<p>Has anyone used this book before, and if so, how did you do on the practice tests and on the real SAT?</p>
<p>i would like to know as well</p>
<p>I’m wondering too, I found it on amazon and it has nice reviews but I’ve never heard of this guy before so I have my concerns whether it’s legitimate or not.</p>
<p>The first part of the book is very useful. I especially like the Tip 46 … for good reasons! :)</p>
<p>mmm my friend has this… is it worth doing the practice from it xiggi? i ocasionally miss one or 2 of the hard ones.</p>
<p>This book is supposed to be for hard problems right? It sounds uncomfortably close to that hack John Dorian Chang so I had to make sure before I was swindled by some charlatan. </p>
<p>Same with me, I’m just looking for a book that helps target the hardest problems on the SAT because I’m already very good at math and don’t need to know how to do coordinate geometry or whatever…</p>
<p>I’ve never used John Chung’s SAT Math book, but I did use his Math II Subject Test book. It was definitely the most concise, helpful, and reinforcing Math II book that I came across.</p>
<p>I severely dislike this book. Rather than reinforcing the fundamentals that will be tested, it goes into mathematics using methods and formulas it expects you to memorize. It’s basically the “asian” approach to math, to put it in the simplest and most politically incorrect terms. If you want a more logic based approach to the material, with practice tests that actually reflect what will be tested, I recommend Princeton Review or Barrons. I got Chung’s based on high reviews and the ample # of practice tests, but it was a mistake. The practice tests are too difficult, making you unable to focus on the timing, speed, and fundamentals necessary to get through all the material. Instead, you get bogged down by ridiculously tedious and advanced problems. Additionally, the language used in the problems is nothing like what you would see on the actual test, and for good reason! To add another politically insensitive comment, it reads like a chinese wrote it… I’m sure Dr. Chung is a very brilliant and talented man, but the flow of language in the book is very unnatural, and can be quite unsettling to read, even when grammatically correct.</p>
<p>Here are the first two problems of the first practice test, talk about getting off to a rocky start. Or, maybe I’m just a moron.</p>
<p>1) If a(x+2)+b(x-1) = 3 for all x, then a =</p>
<p>A) -1 B) 0 C) 1 D) 2 E) 3</p>
<p>2) If a+b=2 and ab=-1, then a^2 + b^2 =</p>
<p>A) 4 B) 5 C) 6 D) 8 E) 10</p>
<p>Have fun…</p>
<p>The second problem is actually quite a common type of problem given on the SAT. Start by squaring both side of a + b = 2. This gives you (a + b)^2 = 4. Now FOIL (a + b) (a + b).
You get a^2 + 2ab + b^2 = 4. Use the Commutative Property of Addition to rearange the equation.
a^2 + b^2 + 2ab = 4
You know that ab = -1 so substitute
a^2 + b^2 + 2(-1) = 4
a^2 + b^2 -2 = 4
a^2 + b^2 = 6</p>
<p>As I said this type of problem on the SAT is very common</p>
<p>The first one is very simple as well. Plug in 1 and you will get 3A=3. A=1. The answer is C. Takes about 3 seconds to do it that way. Some books aren’t aimed towards fundamentals. Fundamentals will only get you so far. Books aimed for 600+ scoring people assume people already know the very basics of algebra.</p>
<p>can anyone explain tip number 27 in dr. chung’s for me?</p>
<p>Politically incorrect indeed. I am hurt. No, just kidding, I was also looking at that book and was considering it but I think the Barrons book really helps cover the difficult math problems. I can’t really give a review on the Dr.Chung but if you have the money, it wouldn’t hurt, I suppose.</p>
I loved Dr. Chung’s SAT math books. They’ve definitely been effective and helped me improve immensely on the SAT. It’s definitely worth the money; it has a lot of practice tests that are much harder so the real SAT felt like a piece of cake. He vaguely explains a lot of the answers, but if you’re strong in math you should understand it. Can’t stress enough how thankful I am to have found his math books!
^Many people think that taking practice tests which are harder than the real test is inefficient. Also, what did you think of the many errors in the book? Where they a distraction? What was the result of your prep?
“the flow of language in the book is very unnatural, and can be quite unsettling to read, even when grammatically correct” He’s here to teach us math, not English. and it’s not like the writing in the book impedes your math learning…