<p>Hi, I will be taking the SATs for the first time in January and I am shooting for over 2300. Can anyone give advice on what prep books are best for each specific sections? And can you also include lists of books that contain harder problems than the test? Thanks! </p>
<p>Right now, I am having trouble with reading and writing but my math is great.</p>
<p>You might want to post in the SAT section. This is for subject tests. </p>
<p>For critical reading, memorize vocabulary. I used unofficial 3000 SAT word dictionary, although this might be overkill as they have dumbed down vocab.
For reading passages, practice a lot and get a feel for what SAT asks and looks for. For example, whenever “qualified” is in a choice, it’s probably the answer. </p>
<p>For math, understand the basic concepts and practice. </p>
<p>For writing, a simple grammar book may help, although possibly unnecessary. There are only a few rules they test on: comparisons, parallelism, subject-verb, idioms (memorize these), word choice, ambiguity, dangling modifiers, gerunds, redundancy, etc.
The difficulty arises not from an obscure rule, but from hiding the rule in a confusing sentence.</p>
<p>I also don’t believe in prep books for the SAT. No matter how hard they try, they cannot write official style questions. They will mislead you. Practice with official material and use occasional reference material for grammar or vocab help.</p>