<p>OK, so, like any other person preparing for the SAT, I had a hard time. My math score only went up a few points and many people on this forum suggested Gruber's, but I was completely skeptical. I had the Blue Book and PR 11 Tests, but what I noticed was that I would keep on making careless mistakes and I also noticed that my difficulty was not in applying the math, but learning instead how to approach the problem. Repeatedly told to buy Gruber's, I bought the book and now I have been converted from a skeptic to a believer. I can now breeze through many of the math problems, and the hard ones no longer take as much time as they used to. Gruber's is really excellent because it goes step-by-step and actually teaches you how to approach the problem, which is more important than applying the math and receiving an answer. In short, BUY GRUBER'S.........</p>
<p>what was your score then and what is it now? also did you read the WHOLE math section in grubers? Because I’m constantly getting low 700s (mid 700s at best) in the math section by missing 2-4 questions each time. Most of which are careless mistakes…how did you stop making careless mistakes on the math portion…any tips? (ps. I have the grubers book just never read the math section cuz was like 100+ pages T.T)</p>
<p>People actually purchase Gruber’s JUST for the math section - I myself have never used it but have heard great reviews for it. </p>
<p>^ The way I stopped making careless mistakes would be to reread the question two or three times - even if I thought I knew what the question was asking for: Often times, your calculation is not what is erroneous but what you perceive the question is asking.</p>
<p>Agreed. I feel so much more comfortable with math after using grubers, its undisputedly the preeminent math review book. Id recommend it to people who arn’t even planning to take the SATs.</p>
<p>^ Quix, which edition did you use? The Gruber’s 2009 and the 2008 edition are, from what I heard, the same exact edition (with few changes). Can you testify to that?</p>
<p>Ok, these kinda questions REALLY ****es me off lol…its probably mostly my fault but I came across a question:</p>
<p>Let the lengths of the sides of a triangle be represented by x+3, 2x-3, 3x-5. If perimeter of the triangle is 25, what is the length of the shortest side? </p>
<p>ok…so I solved for the X and put that down for the answer, thought i was done and moved on cuz i overlooked the “shortest side” part -_- how frustrating are careless mistakes like those? is it just me?</p>
<p>Yes, this is what happens to me as well
I just solved them by paying more attention the next time around. Another careless mistake would be the graph questions, asking for the greatest INCREASE rather than the greatest change.</p>
<p>7? haha yaeh take ur time dude underline the part of the question which says the “shortest side” thats what i would do</p>
<p>OK, so this is how I improved-
low 500’s to mid-600’s - PR 11 Practice Tests
mid-600’s to early 700’s - BB
It was always those “weird” or “abnormally hard” problems I did horrible on.
Now, I have at last achieved my dream score of 800 on all of my practice tests with Gruber’s.</p>
<p>Another thing, voodoo_santa, that I did to help me avoid careless mistakes was that I would underline the ending of the question. This way, I would be able to solve for what the question was really asking and it can also help you avoid minute mistakes, like solving for x when the question was asking for 3x. Just underline the last portion of the question. It takes 2 seconds and it helps tremendously.</p>
<p>^ wow I really envy u T.T you made a 300 point improvement in 1 section!!! wish I could do the same in CR (even a 100 point improvement would make me happy… I get mid 500s in CR T.T)</p>
<p>wow, im in the mid 600s on math, id love an 800 :]</p>
<p>Ballin how have you tested this 800? and is the math on the gruber’s the same level of difficulty as the SAT math?</p>
<p>btw how would u guys rate the practice tests in grubers? theres plenty of them but they don’t really seem that accurate compared to the bb ones I’ve done (imo they’re harder then normal)</p>
<p>They’re not as accurate but still good practice. its much more beneficial for those who are lacking the basics. If your scoring in the upper 600s - 700s then you should just practice with BB and then pinpoint your weaknesses and fix those weaknesses-as opposed to working through countless practice problems on other review books.</p>
<p>^ Agreed. I believe I will pick up Gruber’s today or tomorrow and just review over the concepts. I do not see the point in practicing things I will not need.</p>
<p>How is Gruber’s like for the Critical Reading section?</p>
<p>Pretty useless.</p>
<p>Does Gruber do SAT Math II?</p>
<p>I bought Gruber’s yesterday to see what the hype was all about and I can’t say I’m too impressed. This book is definitely helpful for those who are struggling with SAT math, but almost of no use if you have a general understanding of how to approach SAT math problems already…</p>
<p>^^That is probably very true. In my opinion, as I’ve stated before, the book is not valuable because of its practice problems, but because of the wide range of problems it covers and because it teaches you how to approach a wide variety of math problems. That is the key to an 800. Upon examining the book superficially, one will probably realize that the book is “useless or ordinary”, but if one really examines it closely, he/she will realize the book’s true value.</p>