<p>Which one is better? Are the Barrons tests a lot harder?</p>
<p>I don’t recommend using either. Have you tried using college board’s Blue Book? That’s the only book you should be using for critical reading. Practice tests are probably the best way to practice critical reading. The Blue Book contains ten practice tests. Once you finish those, you can pay for college board’s online course. There’s a discount in the Blue Book. You can also use PSATs to practice for the SAT. Your school/guidance counselor might have some SAT brochures that include practice tests. Finally, if you look around college confidential, there are a good amount of free practice tests.</p>
<p>I can’t speak for myself, but I’ve heard Barron’s CR is one of the best third party books to use. Obviously, the blue book (The Official SAT Study Guide) is the best source out there for practice tests. I’m not familiar with the other book you mentioned, though.</p>
<p>I’ve used Barron’s CR and it wasn’t anything special.</p>
<p>From what I’ve heard, Barrons is one of the hardest test prep books, so practicing the tests from that book will probably help you when you take the real thing. As for McGraw Hill, DO NOT use it. I’ve made the mistake of using it in the past, it is pure crap. Not only are the tips just stupid, but the practice tests are far too easy. I used their book for ACT prep and I would consistently get 33 on the practice tests when I was in 8th grade because of how easy it was, and when I took the real think I got a 29. Again, DO NOT use McGraw Hill, it’s a book designed to make people to feel good about themselves.</p>
<p>Once again, I advocate using ONLY the Blue Book/College board material (college board’s online course) for critical reading. Test book preps like kaplan, princeton review, barron’s, mcgraw, etc. all train you to think a certain way. You want to be trained the college board way, since college board is the ones who are actually making the SAT.</p>
<p>For the record, I got a 720 in critical reading.</p>