<p>I just took the Barron's Diagnostic test. I didn't check my answers and I only used 41 minutes, but I still managed to get an 800 (raw score: 47.75). I know the consensus is that Barron's is harder than the real thing, so I'm sorry if this sounds like I'm bragging, but I'm pretty busy and I want to know how much time I should devote to studying this test to be sure to get 800 when I take it in the spring.</p>
<p>Stop studying and relax. You'll get a 800. If you can manage an 800 on Barrons you'll definitely get all the hard questions. Just don't make too many careless mistakes. Good luck!</p>
<p>You're getting an 800. Relax.</p>
<p>Wow, you're a Beast.</p>
<p>Thanks for the laudatory comments, guys. I've always been good at math in general, but this achievement probably stems from my habit of doing math competitions "ghetto-style", i.e. relying on mad skills with a calculator instead of making use of established formulas that need to be memorized.</p>
<p>I suppose it wasn't clear from my original post, but I was a little worried that perhaps the diagnostic test was easier than the sample tests at the end of the book. Do any of you know if this is the case?</p>
<p>Why don't you just try some questions in the back of the book instead of posting on CC?</p>
<p>Well, llpitch, there are two main reasons. </p>
<p>First, as mentioned in the first post, I'm pretty busy right now, and as implied, doing a whole practice test would take too much time. "Too much time" is, of course, relative, but when an alternative that takes only a few minutes of time exists, I think most people who care about efficiency would jump for that option. As a note, I did look at a few questions in the back and they didn't seem too much harder, but the only way to tell would be to actually take the whole thing.</p>
<p>The second incentive for me taking my chosen course of action is that when a member on this forum has a low post count, others assume that he doesn't know or at least doesn't practice proper forum etiquette. This phenomenon can be illustrated by the interaction that the two of us have had, or my interpretation of that interaction, anyway; my apologies if you were not feeling impatient with me in your post. Of course, posting is the only way to eliminate this discrimination, and I don't feel comfortable with flooding or making meaningless posts. </p>
<p>When I saw the opportunity to work toward solving both of those problems, I jumped for it; sorry if it caused you any undue stress.</p>
<p>to be safe, just do a few more hard questions, you'll definitely have no problem scoring an 800 in the real SAT, that is, if you don't make too many careless mistakes. =) anyone who can score 800 for barrons should find SAT Math 2 a breeze, if you pace yourself well.</p>