<p>I don’t think memorizing vocab is an efficient way to cram; it may be strategic when studying over long periods of time, but the chances of a extra words learned in a short period of time showing up on the test are slim. That being said, if you study vocab anyway I recommend Direct Hits like Mike said.</p>
<p>The SAT is totally different than the ACT. Just to put that out there. The Critical Reading on the SAT is way less straightforward, and the math is more ‘logic-brainteaser’ at times; it’s got less ‘school math’ than the ACT. Writing–they don’t tell you this, but the essay length matters for the SAT a lot. I don’t know if that’s true for the ACT.
A piece of advice often offered around these topics is to buy the Blue Book (Collegeboard Official SAT study guide)–not for its ‘tips’ and ‘strategies’, but purely for the 10 practice tests in it (which are published by the same company as the SAT, which makes them more accurate and more likely to help you improve your score than practice tests of test prep companies). I agree with that advice, especially if you’re cramming (each practice test takes about 3 hours, and you should spend considerable time going over your mistakes).
For Math, it’s just a matter of learning the concepts, getting used to the kind of curveballs they throw you (some people insist that CB doesn’t try to trick you, but I swear they do) and the format, and then learning your pitfalls.
Critical Reading is regarded to be the trickiest section to get a perfect score on. Common piece of advice: don’t let outside influences bias your choice; the answer is always supported directly in the passage. My personal advice is to take your time reading and really absorb the meaning of the passage before you even read the questions. The ACT English section is not only more straightforward but (in my opinion) presses you for time more–you spend less time on more questions, and after a single block you’re done with English for the rest of the test.</p>
<p>While I scored higher on the SAT than the ACT practice test I took (then again, it was only slightly higher and that was my first exposure to the ACT), I felt as if the ACT was easier somehow. It’s nice to only work on one subject for a huge block and then be done with it…for the SAT, you’ll do about 10-25 minutes of one section (usually 25) and then move on to another of a different subject, then go back to that subject later. For someone used to concentrating in ‘blocks’ this can be innately frustrating.</p>