Which Vocab Book/List Performed Best on the Nov 08 SAT?

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>Thanks to the excellent compilation by stephan520 (See Nov 2008 SAT CR Post 359) we now have a strong consensus on the key vocabulary words on the Nov 08 SAT. By my count there were 22 key words. Here they are:</p>

<p>Metaphor, disparity, zealous, ameliorate, copious, acerbic, solicitous, discriminating, loquacious, antediluvian, unsavory, discern, provisional, virtuosity, preclude, chicanery, paradox, anecdote, skepticism, nuance, personification, and ironic.</p>

<p>So how did the best known vocabulary books/lists perform? Here are the results:</p>

<li>Direct Hits Vocabulary: 365 words - 12 Hits = 30.4 words per hit</li>
<li>Barron’s Hot Words: 396 words - 11 Hits = 36 words per hit</li>
<li>TestMasters: 254 words: 6 Hits = 42.3 words per hit</li>
<li>Rocket Review Core Words: 323 words - 6 hits = 53.8 words per hit</li>
<li>Princeton Review Hit Parade: 254 words - 4 hits = 63.5 words per hit</li>
<li>SparkNotes 1000: 1000 words:11 hits = 90.9 words per hit</li>
<li>Word Smart: 1505 words: 16 hits = 94 words per hit</li>
<li>Kaplan’s Score Raising Dictionary: 1000 words - 6 hits = 166.6 words per hit</li>
<li>Kaplan’s Basic SAT Book: 500 words - 3 hits = 166.6 words per hit
10 Gruber’s 3400 Word List: 3,400 words - 20 hits = 170 words per hit
11 Barron’s 3500 Word Mini-Dictionary: 3,500 words - 20 hits = 175 words per hit</li>
</ol>

2

<p>Is the direct hits person one of the test makers or what?</p>

<p>Direct Hits also aced the International SAT!</p>

3

<p>Thoughts and Conclusions:</p>

<ol>
<li>Direct Hits held its position as the top performing SAT vocabulary book. </li>
<li>Test takers who followed my long-standing advice by studying Princeton Review,
Rocket Review and Direct Hits would have done very well. With approximately
500 words these three sources produced 16 hits or one hit per 31.2 words. This remains the most efficient way to study vocabulary for an SAT.</li>
<li>As I have noted, it is also extremely useful to study the CC compilations. Amazingly, NUANCE has appeared as an answer on the June 08, October 08, and now November 08 SATs. I missed it in June but got it right in October and November. Couldn't believe it was a key word in a sentence completion and the right answer to a critical reading on the November SAT. Thnx ETS! LOL!!</li>
<li>Barron's and Gruber's lists do produce hits. But they also contain a huge number of words to memorize. Interestingly, Barron's missed acerbic and personification and Gruber's missed acerbic and solicitous. So even with 3,500 nobody is perfect.</li>
<li>SparkNotes online list of 1,000 words performed well as did Princeton Review's Word Smart.</li>
<li>Kaplan's continues to be awful. Just three hits out of 500 words. They have yet to produce more than 4 hits on any SAT.</li>
<li>Did anyone else notice that Wrongdoing..chicanery had actually appeared on the January 07 SAT? Amazing. This was a released test which means plenty of people, including me, had copies. Thank you again ETS.</li>
<li>If Stephan520's consensus list is correct I am headed for a possible 800. In October I missed a number of close questions. But not this time. Things seem to have really broken my way. Can't wait for the election on Tuesday and the SAT results in two weeks. I will be up at 5:00 AM guaranteed.</li>
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4

<p>Good Luck!!</p>

5

<p>When people say Direct Hits, do they mean both volumes 1 & 2 or just volume 1?</p>

6

<p>can you do the analysis for the SN 250 word list?</p>

7

<p>I used DH (both volumes) plus RR and did great. Oh yes, I also studied (and helped create) the CC threads. A very big help. Tuesday night is going to be exciting and then I'll begin the countdown to the SAT scores.</p>

8

<p>Thnx DK - I am very excited about my CR score. The combination of DH + RR + CC worked like a charm. Can't wait for the scores to be posted.</p>

9

<p>^^ which CC threads are you referring to?</p>

10

<p>The ones devoted to specific tests - November 08 SAT; October 08 SAT etc</p>

11

<p>Which PR did you recommend? 08 edition or 07 edition. They differ greatly...</p>

12

<p>The PR sucked (09 edition).</p>

13

<p>More than half of PR 07 is RR...and I hate PR 08</p>

14

<p>I used the Hit Parade in the 08 edition of Princeton Review.</p>

15

<p>i also used PR 08. do they differ???</p>

16

<p>^not really.</p>

17

<p>DH came thru on this year's PSAT and now I am hoping it will come thru for me on the January 09 SAT.</p>

18

<p>Thank for this great list!</p>

<p>Is this the princeton review hite parade you recommend?
<a href="http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/entry/offers/partnerPromotions.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&productID=BK_PRRE_000011%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/entry/offers/partnerPromotions.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&productID=BK_PRRE_000011&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

19

<p>^I recommend Direct Hits Vocabulary. It is clearly the top performing vocab book. Flibb (post 2 above) is right. I have been looking at the posts for the International test. DH really aced it. And I just looked at the thread for today Sunday SAT. Some CCers are beginning to report lots of hits for DH. I do recommend that you consider supplementing DH with the PR Hit Parade and the Rocket Review Core Words. That is what I did and it worked.</p>

20

<p>Just want to say that Direct Hits aced the Sunday SAT. Im so glad I saw it discussed on CC.</p>