Which Vocab Book Performed Best on the October 09 SAT

[hornfrogfan]

<p>Yeah, I tried using the SparkNotes list last year and it never really had many hits.</p>

[xiggi]

<p>

Here they are:
redundancy, crystallize, polymath, lexicon, hobble, plasticity, admonition, captious, edifying, elude, slapstick, recrimination, eclectic, wry, mock, and rustic. So how did the best known vocabulary books perform? Here is my preliminary report:</p>

<ol>
<li>Direct Hits: 400 Words/9 Hits/1 Hit per 44 words</li>
<li>TestMasters: 254 Words/2 Hits/1 Hit per 127 words</li>
<li>Princeton Review: 253 Words/2 Hits/1 Hit per 127 words</li>
<li>Hot Words: 396 Words/3 Hits/1 Hit per 132 words</li>
<li>Rocket Review: 323 Words/2 Hits/1 Hit per 161 words</li>
<li>Barron’s Mini Dictionary: 3500 Words/ 9 Hits/1 Hit per 388 words

</li>
</ol>

<p>Just as it was easily established years ago on this site, the exercise of seeking a magical list of words remains one of utter futility. While one does learn a LITTLE bit by locating and reading any of the lists on the market, working on other parts of the SAT will pay much larger dividends. </p>

<p>Again, caveat emptor!</p>

[hornfrogfan]

<p>Working on vocabualry really helped me raise my critical reading score. This type of list has helped me find the books that make the most efficient use of my study time. </p>

<p>As for other parts of the SAT, a few years ago (05) you said that the 10 Real SATs book was still useful as a prep book even though they are all old SATs and the critical reading and math sections have changed significantly on the new SAT. What do you think now?</p>