<p>HELP!..this is the first forum I’ve ever been on and am overwhelmed with all this college prep. stuff…we are way behind and are trying to catch up. If anyone has suggestions for SAT Prep. books please let me know…there’s SO MUCH info. I don’t know where to begin. I’d just like a list of 3-4 recommendations re. the 2010 prep. books.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>See the xiggi summary on post #1 or #571.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The College Board’s The Official SAT Study Guide Second Edition, available on the CB site, Amazon, your local bookstore, etc. Use only these practice tests, as they are the only actual SAT tests.</p></li>
<li><p>Testmasters Solutions, or an online source that will give explanations of how to arrive at the correct answers for the SAT Study Guide practice tests (which only tells you which answer is correct, not how to figure it out).</p></li>
<li><p>People have different ideas about the best actual study guides, xiggi recommends some in the summary. My Ds liked Maximum SAT for the CR and WR sections.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>OK, I’ve been trying to get my head around some claims that appear quite inconsistent with each other:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>We’ve been told by several counselors and at several high school-sponsored events that students should NOT take the SAT more than twice, because “your scores won’t improve.” No provisos, just definitive blanket statements.</p></li>
<li><p>Many of the SAT test prep companies (e.g. Testmasters and Revolution Prep) provide a guarantee of a 200 or 300 point increase following taking their courses. This guarantee applies whether you take their course after taking the SAT once or ten times.</p></li>
<li><p>My understanding is that with the College Board’s Score Choice option, students have the option of providing colleges with only the test scores they wish to provide.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>So… how does #1 fit with #2, with #3 in the background? Are the counselors making assumptions based on data for a majority of students, and then extrapolating that data to every student who walks in their door? Based on #1, if you take the test three times, you have no chance of increasing your score even if you’ve done better preparation than in the previous tests? Any help and advice would be much appreciated!</p>
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<p>The fact that the majority of people do not improve their scores after the second time is not a reason to not take it a third time.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Not all colleges accept Score Choice, look at college websites or on the CB website to see the policies for different schools. Therefore, depending on the colleges you apply to, you might have to send all scores and the school will see how many times you’ve taken the SAT.</p></li>
<li><p>Read the fine print, for example Testmasters says:</p></li>
</ol>
<p>[Score</a> Increase Guarantees offered by Test Masters - Testmasters](<a href=“http://www.testmasters.com/score-increase-guarantees.html]Score”>http://www.testmasters.com/score-increase-guarantees.html)</p>
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<p>So, all they’re saying is that you get a free additional prep course if you don’t gain the 300 pts, not that they’re going to ensure that you will have a 300 pt increase.</p>
<ol>
<li> The GCs statement is likely a generality because they don’t want kids repeatedly sitting the SAT in hopes of a higher score. The general rule of thumb is that 3x is the max (excluding early sittings for summer programs, etc.) or you run the risk of appearing test obsessed by adcoms. Whether you do better at subsequent sittings depends on two factors: whether you’ve gained knowledge through additional time in school that facilitates taking the SAT; and specific prep to take the SAT. While some students seem to do great with just the former, IMO most students get more benefit from the latter.</li>
</ol>
<p>@palacerules</p>
<p>Here’s a test prep provider’s honest opinion about score guarantees and taking the test three or more times. </p>
<p>Entomom pointed out the flaw of the score “guarantee”. Test prep companies are happy to give you a second and even a third or fourth course for the price of just the first course. They know that eventually a student will be finished taking the SAT (within about a year typically), so there is a built-in sunset to the guarantee. Hopefully, you improve 300 points over the course of time. If you don’t, well…thanks for coming. That’s the attitude.</p>
<p>I’ve had hundreds of students take the SAT multiple times. The second administration is almost always better than the first, probably due to the weight of taking the monolithic, scary SAT for the first time. Whether a third (or subsequent) test reflects more improvement is directly linked to two things: 1) has the student learned or practiced more between tests? and 2) has some time passed, allowing the student to gain some more maturity and patience? A third test is particularly successful, for example, if the student took tests in January and May of Junior year then took the third test in October of Senior year. My students tend to kill it on the October test due to feeling more relaxed AND being just a little bit older and more ready to handle the length and stress of the test.</p>
<p>What doesn’t seem to lead to improvement in retesting is sitting for tests in consecutive months without any prep in between. So if a student takes a test in November after taking it in October but doesn’t do any significant prep, I would expect the results to be VERY similar to the October score.</p>
<p>Thanks for the excellent replies! One more question…do you think there is any downside to taking the SAT 4 times if it is spread out over a full year and there is some degree of prep between each test? Other than it being a pain in the neck, that is!</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>I can’t see why there would be any downside, your scores might improve each time.</p>
