<p>Well, Sophomore year I got a 1390 on my PSAT, pathetic. This year, Junior year, I think I will be getting a 1570. My goal on the PSAT is to break 2000! What sorts of practice tests, books, etc have you used? I am determined to achieve my goal and will do anything it takes. I know I can do much better than my PSAT scores.</p>
<p><em>note</em> I am in all Honors/AP classes, and I know I am capable of doing MUCH better! </p>
<p>I recently took the SAT a couple days ago. I had scored 2300+ on practice tests, so here are some of the resources I used:</p>
<p>The best practice tests are always those from the College Board itself. If you haven’t already, you should get the Blue Book, which has 10 practice tests. You can also look online for the practice tests that are released with each school year. If you have a lot of time, then you can look for books that include practice tests like Kaplan, Barrons, or Princeton Review, although they may slightly differ from the actual test in terms of difficulty. </p>
<p>For the Critical Reading section, I found Direct Hits (Volumes I and II) very helpful, and it is one of the best resources for learning vocab out there. I have also heard good things about the The Insider’s Complete Guide to SAT Vocabulary: The Essential 500 Words, Princeton Review’s Hit Parade, Rocket Review, and WordSmart, although I didn’t use all of them. As soon as you start learning vocab, trudging through vocab word lists becomes easier as you add more words to your mental storage. As for the actual reading questions, I would suggest just taking a bunch of practice sections. For all the questions you were unsure of, you should read the explanations for why the correct answer was correct and why the incorrect answers were wrong. Something that helped me out a lot is to keep in mind that any correct answer MUST be supported by the text. If any part of the answer is iffy or suspicious, try looking for a better answer with evidence from the text. But there are threads on CC that give very thorough strategies for the CR section, so you should give those a look.</p>
<p>For the Writing sections, I used Erica Meltzer’s The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar, and it helped me out a lot. Her approach was very calculated and thorough, and for section, she includes practice problems. For the essay, you should search up a thread on CC called “How to Write a 12 Essay in Just 10 Days,” which gives insight and a framework/template upon which you can write every essay. </p>
<p>For the Math section, I didn’t use any specific book, but just took a bunch of practice sections. I hear that the videos on KhanAcademy are helpful as well as Dr. John Chung’s SAT Math book. Maybe someone else could provide more information regarding this?</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>For Math, try PWN the SAT math guide, anything by Dr. Steve or the New Math SAT Game Plan.</p>