<p>Testmaster courses tend to make students increase in the 400 pts range on the SAT, which is PHENOMENAL. I worked my @$$ off, just to get around 250 pts increase on my practice tests.</p>
<p>I wonder, is their course a sham, or do they have substantial secret techniques that makes them so efficient? I have seen stupid kids increase their SAT from 1500 to 2000 by doing Testmaster, yet their intelligence doesn't seem to have improved at all.</p>
<p>Personally, I'm in the 2100-2150 range on my BB practice tests. If they guarantee 300 pts increase, would they basically guarantee me 2350-2400 at the end of the course?? That would be awesome.</p>
<p>Would Testmaster really be able to boost a high scorer (who already worked hard on the SAT) by THAT much? Their claims seem chimerical, yet, appealing at the same time to me.</p>
<p>Any opinions on Testmaster are welcome!! :)</p>
<p>What's bigger, a raise from 1500 to 2000 or a raise from 2100 to 2400? Definitely the higher levels because it gets so much harder. Tutors will always do a better job than books and even studying yourself because of the way they teach and their ability to control your learning. IT doesn't hurt to take it, though I don't know how much it will hurt your wallet. Even if the course is mainly for people who can absolutely not take the SAT and desperately need help, it will still give you useful strategies. </p>
<p>Quite honestly, in my opinion, the best way to study besides SAT prep courses is:
1. Memorize Vocab. Not even all the word roots in the world and sentence structure strategies can help you past hard vocab. If you want to ace vocab, you need to know every word. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Just learn all the math rules from many different books(go to BooksAmillion or Barnes Nobles and just look at the math rules). Drilling all the problems helps because collegeboard can't have unlimited types of questions, you'll get them all. Same goes for writing, just know all the rules(Kaplan has 15 and Barron's has good ones too).</p></li>
<li><p>Can't say much about CR because it's the most I struggle on, but if you train yourself to get the General Idea, STrucutre, and Tone, then you're good to go. Generally the main idea is in the Italics, Thesis(end of 1st paragraph) and conclusion.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Well, in your case, take the TM class course. I took the Testmaster's online course and got a score increase of..... 60 points! Even though the 300 pt guarantee is the same. They basically instill in you the secret of taking practice tests and going over your mistakes. Their classroom instruction is nothing special.</p>
<p>You can buy their solution manual for the Blue Book on some websites. That's really all you'll need. I think the vocab list only helped me on one or two questions.. I remembered what "halycon" meant on the oct test.</p>
<p>I go to dictionary.com and it doesn't even pop up! What is ETS up to making up words that aren't even on dictionary.com?!? My comparison/impression of all these words is that of a different language. I don't remember precisely why they took of analogies, but it was for something like some people don't see as much of the world because they live in small towns and don't hear about all this stuff. I don't know how analogy questions were like, but I imagine that they used hard vocab. Still, having to go through 3500 vocab words now is going to be tiresome and something I don't see why it tests a skill, just who could memorize more. Yes reading books and magazines is a better way, but we're not 12 years old to where we can start reading them. </p>
<p>CR is what I struggle on and I"m hoping I do well on the January 26th test. My goal is a 700 in each section.</p>
<p>"You can buy their solution manual for the Blue Book on some websites"</p>
<p>Well, I already have it. I also have the solution manual, PR online course, and 3-4 other worthless SAT books (borrowed, of course :) ) </p>
<p>However, my friend who is not even a good reader, says that Testmaster has a systematic method that makes you almost painlessly score 800/ 12 on the essay in the Writing section.
Is it true?</p>
<p>Also, he says that Testmaster taught him how to NOT read the whole passage and still get close to perfect score on CR. CR is really my greatest problem. It's a pain in the butt, yet I have to get over it. I'm interested because I would like to increase my Writing score from the 660-700 range to 760-800 range, and also increase my CR to 750 range.</p>
<p>"Memorize Vocab." Lol, I've made my own vocab list (around 700 words so far), and it's ironic that I, a native speaker, knows a bunch more vocab than my friends in AP english! However, they took Testmaster, and did AMAZING on they SAT (without being apparently smart in class or anything)</p>
<p>By Testmaster, you're talking about the course or the online course?</p>
<p>As for the words, I have to quickly memorize these words, and who knows, the words I memorize might not even end up being on the SAT. Still, I will do my best. I will consider TestMaster as well. </p>
<p>A good strategy for CR, I don't know if you do it but my SAT teacher told me was to look at the questions first, maybe even spending a good 1-2 minutes looking at them. Then follow the questions through the passage. For example if the first question is on lines 14-15, start a 1 and pay more attention when it gets to lines 10 and don't stop paying attention until 5 lines after line 15 or the end of the paragraph. You always want to read a little before the recommended lines because they lead into it and you'll find hidden facts. The questions are chronological; if you follow them through the passage, you'll have finished the questions and the passage instead of reading the passage and then reading parts of it again as you read the questions. </p>
<p>Also consider this: reading only the parts that it says can help you with process of elimination. For example if a passage mentions "Y" later in the passage but "Y" happens to be a big part, but in the beginning they ask you a question and they mention "Y" as one of the answer choices, you might be tempted to answer Y because you read about it; however, if you just read what they told you to, then you can cross out things they haven't told you yet(for specific line references only though).</p>
<p>I'm talking about the Testmaster comprehensive course.</p>
<p>My friend also told be about that, which they call the "Area Rule" I've tried it, but suck so much at it that I returnt to my bad habits again (read the whole passage and answer the questions).</p>
<p>Well, basically, you read the question first, then zooms the AREA/paragraph in the text that concerns that question. Because the questions are in chronological order, you end up with a big picture at the end to answer more general questions, like "What is the tone of the author in passage 1.."</p>
<p>lol.. Rahoul: you posted a topic asking how to get a 700 yet you also dish out advice on SAT preparation... if you know the "best way to study" why don't you just listen to your own advice?</p>
<p>@JOE : That's something called asking for opinion ... you give out your methods...others give out their methods...you might find something useful. That's the tactic. (this was in response to your above question)</p>