<p>Okay, I want to get my hands on the absolute hardest prep books practice tests/sets that money can buy. Tests that wil totally eclipse the blue book's tests in terms of difficulty. Which book(s) contains tests like that?</p>
<p>For critical reading, I would suggest trying out the GRE publications b/c their questions are similar in style to SAT ones, but much harder with complex vocab. </p>
<p>FOr math: I would suggest doing the AMC problem series math competitions b/c their problems eclipse SAT ones. </p>
<p>For writing: Use barrons. It's annoying and hard.</p>
<p>AMC eclipse SAT ones? What?</p>
<p>AMCs are a pain and require you to actually think. Totally different than SAT problems.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mathleague.com/contests.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.mathleague.com/contests.htm</a></p>
<p>I think the 7th and 8th grade problems are more like SAT Math problems. You do it quickly and accurately, and try not to fall for their tricks.</p>
<p>I've always wanted to get my hands on the IMO compendium -- would those problems be more than sufficient to challenge my mind mathematically and prep me for an 800 math?</p>
<p>The 2400 books only include the hardest problems on the test. I used Barron's 2400 and raised my verbal 100 points.</p>
<p>Oh, and Ashraf, how is the Kaplan Workbook by the way?</p>
<p>nyjunior, the Kaplan workbooks are extremely useful. I went through most of the math workbook, took a blue book test, and my score rose a respectable 30 points from my March 10 SAT to a 740. </p>
<p>I'm now going through Barron's math workbook and it's even better than Kaplan's, if you're interested.</p>
<p>Barrons. period.</p>
<p>I'd get ~8-12 wrong on the writing practice exams and I only missed 2 on the Mar. SAT.</p>
<p>How about Barron's other sections? Are they correspondingly difficult?</p>
<p>I used the critical reading section a lot. By the time the real SAT came around, I thought the passages were simple compared to those in Barron 2400.</p>
<p>The Barrons CR vocab is a smidge easier than actual SAT vocab, at least in terms of the context that the words are used in. The passages are a bit harder. In terms of practice test vs. real test, Barrons is anywhere from 8 to 10 questions missed harder on writing, 2 to 4 questions missed harder on CR and about 1 or 2 harder on MA. </p>
<p>For other books:</p>
<p>Blue book:
MA: 1 question easier
CR: ~2 questions harder
WR: ~2 questions easier</p>
<p>Kaplan:
MA: 2-3 questions harder
CR: too easy.
WR: too easy.</p>
<p>Princeton:
MA:spot on
CR: ~1 question harder
WR: 3 or 4 questions easier</p>
<p>The people at Barnes and Noble knew me pretttttty well....haha</p>
<p>I would probably have to go with barron's for reading</p>
<p>Princeton .</p>
<p>I would love to help you Ashraf (as I indeed always do :)), but for me, everything is just too easy. </p>
<p>Anyhow, for the common person, I would have to say Barron's is hardest (though I only have Kaplan, Barrons, and Blue Book, so I cannot judge the Princeton yet).</p>