<p>I got the SAT college board blue book. There are some strategies and practice questions in the beginning but most of the book's content lies in the ten practice tests. The book recommends that you sit down and do the whole test, do you recommend this? The only time I could practice then would be on weekends because I can't take a 3 hour test during the week, do you recommend doing single sections or whole tests? Also, what do you recommend for improving vocabulary besides just reading, I have a 5000 word list but I feel like it's not effective just straight memorizing.</p>
<p>Every weekend, take one full test in one setting.</p>
<p>Everyday take a section.</p>
<p>I agree with Imsteven. Even if you only have 5 minutes, yo can also do online practice like the question of the day. Just try to mould the study schedule to your life. And remember to take (reasonable) breaks.</p>
<p>Taking full or even partial practice tests is not an effective way of studying. You might want to read my article “The Correct Way to Prepare for SAT Math.” It’s posted on this forum. Just do a search.</p>
<p>Why wouldn’t you want to do practice tests, then you get the satisfaction of marked progress and get to know what you’re doing wrong. I just took one and must admit it is an arduous task, but who cares? CR +40 and Math +40!</p>
<p>The purpose of taking practice tests is to gauge your progress and to make sure you are implementing strategy and using your time effectively. You can fulfill this by taking about 4 practice tests before your SAT (I recommend roughly one per month). </p>
<p>If you are using full practice tests for the purpose of everyday practice, then you are not using your time efficiently.</p>
<p>You are probably spending time doing lots of problems that you are not even having any difficulty with. This isn’t so bad since it will give you confidence. But you are probably also spending a lot of time on problems that are too difficult. For example, if you are having trouble with Level 2 geometry problems, then you should not be wasting time doing Level 4 and 5 geometry problems. You should wait until you get better at Level 2 and 3 first. </p>
<p>If you study by only taking practice tests, going over your answers carefully, and redoing questions you get wrong, then yes, your score will go up. But have you made the most efficient use of your time - definitely not! You will probably have put in much more time for SAT prep than you needed to. </p>
<p>So yes, you do need to take a few practice tests (always use Official College Board tests), but for day to day study I strongly recommend focusing on problems that are at and slightly above your current ablity level.</p>
<p>@DrSteve I disagree. Doing easier problems reinforces concepts and gives you practice for the real thing. Doing hard problems are of course important to do, but when you walk in for the test, the number 1 problem is worth the same as the 20th. </p>
<p>I just did practice tests and got a 2350 in my first sitting, so it obviously works.</p>
<p>@Master</p>
<p>I agree with your first sentence. But I do not necessarly agree that doing hard problems is important to do. A student currently scoring a 400 in SAT math for example should generally not be looking at level 4 and 5 problems. This is a waste of time for them since they can get up to a score of about 600 without answering a single hard question. </p>
<p>Your last sentence is logically flawed. Using one person as an example (yourself in this case) does not give any evidence that a certain approach does or does not work for the general population. Furthermore, you are an outlier. Anyone that gets a 2350 their first time taking the SAT should probably not be used as a model for the proper way to prepare. To be fair I don’t know your starting score, but I’m guessing that any kind of preparation would have been effective for you.</p>
<p>By the way I’m not trying to be argumentative here. I just want to make sure that students reading this thread are getting the most out of their SAT preparation. This especially goes for the general student that probably isn’t as motivated as you and will burn out very quickly if faced with doing lots of full practice tests.</p>
<p>Like I said, if you take full practice tests, and keep doing questions you got wrong until you can get them right, then yes, your score will improve. This method worked fine for you because you were going for a score higher than 2100. But for most, this is just not the most efficient way to prepare. If you want to use only the College Board Blue Book for your preparation, then that is fine. But, you should still focus on the problems that will be most effective in raising your score, and you should study in short bursts (no more than 20 minutes at a time) to maximize retention. You can save the first 4 tests to take as full length exams, and use the other 6 tests for daily 10 to 20 minute practice sessions.</p>
<p>I would say take a test maybe every other weekend. Use the week to analyse the questions you got wrong. Use CC, use the internet, friends, teachers, w/e for those questions that you simply don’t get. Keep a log or something of questions that you commonly get wrong. Write all the vocabulary you don’t know + study from your vocab list.</p>
<p>I actually benefit dramatically from brute force memorization. I spend one summer (freshman summer) just studying 3,500 words from Barron. This might not work for everyone and you might not have the luxury of time. But it definitely helped me and vocab has never been a problem since either in the SC or the passages.
I got 1 SC wrong the first SAT’s i took and 0 SC wrong the 2nd SAT I took.</p>
<p>I do admit 3,500 words is crazy so I recommend getting Direct Hits (1&2)
[Direct</a> Hits Core Vocabulary of the SAT 5th Edition (2013) (Volume 1): Direct Hits, Ted Griffith: 9781936551132: Amazon.com: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Direct-Hits-Core-Vocabulary-SAT/dp/1936551136/ref=la_B008VWXKTW_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356303298&sr=1-1]Direct”>http://www.amazon.com/Direct-Hits-Core-Vocabulary-SAT/dp/1936551136/ref=la_B008VWXKTW_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1356303298&sr=1-1)
[Direct</a> Hits Toughest Vocabulary of the SAT 5th Edition (Volume 2): Direct Hits, Ted Griffith: 9781936551149: Amazon.com: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Direct-Hits-Toughest-Vocabulary-SAT/dp/1936551144/ref=la_B008VWXKTW_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1356303298&sr=1-2]Direct”>http://www.amazon.com/Direct-Hits-Toughest-Vocabulary-SAT/dp/1936551144/ref=la_B008VWXKTW_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1356303298&sr=1-2)</p>
<p>And study the vocab from the BB and you should be fine tbh.</p>
<p>For Grammar: I used this <a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-SAT-Writing-Workbook/dp/1419550705/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356303437&sr=1-1&keywords=kaplan+sat+writing[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/Kaplan-SAT-Writing-Workbook/dp/1419550705/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356303437&sr=1-1&keywords=kaplan+sat+writing</a></p>
<p>For the essay: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/645763-how-write-12-essay-just-10-days-11.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/645763-how-write-12-essay-just-10-days-11.html</a></p>
<p>For CR: Just stick to the BB/PSAT/ QAS and use the advice above of just analyzing the questions you got wrong and knowing how to spot the correct answers from the incorrect wrong. </p>
<p>For Math: There’s more options. I find Barron and PR’s math sections to be quite accurate. Just stay away from CR. I’m a big believer that you should stick to CR from the people who creates the test. </p>
<p>Barron: <a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Barrons-SAT-26th-Book-Only/dp/1438000197/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356303607&sr=1-1&keywords=barron+sat[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/Barrons-SAT-26th-Book-Only/dp/1438000197/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356303607&sr=1-1&keywords=barron+sat</a></p>
<p>Fair enough Dr. Steve</p>