<p>I have the Kaplan book, 12 Practice Tests for the SAT, Sixth Edition, copyright 2010, it's purple-ish. How difficult are the tests in this book compared to the real SAT and the blue book? Just got done with my first one and was surprised by a 740 writing score and by how easy most of the math questions were (I got a 620), and by my CR score, because I got a 640 and had predicted a 670+ because of last year's PSAT. I guess the math wasn't too surprising, it was around my PSAT score, but my CR was significantly lower and my writing was MUCH higher (because of essay? I was given a definite 5 or possible 6 by an AP Lit teacher, so I put the 5 down), so I can't help but wonder about the difficulty level of this book... Thoughts, answers, suggestions?</p>
<p>Bumpidy bump bump…!</p>
<p>Bump…</p>
<p>If the Kaplan SAT books are representative of their PSAT books, then they aren’t very accurate. I’m using the Kaplan PSAT book, the Blue Book, and actual PSATs to study for the PSAT. </p>
<p>I’m not saying that you shouldn’t get the book. If you run out of Blue Book tests, then by all means, get some other book, such as the Kaplan book you referenced. </p>
<p>I took a Kaplan practice PSAT yesterday and scored a 238. I took an official, 2007 PSAT today and scored a 218. Why such a huge delta? </p>
<p>First, Kaplan’s curve is very generous vs. the actual PSAT curve. I could get several questions wrong and still get an 80 according to Kaplan. Or, I could leave 1-2 blank and still get an 80. </p>
<p>Second, the math questions that the Kaplan book asks are slightly easier than the actual PSAT math questions. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, the writing and CR questions of the Kaplan book were pretty much on the mark, compared to both the Blue Book and the official PSATs.</p>
<p>Kaplan curves are deceivingly generous. I got -5 with 8 essay on the June SAT which according to the Kaplan curve would’ve gotten me like 710 or something. In actuality, I got 650.</p>