My horrible SAT

chewydog
Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:13:10 +0000

The issue is that the third-party practice books are rarely accurate in style to the actual Collegeboard written test.

From personal experience, Barron’s writing sections are the most atrocious (I fly through these on the actual test but sometimes I sit and stare in disbelief at Barron’s) out of the big 3 (Barron’s, PR, and Kaplan). Princeton Review and Kaplan are not bad, though they tend to be a little off.

Math seems to be pretty similar for all three companies, though Barron’s is slightly more difficult than others. This difficulty may or may not be to your advantage.

Critical Reading wise, I favor the materials given by Kaplan after attending their class. Yes, I admit, my mother placed me into a class. Princeton’s Review is decent as well.

Overall, I’d strongly recommend simply practicing out of College Board’s own books. I know there is a new version out with a DVD/CD/Something-D. Unfortunately, I have not tried it since I’m finished with SAT I. The original “new” one is very good (the first 4 tests or so were previously administered tests while the other 6 are tests made for the book), and I’m not sure if the new copy has different testing material or not. Hopefully someone else knows and will inform you. Doing tests out of this book gives you the most accurate experience and also makes you familiar with true testing material. It does not require you to adjust to a slightly different format/style as you would having only studied from third party texts. If you need extra practice beyond the tests offered by CB’s book, search online for copies of released tests (CB publishes one each year or so). You can find links to past publications on CC or through google. Good luck!