<p>He is pointless.......i dont get it........can someone explain it to me>.</p>
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<p>As you may expect, there is no universal answer to this question. For some, very little time will be required. For others, the process will require a lengthy revision of concepts and the development of an adequate strategy.</p>
<p>Normally, students who prepare for the SAT should have covered the concepts that will be tested during their high school career. While the former SAT covered material up to 9th grade, the new test has introduced a few concepts from 10th or 11th grade. However, despite the changes, the need to study in ANTICIPATION of the test should still be MINIMAL. In most cases, all what will be needed is to dust off concepts that may not have been used for a couple of years, and become familiar with the format and the rather arcane language of the SAT.</p>
<p>It is for this reason that I recommend to re-discover the material in the more interactive process of learning or re-learning while practicing. It is also important to repeat that it is not necessary to STUDY any of the source books I recommend at the end of this post. One of the reasons is that the knowledge that is needed to do well on the SAT is neither extensive nor complicate. What separates most students from a great score is rarely a lack of school knowledge, but a lack of familiarity with the test and a lack of time management concepts. On this issue, I believe -with great conviction- that the best way to improve ones test knowledge and learn how to manage time is through dedicated practices. The number of practices that will be needed is, however, entirely dependent on the background of the student.</p>
<p>Lets look at how this works! To begin, everyone should have the Official Study Guide. Yes, that is the fat Blue Book published by the College Board. The book contains sections filled with generic and mostly vapid advice. While reading the first 376 pages of the book can be instructive, it is NOT necessary to read them before getting to the real benefit of the book: the eight exams. In this regard, the blue book is a bit different from its predecessors, since the tests are a mix of old and newly developed questions. In fact, it requires a small leap of faith to believe that the tests published will be as foretelling as in the past. However, there are no known substitutes to the material released by the College Board.</p>
<p>So, what do we do with the eight tests. This is my recommendation:</p>
<ol> <li><p>Set aside 1 or 2 tests for the assessment and exploration phase. In this phase, I recommend to get all your books out and start answering the questions without any time limits. Whenever youre stumped, take a peek at the response or even at the fully developed answers that are posted on the TCB site. The idea is to understand how ETS writes its questions and what makes certain questions more difficult than others. It is in this phase that one will use the outside material the most. This is when you will read about the process of elimination, working backwards, and other techniques that are more common sense than any great secrets. It should not take more than a few hours to exhaust the strategies and tips published in the source books. So, do not overestimate the time needed to check the source books. Again, there is no need to read anything that was not covered in a question. The index and table of contents should be your best best friends.</p></li> <li><p>For the second phase, youll need to answer the questions without open books, and with an eye on the clock. For the first test of this phase, you may cheat a bit and go over the allotted time. However, by the fourth (or third) test, you should be able to stay well within the limits. If you constantly need more time, it means that you are wasting time somewhere. This is where it is IMPORTANT to pay attention to your correct responses, and see if some different methods could have saved you precious time. For instance, spending 4-5 minutes on a single question unless it the last one on a section- is ALWAYS a bad idea. You need to develop the reflex to abandon questions that are known time-sinks, and develop your ability to recognize the lengthy questions. It is important to know that the TCB tests CAN be completed with time to spare. Not finishing a section is the result of poor time management and lacking skills, and not because of ETS trickiness. Also, realize that finishing a section with MUCH time to spare is also poor time management. Spend enough time on the SAT forum, and you will read about careless and dumb mistakes. Rushing through the test is never recommended!</p></li> <li><p>The last phase involves taking one or more tests under testing conditions. Some people recommend to build up your stamina by working through a few 4 hours ordeals. As usual the more you do, the better your preparation will be. While I do not subscribe to the theory that it is essential to take the test in a single session, I would leave it as an individual choice! If you are worried about your resistance, by all means, take a few timed and complete tests. My personal view is that I rather keep the practice sessions as fun and painless as possible. The College Board has published reports that indicate that high school students are able to take tests for about six hours before showing signs of fatigue. Obviously, a grain of salt is sometimes necessary to digest the official reports from the College Board.</p></li> </ol>