<p>The downside is that schools may think you’re test obsessed. For instance, while vague, see what Ys Dean of UG Admissions says:</p>
<p>[Yale</a> Daily News - No choice on scores](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2009/01/16/no-choice-on-scores/]Yale”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2009/01/16/no-choice-on-scores/)</p>
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<p>Is it worth taking the chance that a 4peat will downgrade your application? What does it gain you to take it 4 times with a little prep in between vs. twice with more prep?? And while I agree with most of what TutorTed says, I’d think long and hard about planning on a final fall sitting, my experience is that that’s an extremely busy and stressed out time since you’re working on college apps and school work. Also, there’s the downside of not knowing exactly what your final SAT scores will be until Nov, which makes it more difficult to form a realistic list of schools, and particularly targeting an EA/ED school. Another downside, the cost. My mantra is to take it when you have done substantial prep, then if necessary, take it once more to concentrate on the section(s) that you need to improve.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies, it’s all useful information. There’s a lot of specifics that probably go into each student’s decision. In our case:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Took SAT prep class during the summer (more time to focus than during the school year), and then sat for SAT in October (so that there would not be too much time between the prep class and actually taking the test).</p></li>
<li><p>Scores were decent but not great…and needed to improve on the math section, so focused some prep work on that section. Took the SAT again in January, to try to improve the math score and not have too much time lapse and not lose momentum between SAT prep class and also math emphasis.</p></li>
<li><p>Now waiting on scores from the January test…the math section did not seem that difficult (maybe the math focus really helped), but perhaps the curve will hurt the score. My gut tells me taking it in January was a good idea, however.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>So we’ll wait to see scores here in a week, and will need to decide whether to take the test in March and/or October. The test dates in between don’t work given school projects, exams, trips, etc. By the way, applying Early Decision is definitely in the cards.</p>
<p>Any more advice given some of these specifics?</p>
<p>^^This is almost identical to my D2s situation. She couldn’t land a job or summer program after soph year, so the deal was that she needed to do SAT prep in order to accomplish something constructive. She too took the Oct sitting so that everything was fresh. Did well except for the CR section. Since she had some time in Nov to prep for that section and she couldn’t test in Jan and Feb due to other obligations, she retested in Dec. She was able to bump her CR by 70 pts, and is now finished.</p>
<p>Your plan sounds very reasonable, best of luck!</p>
<p>Hi guys.
I am junior in HIghschool and i have already taken the SATs 3 times. My highest reading score was 620, while my math and writing were 710 each. I cannot increase my reading because increasing my vocab is just not helping. I would like to know how to prepare for the passages. Also, for math, at home, when I am doing practice test, I do fine but when I am taking the actual test, I do something wrong. If anyone can help me, it would be great! Thanks.</p>
<p>ps. quick pls. i dont have much time :(</p>
<p>strange bit of advice that might be helpful to some:</p>
<p>ignore collegeboard’s advice. sleep approximately 5-6 hours; eat only enough so that you’re not hungry. this may only have worked for me, keep in mind. but i simply COULD NOT fall asleep the night before the test, and got about 5 hours of sleep. ate a good breakfast, but didn’t stuff myself. the lack of sleep made me nervous and got my adrenaline pumping, which really focused my mind on the test. also, when you’re full it’s hard to focus, as is it when you’re hungry - but when you’re simply not hungry, your focus is perfect.</p>
<p>okay, have you studied word lists? I know it seemed to help my D2 who doesn’t have a very big vocabulary, she said that in practice and real tests, she always ran across some of the words on her lists.</p>
<p>S1 took the SAT 1x and scored in the high 1500s. Did not take it again, although was tempted to do so to get perfect score. Accepted to and graduated from H. S1 never prepped, but had the experience of taking SAT early through CTY-Hopkins. S2 took it 2x - never prepped either time but also had CTY experiences- did well first time but got lower score 2nd time. S3 has never taken it, but took practice CB online- not motivated to prep on his own either. I have tried to provide opportunities for S3 to prepare but he is not interested and he has never had the CTY-type experience. Also, his priorities are much different…too social, IMHO. </p>
<p>In ‘my’ generation, parents didn’t push but we pushed ourselves. When I read CC and note all of the students striving to do well, I am confused. Why don’t mine (and sons/daughters of my friends) push themselves? Are they too comfortable in their own skins? Have they been given too much from their striving parents?</p>
<p>so is Xiggi suggesting to buy a collegeboard book that has practice tests rather than the princeton review ones?</p>
<p>yes. the collegeboard book aka the blue book has the most authentic practice tests.</p>
<p>I Hate the SATs so so much</p>
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<p>It has the ONLY authentic practice tests! :)</p>
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<p>To clarify, the CB Blue book is necessary for the practice tests it provides. You will also want to purchase other prep books (eg. PR, Maximum SAT, etc.) to help you with strategies on how to take the test. And you will need to get a book that provides the solutions to the Blue book practice tests because the Blue book gives the correct answer (A, B, C, etc.), but it does not tell you how to work the problem to arrive at that answer.</p>