. is this true?</p>
<p>2.) Of course, the college board tests are the best. If you compare the ones in the blue book to the barrons, you can see the difference.</p>
<p>3.) I don't know why the CollegeBoard ones would give you a big score range--they're all about the same. If you take them in standard testing conditions you should get around the same score, I think. Maybe you're not as good on certain passages as you are in others? I don't know, but they should all be the same level of difficulty.</p>
<p>4.) Well, she tells you that shorter is better because it's better to be brief than go on and on and on and on without making some kind of a point that would make the essay better for your grade, which depends on how well your thesis is along with the presentation of your thoughts, which shouldn't bore the reader because you keep going on and on. Yes, 5 paragraphs is good. All they care about is that you can actually write an essay and clearly state your thoughts. A well-developed 5-paragraph essay would definitely fill in the 2 pages.</p>
<ol>
<li> You should not study vocabulary to the exclusion of improving your performance on the passage-based reading questions, unless you are already doing quite well on them. One of the best things you can do, in learning vocabulary, is to make sure you know each and every single word in the questions or answer choices (or even in the passages) in the CR questions you work through (and you should be working from official CB materials, such as the Blue Book). Eighty to 100 words a week sounds good.</li>
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<p>2 & 3. There is no reliable way to compare your results from the two books. Generally, Barron's questions are a little more difficult, but they are also different in style from official questions (especially in Math and somewhat in CR -- it's the most accurate in the Writing questions). Stick with official CB questions, such as the Blue Book or Online Course. The conversion scales in the Blue Book are nearly meaningless. E-mail me for scales I produced specifically for the Blue Book.</p>
<ol>
<li> Shorter is not always better. In fact, on the SAT essay, longer is generally better (the content must be good, too, of course). Post a couple of your essays here, and we'll score them for you.</li>
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