<p>Why do so many people here (judging by threads i've read) have like 4 different SAT books (like, books, not just a book full of practice tests)? There's no way you could read everything in each, even smaller chance you'd learn it all; wouldn't you be better served by just getting 1, maybe 2 of these books, and spending the time you have from NOT reading your other X books on practice tests?</p>
<p>While one book may be slightly better than others for a particular section, is it necessary to buy it just for that section to raise the score 20-40 points? Isn't that a little obsessive? The scores depend a lot on random things; some days the "hardest" question might be one you know how to do, other days you've never seen it and get it wrong, losing your 20 points, so looking for such a small point raise by buying a book is not practical imo.</p>
<p>Thoughts? This is not a condemnation or anything, people who do have so many books, I just want to understand why.</p>
<p>1) They believe in the big name brands, such as Barron’s, Kalpan, and Princeton Review, and when they finally realize they need better books, they have already bought three useless ones.</p>
<p>2) They believe that more prep books = better score</p>
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<p>Yes. But I’d amend that to include reading regular fiction and nonfiction books. There’s a reason why kids who read a lot every day and don’t do any SAT prep get 800’s on CR.</p>
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<p>Yes.</p>
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<p>That’s terrible logic. In your opinion, therefore, because there can be problems on the SAT that you don’t know how to do, it’s futile to prep. . . . </p>
<p>It’s not obsessive to buy 4 books. It’s obsessive to read 4 books cover to cover. You gain nothing from reading 4 WR prep sections, though what you gain from the one that suites you best is a lot. You may need to sample the 4 books in order to find which book has the WR section that offers you the best advice.</p>
<p>I took the SAT via Duke TIP in the seventh grade and OD’ed on test prep books (I think I got 5?).This year I used just the Princeton Review SAT guide and the Underground Guide to the SAT to study for the PSAT and I did really well (I take the SAT for the first time March 1). It just depends on the time you’re willing to spend on the books. I didn’t have the willpower to read five books front to back so they were a waste of money for me. They might not be for some of the more hardcore SAT takers.</p>
<p>That isn’t quite what I meant… First, that “hardest problem” is just from my own experience, and it only applies to math. I’ve been a one book guy myself, and there’s been 1-2 practice tests where I haven’t known how to do one problem. There have been plenty of other tests where I have known how to do all problems and any errors come from dumb mistakes. I could have done some more prep, but I’m not sure I would have figured those questions out anyway if i hadn’t happened to prep for that particular type. I’m not saying it’s futile to prep, but I am saying that it seems like a waste to over-prep for a small amount of points. Unfortunately, one such problem appeared for me on the Jan. SAT; had some other random, same difficulty level but different type of problem been there, I would have snagged the extra 20pts with no additional prep. Luck of the draw, and I don’t see how you can deny that. The only way to avoid that, 100% for sure is to know everything there is to know.</p>
<p>anyway, that’s just my opinion, I would not say that it’s terrible logic.</p>
<p>my opinion in 1 sentence: it’s a waste of time and money to buy so many books to raise a score a mere 20 points (total, if it was per section it might be worth it). It is NOT futile to study so much, but it’s… a stretch.</p>
<p>Honestly, I think you really only need two books…Cracking the SAT for strategy (easily the best one I found) and the tests and CB’s tests. If CB had answer explanations it would be perfect, but the Cracking tests do have them and they’re immensely helpful.</p>
<p>I did that. I used most of them and got to my target score within a few months. I think it was more that I was really nervous–and lacked the skill set. Each book had its own separate perspective on HOW to do different things and that really came in useful. I used them for the SAT Writing/Math. But I couldn’t get through the reading passages in the extra reading ones I bought. Too boring.</p>
<p>Realize, that those of us buying the books may not be taking expensive SAT courses and are using these books as our strategies in lieu of some $3,000 course that takes up more free time than reading the books for 30 min a day or so. </p>
<p>Between my PSAT/SAT, I knew that for the colleges I was interested in, I needed to dramatically boost my score by over 300 points. And these books gave me the ability to do so. The way I figure it: $20 here on a book I skim over is much cheaper than $3,000 in a course I sleep in.</p>
<p>I actually gave my unused books to a friend to have so they could save money.</p>
<p>I definitely have too many books. Barron’s SAT 2007-2008, Barron’s 2400, BlueBook, Princeton Review, Kaplan, RocketReview, and I just ordered Grubers! Honestly though I find Kaplan completely useless and Princeton Review is not for you if you want to get a 2100. If I could start all over(say go back in time and pick books for me to learn), I would only buy RocketReview, the Blue Book, and maybe Grubers because I hear that it’s great on math.</p>
<p>i have Cracking the SAT (Princeton Review) and the CB BlueBook. How do you think the Princeton Review practice tests compare to the BlueBook practice tests, or real SATs i guess. Just curious.</p>
<p>thanks for your response dino. i thought the math was very similar to the real SAT math and maybe even a bit harder. But i thought the writing was way too easy considering i only got two questions wrong on the entire test and usually I’m around high 600s for practice SATs.</p>