Hello,
I’m a high school student outside of the U.S. who is preparing for SAT and TOEFL. There is lot of discussion on this website and these are pretty helpful but i can’t find my answers on them. So, i decided to create this one (Actually i. I hope you can help to solve my questions.
First of all, I want to take SAT I , Math, Science and World History. My Math and Science lessons very good and i believe i can take 800 on it. Problem is, my english isn’t that good for SAT 1 English section. My English level is b1 or b2 on CEFR. I can understand most of texts but my grammar,writing and reading (advanced text words like don’t use on a daily life) is bad, like you can see.
My question is simple; How can i improve my english for SAT and TOEFL as an international student? Can you suggest some books?
I will buy books such as “The Only Grammar Book You’ll Ever Need: A One-Stop Source for Every Writing Assignment” and Erica L. Meltzer’s “The Critical Reader” and “The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar” but im not sure it is enough. Especially i can’t find good books for English Learning (true word is probably linguistic?) books. All about practice tests.
Thank you.
Another thing I’d suggest for sat grammar is kaplans writing book. It helps a lot by giving you all the grammar rules and exercises. It also has good essay writing tips.
Maybe you should try to read some novels? It’ll prepare you for the essay writing, if nothing else. Harry Potter is always a good start.
Thank you for the advice. I have to learn grammar and other kind of things perfectly before starting to take practice tests. However, reading novels can be very helpful while studying. Especially books including essays like “The Best American Essays of the Century”. Also, i haven’t heard good things about Kaplan. At least for the subject tests. Do you have any alternative english learning books with subject explanation? or single grammar book is enough to learn basic? When i complete basic rules on that grammar books, how can i go advanced? Should i take practice tests and read books such as essays, novels to improve my english? I don’t know how to study to the second language and i don’t believe these are enough.
Hey Kesshokori, English is my second language as well, but I’ve been living in the U.S. for the past eight years, though. I don’t know about getting Kaplan books because they haven’t been helpful to me. What I do want to recommend to you are Erica Meltzer’s SAT grammar books. I scored a 440 on the SAT writing section (yikes), but after going through her two books (both the grammar book and the workbook), I’ve been getting around a 600-650 on my practice exams only after a few weeks of studying. She covers all the grammar expected to be found on the SAT. I think you should look into it. Good luck