<p>Hey, Im just wondering - would you say that the practices such as those on sparknotes and Kaplan's study book are good indicators of the difficulty of the actual exam? Or are they harder or easier?</p>
<p>I got 650 and 670 on the 2 sparknotes tests I took the day before the real test. I ended up getting 710 on the real thing…I would say sparknotes is harder.</p>
<p>I feel that sparknotes is harder (that’s all I used to study along with doing well in my AP US history class), I capped at a 720 on sparknotes and got an 800 on the real exam… but I feel I got lucky on the real exam.
I always feel that practices tend to be a bit harder because you spend more time on the real test etc. but they are generally a fair indicator.</p>
<p>Thanks guys! I got capped a 730 on the sparknotes exam… I was a little worried!</p>
<p>I found the Sparknotes tests a bit nitpicky, but very helpful in terms of preparation. If you’ve managed a 730 on Sparknotes, I would think you’d be able to work up to an 800 and be very well prepared. Regarding difficulty, the Kaplan tests are spot-on (IMO).</p>
<p>I got a 660 on my sparknotes history practice tests.
I got a 670, 690, and 710 from the Kaplan USH subject test book.
I got a 740 on the real thing.</p>
<p>Both are too hard, I’d say. As someone else said, SN is too nitpicky (the score reflects that). Kaplan is close, but each answer choices is like a sentence long, while on the real thing, each choice is like a few words. So, Kaplan too is slightly harder.</p>
<p>I’ve taken 7 of the 8 sparknotes tests (1 a week, starting a month from AP exams) and got 670,700,760,780,740,760,800… I think I’ll be fine… </p>
<p>NB: After the fifth test, it gives me a score of zero and when you review the test it highlights the wrong answer as correct, but the description of what answer is write and whether you got a question correct or not is still accurate. weird. I had to calculate the last three scores myself based on the curve they used.</p>
<p>^
Exactly why I don’t trust sparknotes tests in anything. Decent practice, but don’t fixate on the scores.</p>
<p>So not to reveal any of past specific questions on the subject test or anything, but is the general consensus that the actual exam contains much simpler questions?</p>