<p>@fledgling: Is that the Grubers complete SAT guide or the math workbook? I’m thinking of ordering the blue book 2nd ediction and just one other. (don’t really have a ton to spend)</p>
<p>@ Ruby_x3: I ordered the math workbook. I’ve heard that Gruber’s is only helpful when it comes to the math section.</p>
<p>Fledgling or firebunny, should just that blue book for this Christmas vacation be enough to yield a high score for a sub-1600er? (Even though Im intending on using my barrons as well.)</p>
<p>@fledgling: Thanks. I think i’ll order the complete SAT guide, though, as i’ve read that it’s a great companion with the blue book and has very helpful math sections as well.:D</p>
<p>Does anyone know how long it takes for my order to arrive if i live in the Asia/pacific region? And how much are the shipping costs?</p>
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<p>I think that since you only have so much time between now and the test, the blue book is good. The Barrons is reallyyy great, imo, because the problems in there are generally harder than the actual test, which makes test day seem like a breeze =D But yeah, those two are good books to stick with- good luck :)</p>
<p>@ HopefulEagle86: It should be pretty helpful. I got my blue book at the beginning of ninth grade, took the first math practice test, and scored a 580. At the end of ninth grade, I took the last math practice test, and scored a 740. I attribute this huge increase to the fact that I even used the blue book in the first place, because even though my Geometry and Algebra II/Trig classes certainly helped, the book itself really got me familiar with the format of the math questions, and I learned from my mistakes and developed strategies for future use.</p>
<p>Highest SAT score on my profile right now is a 1510. However, touched a 1680 today on my first test in the blue book. So I expect another 50 or 80 point increase tomorrow. There’s not that much time left for me.</p>
<p>I signed up for the lulz (honestly), I’m not familiar with the SAT process/format testing in any way at all (I took PSAT this year as a junior, it’s my only exposure to the “SAT” kinds of tests, although I’m not sure if they are indeed similar). </p>
<p>I’m simply going to try it out and see how I do; not going to prepare or worry or anything like that. Of course, ideally, I would like to score high.</p>
<p>lol @ Invoyable. Good luck! ;)</p>
<p>I am taking the January test as well (first time taking it)… just need to brush up on some writing concepts and I think I’ll be good to go. I generally score around 2300 on my practice tests, so I’ll be extremely disappointed if I get lower than 2250. </p>
<p>Does anyone know if this test has more Juniors than Seniors in consideration to the December test?</p>
<p>I believe this test will have more juniors. Many/most colleges have application due dates before January 23rd, so it would seem logical the test would be primarily juniors.</p>
<p>^ Probably true, but keep in mind that most colleges cite January as the last possible SAT date for seniors as well. So you’ll probably have your share of desperate/freaking out seniors trying to boost their score one last time :P</p>
<p>^ Very true, also. So I guess the dynamic will be juniors who want to start early and seniors taking it for their last time. I wonder what that will do to the difficulty/curve?</p>
<p>I imagine it’ll be average, because you’ll have the “inexperienced” (sorry, don’t mean that in a bad way :P) juniors on the one hand, and seniors who have taken it 10000 times on the other. Then again, these seniors are probably the ones who didn’t get very good scores (or scores they aren’t happy with) to begin with, which means that the curve will be nicer?</p>
<p>Yes. That’s my conclusion :D</p>
