<p>I'm going to start with the blue book (Collegeboard study guide 2nd edition). Do I start from chapter 1 to the last chapter and take notes then do the practice tests? Is taking notes helpful? </p>
<p>Here are the books I want to buy. Should I buy all 4? If so, then do I buy all 4 of them now?And what else do I need? I'm taking SATs first time in March.</p>
<p>I would take notes on the key rules to each section before you start the practice tests because it is very hard to do the same practice test more than once. (Because you can see your old answers!)</p>
<p>Yea so I should go through ALL the chapters than do the test right? And take notes? Even though I don’t look over my notes, it still helps to write and read over.</p>
<p>I disagree strongly. Don’t do Barrons. It may have good explanations, but they’re for questions that are different from CB questions so you are practicing the wrong materials. Review Important threads on this forum and you will see a consensus has been reached. There are several sources for good explanations for CB tests. Do a little research, find them and use those tests.</p>
<p>Ok so I’m confused, I don’t wanna waste my time…lol. So Barron’s Writing first I guess? Math is my strongest and time is a constraint, but I still have a lot of time in terms of months but each week I only have a few hours to study max.</p>
<p>Well… Barron’s is rage inducing and I heard the writing book is the worst of the 3. I would recommend going for Kaplan’s writing or just getting the SAT 2400 book by Barron’s to back up your blue book with strategies and impt grammar points</p>
<p>First, take a practice test. This should help you gauge where you should start with math. You shouldn’t do John Chung’s if your math score is like 550. Start with Gruber’s or something.</p>
<p>As an SAT tutor, I never recommend Barron’s or PR or any of those prep books. The information in the blue book (first third of the book) is a waste of time in my opinion.</p>
<p>I got John Chung’s SAT math book, it taught me a bunch of tricks. Take notes on the Tips, then consolidate your notes and take a few of the 20 practice tests. Eventually, the tricks from each tip will be ingrained in your head after you take his practice tests. It’s a hard book but when you go from that to the actual SAT math questions you will literally get every question right.</p>
<p>Writing -> learn the grammar rules and practice using the blue book tests. I used The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar and various websites.</p>
<p>Reading -> Larry Krieger’s SAT 500 Essential Words. I also used The College Panda’s anki flashcards. Every time you get a vocab question wrong, never forget the vocab word that caused you to get the question wrong.</p>
<p>I took 23 full practice tests. (10 from the blue book, 10 from the Online SAT Course, 1 from Princeton Review, the 2 Official Practice released tests). I did 2-3 a week. In addition, I did 8-10 of the John Chung practice tests. </p>
<p>Before doing everything I listed above, I got a 1750 on the SAT. After doing everything above, my score went up 580 points. </p>
<p>You have plenty of time, by the way. So don’t get too stressed out about it. I did everything I did above from September -> December of my senior year of high school.</p>
<p>I have never used Barron’s SAT 2400 so I can’t comment on how good of a prep book it is. </p>
<p>As for the book you linked, those kinds of general SAT books are huge and I personally found it annoying to sift through all of the basic information in there. There are better books specifically designed for higher scorers. The main issue is that the practice questions they give are not College Board questions, so they do not accurately resemble test questions.</p>
<p>As for which section you should start first between CR and W, it completely depends on your initial skill levels in each section. </p>
<p>From tutoring and my own personal experience, Critical Reading is probably the hardest section to improve in. You need to memorize a bunch of vocabulary words and tackle some pretty boring passages. You have to practice until you are able to easily analyze any passage and maintain a high enough level of interest to read it quickly. This is a skill that just comes from analyzing dozens of CR passages. </p>
<p>Anybody that says Critical Reading is easier than Writing is just really good at analyzing passages and has a strong vocabulary.</p>
<p>Writing is just learning the formula for writing the essay and memorizing the 10 or so grammar rules for the MC questions. Then you just do a bunch of practice until the grammar rules become second nature. </p>
<p>If you want an 800 in math, I recommend Dr. John Chung’s SAT Math. It has 20 math practice tests and 58 tips designed specifically for tackling level 5 questions. Some explanations are vague, but I know of several people that used that book and got 770+ in math.</p>
<p>Alright, thanks solarcode. I need someone else to tell me if I should get SAT 2400. If not, then I’ll order the 3 books you mentioned and I guess I’ll be set? And I already have the blue book. </p>
<p>On a side note, since I’m taking AP Bio (only available AP class in my high school), the teacher makes us do barron’s ap bio book and makes us take notes and copy the figures, it’s so stupid lol, but if I don’t do it, I’ll fail the class.</p>
<p>Hello? So about the schedule…What about January SATs then March SATs, and then AP/SAT II Bio and AP Chinese in May and SAT II Math Level 2 in June?
And potentially Oct 3rd time SATs…</p>
<p>Then I’ll have to study now until January
I was going to take SATs in March and June, 1st and 2nd time respectively, but for ED I need to take SATs 3rd time in October for it to work.</p>
<p>Your planned testing schedule is pretty good. It’s similar to the one I did my junior year.</p>
<p>Prepare for January SATs starting now. </p>
<p>So just keep studying for the SAT from now until March 8 SAT. Then put all of your energy into AP’s. Then as soon as AP’s end, put all your energy into studying for SAT II’s. Then after SAT II’s and throughout the summer, if you aren’t happy with your March SAT score, study for the October SAT’s.</p>
<p>I don’t like the March/June SAT idea because if you screw up the June SAT, you will have SAT II’s to worry about in addition to retaking the SAT in the fall. So you wouldn’t be able to apply ED unless they accepted November scores.</p>
<p>Just a tip, by the way:</p>
<p>I highly recommend that you continue studying for the SAT even after you take it on January 25th. Don’t wait until you get your January SAT scores to start studying for the March SATs. Don’t bank on getting a decent score. If you get a score way lower than you anticipated, you will have only 3 weeks from the time you get your scores to the March SATs. This all comes from personal experience, by the way. Happened to me.</p>
<p>That is correct. Nothing can ever replace PRACTICING WITH REAL TESTS! Blue Book has about 10. There are about 10-20 other legally released QAs in circulation. I have most of them, but I have absolutely no interest in selling or trading or giving anyone free tests, SO DON’T PM ME or ask me in these threads to give you any. LOL</p>
<p>You don’t even need any of these practice test books. I would say all the tips and strategies on this site provide some of the most informative and applicable skills to date. There is even an excellent vocab thread in which a student compiled a list of over 1000 words by percentage based on 60 real sat/psat tests.</p>
