<p>i have the 10 real SATs, the blue CB book, and several other prep books, but i don't know whats the best way to use them. i've already done two practice tests out of the blue book, but whats the best way to study to insure that my test scores would increase? would doing practice tests alone automatically boost my score?</p>
<p>No, not if you don't analyze what you did wrong (or right, for that matter). Do you have a good overall review guide that has test-taking strategies? Or just practice test books? Study strategies and work on your fundamentals (i.e. math formulas and grammar mostly), and keep an error log to see where you're going wrong. Don't just keep taking practice tests without understanding what you're really doing.</p>
<p>ahhh okay. so say i'm not doing well in long passage based critical reading. would i try to analyze the long passed based questions i've done before and try to understand what i did wrong, or should i work on a new set?</p>
<p>the only book i have that actually gives strategies is a kaplan lesson plan book, and from reading the topics on this board, i have reason to believe that it is useless (correct me if i'm wrong). are there any other books out there that are good candidates for SAT strategies?</p>
<p>btw my score range is near 1920. i'm shooting for 2300 by next spring.</p>
<p>You should definitely go back and see why you got each question wrong or right - don't skip over the questions you got correct when you review the test. See this</a> thread for more information on what's been called the "Xiggi method" - basically, it involves taking practice tests and then review each question, isolating areas of weakness and using prep books and other resources to review concepts (especially for writing and math). The posts by Carolyn and me and Xiggi's first post summarize the thread fairly well - the rest of the thread is basically Xiggi and some professional tutors discussing different strategies and what works for who etc</p>