Super Hard Math SAT Books

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>I have worked through "Crush the Math SAT", "Math SAT 800", and "SAT Math Prep 800" to improve my tutoring, and for that purpose they are all fine. I have used Barrons and "Barrons Math SAT Workbook", which are harder than the real SAT, but suitable for a student with a score in the 600s.</p>

<p>I was wondering if anyone had an opinion on which is best for a student with a 700+ score? Or do you think none of them are good? </p>

<p>I know there is a book thread, but this seemed like a separate topic. I also know a lot of people here believe in real SATs only. I willing to discuss that if you feel prep books aren't the way for a student with a 700 score.</p>

2

<p>Are you looking for a book you haven’t used before? Or just some opinions on the ones you listed? I can’t help you much with the former, but I scored 800 with Barron’s.</p>

3

<p>I used to tutor a lot about 10 years ago and used Barrons, Barrons Math Workbook, and the Real SAT book. I think Barrons has good illustrative problems. Was wondering if anyone had an opinion on the books I listed or other hard ones. They wouldn’t be appropriate for someone scoring under 700.</p>

4

<p>I have Crush the Test. The problems are fun to do and they get me in the spirit of creative problem solving. As long as you realize the problems aren’t representative of actual SAT problems, it’s a great book for 700+ scorers. I really liked the algebra problems and the “roman numeral” problems for them. I did find one blatant error for one problem where the solution didn’t foil a square. The solution claimed something along the lines of “(a+b)^2= a^2+b^2.” Some of the problems are also worded ambiguously. </p>

5

<p>AMC problems are pretty challenging too. The way those problems force you to think creatively will help you on the last 1-2 problems on the SAT math sections (usually the hardest problems).</p>

6

<p>What’s AMC? American Math Competition?</p>

<p>Yeh, Crush the Test seemed like the hardest SAT book, but maybe the least realistic. </p>

<p>All the really hard books I mentioned are challenging for me, but I can do almost all of them. I tutor and can consistently get 790-800, but got 720 when I took it in high school.</p>

<p>Actually, I think SAT Math Prep 800 is maybe the most realistic of the hard ones, but I will only use it if a student is doing so well I can’t find enough material in Barrons.</p>

7

<p>@sattut google “AOPS” (Art of problem solving), go to its website, and look up AMC math problems for the years 2000 - 2012.</p>

<p>There’s a ton of high level problems that only require you to know up to pre-calculus. </p>

8

<p>Doing a bunch of AMC 10/12 problems really helps. I did a lot of contest math in HS, so scoring 800 on the math SAT was no problem for me.</p>

<p>The first 10-15 problems are generally pretty straightforward, but can get quite difficult, especially the last 5 problems (for me).</p>

9

<p>@MITer94 lmao for me, after #10 the problems became nearly impossible, with only a few exceptions. Did you practice a lot over the summer to get prepared for the AMC 12s? Because I failed mine this year (76.5) and I’d like to qualify for the AIME as an incoming senior. </p>

<p>Not necessarily for college reasons but more for my own ego than anything else :(|) </p>

10

<p>I practiced a lot during the year and summer, but mostly for AIME/USAMO so my AMC 12 scores were usually around 110-120. </p>

11

<p>To bump my own thread, is there a specific link to books are materials on the web for AMC problems you would recommend working through?</p>

<p>I have worked through all the problems in the 3 books I mentioned, and am currently on a 2nd pass through them. They are useful for me as a tutor, although I rarely have a need to have students use them.</p>

<p>I would recommend working through all of them if you have scored 760-790 or find the hard problems in real SATs and other prep books easy.</p>