RocketReview Revolution

<p>I have seen many threads comparing Rocket Review with Gruber's or Grammatix etc. I just wanted to kow about RRR and what people who have used it feel about it. (So basically, if you think this is a pointless and repeated thread, I did do my research on CC!) What does everyone feel about this guide? The author seems to be very qualified and friendly. I have read in other thrrads that this book is good for getting people from the 650s to 750s. Is this true? (After 750 only Allah swt can help you, lol) I might as well ask, after 750 is it just luck or is their some polishing to do like Barron's 2400 to reach the 780s, 790s & 800s</p>

<p>My current practice scores-
Math ~ 670
Writing ~ 670
Critical Reading ~ 670</p>

<p>If anyone has any other suggestions other than RRR for a 650 to 700 improvement please comment.</p>

<p>Thank you all for being so kind as to read this post.</p>

<p>For you, I would say that RocketReview is a good option. If you have time, get Gruber's too because extra practice can't hurt, but it is huge. Also, I have Barrons 2400 and it's ok, just that by the time you get to the 750+ range, you're probably doing all the stuff in the book already.</p>

<p>I don't know about Grammatix, but I have heard mixed reviews.</p>

<p>Thanks for the reply tapedDuck. </p>

<p>Has anyone else used Rocket review with great results? Also it has one practice SAT, did you find it realistic?</p>

<p>According to Adam Robinson, 50% of the CR in the blue book is copied from the 10 RS book, 75% for math and 100% for the writing, so he claims. That leaves very little practice tests. So does anyone have any idea which practice test to use other than the ones I already am (which include)</p>

<p>Official SAT Study Guide
10 Real SATs (math + cr passages)
Rocketreview's practice</p>

<p>is Princeton Review good for practice</p>

<p>thanks</p>

<p>The best practice is actual administered SAT's you might borrow from friends, the QAS booklets for 3/05, 10/05, 1/06, 5/06, 10/06, and 1/07.
One of them is surely in the registration bulletin for the SAT, and if you can get last year's version, it has the 3/05 test in it. The tests listed above are the only actual SAT's that are available at all. Robinson's estimates about the stitched-together tests in the blue book are correct, give or take a few percentage points and some minor tweaking of questions and passages, though he underestimates the reuse of CR passages...some shorts are pieces of old longs. What he perhaps does not realize is that actual administered exams follow the same pattern, but based on unreleased old tests, rather than 10 REALS. So actual tests are the best, and they have no associates.
Next best: the CB online course allows you to access 6 tests which are comparable to the Official Guide (blue book), i.e. 2nd best in quality. Then, the many many prior editions of REAL SAT's going back from now to 1980 will help with passages, sentence completions, and 75% of the Math on the new SAT. Old SAT II Writing/English Composition tests (try interlibrary loans) are good for essay and grammar practice.
After that, PR's tests (Cracking the SAT and 11 Practice Tests are best.
I have yet to evaluate Adam's latest book.</p>

<p>Thank you montrose9272</p>

<p>You mentioned some QAS tests from different dates. Where can I get these tests? Are they sold or is there some other service required? </p>

<p>This may seem like a desperate and annoying question, because I have heard it asked before, does anyone want to just share previous exams they have for the SAT? I do not have anything to trade but I wish CC was more open so trading wasn't necessary. Rather, we have an online barter system here and I don't blame you. When something is given something is expected in return. Nonetheless, if their is any generous altruistic CCer out there just give me a shout. Thanks.</p>

<p>Enough of my ranting. Any other comments or advice/experience with RRR?</p>

<p>Thank you all...</p>

<p>Ask around from people who took those test dates.</p>

<p>So the practice tests in the Blue Book are basically the same as in the Red Book (10 RS)? I have both books and although the review sections are essentially the same, the practice tests are different. I haven't compared the books, but from my studying I haven't noticed many similarities in the tests.</p>

<p>The Blue Book is composed of previously released QAS booklets, with 20-25% of the math content replaced with modified Math 1 and occasionally brand new content, QC and Analogies removed, short passages added (though often excised from old long passages), and SAT-II Writing/TSWE/PSAT questions inserted from other old tests. Questions have been moved around from one section to another, one test to another, and reordered based on response data, obviously, but it's all old stuff.
The old 10 REALS were simply QAS booklets bound into one volume.
So the Blue Book is composed of mostly previously available material, but in a different form. I have sourced over 90% of it. I have also analyzed it and discovered that it is designed according to exactly the same specs as actual administered SAT's, though clearly these tests weren't ever administered in this particular form.</p>

<p>So there isn't ANY overlap between the practice test questions in the BB and the RB??? Or is the Blue Book just a reorganized Red Book?</p>

<p>I don't want to know about the practice tests as a whole, but whether there are any questions repeated. My quick search revealed no overlaps.</p>

<p>So does this seem preparation and practice enough to go from my 670s, to lets say 770s...</p>

<p>Math
Gruber's Math Section
Barron's Math workbook for the New SAT
Rocket Review Revolution</p>

<p>Writing
Barron's Writing workbook for the New SAT
Gruber's Grammar Section
Rocket Review Revolution</p>

<p>Critical Reading
Barron's Critical Reading workbook for the New SAT
Rocket Review Revolution</p>

<p>Practice
Total 18 collected New SATs
(Includes Bluebook 8)
30 CR passages ripped out of the old 10 RS book</p>

<p>Overall finetuning
Barron's 2400</p>

<p>I have been through the 10 RS book, 3rd Edition, and the Blue Book both, over and over and over and over again with dozens and dozens of students (God help me), and the overlap is <em>sure</em> not 50% between the CR sections of both books. It is way, way lower than that. I have noticed that the long passages were occasionally recycled as short passages, but the overlap is so small that many students work all the way through both books without noticing the similarities. </p>

<p>It could be that if you compiled all three editions of the 10 RS books, you might find much more significant overlap than I have seen. But there were only three 10 RS editions, and I know that the 2nd and 3rd overlap significantly, although I haven't checked out the 1st one. I believe that there are only two or three new tests in the 3rd one. </p>

<p>Moreover, the red 10 RS did not even include a writing section, so I am not quite sure how the overlap could be 100%.</p>

<p>It seems to me like there's been some kind of misunderstanding. Was Adam Robinson--whoever he is; I'm not familiar with that source/post--comparing the Blue Book to <em>all</em> previously published College Board material? If so, his stats might make sense (cf Montrose9272's excellent research). Otherwise his percentages seem a little strange.</p>

<p>Monstrose9272, that was some high-quality advice; thank you for that.</p>

<p>The Oct 05 test is the one in the prep book, right? I have compared the first two sections and they seem to be the same.</p>

<p>you are correct tapedduck.</p>

<p>Yes, lotf629, the ETS process for making actual administered exams and the ones in the blue book and CB online course is the same, and yes Adam was referring to all CB materials. Like any good tutor, he has a good supply of QAS. I found the same pattern when I first dissected the blue book. When I took the 3/05 exam, I had two 25-minute grammar sections. Even though one was obviously used to pre-test grammar with a larger (and different), I had seen every question on them many times before, back on SAT II Writing in 2000-2002. It was the first time I couldn't tell which was unscored, because they were arranged identically, and neither was from a previous SAT-I administration.</p>