<p>Again, it is important to repeat that NOT everyone will have to take the eight tests. For some, the eight tests will be a major overkill. I do believe that anyone who goes through a preparation that includes working on this many tests should be VERY CLOSE to his or her expected maximum scores. At the end of the preparation, every possible SAT concept should have been covered and reviewed adequately. If a student made sure to verify all the answers, look up and compare proposed answers and methods in the source books, or discuss the questions on the SAT forum at CC, he should encounter very few surprises on THE official test.</p>
<p>However, some students may require or desire more practice sessions. As time passes by, more tests will become available through releases by TCB. A subscription to the online course of TCB gives accept to three additional tests as well as access the grading system for essays. My recommendation is to sign up for the service, especially if you need more tests.</p>
<p>This brings us to the question about source books. While I recommend to acquire as many books as feasible, this does not mean that one has to buy and read ten to twenty books cover to cover. For the old SAT, the recommended books composed a pretty short list. For general strategies, most of the books published by Princeton Review, Kaplan, or Barrons represented a good start: the strategies for the math sections were pretty interchangeable, but the verbal strategies offered a few variances. As usual, during the preparation phases, a student should try the strategies that fit him or her better. I found that concepts such as read the passage first or read the questions first were NOT as important as the techniques needed to approach the sentence completions and reading comprehension sections. Among the books, one deserves a special mention: and that is Grubers. In general terms, Gruber went further and faster than the other authors, and its math section was deeper and better. Alas, Grubers also included many elements that went beyond the scope of the old SAT. I am not sure if Gary Gruber intends to update his book soon, but it is still a very good choice as a source book. Again, the source books are NOT meant to be studied cover-to-cover but are meant to be used as you would use encyclopedia. You look up concepts when needed, and not in anticipation of possible questions. Let the practice tests guide what you need to review!</p>
<p>With the changes for the new SAT, we also witnessed the arrival of a few new books. So far, the books written by Adam Robinson (Rocket Review) and Pete Edwards (Maximum SAT) have raised the bar considerably, especially in clarity and focus. I would highly recommend making the books part of your library. However, this does not mean that students should follow Adam Robinsons often pompous and grandiloquent- recommendations and subject themselves to his recommended game plan. Use Robinsons book as a source to clarify a few blurry concepts, but again, let the practices dictate what you need. In this regard, Maximum SAT provides a cleaner and more subtle approach. Without the annoying and mostly unfounded- rhetoric of Robinson, Maximum SAT is able deliver what it promises! In the same vein, the solutions book published by Testmaster(s) should be a very valuable tool for everyone, especially for developing a set of shortcuts and tools.</p>
<p>To round up your source books, I would also recommend to add a good grammar book as well as the Grammatix guide. Guide books are different from source books that tend to focus more on theoretical approaches and try to be more complete. Some people may not like the more direct and shorter style of a guide book, or even doubt the effectiveness of the methods. However, when it comes to the most challenging part of the SAT (critical reading) I have yet to read a book that can help anyone as much as and as fast the Grammatix guide. However, I view source books and guide books as being complementary. Being able to cherry-picking the best from all sources is the key to a good self-preparation.</p>
<p>Lastly, as far as PSAT books, the books that were published last summer were mostly equal in their mediocrity. My only recommendation is to wait for new books to surface during the summer or simply use the SAT books and ignore the essay discussions.
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<p>Enjoy! (10 char)</p>
<p>it's not really pointless, it's just simple to the point that it seems pointless (aka you keep waiting for the "punch line" and it never comes . . .).</p>
<p>summarized- theres no shortcut</p>
<p>LOL, so very true. And it works!</p>
<p>its a pretty obvious approach. I used it without even the knowledge of the "xiggi " approach</p>
<p>its pretty much common sense. It works</p>
<p>I agree. I thought Xiggi would have a "magic bullet" approach. I finally realize there is no technique that will assist you in solving problems on the SAT, except for: practice, practice, practice.</p>
<p>Xiggi method = practice with someone's name on it</p>
<p>lol. true. practice makes perfect.</p>