<p>For those of you who have taken the SAT and gotten a high score? Which books do you recommend, even if they're not one of the titles above. I have the CB Blue book, which other book(s) could make the best combination?</p>
<p>edit: my weakest sections are Critical Reading & Writing. CR being the weakest? Would it just be better to go with a CR workbook like barrons?</p>
<p>If you can afford it, consider studying with a private tutor. My son increased his CR from 620 to 680 and Writing from 660 to 790!!! However the cost was $150/hr.</p>
<p>any other comments?</p>
<p>um...this is just a general review tip...get both books out of the library and compare to the blue book..for example, some books focus on crazy hard math when all you might need is basic algebra brush up...or extremely easy passages when you need help with harder ones...</p>
<p>would kaplan 2400 be recommended WITH UpYourScore? Anyone?</p>
<p>Stick with one method of preparation because their strategies often contradict and will confuse you.</p>
<p>which one would be recommended? are there any other books that I should get besides a strategy guide and the blue book?</p>
<p>let me put it this way, since i suck at CR, should i get kaplan 2400 or barrons critical reading workbook?</p>
<p>barrons is goood not sure bout kaplan though i kno people who uped their cr scores 100 to 150 pts using this book and its only 15$</p>
<p>barrons critical reading wrkbk or barrons 2400?</p>
<p>depends on what your strengths/weaknesses are...</p>
<p>i used collegeboard's book and upped both cr and math to 800s. but i only read the cr section, b/c my math score was decent anyway...</p>
<p><strong>it gives some good strategy questions, like the whole "predict an answer" thing for cr questions: when reading the question, think of a logical answer, b/c CB will have answers that are true statements (and very tempting to pick), but not real answers to the question.</strong></p>
<p>actually that was pretty much the most worthwhile thing. </p>
<p>as for tutoring...idk, i don't really see the value in it, but if it's something you can afford, i guess you should go for it. the only thing i did for math was get the qotd in email, and then talk to my math teacher about any ?s i had. we have departmental centers for each subject at my school, so i just visited the math one from time to time (although more for prepping for math ii sat ii) to get FREE help. yay for public school.</p>
<p>zel17, did u really use only the CollegeGuide's book to get 1600? I would kill for an 800 reading. Did u mostly read their guide or take the practice tests? How do u get the explanations if u don't understand an answer in the practice tests? Did u use any other guides to improve critical reading?
what did u up ur score from? what was your psats?</p>
<p>I suggest the CB blue book as your primary "book" option. Really, the thing that will boost yo the most is not strategies that people tell you to use, but the repetitive action of taking tests over and over. The more you take, the better you will get. As you answer morea nd more questions, develop your own strategies for getting them right.
I would not recommend anything but the real thing (stuff from CB) for prep. But if you are looking for something after you finish the CB book, I highly recommend the CB Online SAT Course, which gives even more tests.
I am not so fond of the SAT as a tool to measure thinking skills, but I must admit that the more you do think about things "critically" and analytically, and the more you really try to understand things in your maths/english subjects, the better you will do.
Good luck, and remember to keep the importance of this one little test in perspective.</p>
<p>leetx--
originally 680 CR, 740 math (800 on writing, God knows how!)...my soph year. </p>
<p>to prepare for 2nd time, junior year, i didn't read the math section at all b/c that's already a strong suit; i had just made some stupid mistakes. but yeah, that's all i used...that and sat question of the day in my inbox...woot. oh, i read a little bit of the strategy stuff, and took 2 full-length practice tests. but i didn't have the time to do more. which stinks, b/c the marathon bit of SATs is the hardest part!</p>
<p>i honestly don't remember psats...i was either 98th or 99th percentile, but wasn't good enough to get sf in nys. hate my state and its annoying smart ppl. i ended up with commended.</p>
<p>yeah, i was a bit odd--took sats spring of my soph year as practice for psats (my school only lets you take it once; idk why), took psats fall of junior yr, then sats again in spring of junior yr.</p>
<p>fyi--you need to empty your inbox thing on CC. ;)</p>
<p>i emptyed it. What guides did u find most helpful for CR? and writing</p>