<p>Historical information about tests on various days (easy means test-takers did well; medium means test-takers’ performances were average; hard means test-takers did relatively poorly):</p>
<p>Math</p>
<p>January (Total tests: 4)
[ul][<em>]Hard: 1 (2006)
[</em>]Medium: 3 (2007-2009)
[<em>]Easy: 0
[/ul]
March (Total tests: 1)
[ul][li]Medium: 1 (2005)[/li][/ul]
May (Total tests: 4)
[ul][li]Hard: 1 (2009)[/li][</em>]Medium: 2 (2006, 2007)
[<em>]Easy: 1 (2008)
[/ul]
October (Total tests: 5)
[ul][li]Hard: 1 (2006)[/li][</em>]Medium: 1 (2005)
[li]Easy: 3 (2007-2009)[/li][/ul]</p>
<p>Analysis: Mean score for -1: in January, 790; in March, 790; in May, 792.5; in October, 784. </p>
<p>Conclusion: It seems that October test-takers tend to do the best, which results in strict curves in October. January test-takers have done about average for the last three years (i.e., -1=790).</p>
<p>Critical Reading</p>
<p>January (Total tests: 4)
[ul]
[<em>]Hard: 1 (2007)
[</em>]Medium: 1 (2009)
[<em>]Easy: 2 (2006, 2008)
[/ul]
March (Total tests: 1)
[ul]
[li]Medium: 1 (2005)[/li][/ul]
May (Total tests: 4)
[ul]
[li]Hard: 1 (2006)[/li][</em>]Medium: 1 (2009)
[<em>]Easy: 2 (2007,2008)
[/ul]
October (Total tests: 5)
[ul]
[li]Hard: 3 (2006-2008)[/li][</em>]Medium: 1 (2005,2009)
[li]Easy: 0 [/li][/ul]</p>
<p>Analysis: Mean score for -4 raw: in January, 767.5; in March, 770; in May, 770; in October, 780. </p>
<p>Conclusion: It seems that January test-takers tend to do the best, which results in strict curves in January. October test-takers tend to do the worst, resulting in liberal curves in October.</p>
<p>Writing Multiple-Choice Curves</p>
<p>January (Total tests: 4)
[ul]
[<em>]Hard: 1 (2008)
[</em>]Medium: 2 (2006,2007)
[<em>]Easy: 1 (2009)
[/ul]
March (Total tests: 1)
[ul]
[li]Hard: 1 (2005)[/li][/ul]
May (Total tests: 4)
[ul]
[li]Hard: 1 (2006)[/li][</em>]Medium: 2 (2007,2008)
[<em>]Easy: 1 (2009)
[/ul]
October (Total tests: 5)
[ul]
[li]Hard: 1 (2006)[/li][</em>]Medium: 4 (2005)
[li]Easy: 0 (2005,2006,2008,2009)[/li][/ul]</p>
<p>Analysis: Mean score for -1: in January, 78; in March, 80; in May, 78.25; in October, 78.8. </p>
<p>Conclusion: It seems that January test-takers tend to do the best, which results in strict curves in January. October test-takers tend to do the worst, which results in liberal curves in October.</p>
<p>Interesting results. January test-takers do the best in CR and Writing, whereas they do the worst in Math.</p>
<p>^ Haha that sounds exactly like me! Today I just saw my CR score jump up to the 750-800 range in the 1st edition Blue Book. I was really happy. And my Writing score’s usually an 800, unless I make a careless mistake somewhere. Math, on the other hand… lol. I’m still waiting for the Gruber’s SAT book that I ordered from Amazon a few days ago.</p>
<p>^ Remember another formula called I = PRT, where I = Interest of Rate, P = Amount of money given, R = % of the deposit/withdrawal, and T= Time in months/years.</p>
<p>Do you know how to tackle systems of equations? When do we add or subtract them?</p>
<p>^ Yes, I know how to handle systems of equations. What I do is that I usually find y in terms of x using the first equation, and then plug that into the second equation. (in the case of two variables) Three variables are little more complicated, but doable: it’s pretty much the same principle as what I just mentioned.</p>
<p>Thanks for the equation, by the way! I haven’t yet seen a problem dealing with money on the Math section, but I guess it could be useful. :D</p>
<p>Exponential Problems: Final amt. = Original amt. x (1 + or - growth change) ^ number of years change</p>
<p>Rates: Quantity A x Rate = Quantity B</p>
<p>Percentages: Increase or Decrease / Original amount = n / 100 or x 100</p>
<p>Now… what’s bothering me right now is the arithmetic progressions and geometric circles. I really hate those kind of problems. It cost me from a high score all the time.</p>