<p>Would you recommend using a book not made by CB?</p>
<p>I just saw thread where everyone said to not use Barrons, or any non-CB for CR, but that math and writing would be good for outside prep.</p>
<p>Has anyone felt they got screwed up by using an outside book? Or helped a lot? </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Grubers is terrible for Critical Reading & Writing</p>
<p>But IMO, Princeton Review is pretty good (not as good as CB though)</p>
<p>PR is horrible. I guess it would be good for practice?
But only if you're out of all the CB stuff you can get your hands on. PR is really not accurate..nothing like the real test.</p>
<p>I heard Barrons is really hard. One of my friends really liked it for the math..said it was harder but good practice. Barrons for CR is harder but I thought it was better than PR for CR.</p>
<p>Third party material is okay for learning math concepts, writing concepts, vocab words, etc.</p>
<p>But practice tests should ONLY be those made by the CB.</p>
<p>You'd be a fool if</p>
<p>A) You used the BB strategies for solving problems (the first ~300 pages)
or
B) Used non CB practice tests</p>
<p>Basically use an outside source for strategies and CB tests only for practice.</p>
<p>i second jamesford</p>
<p>I actually preferred using the Barron's CR workbook for my second SAT. While Barron's, imo, has a habit of using unrealistically difficult questions, this comes in handy on the CR. If you can focus on really dry passages and answer really in depth questions, you can definitely answer the easier ones.</p>
<p>yeah i was confused about this too. SOO what does one do whn he/she is done with the 8 tests in the BB???????????????????</p>
<p>Barrons IS hard. There's no denying it. Also, it asks a lot of grammar junk that isn't actually on the SAT. If you're stuck on math, though, definitely check it out because it has awesome tips.</p>
<p>there is nothing wrong with BB strategies, other than that they are very very basic. But it is not as if you read them you will be screwed up.</p>
<p>other prep books have better strategies though..</p>
<p>You don`t need any writing strategies .Just practice.</p>
<p>Wait, but if you think about it...</p>
<p>You take tests from PR or Kaplan (or some other SAT book) and review them, you are technically reviewing their stratagies. So, the BB may be more accurate score wise, but it def. won't hurt to take the tests in the other books.</p>
<p>btw....anyone know the diff. level of those books. Like, I know Barrons is harder, but what about PR and Kaplan? they're not accurate, but are they harder or easier?</p>
<p>^Think about it a bit more. When you take PR and Kaplan, you are reviewing their strategies (which are crappy anyways), but you are doing it on THE WRONG TEST. If you can only apply their strategies to tests that the company made, then it's like you just wasted your time learning something that you will never use. What is the point of learning a test taking strategy if it doesn't work when it actually comes down to it? (on the real test) </p>
<p>Oh, btw, most of PR's strategies revolve around the Process of Elimination. So if you already know how it works, then you can pretty much do yourself a favor and skip this book. </p>
<p>oh and second btw. If you don't know what you're talking about, please don't post. There have been way too many noobs lately who think they know what they're talking about giving people bad advice.</p>
<p>Personally PR raised my score but not to where I needed it. Eh, still a rise I guess!</p>
<p>Sorry if this sounds silly, but what is the BB? Is it the collegeboards's the official SAT study guide with the 8 practice tests? If it is, once I'm done with the practice tests, where can I get more collegeboard practice tests beside the online SAT course? Hope hopesome can clarify, thanks!</p>
<p>BB = Official collegeboard`s study guide .CCers call it ''the blue book'' .I bet you know why ];</p>
<p>there are 2 released practice tests and the old "Red Book," the old 10 Real SATs book from the time of before the writing section. PSATs are a good way to go too, you can purchase them straight from TCB</p>