<p>depends on your level.
if you are scoring about 600+ in verbal, start with Word Smart.
if you are scoring about 670+ try to memorize the Barons, r Grubers 4000 word list things (those words are usually harder, and you’d actually recognize many)</p>
<p>if you are in the sub 600 range, start with Princeton Review’s word lists.
or Kaplan’s most frequent 500 words…
When you review them(completely memorizing them wouldn’t take too long)
completely, you’ll feel much more confident, and you can see your verbal score increasing drastically.</p>
<p>What I did was:
When I was in the sub 600 range: I bought Kaplan’s Wordsmart and Baron’s “Picture these SAT words” the words are rather easy. I studied them and had a dramatic increase to 650+ and sometimes even 700+</p>
<p>I took the first real SAT and got a 650.</p>
<p>Then I started with Gruber’s 3400 words(the list was in the NEW SAT Grubers book, and the list was in alphabetical order, with JUST meanings)</p>
<p>Unlike Picture these SAT words or Kaplan’s wordsmart with “fun” sentences and mnemonics, there were just an endless list of words and definitions.
People say studying something like this is ineffective, but cutting out the
“fun” stuff(sentences and stuff) actually sped up the process for me.
I was able to memorize 500 words per day.(of course this was some hard-ass prepping)
What I do is, I memorize 50 words, go over them twice to see if I completely know them, move onto next 50, and go over them, and then move on.
The whole process to memorize 500 words took 2~4 hours, but it became faster and easier by day.
Of course, this kind of fast cramming will never last, so you have to review the words everyday-)therefore the last day you’ll be reviewing 3400 words.
It took 20 days for me to entirely memorize 3400 words.
I also made my own notebook of new words and my own sentences with the word in it, and memorized those words too. (I wrote about 50 words per day)
second real SAT: verbal 770</p>
<p>and all this was accompanied by crazy readings of SAT passages.
I’ve been through Kaplan, Princeton Review, and the Online Course.
I think those three have the verbal sections that are close to the real test.</p>
<p>btw, this method may not fit you since I’m an international and English is
far from my first language.
I just approached it like a study subject.
I started with a 450 Verbal and eventually went upto 770,
Unlike many gifted brainy CCers who naturally got the scores from reading books in their own native language, I studied untill I could barf.
(I studied extensively for 1.5 month. That’s all the time you need.)</p>
<p>I think anyone can do this. (all the prepping) I’m not a machine, and I’m actually a super lazy person. I didn’t even study for AP or SAT IIs, but I’m a senior and my second test was in October(amost my last chance for Early Action/Decision) so I had no choice. My first test was really low.
6 hourses of study per day for 1.5 month is sufficient for anybody.</p>
<p>I have low IQs, and I really have a bad work habit (not disciplined at all) but I learned that desperate need
make things work.</p>